Rumspringa was talked about on an interesting show on ABC called “The Outsiders” earlier tonight and it really opened up our eyes on the lives and issues Amish teenagers and adolescents have to go through when they are young. Rumspringa is the Amish phase for teens belonging to that faith to choose for themselves whether to indulge in the outside world beyond the Amish faith or to stay in it. In effect, rumspringa does not seem any different from most teens phase in life known as teenage and adolescent years where just about everyone wants to rebel or taste the forbidden fruit before they get old mature and decide that life is just a routine unless you go on another rumspringa-like phase in your later years which is always possible because some of us never grow old and stay young in spirit.

But for Amish teens rumspringa seems to really leave them in a state of confusion as they do not know what to do and the impression I was given, I may be wrong, is that they do not understand why they have been left in the lurch to handle this themselves and why their faith actually allows it to happen. Should they not believe in their faith instead of having to go through a phase known as the rumspringa? Is their faith sending them into sin, which some might consider the rumspringa phase to signify.

The rumspringa phase in Amish teens is certainly intriguing and even looks very open in one way or another. That they allow a seemingly freedom of choice for the Amish teens would seem like an open religion, even if after the rumspringa phase if they choose to stay they have to abide by strict religious ways of life which can seem downright extreme as you learn more about the faith. But the rumspringa open window definitely presents a set of choices and options for them which many other religions might not even allow at all no matter how old you might be.