I feel different from them.
By Alexis Hall
30 Oct 2007
The clothes are meant to make them look humble, modest, and unassuming. They don't want to call attention or stick out in a crowd. To me, though, they stood out brilliantly. Unlike Amish people, Mennonites do not forbid the use of modern electronics. I noticed one of the girls text messaging on her cell phone.
It seemed that, however modernized they might be, some old-fashioned ideas remained. The girls sat together under a tent facing the stage where local artists performed and an elk calling contest was held. The boys found seats on a gas tank that was on the other side of a food vendor from the tent.
I was especially drawn to the girl wearing the sparkly blue flip-flops. What did this reveal about her? A subdued free spirit? Dreams of glamour, of life on the outside of the world she had always known? I wish I would have had the chance to talk to her, to talk to all of them. I wanted to get to know them. They were so beautiful to me. Quaint and old-fashioned in essence, modern around the edges. Living in the midst of a world so opposed to the kind of life they lead.
And yet, they go on with their life, living on the boundary between old and new.
