Amish Mash Of Emotions
I'm quite proud of the title of this entry.
I watched the film Devil's Playground tonight about the Amish tradition called "Rumspringa." When Amish children turn 16, they are allowed to explore the "English" (translation: non-Amish) world for an indefinite period of time. They drink, smoke, do drugs, drive cars, and dress the way they want for the first time in their lives during this period. At any point during this rumspringa, they can decide to give up all of the aspects of English life and join the Amish church, at which point they must commit to living as a member of the Amish church for the rest of their lives. If they break this commitment they are banned from the community and shunned by their family and friends forever. The film is a documentary that follows the rumspringa of several Amish teenagers and young adults as they struggle to choose between the Amish life and the English life.
There were a couple aspects of the movie that really struck me. The first is that the Amish church currently has a 90% retention rate. Amish young adults get a taste of the English world and almost without exception return to the Amish way of life entirely of their own free wills. Part of this amazing retention rate may be the fact that the Amish teens continue to associate with one another and often end up meeting an Amish girlfriend or boyfriend and then decide to join the church forever. However, one might be tempted to think that it may be just as likely for a young Amish couple to decide that they enjoy the English world too much to give it up and hence marry but remain apart from their old Amish community.
I think the real reason that the retention rate is so high must be because the Amish life is all that these kids know before they are thrown into a frying pan that encompasses some of the most intense aspects of the English world. There seems to be no real chance for adjustment or real exposure to "normal" English life. Perhaps in a disturbing way, that's the whole reason for Rumspringa: to scare the teens into submission and acceptance of a simple life free from the complications of the ordinary world.
Another part of me thinks that the Amish life is not so crazy after all: that even if the Amish kids did get a balanced view of the English world they would still join the Amish church more often than not. I can certainly understand the need for simplification in the fast-moving world of today. Giving up electricity may seem a bit extreme, but I can see how the lack of tv and computers alone could easily bring a family closer together. What would you do if you lived at home with your family and did not have just those two distractions? At first I would think I'd be bored, but at some point I would probably begin to spend that extra time with my family and friends doing things that weren't so mindless. Whether that amounted to games or more conversation, I can definitely see the value in more interaction with the people you love. How could that be detrimental?
Still in the end, I think the best possible goal is a balanced life. As time goes on, I continue to strive for moderation. I think I spend a bit too much time on some of my interests (computer use, for example) and too little time on other pursuits which I think are valuable, but I don't believe the answer is necessarily just to give up the things which take up too much of my time. All I can do is keep examining and adjusting my life in an effort to better myself. To that end, I am glad to have a TV and to have watched a movie tonight.
I watched the film Devil's Playground tonight about the Amish tradition called "Rumspringa." When Amish children turn 16, they are allowed to explore the "English" (translation: non-Amish) world for an indefinite period of time. They drink, smoke, do drugs, drive cars, and dress the way they want for the first time in their lives during this period. At any point during this rumspringa, they can decide to give up all of the aspects of English life and join the Amish church, at which point they must commit to living as a member of the Amish church for the rest of their lives. If they break this commitment they are banned from the community and shunned by their family and friends forever. The film is a documentary that follows the rumspringa of several Amish teenagers and young adults as they struggle to choose between the Amish life and the English life.
There were a couple aspects of the movie that really struck me. The first is that the Amish church currently has a 90% retention rate. Amish young adults get a taste of the English world and almost without exception return to the Amish way of life entirely of their own free wills. Part of this amazing retention rate may be the fact that the Amish teens continue to associate with one another and often end up meeting an Amish girlfriend or boyfriend and then decide to join the church forever. However, one might be tempted to think that it may be just as likely for a young Amish couple to decide that they enjoy the English world too much to give it up and hence marry but remain apart from their old Amish community.
I think the real reason that the retention rate is so high must be because the Amish life is all that these kids know before they are thrown into a frying pan that encompasses some of the most intense aspects of the English world. There seems to be no real chance for adjustment or real exposure to "normal" English life. Perhaps in a disturbing way, that's the whole reason for Rumspringa: to scare the teens into submission and acceptance of a simple life free from the complications of the ordinary world.
Another part of me thinks that the Amish life is not so crazy after all: that even if the Amish kids did get a balanced view of the English world they would still join the Amish church more often than not. I can certainly understand the need for simplification in the fast-moving world of today. Giving up electricity may seem a bit extreme, but I can see how the lack of tv and computers alone could easily bring a family closer together. What would you do if you lived at home with your family and did not have just those two distractions? At first I would think I'd be bored, but at some point I would probably begin to spend that extra time with my family and friends doing things that weren't so mindless. Whether that amounted to games or more conversation, I can definitely see the value in more interaction with the people you love. How could that be detrimental?
Still in the end, I think the best possible goal is a balanced life. As time goes on, I continue to strive for moderation. I think I spend a bit too much time on some of my interests (computer use, for example) and too little time on other pursuits which I think are valuable, but I don't believe the answer is necessarily just to give up the things which take up too much of my time. All I can do is keep examining and adjusting my life in an effort to better myself. To that end, I am glad to have a TV and to have watched a movie tonight.