Things I like and don't like about the Amish

I agree with everything you said, but I'm going to elaborate on #7: Rumspringa.

One one hand, I think it's great that unlike many other Christian denominations where they baptize you at birth, the Amish believe in giving choice---the kids can choose Christ freely when they're at an adult-ish age.
But then again, what kind of a choice is it? Basically, they present the situation as either choosing God's Kingdom vs. the Devil's Playground, good vs. evil, the simple life vs. a life of excess and sin, etc. It's really not that simple. There's a MIDDLE GROUND. I'm an agnostic and I've never done anything these Amish kids have done. There's much more to the "English world" than sex, drugs, etc.


One other thing I must criticize: EDUCATION.

I was surprised that the excuse they gave for requiring kids to drop out after 8th grade is because "too much education leads to pride."
Not true. You can be humble and well-educated. If you're uneducated, you're ignorant, period.

I work in Nappanee, Indiana. One of the cornerstone towns in the Amish community. I will come right out and admit the Amish religion is very skew and grey at best. You bring up quite a few points that I totally agree with. However, I will bring up a few points that aren't in the philosophical realm. My points as to why I like/don't like the Amish are taken from social context.

Likes:

(1) They make some very good food. Kind of trivial, I know. But, seriously, good food.
(2) They often seem to be quite helpful of the English. Often more helpful than that of which they would have received. i.e. In the fall of 2007, Nappanee was hit with a tornado. I have a close personal friend who lost their house. Their neighbors, most of them English, had lost three of their roofs. In an eight hour day, those three roofs were replaced by the Amish neighbors in a leap frog fashion.
(3) Not all of those who are "jerked-over" have gone into a life of drugs, sex and illegal activities. There are tell-tale signs that you learn as to who was Amish, but for the most part, you can not tell them from the rest of us. Hard working, diligent, caring, communicable people.

Sadly enough, this concludes the positive attributes I carry for the Amish.

Dislikes:

(a) Their buggies and bicycles are always in the way. I have to go around them either way. Traffic gets congested, in town and on the highway. It is entirely unnecessary. I could not begin to remember all my "close calls" not to mention everyone I know.
(b) They, at least in Nappanee, are not required to have a catch below the horse's exhaust pipe to keep the fecal matter off the roads. Just another thing to swerve around.
(c) They wave every time I pass by them on their bicycles on back roads. Why? We have nothing in common. The only thing I can come up with is the matter of appreciation they are expressing to me for not running them over. It is not really bad, but it gets on my nerves and in my opinion, they are abusing the wave.
(d) Their "domestic" animals are left at free roam. I say "domestic" because they aren't an animal bred for food or labor. This brings up a couple problems that the advanced society has to deal with eventually.
(d1) All of these animals are left loose to breed with other loose animals. Soon enough, animal control is necessary and inbred dogs and cats are in abundance.
(d2) With free roam, they are easily found in the dead center of your headlights at a short distance with no time to react leaving $300+ to your front bumper.
(d3) These animals are often cared for very little. This introduces possible diseases and other problems of the like such as lice, tics, fleas, etc.
(e) Rumspringa, although provides an excellent way for the choice of religion, causes a "preacher's daughter's syndrome" if you will. A childhood of shelter and restriction leads to an adolescence of havoc. Often resulting in drugs, sex, mischief, violence, etc. Teens go crazy as soon as they are allowed to live their own life during their Rumspringa decision making time.
(f) One thing that has always bothered me, use of new technology. They are not allowed by religion, with exceptions, to have a phone. But, they will come next door to ask to borrow yours. Or they will ride down the road on their bicycles talking on a cell phone. They can not own or operate a car, but they can ride in one. They pride themselves on a strong work ethic, yet their bicycles are the laziest you will ever see with windshields, relaxed position and bucket type seats.
(g) Finally, they have horrible personal hygiene. There isn't really much to elaborate on here.

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I don't like how they don't adhere to animal cruelty laws. That kennel bust was horrific.

The comments about education made me very angry. When they say education leads to pride, what I think they really mean is, "Education leads to being able to THINK FOR YOURSELF, and to NOT be controlled."

If people could think critically, challenge the tenets of their religion, and make rational choices, I believe that some of them would leave their church.

I would be a lot more impressed with the Amish if I thought that the people were truly there by CHOICE.

Interviewing them and having them claim they're happy means nothing. Most cult followers will say that. They're either brainwashed or are too afraid to state their true feelings, because they know they will be punished.

If you go back to 1978 and Jim Jones's People's Temple, the folks there claimed they were happy, when in fact they were practically prisoners.

The secrecy and isolation is a perfect setting for all kinds of control and abuse.

"(g) I (and others) have found them not terribly friendly, unless they want to sell something. Of course I'm what they're trying to keep themselves apart from, so why *should* they be friendly with me? Friendliness may lead to wearing jeans, which might lead to--GASP--a different religion."

my mother and grandmother used to take my sister, and me to ohio amish country all of the time when we were kids. and they were always nice to us. then again we only ever went to places in amish country that sold stuff.. so that makes a lot of sense lol.

the one thing that sticks in my head from our treks into the 17th century land is that not one of them uses deodorant. i used to work at a water treatment plant, and good god nothing there even remotely smelled worse than an amish person with their arms raised within breathing distance of you.