American Experience (1988–…): Season 24, Episode 5 - The Amish - full transcript

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Yeah, okay.

Okay, let's chat.

Tell the cameraman to get lost!

He doesn't come until tomorrow.



Good.

That's good.

So tell me, I want to know,
first of all, about your family.

Where did they come from,
and how did they get here?

Oh, well, when they came
to America,

they landed in Philadelphia,
and then Benjamin Franklin...

Welcome to the Amish farm
and house.

My name is Don.

I'll be your tour guide today.

Talk a bit about the Amish,
and where they come from.

All goes back to the Protestant
Reformation, 1517,

Martin Luther.

We'll start over here
with the wardrobe.

Up to the age of one year old,



a little girl or a little boy
in the Amish community

will wear something like this.

Why is it that the fashions
seem frozen in time,

and yet they're
wearing flip-flops?

Is there an identity
as Americans, or...

I'm sure the Amish would
see themselves that way.

They're not always seen that way
by the surrounding community,

and sometimes there's
a little friction.

They won't fly the flag,
they won't pledge allegiance,

they won't... you know, they
don't vote on a regular basis.

Now look at these homes.

All these homes on both sides,

and the Amish are working
on the roof up there.

These are all Amish homes.

You want to get pictures?

I'll just hold it a minute.

You can get the pictures
you'd like to have.

Amish people do not want you to
take their photograph up close.

They believe it breaks the
second of the Ten Commandments.

When we're riding along

and they're out in the field or
along the road, that's all fine.

It's a mystery to me

why they come by the millions
to look at us.

I guess it's the simple life

and the cute kids in the buggy
and the cows in the pasture,

and it's all visual.

But anybody's kids are cute.

Is it any different, say,

than going to Disney World
or Yellowstone Park?

Is it any different from that?

For the tourist?

Are they yearning for something?

Are they seekers?

Now, the Germans came here,

and they said,
"This looks like Germany,

so we're going to stay."

They did.

They didn't know it at the time,

but this is the best soil
in America.

Are those hawks?

Down here on the left
is an Amish farmer...

The Amish people are
so-called salt of the earth.

And I'm not saying that we are,

I'm just saying
that we're supposed to be.

And if we go back to Genesis,
the beginning of the Bible,

why, we soon realize

that man was driven out
of the Garden of Eden,

out on the land, and there
he was to serve his time.

And work the soil,
with the sweat of his brow.

When a man is working the soil,

he is as close to God
as he can get.

That's the closest you can get
to God, working the soil.

And now we live in days

where 85% of our people
are no longer on the soil.

So now what do we do?

Okay, we're off!

Probably four-and-a-half's okay.

It's just that one row
was extra thick there.

Yeah.

Well, we were stacking
that one up,

because we thought we were
going to run out of wagon.

Yeah.

In 1923, my great-grandfather
purchased this farm.

And it's been in our family
since that time.

We're the fourth generation,

our children would be
the fifth generation.

Dad was kind of thinking
of winding down,

and I was undecided.

But I started sensing that I was
being drawn back to the farm.

I saw that Dad needed some help.

So, that's kind of how
that started.

And even when I started,

I wasn't sure, you know,
if I wanted to do this.

I wouldn't recommend it to young
guys who aren't married.

I certainly wouldn't be at it
for 25 or 30 years,

like I am now,

without having a wife
and children.

My desire is that we can raise
sons and daughters for the Lord.

Whatever occupations
they may choose, that's not...

that's secondary.

And yeah, it would be ideal
if he would step in

and take over the farm here
in ten years.

But it's very...
way too premature

to say that's
what's going to happen.

So we'll just take
a day at a time,

a year at a time
and see what happens.

The Amish sense is that God's
followers, the faithful,

are going to be a small number.

And they are passing
through this world,

and the world is an evil place.

In 16th-century European life,
the Anabaptists were unique

because they believed
in "Believer's Baptism"...

That is, baptism as an adult...

But what that really symbolizes
is the understanding

that making a Christian
commitment

and joining the church

is something that you can
only do voluntarily.

And that put them at odds
with the state.

Baptism, adult baptism
was a capital offense,

and they got
the medieval equivalent

of the electric chair.

2,000 to 3,000 died as martyrs.

The government appointed
Anabaptist hunters

that would go out
looking for them,

so they would hold services
in caves,

hold services in the woods
at night,

and basically became
an underground movement.

And that has really stayed
in the DNA

of Amish culture
and Amish history.

It's not unlike slavery
for African Americans.

It's not unlike the Holocaust
for Jews.

So there's this sense
of being a separated people,

of being a minority people,
of being cautious

about what the outside world
might do to you again.

They're in our world, but
they're not part of our world...

They're in the world
but not of it...

And that's what they want to be.

They are working together
to actively live

according to Christ's teachings.

And the majority of the world
is not doing that.

So the sense is

that "We are pilgrims passing
through this world,

"on the way
to the eternal world.

"We don't get attached
to this world;

"we don't get attached
to the things of this world.

"We do our best,
we try to serve God,

and then we hope that will mean
we are worthy of salvation."

Baptism is a very
important step.

It's probably the most
important decision

they will make in their life.

They are on their bended knees,

and they're making
this lifelong pledge to God

that they will stick
with the Christian faith

and they will stick
with the Amish church

for the rest of their life.

It's an enduring commitment.

I was standing in the kitchen,

and my dad came up the stairs

and came over to me
and was, like,

"You know, you make me
the happiest dad in the world,"

and put his arm around me
and gave me a hug.

And I was all confused,

because I didn't know
what he was talking about.

He was, like,

"I didn't know you were going
to join church this fall!"

And I was, like, "Oh, yeah,
I guess I am!"

He's happy that I'm
joining church, and...

Then it made me
really happy, too.

I tried to tell myself, you
know, during the service that

it's just any normal church,
I don't have to be nervous.

