Day of disaster

March 13 marks the 20th anniversary of a day central Kansas Mennonites will never forget: A tornado ripped through a large part of Hesston, Kan., but, amazingly, killed no one in town. The massive storm (graded F5, the highest power, with winds over 300 mph) damaged or destroyed 225 homes and 21 businesses in Hesston.

My memory of the disaster is dominated by the fact that the next day brought the most challenging Mennonite Weekly Review deadline I’ve ever had. The tornado hit Hesston about 5:35 p.m. on a Tuesday, and by the time we learned the enormity of what had happened, darkness had fallen.

First thing the next morning I headed for Hesston, about eight miles from Newton, to collect photos and quotes for a couple of hours. In those days we had to develop the film and print the photos in our darkroom — plus write the story and paste up the paper that day, so time was short.

My other strong memory is that a second tornado formed north of Hesston and passed by Goessel, where it destroyed the barn at my parents-in-law’s place, but missed the house, where they were riding out the storm in the basement. At another rural Marion County house, the tornado killed 68-year-old Ruth Voth, so we knew what could have happened.

A Wichita Eagle story on the 20th anniversary had an amazing fact I didn’t know: The Hesston tornado was the first to hit a town of any size since since Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1979.

In the issue of MWR a week after the tornado, our lead story began: “The disaster happened with shocking suddenness. Just as quickly, it seemed, the people of Hesston pulled together, picked up the pieces and made a new beginning.”

Hearing women's stories

Happy International Women’s Day!

March 8 is International Women’s Day and if it weren’t for one of my roommates who is very aware of women’s issues, I, like many people, would have missed it. Our house had the chance to celebrate last weekend with a mini road trip to Elkhart to see a performance of the Michiana Monologues.

Based on the idea of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues, the Michiana Monologues compiles anonymously submitted stories from women in the South Bend area. The stories cover a range of topics related to being a women — body image, purity, motherhood, relationships, sexual assault and the women’s rights movement. Local actresses then present the stories as monologues. Donations collected at the door are donated to local agencies working to help women in crisis. Previous performances also inspired a nearby community to perform their own monologues as well.

While other productions of the Vagina Monologues I have seen were moving, the Michiana Monologues were particularly powerful because the stories came from the community. It is hard to dismiss issues such as domestic abuse when someone from your community had the courage to write about her struggle.

The Vagina Monologues have been the root of controversy, especially on some college campuses where performances have been called into question or banned. However, the monologues serve as a channel to breaking the silence that often surrounds issues of violence against women.

Movies with character

Yes, I saw Avatar, and yes, it was in IMAX 3-D, but as a moviegoer who prefers solid writing and character development over special effects — or at least alongside effects — I wasn’t impressed by Avatar as a whole. Star Trek and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were entertaining, but not absorbing like a good character film. I also prefer movies with minimal or no realistic violence, even when it's arguably necessary to the plot, so I probably won’t see The Hurt Locker, though I hear it’s excellent.

For moviegoers more like me, here are my picks for the top movies released in the United States during 2009. I have avoided too many story details because I don’t like to spoil a good plot. All are or will be available through Netflix, and I list the ones I saw most recently first, so you may have a chance to catch some of the top ones in theaters:

Le chant des mariées (The Wedding Song) — This tender but intense film looks into the lives of teenage friends, one Muslim, one Jewish, in Tunisia in 1942. For a film that deals with the themes of adulthood, marriage, religion, gender roles, poverty and war, it remarkably lacks any heavy-handedness. The film graphically depicts one girl’s preparation for marriage, but does not have gory war scenes.

The Last Station — In this historical drama about the great Russian author Leo Tolstoy, his family and his disciples, the acting drew me into the story right away and kept me there until the final moments.

Up in the Air — After Good Night, and Good Luck., George Clooney became one of the few actors whose movies I would see just because he was in it. Even so, Clooney’s acting in Up in the Air impressed me even more than I thought it would. The rest of the cast, and the plot, did not disappoint either.

Fantastic Mr. Fox — The stop-motion animation is augmented by clever writing and performances to create a great film for all ages. Clooney and Meryl Streep make an engaging team.

Unmistaken Child — This documentary would easily make a list of the most visually stunning films I’ve ever seen. Filmmakers follow Tenzin Zopa, a Buddhist monk searching for the reincarnation of his spiritual teacher, in such a way that I could recognize how his worldview differs from mine as well as seeing our shared humanity.

Ponyo — This movie may not be one of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s best, but even so, Miyazaki is in a class above the rest. Miyazaki's imaginative stories reproduce the world as children see it as closely as any adult could.

Coraline — I enjoyed this film as much as my pre-teen friend I took to the theater to see it. Its alternate world is as wonderful as it is creepy.

Love and service in a gray world

Outside my window, the snow is falling in a mess of flurries, reminding me that it is only March and the vibrancy of spring will continue to hibernate. It is winter and the world is gray.

In fact, much of life feels gray much of the time. Topics such as gender roles, sexuality, health care, servanthood, family life, vocation (and the list goes on) are not so black and white — even within the Mennonite Church. Like the never-ending winter, it makes one weary.

