I just found something amazing about the Amish. I don't know much about them, just the usual movies and TV coverage, so finding something new is not that surprising. Two years ago, after a deranged man shot and kill several Amish children, they forgive him after a couple of days. I would have pushed him into a woodchopper, extremities first to make it last, so their attitude impressed me.

I always wondered about how isolated they really are. After all, despite what TV says, they do buy seeds and fertilizers, and they do sell furniture in a semi-industrial fashion. And if their kids are isolated, how could they exercise free will? Do they choose to be Amish? Can they leave? They have their own language, clothes, schools, traditions - it must be hard to break away.

I found a documentary (The Devil's Playground) that sheds some light. Of course it might very well be propaganda, but it is short and seems reasonable. According to the documentary Amish teenagers have a period of time, from 16 to 21 years old, that they are supposed to run around. The Rumspringa period literally means "run around" and they do all the stupid things stupid teenagers do, including drugs, getting drunk and having sex. Then they are supposed to choose whether or not they want to join the church.

If they do join the church, they have to give up everything and live like a traditional Amish. If they decide to live no one from their community ever talks to them again. They are shunned.