Book Notes

Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish

By: Joan Ruddiman
   A story from 2006 will long be remembered not just for the horror, but also for what came after.
   A crazy man took Amish girls hostage in their one-room schoolhouse and attempted to assassinate them all before he killed himself. The story was too familiar — the deranged unleashing his demons on innocent children. That this happened in the bucolic Lancaster County to seemingly the most innocent of people compounded the horror.
   But what came after set the story apart, making it a topic for sermons, commentary and personal conversations. The Amish did not break from their quiet ways — there was no public wailing, no shouted recriminations. They "turned the other cheek" by expressing forgiveness of the evil man who terrorized and murdered their children — just like their scriptures tell them to do.
   And then they went to his funeral, ministered to his wife and children and encouraged the family to stay in the community so they could be cared for, just as the Amish would now care for the children who were permanently maimed in the shooting.
   Who are these people? How do they live so much in this world, but not of this world?
   The answers are more revealing than the tone of the questions would anticipate. The Amish are as pressured by the world as any, but choose to confront the challenges to their faith head-on. Most surprisingly, for many Amish, the way to ultimately thwart the sins of the world is to enter into them with reckless abandon. Thus is the premise behind one of their oddest traditions.
   The term is "rumspringa" — a period of time for Amish teens to "run around." For some, this means hanging out with groups of other Amish teens, playing volleyball and socializing with limited adult supervision. For others, rumspringa means weekend long parties with sex, drugs and lots of rock and roll.
   "Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish" by Tom Shachtman (North Point Press, 2006) is a fascinating look at Amish teens as well as what makes the Amish tick. Shachtman spent six years gathering over 400 interviews with Amish in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Initially the research was for the Stick Figure Productions documentary "The Devil’s Playground" (2002) he did with director Lucy Walker and producers Toby Oppenheimer, Steven Cantor and Daniel Laikind. After finishing his work for what became a highly acclaimed film, Shachtman returned to the subject for another two years of interviews for this book.
   The disturbingly provocative photo on the cover of the book and the DVD is jarring. The close-up is of a fresh-faced girl — in Amish cap and high- necked plain dress — flicking a lighter to light up the cigarette in her mouth. Do her parents know where she is and what she is doing? Most likely not, though her freedom to do as she pleases is sanctioned by her parents and by the church.
   The choice to be Amish is all encompassing. Mr. Shachtman writes, "To be Amish means to accept a faith and a way of life that puts them outside American civilization." The decision, therefore, is made in adulthood, not as a child. Baptism and full acceptance into the church is a choice usually made in the early 20s. Before that choice is made — to eschew cars, telephones, education beyond eight grade, watching professional sports among other demands — teens are encouraged to step out to explore the world before they choose to turn away from it.
   Mr. Shachtman tells the story of several Amish youths who enter into a range of rumspringa experiences. Interspersed are explanations of customs that seem foolishly limiting to outright abusive when taken out of context. Yet within the context of these communities, the rules seem less rigid. For those who choose to stay Amish, those rules define a safe and comfortable world.
   The Amish feel so strongly about protecting the sanctity of their communities that these private, pacifist people literally take their fights to the Supreme Court. In 1972, with Associate Justice William O. Douglass dissenting, the court ruled in favor of the Amish to end formal education at eighth grade. The Amish argued that their way of life would be threatened if their children were forced to attend public high school. The court reasoned that these children would become farmers or housewives, or train for jobs as carpenters or other craftsmen with Amish parents or neighbors and thus did not need a high school education. Justice Douglass wrote in his dissent that if an Amish youth wished to be a pianist, astronaut, oceanographer, he or she was "forever barred from entry into the new and amazing world of diversity that we have today."
   Mr. Shachtman tells of several Amish youths who don’t want to reject their faith but are called to do more with education and careers than what is open to them in their community. They ultimately live between two worlds, coming home to visit and in some cases, plying their professions within the Amish communities to help their own.
   Though Amish parents are happier if their adult children return to the fold, if a young man or woman has not asked for baptism, he or she will still be part of the family. But woe to those who profess their faith and then leave the church. The punishment — shunning — is swift and permanent. To "be put in the bann" is to be excommunicated — literally put outside communion with the church and community. Many of the Amish teens interviewed willingly gave up modern comforts and overcame addictions to return to faith and family, church and community. In their rumspringa time, they realize how much they cherish these connections.
   Donald Kraybill of Elizabethtown College explains, the "ordnung" is "the social blueprint…that spells out the understanding of acceptable and unacceptable Amish conduct." The bottom line is protecting a person’s relationship with God and the sanctity of family. If it is good for the family, do it. If it tears at the family, don’t. As some quick examples, bathrooms are good for the family. Telephones, televisions and professional sports are not.
   Pennsylvania farmers willing put modern bathrooms inside their houses when the state made the case that run-off from excessive fertilizer in fields and outhouses was seriously polluting the Chesapeake Bay. A formula was worked out on how much manure to use on the fields and that bathrooms with septic systems must be in all houses, thus enabling families to stay on their farms. That was good.
   For a successful cabinetmaker, a telephone in the barn is good for business and thus good for the family. A telephone in the house interferes (does it ever!) with family time. Telephones in the house are bad.
   The sustenance of family is work in more than just an economic sense. Work — whether on the farm, at jobs, at home, caring for the elderly or disabled — the Amish contend contributes to the inner strength and stability of the family and the community. They lament the loss of farms as this means children — of all ages — don’t have the discipline of chores.
   Moving into more modern jobs has brought on other problems. Moses Smucker fought the Federal government for over six years to overcome fines and penalties resulting from a charge of violating child labor laws. What do you do with kids when they are finished with formal schooling at age 14? You put them to work.
   With the decline of farms, many Amish — and their teenagers — work in construction industries (assembling motor homes is a big business for Amish in Indiana), or in shops and restaurants serving the lucrative tourist industry. Smucker was reported to the authorities for having his son, and other teens, working power equipment. In 2004, President George W. Bush signed the legislation that finally made it out of the Senate exempting the Amish from these laws.
   Mr. Shachtman cites several studies that affirm the Amish family values. Jerry M. Lewis of Kent State University attributes six factors to "competent" mainstream families that are inherent in Amish homes. These are: leadership is shared by parents; authority exists but without authoritarianism; individuality among children is permitted and encouraged; all family members are encouraged to express opinions; each family member speaks only for him or herself; and family members respect one another.
   In a concluding essay titled "Coming Home," Mr. Shachtman cites an array of 20th century theories on cognitive and emotional development. The Amish long ago figured out the secret of handling teens. As their teenagers reach the age of unreasonableness, parents let them go with faith that being grounded in a secure, loving family and community will draw them back when they once again can reason. Mr. Shachtman does not refer to the research on adolescent brains, but the time frame for rumspringa fits the period when the limbic-emotional center is calling the shots as the frontal lobe — the reasonable executive center of the brain is working to mature.
   The Amish may ignore the world, but they are not ignorant of its threats. Amish parents are aware of the long-range effects of drugs, STDs and other dangers and have countered with creative solutions, sanctioned by their bishops. Throughout the book, the juxtaposition of such conservative people with such liberal attitudes is as jarring as that cover photo.
   Not all Amish kids are saved from the perils of the world and some do not come back to the church. But what is remarkable is the large percentage — 80 to 90 percent says Shachtman — that do turn away from the wild side and live happily ever after in the confines of their chosen Amish world.
   Joan Ruddiman, Ed. D., is a teacher and friend of the Allentown Public Library.