Posted on 07/18/2008 2:10:02 AM PDT by amchugh
I hadn’t gotten beaten by my mom that day, and we hadn’t had any significant arguments over anything. I thought that if I died, I wanted to die without being mad at my mom. So I thought, I might as well take the opportunity to do so before I got back to the house—at which point who knows whether there would be another fight or a beating. I put a bullet in the chamber and raised the rifle up. The closer it got to my head, the faster my heart beat. I was taught that whoever committed suicide would go to hell. But I was so miserable in the Amish culture that I believed God would understand that my motives were good.
(Excerpt) Read more at fourhourworkweek.com ...
Wow is right! I’ve never, ever heard of an angst ridden teenager commiting suicide because his parents didn’t treat him the way he thought they should. This is HUGE!
Yep, just like us outsiders the Amish have some unhappy teenagers.
I do have to take exception with the blogger’s use of “escape” from the Amish. She may have escaped from her family, but there was no need to “escape” from the Amish.
I was raised in heavily Amish Crawford County, Pennsylvania. I had Amish classmates through about the 10th grade. They thought that was all the pubic education they needed. They weren’t a closed cult - children had a lot of freedom. I even met them while fishing. It wasn’t uncommon to see their buggy horses hitched in front of the grocery store across the street from my house. When my late wife talked me into moving back in the early 90s our favorite watering hole (a roadhouse just outside of town) even had a hitch rail for them. We’d ride through the country by the Amish farms and kids would wave and stop us to check out the Harley, my tattoos and Sheryl’s Virginia accent.
Don’t get the idea that all Amish are like this girl’s family, just as all New Englanders aren’t like the Kennedy clan.
Spanking, can’t do what I want, mean parents...sounds like my life growing up. Thank God my parents raised me the way they did and not the way I wanted.
I was thinking, one day last week, that rising fuel costs probably aren’t bothering the Amish a whole lot.
I'll second that.
Rumspringa (also Rumschpringe or Rumshpringa, derived from the Deitsch term for "running around" ) generally refers to a period of adolescence for members of the Amish, a subsect of the Anabaptist Christian movement, that begins around the age of sixteen and ends when a youth chooses baptism within the Amish church or instead leaves the community.[1]The vast majority choose baptism and remain in the church.[2]
Not all Amish use this term (it does not occur in Hostetler's extended discussion of adolescence), but in sects that do Amish elders generally view this time for courtship and finding a spouse.[3]
It’s wrong to paint the “Amish” with one family’s brush. Sounds to me like this chick’s parents were abusive, but that doesn’t make the whole culture abusive.
I work with Amish guys a lot. They’re good people with good humor. I buy stuff from their farms too. Lots of interaction with them. I see no evidence of what this girl speaks. About the only thing I find strange is the different churches have different rules, even from one side of town to the other. Here, our east-side Amish can smoke, drink, use power tools, own phones (not in the house though)and I saw with my own eyes an electric coffee pot in one guys house. West-side Amish are more strict. One guy I know dug his post holes for his wrap-around porch by hand, probably twenty-eight or thirty, because they are not allowed to even hire someone with a post auger. Oh, he was Amish, then quit, then returned. I know another ex-Amish guy too.
There does seem to be a hierarchy when out in public. Only the leader speaks, whether the husband, father, or team leader. The rest remain silent unless necessary to speak. This was even true when I hired an Amish crew to replace my roof. I had to pry conversation out of the youngest guy when I had to drive him out to his farm to retrieve some forgotten tools. He’d barely talk.
“It’s wrong to paint the “Amish” with one family’s brush. Sounds to me like this chick’s parents were abusive, but that doesn’t make the whole culture abusive.”
True, but if the Texas CPS and Govewrnor Perry were around they could always demand taking all the children of the Amish.
Rising fuel costs, maybe not. But, huge numbers getting laid off from their RV factory jobs — that hurts.
Other misconceptions about the Amish (there are thousands living in western Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa) is that they shun all modern forms of transportation. While it is true that the Amish usually travel by themselves in horse and buggy, they do accept automobile rides from non-Amish neighbors. I also knew a state dairy inspector who refused to eat anything made by the Amish because of their frequent noncompliance with state dairy standards. That doesn’t stop me from eating Amish candy which is delicious.
Taking the children? No ... Amish men support their families.
“I was thinking, one day last week, that rising fuel costs probably aren’t bothering the Amish a whole lot.”
LOL...we live in upstate NY right on the NY/PA border.
Alot of Amish in this area.
Hubby and I were discussing how they must all be laughing at us right about now.
Not just about the cars - but the electric - and food prices too.
did u read the story?
you must be from the city or something. only then would you refer to the southern border of NY as “upstate.” ha!
When you tell people you are from NY everyone assumes you are talking about the city.
So those of us who live in the rural parts are used to saying “upstate”
And actually we do live “up” from the city which is to the southeast of us.
i grew up 150 miles due north of the city. that was upstate, and we always got a kick out of people from westchester/binghamton/elmira saying they were from upstate ny.
of course, now that i live in manhattan, i consider yonkers "upstate!"
Plattsburgh? “up-upstate?”
My FIL spends alot of time in the adirondacks and always says he’s heading “up-north”
I think upstate has just become a catch phrase for anything other than the city.
Our area is also referred to as the “souther tier” or the “twin tiers”.
Anything north of Westchester is Upstate. Everyone knows that!
That includes that long horizontal border that's north of here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.