andthis usually ends in the child getting baptized into the church or on rare occasions, exclusion. During rumspringa, the teenager is allowed to experience life the way he feels without consequence, because this is viewed by the Amish as being a time when a person forms the most mentally and begins to be an individual. Sometimes young people opt to leave the Amish community in order to see what the outside world is like and experience life in another way. While some of the young Amish become drunk with the freedom of the outside world and are charmed away from their community, most of them decide to return and get baptized.
charmed away from their community, most of them decide to return and get baptized. The reason for this is that the outside world, because of its limitless freedom, is perceived by the young Amish as too vulgar, violent and most importantly ungodly. The majority cannot handle the intensity of a metropolis like New York or Los Angeles, which is in a very sharp contrast with their Amish communal living.
Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs are banned in their home communities, as well as the use of electricity or machines. Growing up without these can make it difficult to fit into a world where the consumption of these things is very common if not indispensable. In turn, the few who chose to leave the community prove to adapt more into their new environment than they would have into their own homes, although the absence of community, their families and the reassurance of being able to rely on people might take a toll on their development outside the Amish religion. Even if they decide not to be part of the community, their basic faith is likely to stay with them.