Cliff and I recently went to Jamesport, a town about 100 miles from here. That's me sitting on the porch of the oldest house in town; a lady has set up sort of a museum/information-station there. We watched a 45-minute DVD telling about the "plain people".One thing we learned was that all Amish teenagers are set free at a certain age to do as they please. They are given an older, used buggy and a horse, and are allowed to party in any way they see fit. According to the mini-movie we saw, they're liable to be seen with boom-boxes in their buggies blasting out hard rock music. They can drink and smoke. I suppose they can watch TV, if they can find one to watch somewhere.
The amazing thing is that 98% of them return to the fold to live out their lives in the same simple way their parents did.
Here's the question Cliff and I had: Do many of the girls end up getting pregnant? It seems like they'd all be with child when they returned home after living the wild life.
Very interesting. I had never heard of them letting the young people go and see what the world is all about. That's quite a percentage to go back isn't it? I thought they were shunned if they didn't live the plain life but all's I know is what I see in the movies. I'm trying to think of the movie that was so good but DUH the ole' brain is on pause for the moment.
ReplyDeleteTHe teenagers have a choice to make during that time. Live like the rest of the world and be shunned by family and community or come home
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