I've been following the Pennsylvania school shooting tragedy on the news. How horrific and heartbreaking. As my heart breaks for the families who have suffered in this, I also realize that I'm seeing people in pictures that I never knew existed today.

Are the Amish really rare, non-existant in California, or am I just naive about this group of people? Who exactly are these people? There's a chance that I've read about them in history during my school years, but I don't remember.

I was looking at pictures on CNN, and watching the videos about their way of life. I'm rather surprised. Are they a sect of Christians? The men keep beards and the women dress modestly. That is very interesting. Muslim men usually keep beards, and the women dress modestly, so that is something 'normal' to me, but everything else about them is SO different. Their clothing reminds me of the first settlers, centuries ago, and their lives...no electricity, no cars, no planes...WOW! It is strange to me, but somehow, I find myself fascinated with this. I don't know why. I just didn't know such people exist anymore in the US, and follow the old, simple way of life so strictly. Does anyone here know more about them? I've never heard much about the Amish, let alone met them, so its surprising to me. I almost want to go visit an Amish community to see what their lives are like ...but wonder if 'different' people would be welcome there? Someone, enlighten me please. What are the Amish like? Would visiting them be like...going back a couple of centuries?