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That is what trips me out with this video. Anyone else ever notice the rumspringa chic in the audience wearing her bonnet even. lol Just look for the bonnet among the heads. RUMSPRINGA WOO HOO!
Bad things happen though.
Legal proceedings begin in fatal crash, but Amish have forgiven Posted by Pat Shellenbarger | The Grand Rapids Press August 08, 2008 04:31AM Categories: Breaking News, Editors Choice Top, Top Stories
Press Photos/Rex Larsen Eli Miller, center, one of two bishops in the Lakeland Amish community, is mourning the death of his grandson, 17-year-old Josey Miller. The teen was killed in a crash involving a a friend and fellow member of the Amish community who allegedly was driving drunk. Press reporter Pat Shellenbarger has covered West Michigan's Amish communities for years. In 2001, his unique access led to the award-winning section, "A Life Apart." Shellenbarger returned Thursday to a settlement north of Greenville, where this week's events are testing that life apart.
Return to mlive.com/grpress for coverage of today's court action.
LAKEVIEW -- Whatever a judge decides about David Yoder, a young man accused of driving drunk and causing the death of a 17-year-old friend, the members of their Amish community already have made up their minds.
"I totally forgive him," said Dan Miller, the father of Josey Miller, killed in the accident early Sunday morning.
That's the Amish way. They live by the Bible. They do not sue one another or anyone else. They do not fight in wars. They pay their taxes and respect the government's authority, but they do not participate in it.
Neither will they interfere in the court proceedings. If a Montcalm County judge eventually decides Yoder, 21, who is scheduled to be arraigned today, should go to jail, so be it.
"I don't like to see an Amish boy in jail," Dan Miller said the day after burying his son. "I want him to be at home and settle down and be good."
After spending two years visiting this Old Order Amish community north of Greenville, a project that produced a 12-page section of stories and photos in December 2001, I wasn't surprised by his response.
This community has dealt with tragedy before, and its members always come together, supporting one another spiritually and financially. Less than two weeks ago, they held an auction and barbecue to raise money for the medical bills of a family whose 6-year-old son lost most of his left hand in a log-splitting accident.
Rudy Byler, a new Bishop in the Lakeland Amish community, said "if we expect to be forgiven, we must forgive."They did likewise a few years ago when two young girls were diagnosed with leukemia and needed chemotherapy. When one of those girls, 9-year-old Tena Yoder, died last year, the community rallied around her family.
Seven weeks ago, Sam Hershberger, one of the two bishops who had spiritually guided this community for many years, died following surgery.
The community's response to last weekend's accident recalled another tragedy two years ago when a man shot and killed five Amish girls in a Pennsylvania schoolhouse. Their parents forgave him and comforted his family.
The circumstances of the accident also resurrected a myth about the Amish fostered by "reality" TV shows and ill-informed television news reporters: that the young Amish men and women are allowed a period to run wild.
When Amish children turn 16, they begin courting and attending the Sunday evening singing with the other young people. It's called rumspringa, which literally means "running around," but in this and other Old Order Amish communities, the young people are expected to follow the rules.
Their parents don't condone drinking. Neither do most parents. But, in any group of young people, it can happen. Sometimes, it leads to tragedy.
Last Saturday evening, David Yoder, Josey Miller and a few other young Amish men helped an "English" farmer -- to the Amish, all non-Amish are English -- bale straw. Afterward, some of the young men drank, then, as night moved toward morning, decided to go home. Since their buggy wasn't big enough for all of them, they took the English farmer's pickup without authorization.
A few miles away, the truck went off the road and rolled, throwing Josey Miller and his 18-year-old brother, Eli, out. Josey died at the scene, and Eli suffered several broken bones.
Hundreds of Amish came from Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ontario and Michigan Wednesday for Josey's funeral and burial in a plain cemetery far back on a farm.
Thursday afternoon, Eli Miller, the surviving brother injured in the accident, was convalescing at home, while his father and other men stood out back talking about how they cope with their grief and resist the human urge to hold a grudge.
One was his grandfather, also named Eli Miller, the community's senior bishop.
"You can't let the flesh and blood rule you," he said. "The Good Spirit has got to help you. I guess we hope and pray when he (Josey) is resurrected, all the sins will be forgiven."
Not long before Josey Miller died, one of the Amish girls his age had a dream. She saw a clear blue sky with one dark cloud. She had the same dream the next night and this time saw a hand extending from the cloud and, even though the accident had not yet happened, she knew it was Josey's.
"I believe it was something that was sent from God," said Rudy Byler, the community's newest bishop. "There are so many temptations that tend to pull the Amish apart, worldly things. Something like this tends to bring us back together."
David Yoder is expected to make a confession in his church. Beyond that, the Amish will exact no punishment.
"We all make mistakes," Byler said. "We are all sinners. The Bible says if you want to be forgiven, you have to forgive."
I am not Amish, FAR from it, and I won't attend something as negative as that, but, an AMISH person attending THAT is just, like, WHAT THE FUCK!?! I can imagine an Amish having a heart attack even knowing that something like that exists.
Hell yeah it is. It's a little chilly out but the sky is nice and clear. I'm locked to my futon at the moment though. I'm warding off a hangover with beer and watching basketball.
Yes it is! All of my guns are in need of cleaning. I'm about to go out and shoot ALL of them first though. I'm going out side with two ammo cans full. Only one is coming back
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im loving it!!!
I'm locked to my futon at the moment though. I'm warding off a hangover with beer and watching basketball.