But if I let myself
think about it

and think of every step,
I kind of get nervous.

When I was kneeling down
on the floor,

I remember thinking my feet hurt
because I was sitting on them.

And then I was, like,

"Man, all these people
are praying for me."

And just... wow!

It just felt good.

And I'm still down on my knees,

and then one of the ministers
brings the bucket of water

and cups their hands above my
head, and he says, you know,

"I baptize you
in the name of the Father,"

and they pour water,
"Son," pours more,

and then "The Holy Ghost."

I remember thinking,

"Whoa, there's a lot of water
in my lap!"

And then I'm baptized,
and then they help me stand up

and say, you know, "Now you're
a member of the church,

"and you're no more a stranger.

You're a sister
in the church now."

I just wanted to go...

flutter around
and be happy, I guess.

On the way home,
I just wanted to sing.

This morning I got up
at quarter till 5:00,

and I started getting
the laundry together.

Then I woke the girls at 5:00,
and they made breakfast.

My husband gets up,

and then the schoolchildren
get up around 5:30.

And by 6:00 or 6:15,
we're ready for breakfast.

This morning the girls
made blueberries and pancakes

and whipped cream and eggs.

And then after breakfast,

we gather in the living room
for devotions,

which is Bible reading
and singing and prayer.

♪ Amazing grace... ♪

The day wouldn't seem to start
right without it.

♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪

♪ I once was lost,
but now I'm found ♪

♪ Was blind, but now I see. ♪

Home is the foundation

for children to be taught
about God and how to live,

and to learn values

and just everything that really
goes with them later in life.

♪ How precious did
that grace appear ♪

♪ The hour I first believed. ♪

I think if we want to be a
Christian and live a godly life,

we have to be submissive.

I don't mean that
I have to be doing

all the work for everybody

or doing all the jobs
nobody else wants to do.

That's not what
I'm talking about.

You know, Jesus,
when he was here on earth,

he came and was
a servant to mankind.

And I think that's the example
that he put forth for us.

The more you can be a servant
to other people,

to your family, to your husband,

to your children
and others around you,

I think that's
the more happiness

and peace of life you can have.

And then we will be blessed.

We'll feel blessed.

Some people talk about
Amish family values.

Well, you know,
in a certain sense,

the family unit is not
the most important social unit

in Amish life.

The Amish church is the most
important social unit.

And though most Americans,

Christians who are involved
in the church

and take their church seriously

say they really value
their church,

it's a very different
sort of understanding

of what role that church
plays in your life.

The Amish basically
see individuals as weak.

It's only by joining
with others in the church,

by really giving yourself up
to the church,

by trusting that together
we'll gain the strength

to lead a worthy life.

It's only by doing that

that you can hope to be
worthy of salvation.

I just remember going to church

and sitting in the back
of the carriage,

and we'd go to church.

And Mom would put on
my straw hat

and my black coat and my shoes,

and I'd sit in the back with
my sisters, my two sisters,

and we'd go to church.

And there's 175 districts
in Lancaster County,

give or take one or two,

and we all have church
every two weeks.

We did that ever since
the 1740s,

when the first Amish services
were held in America.

You had to go to church.

You went to church unless you
were almost deathly sick.

In the summertime,
they'd have it in the barn.

In the wintertime,

they'd clear out all the
furniture out of the rooms

and set up benches.

The ministers would make
the start to go in...

and then the older men,
then the older women

and then the girls.

They boys got to sit
in the back,

and they got to come in last.

And you sat down,

and then somebody would start
singing the slow German songs.

It was all in German.

And one of the ministers
would get up and preach.

They were not permitted
to have any notes at all.

Everything had to be
from memory.

Church isn't just something
you go to on Sunday mornings,

it's not just a place
to receive sacraments,

it's not just somewhere
to assure your future in heaven,

but it's an everyday
reality today

that attends to your social
and physical needs

as well as your spiritual needs.

We go to church to increase
our chance of salvation.

We go to church to...
fellowship with other people.

"Did you hear about Henry?

He bought that farm next door
to Joe's place."

And, "Did you see
the runaway yesterday?

Those horses ran off."

"Did you hear about what's going
to happen next week?

Jake Fisher wants
to set up his barn."

And there'll be some youngster
saying that,

"The Philadelphia Eagles
did this or did that."

"Did you hear Levi Fisher's
had another baby,

"and it's a boy?

Now they have seven boys."

And "Mrs. so-and-so had another
baby, and it's a girl.

Now they have five girls."

You can practically see,
fairly well, every two weeks,

if that family's happy or not.

We're very transparent.

We see practically everything
everybody does.

Paradise, the heavenly name

of a town in Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania,

home of the people known
as the Amish.

Now, here's one place
in the United States

where the automobile is
considered a needless luxury.

For 250 years, the Amish
have never changed location,

mode of living, manner of dress,
or type of occupation,

which is farming.

Single men shave,
married men wear beards.

The mustache is out.

Public telephones contact
the outside world,

but there are no phones
in the homes.

Women wear white bonnets on
weekdays, black ones on Sundays.

Buttons are considered
frivolous,

so pins are used instead.

The Amish religion governs every
phase of life, even to dress...

Men were supposed to have hats

with at least so many inches
of brim on the hat.

They were supposed to wear vests
when they were out visiting,

they could wear buttons
on their shirts

that were, you know,
that weren't too fancy.

And the women had
to wear coverings.

I don't remember how
he measured that...

Was it how big
the covering should be,

or how much of the hair
should be covered?

But something to that effect.

Dresses should be at least

halfway between the knees
and the ankles.

They shouldn't wear colors

that were not allowed
in the community.

Pink or red or any of those
really bright colors

were not allowed.

The Amish go over those rules
over and over again,

every six months.

It's a way of sort of
maintaining that religion.

