We need more Amishness in Philly. When I was a little kid, I never thought I would do anything other than join an Amish Mennonite church and adopt all the lifestyles of the sect. Surprised? Guess you haven’t seen my baby album. Yup, that’s Phillygrrl. The toothy brown kid with the print dress to my ankles, two thick braids to my waist, and plastic glasses you could see half a mile away on a foggy day.
Sigh. Here’s the short of it. So my parents came from Pakistan. Settled in South Philly. Visited Lancaster country one Saturday and (what!) decided they wanted to be Amish. Then they realized it was easier to be conservative Mennonite. The whole horse and buggy thing sort of freaked my mom out. The whole conservative, shunning-the-world thing didn’t.
Point is, I spent the better part of my life thinking I was a little white kid with German grandparents who turned the other cheek and would at some point pin up my hair and put on a covering. How’s that for a screwed-up childhood? But cohabiting in a world where there is so much emphasis on “loving thy neighbor” has its perks.
Take for instance the Nickel Mines massacre in 2006. You know the story. Thirty-two year old Charles Carl Roberts takes a bunch of kids in an Amish schoolroom hostage and ends up killing five of the girls – all under the age of 13. Sickening. The absolute pits of humanity. (I still have trouble reading about it.) Continue reading
