How are you gonna keep 'em down on the farm?
Floyd Landis mania!
The only reason I have any interest in this story whatsoever is a) that FL is from here, and b) he grew up Mennonite. I have only the very loosest of connections to him, in that way that Lancaster Countians and Mennonites all have connections to each other (in this case, he went to the same high school as a guy I knew from college, who also happens to be Mennonite and used to live next door to my dad’s cousin).
Last Wednesday I saw that he had done horribly, and probably lost the tour, and so I was disappointed for like a minute and then put it out of my mind. And then Thursday he went crazy and made up like ten minutes, which is apparently amazing (I don’t really know, but everyone says it is) and held his lead on Friday and Saturday and won on Sunday while his parents rode their bikes to church.
While FL would probably not call himself Mennonite anymore, his parents definitely are. And the media is all about this, too. They especially like to play up the conflict between FL and his dad, that his dad was this stern disciplinarian who didn’t approve of his son’s choice to cycle and tried to stop him. It would make a good movie. But I don’t think that it was really any more than some general teenage son-father conflict. His dad seems really nice, and so does his mom. And they’re all supportive now.
But it seems like every conservative Mennonite family has this story . . . one kid, usually a son, who gives his father grief and causes trouble as a teenager and finally leaves the fold, because the individuality he wants to express isn’t tolerated in his community.
Next weekend I’m going to a family reunion with relatives who look a lot like FL’s parents . . . dress even more conservatively, maybe. And despite the restrictions of their lifestyle: black cars, very specific clothing requirements, no TVs or movies—they seem pretty happy. As happy as the rest of us . . . probably more so. Because they know what’s expected of them, they don’t mind living with rules, and everything is clearly delineated. They finish high school at home, get married young, start having children, men work and women stay home. They love their children, and playing games, and clean fun, and the women talk about food and gardens and the men talk about other men-type things. Cars and tractors and farms.
The problem comes, when like FL, you don’t fit into that mold, either by choice or circumstance. When no guy comes to date you, and so you’re left single, living with your parents, with no chance for career or babies or adventures. Or when you love school, and really want to go to college and grad school and become a Ph.D. Or when you want to ride bicycle competitively. Or when you just don’t get why you have to do all these things that are supposed requirements in the eyes of God and start asking too many questions.
That's when life in that community becomes hard, and your parents and church leaders crack down on you, and your only choices are to submit or leave.
The only reason I have any interest in this story whatsoever is a) that FL is from here, and b) he grew up Mennonite. I have only the very loosest of connections to him, in that way that Lancaster Countians and Mennonites all have connections to each other (in this case, he went to the same high school as a guy I knew from college, who also happens to be Mennonite and used to live next door to my dad’s cousin).
Last Wednesday I saw that he had done horribly, and probably lost the tour, and so I was disappointed for like a minute and then put it out of my mind. And then Thursday he went crazy and made up like ten minutes, which is apparently amazing (I don’t really know, but everyone says it is) and held his lead on Friday and Saturday and won on Sunday while his parents rode their bikes to church.
While FL would probably not call himself Mennonite anymore, his parents definitely are. And the media is all about this, too. They especially like to play up the conflict between FL and his dad, that his dad was this stern disciplinarian who didn’t approve of his son’s choice to cycle and tried to stop him. It would make a good movie. But I don’t think that it was really any more than some general teenage son-father conflict. His dad seems really nice, and so does his mom. And they’re all supportive now.
But it seems like every conservative Mennonite family has this story . . . one kid, usually a son, who gives his father grief and causes trouble as a teenager and finally leaves the fold, because the individuality he wants to express isn’t tolerated in his community.
Next weekend I’m going to a family reunion with relatives who look a lot like FL’s parents . . . dress even more conservatively, maybe. And despite the restrictions of their lifestyle: black cars, very specific clothing requirements, no TVs or movies—they seem pretty happy. As happy as the rest of us . . . probably more so. Because they know what’s expected of them, they don’t mind living with rules, and everything is clearly delineated. They finish high school at home, get married young, start having children, men work and women stay home. They love their children, and playing games, and clean fun, and the women talk about food and gardens and the men talk about other men-type things. Cars and tractors and farms.
The problem comes, when like FL, you don’t fit into that mold, either by choice or circumstance. When no guy comes to date you, and so you’re left single, living with your parents, with no chance for career or babies or adventures. Or when you love school, and really want to go to college and grad school and become a Ph.D. Or when you want to ride bicycle competitively. Or when you just don’t get why you have to do all these things that are supposed requirements in the eyes of God and start asking too many questions.
That's when life in that community becomes hard, and your parents and church leaders crack down on you, and your only choices are to submit or leave.
posted by Melanie at 6:12 PM
