Tragedy in the Village of Paradise

3 October 2006. 32 year-old milk driver Charles Carl Robert walked into a nearby Amish commune called the Village of Paradise and executed 4 teenage girls by putting a bullet to their heads. He then took his own life. Detectives investigating the case believe that Roberts, who was himself not an Amish targeted these innocent girls because he was angry at God for an undisclosed incident that happened to him when he was a boy of twelve, 20 years ago. The girls who were murdered represent the embodiment of Christian virtue, all that is uncorrupted that belongs to God. They were in the rage addled eyes of Roberts, the closest thing to God he could approach on this earth, hence they bore the brunt of his satanic hatred. I can only imagine that whatever happened to young Roberts must have been had a devastating effect on his psyche and soul. I presume that it was of a sexual and emotional nature, possibly molestation and rape by a Christian minister. The death of his infant daughter in 1997 probably further convinced him that God had singled him out for ridicule and mental torture. In Robert’s anguished mind, God must have looked like a fat, ruddy faced, caricature of an old bourgeois pub drunk laughing at his simple ways and lack of psychic /supernatural powers. 20 years is a long time to wait to act against God. Roberts probably tried to find enemies in the faces of a handful of close human being, perhaps his wife, parents and children, but could find none who were the sole cause of his misery. So he externalized his delusional image of God on the young girls. This is the 3rd high school killing/suicide in the US this week. The Columbine and Beslan massacres have made one thing clear – the innocent are the best targets. All of biblical truth can be seen in such school killings. The children represent Jesus and their murderer representing Judas. Perhaps that is the only way for all human beings, we are to choose our role in this life - to die as innocent lambs, victims of the malice of those who have power over our hearts, minds and livelihood or to take our own lives maddened by rage at others who have hurt us and taken away our innocence in the past. The only freedom I can see from here is forgiveness. And I pray that for the sake of their own sanity, the parents of the Amish girls find it in their hearts to forgive Roberts. copyright 2006, Michele Koh