And it keeps people thinking
the Amish way.

The Ordnung is the discipline
of the church.

It tells people what you
should be doing, basically,

and how you should be doing it,
and what's off limits...

What kind of behavior
is off limits,

what kinds of material goods
are off limits.

You know, how you can interact
with the world,

and with whom in the world
you can interact.

To me, it's a way of life
that protects...

protects me from some
of the outside things

that I would definitely get into

if I wouldn't
have the boundaries.

I'd like to have a camera.

But I usually don't feel
that it's worth it...

worth it for me to throw
everything else away

for a few things
that I'd like to have.

The church sets boundaries.

They don't feel that it helps
you walk a Christ-like life.

So, if I would get some of those
things, I would feel guilty.

Because I've promised
to help build the church

and not have these things.

Very early on, church discipline
was important

because in a time
of persecution and trial,

it was the way
that you kept people

from easily discarding
the faith.

The church was there
not just to encourage you,

and not just to help you think
about what might be right;

the church was there to actually
provide discipline

and to warn you if you were
on the wrong track.

We haven't bought
into American consumerism.

Staying with the horse,
for instance,

has determined the distance
we travel.

It's preserved
all the small towns.

That's where we go
to do business.

You go outside Amish communities
in the Midwest,

small towns are all dying,

because there's a Walmart
on the outskirts

siphoning all that money
out of that community

and overnight into Arkansas.

By not having electricity,
imagine all the aisles

I don't have to walk down
in the department store.

Aisles of hair blowers
and dryers and toasters,

and all that.

Hey, I don't have to walk down
that... that's liberation.

I don't have to make
many decisions.

The communities make
the decisions.

To me, that's liberation.

It's all part
of not ever questioning

any part of the culture.

And I could never do that.

I was always asking,
"Why can we hire taxi drivers

"to take us to Middlefield
to buy our groceries,

"but I'm not allowed
to have a bicycle

that would pedal me there to get
my own groceries on my own?"

My mother would say to me,

"Oh, Saloma, you would just be
so much better off

if you didn't ask
these questions."

So there would be no answer.

I can remember feeling...

feeling that this is
what I want.

Like I can remember the night
that I feel I accepted Christ.

I was outside.

I was walking.

Yeah, it's almost too personal
to talk about.

But there were some things
that I had done

that I knew weren't right, and I
just remember crying out to God,

and it just seemed like
I was just flying.

I could just...

I was so free.

I just knew God had forgiven me.

Just knew he had.

I felt that saving grace.

And...

Yeah, I just felt
that I could...

I think I could live this life.

I think the first 100 years,

from the mid-18th
to the mid-19th century,

the Amish felt
more at home here.

Amish people shared a lot
of lifestyle similarities

with people who were not Amish.

And so they were living

in a largely
Pennsylvania German culture,

where people spoke Pennsylvania
German, or Pennsylvania Dutch.

They were farming, but many
of their neighbors were farming.

They were using
horse-drawn vehicles,

but their neighbors were using
horse-drawn vehicles.

It was with the beginning
of the Industrial Revolution,

the fads and the fashions
that were becoming available.

That's what troubled
the Amish mind

and troubled the Amish soul.

The focus in the Amish society
is on the community.

Always on the community.

In American life, the focus
is on the individual...

Getting ahead,
freedom of individual choice,

making a name for yourself,
self-achievement.

All of those
are in direct opposition

to key values
of the Amish way of life.

Humility, community,
cooperation,

putting yourself
under the church

and the authority of the church.

And so that is the big wedge

between these two different
ways of life.

The first item of technology
that created an issue

was the telephone.

Because if you have a phone
and you can call, why visit?

Why go and see the person?

It connected them
to the outside world.

It meant that outsiders
could come into their home,

into their kitchen,
via the telephone.

And that is a principle
that the Amish have used

with a lot of technological
developments,

to have some kind of a firewall
between you and the technology,

but yet use it and access it.

The main core
of Amish motivation

is to keep
the local church together.

If you give someone
the keys to the car,

they're going to go off
to the city.

Young people go off
and get jobs.

So to the Amish way of thinking,

the car will fragment
our community;

it will splinter the community;
it will pull us apart.

Now electricity does the chores
for the farmer's wife.

If a technology is necessary,
then okay, that's one thing,

but if it's making life
more convenient

and making life easier,

that doesn't seem like a real
good reason to get something.

In fact, working hard and having
our time taken up in labor,

as opposed to leisure, that's
probably the better way to err.

I think in the early
20th century,

there was a whole lot
of thinking

that industrialization
and technology and progress

are going to make lives easier
and make lives better.

For the Amish
to dig in their heels

when this promise of a better
life is coming along

makes them quite strange.

Strange in the worst sorts
of ways.

I think people saw
their backwardness

as an embarrassing part
of American life.

By the 1920s and 1930s,
the consensus is that

we're probably seeing
the last generation of people

living like this.

I was studying at Yale,
and I decided,

"Maybe I can work on the Amish."

My professors thought
it would be good

if I documented them
before they died out.

Everybody I had interviewed

had said only negative things
about them.

It was just after World War II.

They were pacifists, so they
hadn't gone into the army.

Their neighbors had lost sons
in the war.

So they didn't like them
because they didn't go to war.

They didn't like them because
they didn't want paved roads.

They didn't like them because
they didn't want electricity.

And electricity was just coming
into this rural area.

And they didn't like them

because they didn't want
telephones.

And if your neighbors
would get a telephone,

it didn't cost you as much
to have a telephone line in.

And they wouldn't do that.

So there was no reason
to like them.

The Amish would say
they are Americans.

They are citizens.

They pay their taxes.

But they also keep the world
at a distance.

They see the world
being based on force.

They see their church community

being based on love
and nonviolence and patience.

I love this country.

We have a country
of great people.

