The Amish Choice

You know how the Amish bring up their kids in the community and (16?) they let them loose to try all the evil things in the outside world so they don't have to spend their entire lives wondering resentfully about what could've been. Most of those kids go back to the Amish community afterwards, and the rest of us look on with disbelief.

I was thinking this morning that really, a lot more of us are faced with a similar choice in our young adult lives than we think. It's not as cut-and-dry as "hi, you have a year, then you must DECIDE!!! dun dun dun," of course. Still, when browsing the facebook friendlists of people I met as perfectly normal, perfectly American middle-class kids in middle school, I notice an interesting pattern. So many of my Russian-Jewish friends have friendlists populated with Bernsteins and Goldbergs, and Hazanoviches... so many of my Indian friends have friendlists populated with Patels and Guptas... et cetera!

I think middle school and high school is a trial-period of suppressing the culture you were brought up in and trying to assimilate yourself into the greater/dominant culture. Once we get to college or work, we become freer to re-immerse ourselves into our home culture. Or drawn back in...

I'm not really sure the process by which it happens, nor do I know if it is a good thing. On the one hand, I love the idea of keeping interesting traditions alive, of continuing a cultural evolution with ancient roots. On the other hand, I feel like it is limiting to focus on one culture in your life. But that's another debate for another day.