Amish Oddity

I have a lot of respect for the Amish culture. I know...I've read about and heard about the horrific tales of abuse that have occurred there; and I have no doubt that some of them are true. It's the same in any culture. No one is immune to the atrocities of human depravity. I did, however, witness a couple of Amish folks sneaking away from the family and enjoying a few sinful pleasures at a recent baseball game in Sarasota.

For those who may not know, Sarasota has a fairly large Amish community. Called Pinecraft, it is inhabited by year-round residents and snow birds alike. They obviously don't live off the grid, but make some concessions to stay in tune with their Amish ways of life. Instead of horses and buggies they can be seen riding their large 3-wheeled bicycles around town. Most keep their washers and dryers in the garage.

Anyway...back to my funny story. Amish folks are forbidden to smoke or drink. Even the New Order Amish, who drive cars and use electricity, consider these vices to be completely taboo. Not so the two men I spied at the Cincinnati Reds baseball game this past Thursday! It's quite common to find Amish people watching the ballgames. It's all-American fun, after all, and really quite harmless....except for those stray Amish men who sneak away from the family and suck down a few cold brews and smoke a few cigarettes!

The beers were chugged so quickly that not even the fastest Amish horse and buggy or three-wheeled bike could have possibly caught up with this pair! And the cigarettes...well, since smoking isn't permitted at the ballpark anywhere in the stadium, these gentlemen puffed their butts outside the gate, while waiting for their ride to arrive. One gentleman had crutches and was motoring himself in an electic scooter. The younger man..probably celebrating his Rumschpringe...is probably absolved from his Amish faux pas. After all, that's what the Amish young are supposed to do....have their fun and get it out of their systems before settling down and joining the Amish church.

But Mr. Pa Amish...now he's just got to be an hornery one. He puffed two or three butts before their ride arrived, ran over them with his scooter, then had his young counterpart not only pick up the offensive debris and put it in the trash can, but spritzed both their mouths with breath spray. I thought I would die laughing.

Now I know it's wrong to take photos of Amish folks. They believe that it goes against Biblical doctrine. But I figured since these two fudged a few things that also went along with Amish doctrine, I'd snap a photo or two.

I wish you could have seen the look of shock and horror

on Mr. Pa Amish's face when he caught me in the act! It was truly priceless.