But the kingdom of heaven
comes first.

This trend in America,

"Love America or leave it,"
you wave the flag.

The flag is fine, but we're
the only nation in the world

that worships the flag.

It's weird.

It's very heathen.

The kingdom we live in,

we pledge our allegiance to God
and not the flag.

The Amish shape themselves
by rejecting us.

And that's hard to get around

if you're the group
that's being rejected.

I mean, they don't want
to be like us.

♪ We shall come rejoicing,
bringing in the sheaves. ♪

A shooting has been reported

at an elementary school
in Lancaster County...

A number of people killed
in a shooting

at a one-room
Amish schoolhouse today,

that word
from a state trooper...

People are gathering now
near the crime scene,

blocked off by state police,

investigating the carnage
here in Lancaster...

Good afternoon, my name is
Colonel Jeffrey B. Miller.

I'm the commissioner of the
Pennsylvania State Police.

With me is Mr. Don Totaro,

the Lancaster County
district attorney.

When we landed there
and walked around the fence,

the first thing I saw were the
troopers that came to greet me.

Some of them had blood

all over their clothing,
over their uniforms,

so you knew that it was
not going to be

a good scene to survey.

The call came in
from a schoolteacher,

stating a male entered the
school and had taken hostages.

He apparently told the kids

to line up in front
of the blackboard.

He began to tie the females',
the children's, feet together.

He then took the boys...

there was exactly 15 boys there,
between six and 13.

He let them leave.

Within 20 minutes of that call,

we had troopers
surrounding the school.

They were just breaking down
the front door,

and that's when
the shooter looked

and saw that the trooper
was coming through the window

and was going to kill him.

He turned the gun on himself.

But he had already shot every
single one of those girls.

It was about 11:15 when we found
out about what's going on.

We didn't know if she's
in a hospital somewhere

or if she's at the school,

because we knew there were some
at the school that had died.

Those five hours
were a very long time

to not know whether our daughter
had survived or not.

The families were obviously
very distraught,

not knowing where
their children were,

were their children alive,
dead, they didn't know.

We didn't know who was who.

The girls all wear
the plain dresses.

They don't have any...
they don't have any ID on them.

Had they had things that
children wear in public schools,

I mean, even these...

the young ones now
have cell phones

and backpacks and things,

and these children did not
have anything like that.

There was no way to even begin
to try to identify them.

We were so ready to find out
where she's at, if she survived.

We just wanted to know.

The hardest part was coming home

and telling the ones at home
that she's gone.

We have identified the suspect;

we have a positive ID on him.

His name is Charles Karl Roberts
the fourth.

He's 32 years of age, and he
resides in Bart, Pennsylvania,

which is very close to here.

He is a truck driver,
drives a tanker truck,

works the night shift...

It was a very, very
difficult place,

and a very desperate place,

and in the middle
of that situation,

8:00, 9:00 that evening,
the Amish neighbor walked in.

And one of the things
that I share with people

who I've been able to talk with

is that, in a sense,
grace walked in the door.

And with grace walking in the
door, hope walked in the door.

And we didn't know it at the
time, but that's what happened,

that was the effect of him
coming and saying,

"Chuck," specifically,
Charlie's dad,

"we will forgive you."

To me, when I think
of forgiving,

it doesn't mean that you have
forgotten what he's done.

But it means that you
have released unto God

the one who has offended you.

And you have given up
your right to seek revenge.

I place the situation
in God's hands

and just accept that
this is the way it was.

And I choose not to hold it
against Charles

because it really doesn't
help me anything anyway.

Somebody told us, invited us
to go to Charlie's burial.

And first I said "No,
I just don't think I could.

I don't think I want to."

But the Saturday morning
came around and we decided,

"Okay, yeah, we want to go."

And I came home
from the burial thinking,

I was so thankful to God

that I don't need to make
a judgment on his soul.

And there was just
a wash of peace.

For me, it was like
unloading baggage.

It was just like, "Wow,
I don't need to deal with this.

This is God's territory."

Forgiveness requires
giving something up,

giving up your right to revenge,

giving up feelings
of bitterness,

whatever you define it.

For the Amish, that means
that it is of a piece

with so many other aspects
of their life,

because all of Amish life
is structured around rituals

of giving up, of self-surrender.

I think for many
of the rest of us,

forgiveness is a hard thing
because we think it's unnatural,

because it's so unlike
anything else we do.

We're all trained
to never give up anything.

For Amish people, it's hard,
but it's not unnatural.

Obviously, sometimes we would
like to say to God,

"You made a mistake."

But we're taught that God
doesn't make mistakes.

It's a form of humbleness, in
realizing that God is supreme,

he's much bigger than us.

I sometimes think of it
as my soul...

my soul is kneeling before God.

I might be working,
I might be washing dishes,

but my soul is kneeling
before God and saying,

"Thy will be done."

I cry.

It hurts.

I came into work
and my boss said to me,

"Steve, there's a trial
out in Morristown today,

"on an Amish who didn't get
a building permit.

Here's the file, go do it."

And I'm, like, "What?"

So I had the file,
I drove up to Morristown,

and I met with a young man
up there

whose name was Andy Miller.

I pulled up to the courthouse,

and there were 50 horse
and buggies, everywhere.

I went inside, and there was
no room in the courtroom.

Old time beliefs met modern laws

at the Morristown municipal
building Thursday.

More than 75 members
of a nearby Amish community

came out for a case
about building permits.

The Amish community says
those requirements

violate their freedom
of religion.

Town officials say some members
of the Amish community...

There are a number of aspects

of the building code
that are problematic.

The need for smoke detectors and
now carbon monoxide detectors...

That's putting your faith in a
man-made device instead of God.

What God wants to happen
will happen.

The Amish are building
their homes

according to way their Ordnung
says they have to build.