How refreshing to read about a young couple who live simply. This is not to say that their lives aren’t busy. No, in fact, the opposite must be true. Not only are Jared and Angela Stauffer Widmer newlyweds who moved to a new state and started new jobs, but they are serving as housemates to developmentally disabled women. They are simply choosing to dwell in the Word, pray and follow God’s leading.

How refreshing to gather with a group of pastors who believe the truth of the Bible. “Affirming the Faith: What the Mennonite Church Believes about Homosexuality” was a one-day conference where pastors from the Eastern District and Franconia Conferences reminded attendees of the power of Scripture to convict the church and transform lives.

How refreshing to watch people give generously. Though time is precious and money is tight, people responded to Haiti immediately. When people are in need, differences are temporarily set aside so that the best assistance is offered. All aid is welcome and significant. Each act becomes a story of hope and inspiration.

How refreshing to get back to the basics of living and loving.

Perhaps spring is in the air with all its glorious vibrancy. — Heidi Martin

Remembering forgiveness

A made-for-TV film about the 2006 schoolhouse killings of five girls in the Nickel Mines Amish community is set to air at the end of the month. While the Anabaptist perspective can offer many criticisms of the film, one that stands out is that it reportedly depicts the media as skeptical of the forgiveness offered by the Amish community.

Last weekend I had the chance to reflect on forgiveness as I scrubbed egg off of our front door on a wintery Chicago morning. As my hands got colder, it became easier to imagine all the ways my housemates and I could carry out our revenge on the perpetrator, should we ever encounter him or her. Perhaps our own stockpile of eggs could come in handy.

Then I recalled some of the articles I have come across recently in my archiving work for Mennonite Weekly Review. Articles about the Amish community that forgave the murderer of their daughters, sisters, nieces and granddaughters. Articles about the Schrock family, conservative Mennonites who lost their five children in a car crash and who had the grace to forgive the driver of the other vehicle.

None of us hope to face a grave tragedy that would present the opportunity to offer such weighty and difficult forgiveness to an offender. These great examples of forgiveness can serve to remind us that we are called to forgive the smaller offenses, like eggs thrown at our door, as well. That forgiveness, though it can be difficult to offer, is transformative and healing for offender and victim alike. We have seen that in the Nickel Mines community and the Schrock family.

After I had finished cleaning the door, and my fingers had thawed, my housemates and I were discussing our plan of action should the eggs on our door become a common occurrence. Trying to emulate that transformative forgiveness, we came up with a plan. We’ll post a sign inviting the owner of the eggs bring them inside, and we will add some of our own and prepare a meal to share.

Cost of killing

Many a soldier’s story makes a profound antiwar statement. A powerful example appeared last week in a New York Times article, “Distant Wars, Constant Ghosts.” Shannon P. Meehan, a tank platoon leader in Iraq, writes of the psychic toll killing takes on soldiers.

In Iraq, Meehan called an artillery strike on a house, killing a father, a mother and their children huddled inside. The mistake left him filled with self-loathing. Eventually, Meehan says, “the deaths that I caused also killed any regard I had for my own life.”

Meehan was responsible for killing civilians, but killing combatants changes a person too, he says. It destroys one’s regard for human life, so that “once you’ve crossed the line, there is little difference in killing 10 or 20 or 30 more after that.”

Meehan notes that few people wish to talk about the fact that soldiers are trained and expected to kill. One who is willing to do it is former Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who gave a memorable Peace Lecture at Bethel College in North Newton, Kan., in 1998. Grossman directs the Killology Research Group.

Every species has a hard-wired resistance against killing its own kind, Grossman said, and humans are no different. He shared research that showed in World War II only 15 to 20 percent of combat infantry soldiers were willing to fire their rifles.

In On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Grossman wrote: “The vast majority of combatants throughout history, at the moment of truth when they could and should kill the enemy, have found themselves to be conscientious objectors.”

The bad news, Grossman said, is that with the right conditioning almost anyone and learn to kill. By breaking down the moral aversion to killing — rather than just teaching soldiers to use their weapons and assuming that they would — U.S. soldiers’ firing rates increased to about 50 percent in Korea and more than 90 percent in Vietnam.

Grossman’s On Killing, published in 1995, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. I’ve heard that another powerful portrayal of war’s toll on the human psyche is the 2009 movie The Hurt Locker, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Several Mennonite reviewers agree that it is one of the year’s best. — Paul Schrag

Colleges in national spotlight

For those who haven’t seen it yet, the Associated Press wrote a story about Goshen (Ind.) College’s decision to beginning playing the national anthem before some sports games.

It's a good piece overall, though Goshen’s close connection to Mennonite Church USA could have been stated more clearly, as “ties” could be loose or strong, historical or present.

And the use of the word “ban” is misleading — playing the Star-Spangled Banner is not among the activities prohibited on campus.

Goshen and other Anabaptist schools also got national attention recently for a different practice — that of action to care for the environment. “Green Awakenings,” a report by Renewal, a national Christian student environmental group, lists Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Man.; Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.; Goshen College; Messiah College in Grantham, Pa.; and Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., among more than 50 campuses showing leadership in environmental concern efforts. — Celeste Kennel-Shank