Rumspringa Goes A-Courtin'

Man, you can almost find anything on television.  Reality series about nearly anything, from rich housewives to Pacific ocean fisherman, pawn shop owners to house flippers, dog whisperers to Amish youth on Rumspringa.

Amish youth on what?

Rumspringa is a rite of passage for Amish youth where they step outside of their home and culture, and experience life in the outside world.   The idea is to "sow wild oats," deliberately experiment with a lifestyle outside of Amish life, and then step back and decide whether the Amish world was for them.  This theme has been brought to our TV screens in series such as Breaking Amish (just to name one). 

They have contact with the dreaded electronics they otherwise avoid.  They may drink.  They may experiment with drugs.  They party.  They may have more intimate relations with each other than they would back at home.

When they come back, it is with a more profound knowledge of the alternative and makes their re-commitment all that more significant.

Rumspringa, or sowing wild oats, is not a concept used only by the Amish.  Other cultures, including some Christain denominations, allow something similar.

Don't think so?  Listen to a group of older gentlemen of some conservative Christian denominations talk sometime, especially about growing up.  There is often laughter and amusement over the shenanigans they pulled off in their youth.  Although not formally structured, like it is with the Amish, there appears to be a time, in the high school and college years, where bad behavior is considered just a rite of passage.

There are chuckles about minor property damage, whether it be teepeeing a house or moving a statue.  There are bemused shakes of the head over the silliness of excessive drinking.  And  over the top behavior with women is shrugged off as "boys will be boys."

Boys will be boys.  That is an essential difference with the Amish.  In those conservative Christian circles, it is only the boys that get the pass.  Women, of any age, are held to a different standard.

I don't know the truth about what Brent Kavanaugh did or didn't do.  I do know this.  His behavior, if true, falls outside of the acceptable.  Whatever Rumspringa is supposed to cover, whatever way you feel about the practice (and I object to it if it's not equally applied to both sexes, or if it excuses behavior that violently and cruelly exploits others), what Kavanaugh is accused of doing falls outside of it.

But not everybody feels that way.  Some apply the "boys will be boys" standard to even this.  It's not whether or not it's true.  Only an FBI investigation can bring us closer to that truth.  There are those who believe that even if it's true, it's excusable. 

No, it's not.  That does not mean a person's life can't be redeemed.  Most religions have a process for confession, forgiveness, redemption, and restitution.  I think one of the main things that bring many of the Amish youth back after Rumspringa, is the recognition that many of their indulgences hurt other people, even if they don't mean to.

But none of that means anything if you can't get to the first step - confession and asking for forgiveness.  What happens in Rumspringa stays in Rumspringa is a stupid and meaningless slogan.  Sooner or later, you have to face up to the consequences of your behavior.

Even if you're aiming for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land.

Especially if you're aiming for that.