If, heaven forbid, a fire comes,
sweeps through the house

and something terrible happens,

the child will be
in a better place,

the people will be in a better
place, they'll be with God.

Theirs is not an intellectual
faith; it's a lived faith.

In a very real way,
because everything they do

is guided by their Ordnung,
by their beliefs,

in a way,
they're always in church.

We're not talking
about a religion

that was created yesterday

to do something
that was considered illegal.

We're talking about a religion
that's been in existence,

and then the law changed to make
the way they live illegal.

And I think that our country
is built on a foundation

that says that they should
continue to be allowed

to practice their religion.

For the Amish,
there's this real sense

that persecution comes
as a kind of test of the faith.

The world wants us to change,

but as long as we stick to
the ways of our forefathers...

God's truth hasn't changed.

If we stick
to our forefathers' ways,

then we haven't changed either,

and we're not drifting
and the church remains strong.

At the beginning
of the 20th century,

rural Americans went to the
little local country school

up to the eighth grade...

Both Amish and their
non-Amish neighbors.

The little kids went
to school and played together,

and they were taught
by a public school teacher.

We changed.

We began to consolidate schools.

We began to lengthen
the school year

and to raise the age at which
you could leave school.

For the Amish, education
should be practical.

It was important to learn
to read, to write, to spell,

to do some arithmetic.

And that's what you go through
the eight grades to get.

The book learning is important,
the schooling is important,

but it's values that you get at
home working with your parents

that's the most important.

They worried that if
they sent their children

to the public high schools,

the children would become
individualistic,

they'd be exposed
to outside ideas...

they would leave the church,

they would pursue
other occupations.

Amish elders worried

it would lead to the demise
of their church.

One of the local civil
authorities, secular leaders,

was saying, "School's needed to
prepare children for the world."

And the Amish comment was,
"Which world?

"Not this one.

This one is temporary."

You are charged with failing,

on the 9th day of March, 1960,

to send your child or children
to a day school,

whose subjects and activities

are prescribed by the state
council of education,

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,

in violation of Section 1327
of the school code.

I am here on your mercy.

I sentence you to five days
in the county prison.

The world is persecuting
us again.

The world wants us to change.

This change is not our faith,

it's not how we should
be doing things

if we are to be
"good Christians."

And so, you go to jail.

There was a lot of coverage
in the New York Times

and some other national
publications,

where the Amish
became associated

with the one-room schoolhouse.

Even as it was disappearing,

and perhaps in part
because it was disappearing,

it held a very nostalgic draw
on other Americans.

This one-room school

where all the children
knew one another well

and where there was one teacher
that loved her children

and not only taught them math,
but taught them values.

The Amish defending
the one-room school

really struck a chord
with some Americans.

And from that point on,

there's a much more
sympathetic edge

to the way the Amish were
portrayed and talked about.

People praise the Amish
for their self-sufficiency,

for the way that even
in the Depression

they were able to survive
on the land,

kind of a Jeffersonian
celebration

of who the Amish are.

And that doesn't
entirely displace

people's, you know, panning
of Amish life

as hopelessly backwards,

but it becomes
a much more prominent theme

from the 1930s forward
that the Amish represent

something true and virtuous
about American life

that some others
of us have lost.

I really thought education
was important.

And the fact that they only
went to eighth grade

I thought was such a shame
and too bad.

One day I was visiting one
of the leaders of the community,

and I said, "You know,
I really am upset

"that you don't go
to high school

"and that you don't let
your children go on,

even when they want to."

And he said to me,
"You see that field out there?

"It's owned by my neighbor.

"My son and his son
are the same age.

"His son went on to high school.

"My son is already
working on the farm.

Someday my son
will own that farm."

And sure enough, the neighbor's
son became an engineer

and laid pipe in South America,

and the Amish man's son
bought the farm.

Wisconsin against Yoder,
and others.

Mr. Ball?

Mr. Chief Justice,
if it may please the court.

The Amish do not want
their children

and they do not want themselves
to be exposed

to the spirit of luxury,
of ostentation, of strife,

consumerism, competition,
speed, violence,

and other such elements
as are commonly found

in our American life.

Therefore, education for them...

In a unanimous ruling,

the Supreme Court has upheld
the right of Amish parents

to keep their children out of
school after the eighth grade,

in spite of compulsory
attendance laws

to the contrary.

The court said the Amish,
a devout religious sect,

had shown their sincerity
in their 250 years

and noted that
the ruling for them

does not apply
to newly created groups.

I think he's going to have mixed
feelings about leaving school.

He likes school very well,
but I'm looking forward to it.

I've been farming 25 years

without a boy of my own
around here.

He's going to miss
that connection that he has

with the other people at school.

And he likes challenges
academically.

So to come home on the farm
and work for me every day

will probably be a little
adjustment for him.

But we stress simple,
sound education,

and he's gotten that
for eight years,

and I'm satisfied
that that's enough.

And that he needs to move on

and see what else
life has to offer him.

When I was a child,
I loved school.

I was in my element in school.

My desk was my little domain.

At home there was not even
one private space.

Not a drawer, not anything.

School was absolutely
my best time.

And it opened up
a whole new world

and a whole new way of thinking.

When I was going
into eighth grade,

I knew that this was going
to be my last year.

And I didn't really allow myself
to think about it

until it was over.

And when it really hit me

was the first day
of the school term,

when my younger sisters
and my younger brother

started going to school.

I remember going upstairs
to my room,

and I remember sitting
on the edge of the bed

and looking down
at the woven rug at my feet

and saying, "Now what?"

You know, I used to be able
to get away from all of this.

And I just saw my future

as pretty much
a long stretch of boredom.

And then I heard my mother
calling me, "Where are you?

Wo bist du?"

And I wanted to just yell back,
"Where do you think I am?"

Mom said, "Come on down,"
you know,

"You need to help
with the dishes."

