The Amish Way

There’s a scene in the movie Witness, when the Harrison Ford character John Book, posing as an Amish farmer, buggies to town along with some other Amish folk. They encounter some local troublemakers who relentlessly harass them, and the Amish, as is their way, stoically ignore the taunts. But John Book (I’m not really Amish dammit!) ends up smashing in the face of one of the lowlifes, thereby ending the confrontation.

Audiences cheered. And so did I.

Reality is another story. The somber and grim Amish burying their children in Bart Township, PA. continue to ignore the media blitz and the onslaught of national attention, and I can’t help but feel admiration for their convictions, and now another tiny layer of cynicism has been peeled from my carapace.