Imagine if your family and the church you grew up in told you that you would go to hell if you did what most American youth consider normal - leave home and start your own life. This is just what faced Ira Wagler as a young man in the 1970s.
Born into the Old Order Amish community of Aylmer, Ontario, the tenth child of eleven, Wagler found that the "stifling, hostile culture" of his community to be increasingly unbearable as he matured from a teenager to a young man. Youth rebellion in the Amish community started with sneaking beer and cigarettes, and listening to the radio or to music tapes, and it ended with running away to live outside the church.
Wagler's older brother's and one of his sisters left home and the community, escaping from the "comfortable but confining box" of Amish culture. His father reacted to this by selling the farm, and moving the family south to Bloomfield, Iowa, in the hopes that joining a different Amish community would keep his remaining children from leaving the community.
Soon it was Wagler's turn to leave. In the dark of the night, leaving behind everything he knew, the 17 year old slipped away, leaving only a note telling his family he too was gone. Over the next decade, Wagler returned to the Amish community and left again, homesick, and wanting desperately to fit in but finding the culture too restricting.
Wagler left the Amish community many times before leaving for good when he was 26. Each time he returned, he attempted to make amends by joining the church through baptism, or courting a girl with the apparent goal of marriage. He experienced doubts and confusion, and he caused and experienced much pain.
In his memoir, Wagler details what life is like for an Amish boy as he grows into adulthood. He shares his doubts and confusion, as well as the road he was finally able to follow that gave him peace. Though his circumstances are unique, this story of adolescence is universal in its appeal.
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