So I, you know, I made my bed
and I went down.

I picked up the towel
off the counter

and started drying dishes,

and it was just one of those
moments where I felt like,

"If I could change this,
I would."

And I couldn't at that moment,
but I did... later.

I was 20 years old
when I finally decided,

"This is it, I need to leave."

Once I was
in Burlington, Vermont,

I just remember
the feeling I had

when I woke up in my own little
bed, in my own little room,

that first morning.

I felt like I was
a whole new person.

Like I could be anybody
I wanted to be

and that I was no longer Amish.

Not inside and not out.

I got my dream job
as a waitress at Pizza Hut.

And then I started dating.

She was more direct
in a lot of ways.

She was clearer
in what she wanted to do.

And she was also
a very good cook.

And believe me, that...
counted for something.

And I think, you know,

I was also experiencing
her sense of freedom.

And that's kind of
an attractive thing.

I knew sooner or later
Mom would call.

And she did.

She called one night to say,

"We're on our way
to come and get you."

She started speaking
in the Amish language.

She knew what she was doing.

She was pulling me right back
into the world I'd left.

Something changed in me
where I couldn't say no.

The Amish life
is not about saying no.

It's about going along.

I got a phone call from her.

It was a different person that I
was talking to than I had known.

She had switched off
some part of herself.

I was there for two years
and eight months.

And it was a very long
two years and eight months.

And then I realized that
no matter how hard I try,

this Amish life
just doesn't fit me.

I wanted freedom.

I wanted to make my own choices
about education,

about my spirituality,
about my relationships.

David and I got married
a year and a half later.

Though I sent them invitations,

nobody from my
home community came.

And none of my family.

The life I knew was ending.

I was letting people down.

Especially my mother.

She wrote to me and said,

"Well, today you were put
from the church,"

meaning you are now shunned.

Shunning is the result

of having made
that baptismal promise.

If I promise to God to uphold
the Ordnung of the church,

and you promise to God to uphold
the Ordnung of the church,

and then you break that promise,

for me to continue
to interact with you

in the same way would be...

would make me
break that promise.

And so, the Amish would say,

"We mark that broken
relationship with one another

"by saying that we're not going
to share a common meal

"with this person.

"We're not going to engage
in a business contract

with this person."

It can be quite painful,
and even quite bitter.

An individual, for example,

might find that some other
people still in the church

won't talk to them.

That's not at the heart
of the teaching about shunning,

but it is something
that happens in some cases,

because the pain
on both sides can be...

can be so intense
that it takes that form.

They are welcome to come back.

If they come back
and make a confession,

they can be fully reinstated
into the church.

So it's... they would see it
as an expression of love.

To the outsiders,

the shunning seems harsh,
and it can be harsh.

We had it in our home.

It is brutal.

We love to sit at the same table
to eat, and you cannot.

Christmas, Thanksgiving,
Easter...

They're not a part
of the family.

I was always kind of close
to my mom.

Closer, yeah.

I was closer to my mom
than my dad.

I was just kind of
a mama's kid, I guess.

It was hard for me to leave
my parents behind.

I mean, I knew how hard it was
when my brother left.

And I guess that's
kind of the reason

I didn't get to leave earlier.

I waited till I was 17
and I finally said,

"I'm going to leave."

I mean, I didn't understand
all the rules,

and I just, I didn't think...
a lot of them didn't make sense.

Me and my friend, we'd have
phones and stuff.

We were having a blast.

That was everything to us,

to have phones, radios,
and stuff like that.

Of course our parents wouldn't,
they didn't like that.

My dad would, like, he would
catch us with them,

we'd have to give it to him,

and he would destroy them
or burn them.

For me, I wanted to experience
a different life.

I wanted to go out and drive
a truck or something like that.

I just thought that was...
oh, that would be cool.

I work construction work.

We build pole barns.

It's probably not
my favorite thing to do,

but it's something
that keeps me going, so...

it's all I need, I guess.

Hey, Ben!

Yeah?

Let's eat.

Father, we come to you

and we just give you thanks
for this day

and I ask that you would be
with us this afternoon

as we go up on the roof.

And I thank you for the food,

ask that you bless it
and nourish it to our bodies...

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen.

That last time I went back,
it was really hard on my mom.

I don't know, I thought she was
going to... collapse.

But then I just tried
to tell her, you know,

I'm just a human being,
I just...

You know, it's not that bad.

You know, I'm just...
I'm just me, you know.

But I guess she hadn't seen me
in a while,

and I had a different haircut
and I looked different,

so it was really hard on her.

Then I talked to my dad
for a while,

and he told me that...

if I don't want
to come home to stay,

he'd rather me
just stay away, so...

and I, uh... I left after that.

Say there's a family of eight
and a boy leaves.

His place at the table
is always set

and nobody else sits there.

So three times a day he knows,
"My place is set."

That's a very powerful thing.

My mom was a very gentle soul.

She was always a servant
to everybody else.

She always made sure everybody
was taken care of, except Mom.

She always tried to be
the submissive woman.

And already then I wasn't sure
about that word "submissive."

And then I married an abuser,

and then the word "submission"
just became a monster.

I was so proud
of my first child.

But I also remember,

I would sit at the window
rocking my baby, and...

sitting there alone,
and I cried a lot.

I knew... I knew things were not
as they should be...

but I kept telling myself,
"It's okay, it'll be all right."

But I would cry a lot.

I talked to my husband.

He'd say, "We're married,
and I'm the head of the house."

I'd say, "You know,

"the Bible says the father
is the head of the home

"as Christ is the head
of the church.

"But we also need to remember
that Christ was not up here

like a master with a big whip."

Well, that just, you know,

that didn't work well,
because I was confronting him

and I was doubting
his words of wisdom.

I soon learned
not to say those things.

They always say that we need
to go to the church first,

which I did.

