Althouse: "Parents refused to fly in planes... in keeping with Amish tradition... "

October 3, 2006

"Parents refused to fly in planes... in keeping with Amish tradition... "

"... and had to be driven to see their children at hospitals..."

14 comments:

MadisonMan said...: Well except for the Constitution.

Maybe david meant cash? It says God there!; 10/3/06, 8:50 AM
reader_iam said...: David: What on earth are you going on about?

You get my personal "non sequitur of the week (longer?)" award.; 10/3/06, 9:21 AM
goesh said...: It's hard to understand - I would want to get to one of my children as fast as I possibly could. Hitch the mules, Sarah! Sally's been shot in the head, we got 140 hard miles to drive! Sheesh! They can live like Festus if they want...; 10/3/06, 9:28 AM
reader_iam said...: Interesting about the driving. There was a time when they might very well have insisted on going by buggy.

Frankly--and I know the routes one would take very, very well to both Christiana and Children's hospitals, having driven them before--that would be taking one's life in one's hands, these days, even before you get to the time required.

What a terrible story this; I mean, of course all school shootings are. But I would be dishonest if I didn't say that it strikes me as (irrationaly, I suppose) worse because of the nature of the community and school (and perhaps because I'm so familiar with it and the area).

This quote, from a Lancaster Online article sort of captures it:

“There is no place more helpless than an Amish schoolhouse. They were defenseless.”

That was also the sentiment of a journalist friend of my mine who works in that area. He seemed extra-shaken by this one, and he's been the business for years.

I would have been, too.; 10/3/06, 9:31 AM
reader_iam said...: Goesh: Had to be driven meant "in cars," in this case.

Perhaps I was wrong, but I was thinking that Ann was also partly referring to the irony of refusing planes but agreeing to car rides?; 10/3/06, 9:34 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Iam: I'm not making fun of them. I think it's very sad. They have their reasons for drawing the lines where they do. They can accept cars in a certain kind of emergency but never planes. They want to get to their children and they need to hurry but there are some lines they won't cross. Staying true to your religion in the face of death is especially important, and to be torn like this is poignant.; 10/3/06, 9:40 AM
goesh said...: Flog them mules, Sarah! We got to beat the maggots! People who do not adapt go extinct. Life is motion and accleration of motion, so let them be judged by their God for the delay in not providing comfort to a suffering child. Amidst the pain and tubes surrounded by 'English' does she await the braying of mules or does she wait only for the appearance of comforting faces at her bedside?; 10/3/06, 9:56 AM
reader_iam said...: Oh, I didn't think you were making fun of them for even a second, Ann. Not a second. Rather, I thought you were implying pretty much exactly what you just said explicitly. Wasn't sure exactly how it was being taken generally, is all.

In this case, I meant "irony" in the "straight" sense--not so much the way it tends to be used now. Sloppy of me not to think about that.; 10/3/06, 9:56 AM
reader_iam said...: Goesh: Well. And of course YOUR beliefs and theories of life MUST be the correct ones.

Speaking of irony.; 10/3/06, 10:04 AM
bearing said...: Maybe they were simply afraid to fly, not having done it before.

Lots of people are. I find this understandable.; 10/3/06, 12:25 PM
Revenant said...: I give up. Is David serious or is this performance art?; 10/3/06, 3:07 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...: Goesh on the meaning of life: "Life is motion and accleration of motion..." This sounds like something Charles Carl Roberts might have written.

I think I'll stick with the Amish on this one.; 10/3/06, 5:15 PM
Peter Hoh said...: nedludd, thanks for the dose of sanity. I grew up in South Jersey, with a dozen or so relatives living in Lancaster County. I live in the Midwest now, but a part of me belongs to Pennsylvania.; 10/3/06, 10:10 PM
Revenant said...: nedludd,

Thanks for the descriptions of life in Amish country. Very illuminating stuff.; 10/3/06, 11:52 PM