Rumspringa

“Rumspringa — derived from the “Deitsch” (Amish dialect of German) term for ‘running around’. — generally refers to a period of adolescence for members of the Amish religious denomination – a subsect of the Anabaptist Christian movement – that begins around the age of sixteen and ends when a youth chooses baptism within the Amish church or instead leaves the community.” (Source: Wikipedia)

I watched a special on the Amish tonight where they followed several Amish kids for a year as they decided to stay within the Amish community, or to leave. It was fascinating, but incredibly sad.

Seems a horrible decision to have to make as a teenager – whether or not to choose your family over the freedom of the outside world, a mutually exclusive decision. On top of that, the kids who left the Amish way of life in talking with the reporter didn’t even know or understand how a person gets into heaven according to the Bible. After spending the first 17 years of your life in an Amish family, I’m very surprised they missed that…

Two Roads Diverged…

>компютриfood area in Concourse A at Hartsfield-Jackson is generally busy when I go by to get my bagel and cream cheese before heading off to DC or New York, but it was especially so this morning. The vendor I typically frequent has a repitois much greater than bagels and cream cheese, but it’s much faster to keep it simple.

After moving around the line of 5-6 waiting on other more complicated orders, I walk up to two cash registers and both appear to be in service, though one is un-manned. The latter register has a very stressed, grumpy, and I’ll also assume late business woman trying to pay for her breakfast. Upon learning that the register she is lined up in front of is actually closed, the business woman begins muttering her displeasure and is visibly perturbed. To further set the stage, I would also describe this business woman as stereotypically republican. Not that we ever discussed her political philosophies, but well, she just looked the part.

Watching all of this unfold from the other working register, is another woman. I can only best describe her as the polar opposite of her republican counterpart. This second woman was a card-carrying hippy in her early 40’s, wearing a long dress of earth tones. She was also stereotypically democrat, who probably hadn’t showered (or shaved) in days. The icing on the cake was her accent.

I know this because the hippy woman after hearing the business woman’s displeasure over the line inefficiency, piped up in a smug, hippy, holier than though voice to proclaim – “patience is a virtue”.

While I don’t necessarily disagree with the sentiment, I was very impressed and must give the business woman credit for not even replying, and for not bitch-slapping her counterpart all the way to Concourse B.

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While waiting at the client site, a TV was broadcasting a live speech by Obama. If only I’d kept the small paper bag from the airplane..

Irony

One of the founding principles of this great country was no taxation without representation. Yet to this day in our nation’s capital, residents of Washington DC are faced with just that – taxation without representation. Washington DC is governed by Congress but since they are not a state, they don’t get a vote. Even their license tags read “Taxation Without Representation” at the bottom.

I really hope that irony is not lost on the American public.

What Are The Chances?

Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between Pittsburgh and Detroit was played on Saturday night. I ended up watching the first two periods, and recording the third (and last) period to watch on Sunday.

Most of the time, you have to be extremely careful when recording sporting events because either you’ll overhear people talking about it, or someone will ask you about the game and ruin it. But I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too worried about hockey…

Sunday afternoon, while at the Publix grocery store across from Phipps, I over hear -

Female – The Red Wings won last night, right?
Male – Yea, game 5 is on Monday.

Of the five people around Atlanta that actually watched the game, three of us happen to be together, and the other two actually talked about it. You’ve got to be serious…. At least the team I was cheering for could have won..

Randomly overhearing the results of a hockey game not involving the Thrashers around Atlanta has got to be about as statistically possible as winning the lottery…