I went to the church
and I asked for help.

The very first thing that the
minister said to me when I said,

"We've been struggling with a
lot of abuse, and I need help,"

he looked at me and he said,

"So what did you do
that caused your husband

to treat you this way?"

That was such a blow.

In fact it came to the point

where the church
actually had both of us

not be able to go to communion

until we can see
where we have failed.

And I felt like an outsider
looking in.

Finally I reached the point
where spiritually I just said,

"I'm just done.

"I've just had it, Lord.

"I don't know what to do.

But I have to be connected
with the church again."

I told my husband, "I'm going
to go back to the ministers,

"and I'm just going to lay
myself out and say, 'Here I am.

"" I'll take any punishment
you give me.

"" I'll do anything.

I just need... I need
the church so bad. ""

And he said, "Well, if you do,
you're on your own

because I'm not going
to do it that way."

And so that's what I did.

I went back to the ministers,

and I just cried
and I just said,

"I'll just do anything
you tell me to."

I acknowledged anything
and everything

that I could think of
under the sun.

And yeah, say yes to things
that I didn't really think

maybe were exactly right
to say yes to.

But I did it out of obedience

because I felt God
nudging me that way.

And I got back in the church,
without my husband.

Obedience is not easy.

Verse number three, Rachel.

Would you read verse
number three again?

"In the sweat of thy faith,
thou shall eat bread,

"till thou return
unto the ground.

"For out of it you were taken,
for dust thou art,

and unto dust
thou shall return."

Wow. What do you think
about that?

You never looked at each other
as clumps of dust and...

We need to be reminded, Benny,

when I look at you, you're
really just a clump of dirt.

I'd like to ask
Levi Shetler a question.

How far ahead do you
plan in your life?

I don't really...

Do you have goals?

Not really.

Like what you want to do?

I mean live for God, and...

other than that,
I don't really have any goals.

You're just going
to do whatever comes?

Yeah.

I had a pretty good life
with my family.

I've been kind of... I've been
thinking about them lately,

and I went through
a little tough time, I guess,

just thinking about them.

I miss them, so...

I sometimes feel
like I should go back

and just try to talk to them
and talk things over,

you know,
and try to work things out.

So I guess, you know...

I don't know, so, what I'll do.

Surprise! Surprise!

Happy birthday!

Birthday boy.

I didn't expect this.

Surprise!

How old are you?

Twenty.

Twenty.
Yup, I'm turning 20.

Old man.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday, dear Levi... ♪

There's a lot
of financial pressure

on the Amish rural and
agricultural way of life.

Land has become very expensive.

You may have one farm
that's worth a million dollars,

but if you have to buy farms
for six or seven children,

it's just impossible.

I could be a farmer,

do carpentry, masonry,
have a market stand.

I could... framer, roofer,

painter, landscaper, any...

It's just on and on.

You could be a wallpaperer,
drywaller, um...

manufacturer,
welder, woodworker.

It's just this...
such big...

such a big variety
of things that...

of occupations in the area.

It's almost too early to tell.

I don't know.

I never went through it before,

so I don't know
how it's going to be,

like probably going to be fun

and still sometimes wish I could
still just go and play ball

and just have fun
playing and, yeah...

I don't know how it's...

I don't know
how it's going to be.

It probably won't seem
as different until the...

until school starts again
and then I won't go back.

What are 20,000 people
going to do

to make a living
in this tight area,

with the transportation mode
that we have?

What are they going to do?

They can't all buy farms.

Impossible.

They turn 16 and 17, and they
head for the factories.

When I started working
in the factory,

that's when I really grew up.

Because in there,
you... I mean,

you're treated like a man,
no matter how old you are.

It's a very high-pressured
atmosphere

where they don't care about your
clothes you wear, who you are.

It's just if you can work fast

and do what they want,
you're in.

And so that really made me grow
up, because it wasn't who I was,

it was what I could do.

You're always thinking ahead.

You're always thinking
what you need to do next.

I'm always thinking
as fast as I can.

I wouldn't want this
my whole life.

I wouldn't want to raise my kids
underneath this pressure.

We're just doing things that...

we didn't do 25, 30 years ago.

And when that happens,
you tend to panic a little bit.

You have to wonder:
Where are we going?

What's this going to lead to?

Is this what we really want?

I think the move off of the farm
into small businesses,

into working in outside
"English" factories

has been the most significant,
the most consequential change

since they came
to North America.

It touches how they think,

it touches how much
technology they use,

it exposes them
to outside ideas,

it exposes them
to the larger world,

it exposes their children
to many things.

And how that plays out over two
or three generations, I think,

is a major issue that we don't
know the outcome of that yet.

When we started thinking
about moving,

we looked in a lot
of different places.

We had to find a place that we
could travel by horse and buggy,

have the old ways
of doing things,

and still have enough work
going on in the area that...

that we had a chance of making
a living and making a go of it.

We don't know if this is
going to work out or not.

But if we do have to leave,
it will bring tears to our eyes.

So now on Bishop's place,
Bishop's is not listed.

He's given, given us
the right to go look at it,

so when we get there, let's just
walk all the way through there.

I know this house pretty well.

I'll point out
some stuff that...

I'd like to see the barn
about more than anything almost.

Oh, we'll get in the barn.

So what are you thinking

about one of these
five-acre pieces?

Just curiosity?

Okay.

You know, I did check out
the well on that one,

and it checked out
pretty good, if I remember.

But I'd have
to pull it up again.

I might even have that
information in your file.

I bet I do.

Over the years, I saw Ohio
changing tremendously.

And there's about four or five
times the number of families

living in the same area
than there was as a boy.

There's really no place
for the children to roam around

and go out back and play
and use their imagination.

They're just kind of stuck
on that little one acre of land

and that's not really
what I consider

the ideal Amish lifestyle.

