[TheForge] Amish- rant.....

[Phlip]

schade@acegroup.cc wrote:

> tony,
>
> i agree with some of what you say. there are a lot of amish around me and i admire their work ethic too. i hired an amish man to do some work for me and he brought his 19 year old and a 12 and 10 year old boys (the girls would never be taken on outside jobs like this). all really nice kids who worked hard.
>
> too bad they will only have the opportunity for an 8th grade education and that is at an all amish school. still want your kids to be like them?

Wait a minute, Bob. Yes, they only have an "official" 8th grade
education, but they are very well grounded in the basics- much better so
than many of our High School grads. Furthermore, education at home
beyond what they learned in school is not only allowed, but encouraged,
as long as it's reasonably
practical. The deal is, the kids work and do their chores and
appropriate prayer, and then they're allowed to study pretty much what
they want to.

One thing that isn't known by most English, is that they are actually
given a choice, the boys more so than the girls, but either is given the
choice of joining or not joining the Church at maturity. I remember
seeing one young man's  high performance 'Cuda parked in the shed next
to his folks' buggy.

Also, I noticed that some of you, presumably with a military background,
seem to resent their pacifism. It's obvious to me that you don't realize
how much the Amish and Mennonites do to help in disasters. The were a
very real presence in the Mexico City earthquake, among other things,
and their willingness to
help, with either the loan of a few young men, or of fodder and produce
in cases of drought or other disaster is well-known among those of us
who know and respect the Amish and Mennonites. The thing is, because of
their beliefs, they don't get up on National TV and blow their own
whistle- it's just not their
way.

A refusal to kill does not mean an abrogation of your responsibilities
as a citizen, it simply means that you find it necessary to help in
other ways, and Amish, Mennonites, Quakers, and other Plain People are
always there on the humanitarian end- and many have chosen jail rather
than to compromise their
beliefs.

We're a widely diverse people, we Americans, and there's room for all of
us.

Phlip