I wonder whether I could post this cartoon in my classroom without problems from the *State*? Every year we have a *Prayer at the Pole* at the flagpole in front of our school, and each year the crowds get bigger: faculty, staff, students, parents, and other people from the community ~ consequently, I think many share my belief in the power of prayer.

Still, we can all probably learn a lesson about forgiveness from the Amish. I read this AP article online this morning:

Dozens of Amish neighbors came out Saturday to mourn the quiet milkman who killed five of their young girls and wounded five more in a brief, unfathomable rampage.

Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, was buried in his wife's family plot behind a small Methodist church, a few miles from the one-room schoolhouse he stormed Monday.

His wife, Marie, and their three small children looked on as Roberts was buried beside the pink, heart-shaped grave of the infant daughter whose death nine years ago apparently haunted him, said Bruce Porter, a fire department chaplain from Colorado who attended the service.

About half of perhaps 75 mourners on hand were Amish.

"It's the love, the forgiveness, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed," said Porter, who had come to Pennsylvania to offer what help he could. He said Marie Roberts was also touched.

"She was absolutely deeply moved, by just the love shown," Porter said.

No matter how dismal the world can get sometimes, I continue to believe that love is the most powerful force in the universe.

Thanks be to God.