Witness is a 1985 movie starring Harrison Ford as "John Book, a Philadelphia cop whose life is altered while trying to help Rachel (Kelly McGillis), an Amish woman, and her son Samuel (Lukas Haas), who witnesses a murder in a Philadelphia train station bathroom. After discovering that the murder was committed by a member of his force, Book travels to Lancaster County with Rachel and Samuel and poses as a member of the Amish community to hide from his murderous police peers. While there, love blooms between Rachel and Book, and he finds himself drawn in by the honesty and simplicity of the old-world Amish lifestyle." When the corrupt police detectives find where Book is hiding, they come fully armed, prepared to take him out. The people respond to the violence in their midst by ringing the farm bell, which sends men down from the fields. As one of the bad cops threatens Book in the farm yard, he is challenged in the midst of men who are pledged against any form of violence. Are you going to shoot me? Who's next? Where will it end? What about him... or him... or even him??? The men stand around in silence, saying nothing but bearing witness, as the errant policeman finally realizes he is finished.
He is ultimately done in by the weight of his own conscience. The man who held Amish schoolgirls hostage yesterday, killing three of them before taking his own life, may not have been as well equipped. (MSNBC reports that at least two more girls have since died from severe wounds.)
We wonder why God allows so much evil in the world. The answer can be traced to the sin of Adam, the fall of innocence that led to our departure from the Garden.
It also begs the real question: why do WE allow so much evil in the world?
1 comment:
I read that the oldest girl, a young lady of 15 or 16 said, "Shoot me and leave the rest alone." What heroism.
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