Rumspringa: To Be or Not To Be Amish - Tom Schachtman

Like many people, I find the Amish quite fascinating. The idea that people would want to live without modern conveniences seems quaint, and I was interested to learn how they could retain young members. "Rumspringa" is the time in an Amish teenagers' life when s/he is permitted to go out and experience the outside world. The hope is that after reveling in temptation for a short while, they will realize the need to return to their communities and devote themselves to the Amish way of life. But, these kids don't just go out and get jobs and spend time with "English" youth. They go all out - they smoke, drink excessively, use hard-core drugs (often becoming addicted to meth and heroin), and engage in pre-marital sex (which leads to the fairly common phenomenon of many Amish first children being born 8 months after the wedding). While this book is, on its face, a study of Amish youth and their frustrations with the rigors of their religion, it is underneath a study of all children - how parents raise and teach children, and hope that when they are out on their own, they will know how to make the right choices and take care of themselves. The Amish parents in the book struggle between being too strict and driving away their children (but teaching them good values), and being too lenient, risking the wrath of their community, but hopefully showing their children mercy and acceptance. In many ways, it seems as if the Amish set their children up for disaster in the outside world - they rarely attend school after the 8th grade and so aren't in a position to obtain sustainable employment. What they can earn is spent readily on "normal" clothing and other means of just fitting in to regular life. Often times, the examples in the book seemed to come back to the Amish communities after they'd hit rock bottom, or were too afraid of the shunning they'd face if they didn't. As would be expected, the Amish life seems particularly difficult for women who are expected to have many many children and to submit to the directives of their husbands. On the other hand, as far as organized religions go, the Amish do have much to commend. Rumspringa is a fascinating glimpse in to growing up Amish, but also in to how we all come to make our own decisions and choose which life we want to lead.