Something else about the Amish..they are just like you and I. There are honest ones and dishonest ones, some who are great craftsman and some whose work just plain sucks and I would not have them build me a doghouse.
In our area that was some sexual abuse with young Amish kids 5-6 years back that was hushed up for a while but got so bad (repeat offenders) even the elders finally called in the police and hauled off the perps. There is physical domestic violence abuse you also don't normally hear about as well. The Elders/Church tries to take care of this stuff in house so you don't hear about it. The perps either change their ways, get shunned or they move to a different Amish community in another state.
All in all great people though.
Absolutely could not agree with you more.
We had sexual abuse here, as well. While I never saw physical bruises on my Amish clients, there was a young girl, very pretty, who had just stopped talking. There was not a thing wrong with her that the docs could find and we found no soft tissue issues that would affect her larynx. I always had suspicions, though.
Lots of stories from the 60s by the then-younger English men: being paid to impregnate Amish women though a hole in a sheet with the men standing guard so there was no other contact, was the most bizarre. This was their way of avoiding birth defects because they are so interrelated. Men who are now Elders were known drunks and more than few were known to have smoked pot. There are still young girls who have not yet joined the church who meet young English guys at the local restaurant, where they go into the restrooms and change into regular clothing. Rumspringa, I suppose.
The women have a hard life. It is common to see someone barely 28 with 5 kids. Like anyone else, they love pretty things and will admire my antique glass collection. Their own homes are plain, but the more affluent ones are very elegant, with antique furniture and lovely rag rags, all kept spotless.
Somehow, they have become enshrined in people’s minds as these saints, when, as you said, they are just people and some are great, while others are not.