“If we were not Amish, would there even be a story?”
That’s one Amish person telling it like it is, regarding an infamous 1998 Lancaster Amish drug bust.
The comments were heard at the ‘largest Amish conference ever’ held through today at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.
The Lancaster New Era (no longer online) reports that topics covered have ranged from the controversial (Witness, Amish in the City) to the practical and academic (farm safety, Amish roots).
On the nearly decade-old drug incident, an Ohio man made a point that often gets missed: “We’re human like everyone else and this won’t be the last time we do anything wrong,” he said. “What we need is your compassion and understanding in situations like that.”
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Hello,
“You allow us to be just human beings” is a comment I heard often from my Plain friends. Yes, don’t forget they are human beings, too!
Thanks for your great blog!
Emmanuelle
Hi Emmanuelle, thanks for your comments! Glad you enjoy it!
I attended the Conference and many interesting topics were presented. Sessions on history, media, language, cultural diversity, mental health, mutual aid, family, ex-amish, quilts, music, medical, agricultural safety, technology, education, and new order affliations just to name some of them. A nice section on the Nickel Mines tragedy. $4 million dollars has been collected so far for the victims. It was an enjoyable and informative event. Authors such a Donald Kraybill and Steven Nolt were there.
Roni
That’s great that you could make it. I really wish I could have and was planning too, but it turns out I won’t be in Lancaster for a couple weeks yet (Holmes County will be my first stop). Sounds like it was a really interesting conference.