Mr. Bishop said 275.

Did he, serious?
Did he really?

Right there, while
you were still there?

Yeah.

Well, that's good.

Yeah.
That's good.

That's a real good sign.

He said Bob and him talked
about it, and 275,

but he said,
"Well, we listed it for 295."

Because yeah, I'm sure
two years ago it was 335,

or something like that.. 339?

Amazing the difference
in the wells.

500 feet, 140 something?

Hard to believe.

We've still got a lot
of things to figure out,

entirely new country.

Back east we worried about
having too much water;

here we worry about
not having enough.

We've got to experiment

with different ways
of growing produce

and see what works
and what doesn't work,

and hopefully work things out
for the children in the future.

If we can stick it out here,

the first ones,
for a couple of years,

and we get 12 to 15 families
in that length of time,

and everybody is able to make
a living and survive,

then I would say that it
would be a thriving community

and could probably
grow from there.

I feel a tremendous
responsibility.

Some days it's almost
overwhelming.

I'm the eldest one here,

and we've got young people
moving in,

just extending themselves
right to the limit

to buy properties
and make a home here.

And if it doesn't work out,

I just feel like maybe
I let them down,

or maybe I should have
never started.

There are a lot of myths
about Rumspringa.

And basically it means
that young people

on Saturday and Sunday
afternoons, Sunday evenings,

can go out with their friends.

And so for the first time,
when they're 16,

an Amish boy may get
his first carriage,

he begins interacting
with peers in a larger group,

and this continues basically
until the person is married.

It's a time to socialize,

and especially it's a time
to look for a mate.

And they also are
in a friendship group

that will follow them
through the rest of their life.

Biggest difference is,

Saturday nights you got
your group of friends.

You go out with whatever
group you're with.

There's actually names for them.

It starts out with Low Clinton,

where they would basically
be like their parents.

They wouldn't do
any fancier clothes,

as far as even
Amish fancier clothes.

The High Clinton,

they might do a little bit
fancier clothes.

You know, the girls figure out

how to do fancier sleeves
on their dresses,

and the boys,
they might do corduroy.

And then there's
the "What's Up."

They would be more high class.

The latest jeans,
the latest shirts,

have up-to-date haircuts,

and some of them also go
clubbing and stuff like that,

date English girls.

I know where I'll end up

or where I hope to end up
as far as, like, my future.

But like, my friend and I,
we're just always, like,

"We just want to settle down
sometimes."

But then sometimes
I wouldn't want to either.

What if I would marry a guy
that would want to just go out,

strike out on his own,
be in another state?

I'd be like,
"No! I don't want to go!"

That would be so hard!

I mean, I think 14 miles
is a long way from home.

You know, think about being
a hundred miles,

a couple hundred miles away.

Would be terrible.

They say wherever he goes,
you'll follow,

but it would still be hard.

How far do you live
from your parents?

If you look at it that
you want to live a free life,

you want to drive,

and you want to be able to get
around and do what you want to,

you're giving up a lot.

If you want to be with your
friends, be with your family,

be within 20 miles
of your family

for the rest of your life,

there's a good chance
that'll happen in the Amish.

And in that sense, you're going
to be gaining a lot.

Don't get me wrong.

There's problems.

People don't get along
all the time.

There's conflict.

But if you really want to live
an Amish life and follow it,

there's a good way out there
to do it and be happy.

This is an Amish farm.

On the left is a farmer
who raises ponies!

Ah...

You see him over there
on the left?

I have to tell you
a little story.

There was a tour bus.

Amish man got on
and they asked him,

"What's the difference
between you and us?"

The man on the left has 13
children through the same woman.

Well, he said, "How many
of you have television?"

All the hands went up.

He said, "How many of you,
if you have a family,

think you'd be better off
without television?"

Practically all the hands
went up.

He said, "How many of you
are going to go home

and get rid of it?"

No hands went up.

He said, "That's the difference
between you and the Amish.

"Because we will do it.

If it's bad for the family,
we will not have it."

Amish people have
no food restriction.

They can eat anything.

They can smoke if they want to.

They grow the tobacco;
you might as well smoke it.

This is a Quillow.

It might look like a pillow,
but then there's a pocket here,

and you can pull it out,

it turns into a blanket.

Hey, that's nice.

Hey, you're pretty good at that.

Then you still
have the pocket here,

which you can stick
your feet in.

To fold it up, pocket face down,

you half fold them on the line,
looks good on both sides...

We want to be
a society of people

that are separate
from the world,

but still we want to be friends
with the world.

But it's tough.

You rub shoulders
with the outside world,

and after a while,
you're just like they are.

And it happens fast.

Amish people
who are in situations

where they are rubbing shoulders
a lot with the outside world

have a keen sense
of the potential danger

that it could bring
to their community.

They're exposed,

and their children
are exposed to things

that would have been
unheard of 30 years ago.

And so all of that
presents dangers,

and some Amish leaders,
I think, worry about,

"What will the long-term
consequences be,

and what will this mean
for our children down the road?"

Do you want this in a bag?

No, that's okay.

$6.88 with
the tax, sir.

Some people stretch the line
a little bit,

and before they know
what happens,

they're halfway out
in the world.

And they didn't even realize it.

Thank you.

You have a good day.

And then for some, it's too
late, then they can't turn back.

And they lose faith in the Amish
church, and they disappear.

Working with the land
I think has a tendency

to draw you closer
to the creator.

I don't know if you remember
old Hank Williams.

He had a song...

"I can plough a field
all day long,

"I can catch catfish
from dusk 'til dawn.

"My grandpa taught me
how to live off the land.

"He showed me how to be
a businessman.

And a country boy can survive."

How hard will it be
in the future?

I don't know.

I just don't go there.

We're just pilgrims
and foreigners,

just passing through.

This life is just a speck in
the sand, compared to eternity.

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