Amish – old school living sounds boring

A typical Amish family, with their horse drawn carriage and unique clothing choices.

There are parts of modern day living that seem indispensable these days, mobile phones, the Internet and even more specifically Google. But there is a group of people living life in way our forefathers did, where mobile phones and even electricity is unknown to the community. I'm talking of no other than Amish people, whose population is largely based in the US, and with their non-western lifestyle, they go about living shunning our technology and even out medical advances. But they do it with generally great success.

They don't drive cars, instead opting for horse drawn carriages, but in a slight use of modern technology all their road going carts have reflectors as mandatory by western law. The women dress in long body covering gowns, of which they change depending on their activity, even sport as its own long length dress. The men wear suits, plain in appearance yet smart, wide brim hats similar to the Jewish community and all looking much the same as each other. They grow their own organic produce and even harvest their own milk and meat from renewable livestock supplies. In fact they very apprehensively use outside help for their sheltered life. However the global meltdown has caused some of the younger Amish to venture outside their community in search of income. Some working shift work at a local caravan building factory, others in a simple supermarket job. Either way they still wont blend with western society too much, only what is necessary to complete their jobs, get paid and return home.

Amish women showing their head wear

There is an interesting point in time for a Amish teenager, its called 'rumspringa' which translated from their Pennsylvania Dutch (High German dialect) means 'running around'. This is when their faith to God is tested, from around the age of 16 they are given the chance to leave the community and experience Western life. If they don't like it and love God more than their new experience, they return, if not they usually end up in alcohol or drug related rehab centres. But the Amish do have an ace up their sleeve for getting their young back, they allow teenage relationships, and hope that at least either boy or girl will act as an anchor to keeping the other coming back to stay in the community. It doesn't always work, but at least they get to keep their committed and strong willed.

We may never fully understand the benefits of their lifestyle, as we have lived on the other side of the fence for far too long to harbour a non-biased view. But they are not funding terrorism, avoiding income tax or raping and sending worshippers to early cool-aid relating deaths. So who are we to get on our high horse? They at least own high horses to get on, we own polluting cars and manic fast paced lives.

I don't want to be an Amish, in fact you need to be born into their lifestyle rather than a 'born again' scenario. But I do admire their non-violent form of a cult. Its got to be the last of the 'successful' cults.