[www.usatoday.com]

Nice, uncomplicated, hard-working lifestyle. Must feel rewarding.

When I flew to Hawaii there was an older man with about 5 young men in the airport dressed in their Amish dress/beards, hats, etc.

I was surprised they would be flying since the really strick ones don't do autos. Altho they let their children ride on buses. Anyway when I was in college (back in the middle ages 1949) they were on buses to high school in Lawrence KS.

Just serve me tomatoes
And mashed potatos
Give me the Simple Life

What you probably saw were not Amish but Mennonite or German Baptist

The Amish are very strict once they officially join the order as adults and
have little or no contact with the outside world of The English (as they call us)
They also shun any modern conveniences such as cars, electricity, etc ...

The German Baptist (as they are known around here) live very simple lives
but interact with the outside world and take advantage of modern conveniences.

Around here the German Baptist are considered the top craftsman you can get
for things like kitchen cabinets and other high end woodworking.
They always have a long waiting list of customers (sometimes years) and
that craftsmanship comes at a pretty penny. No horse and buggy for those guys.
They all drive big top of the line Chevy pick ups or Chevy Caprices

When I worked at a hospital we had a large number of GBs working in healthcare.
I still use a doctor who is a GB, a great guy I have known for over 20 years
No horse and buggy there. Last time I saw him he was driving a BMW Mini

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One sect is more strict than the other, and I can never remember which is which. I was really surprised to read somewhere not long ago where groups from one or the other hire busses to transport them to Florida for the winter. Who'd a thought? Apparently one only restricts the operation of motorized vehicles.

I think that there are many levels of Amish and they differ in how much isolation they have from modern convenience.

One of the realities of the Amish community is that many of their children are being born with genetic disorders caused by their closed society and small gene pool. Dwarfism, polydactyiy (extra fingers/toes), learning disorders and a high rate of infant death are the result.

It looks like an interesting simple life, but when the people who are repopulating their community, their children, are paying the price, it is rather sad.

Where I live in Ohio I've had lots of interaction with the Amish and Mennonites. (Just picked up a load of firewood from an Amish sawmill last weekend.) In high school I worked with a builder who used Amish carpenters. Got to know them very well and they even invited me over for dinner one night around Christmas. Strangely enough they used power tools "on the job" but would use all hand tools at home to do the same jobs. Being competitive in today's market is very tough for them. I am sure they have to "bend" more and more.

I respect them for their ideals and for the most part they live their lives very much apart from the rest of the modern world. It is refreshing to see them go about their daily lives living simply and for the most part, honestly. I hope they find a way to continue to exist in this world without giving up too much of their ideals.

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MacBook Pro 2.0GHz quad-core Intel i7
IMac 27" 3.4GHz quad-core Intel i7

They will ride in cars, just not own/operate. In fact some in the community have jobs to chauffer them in big vans to the city to go shopping, go to work, etc. There is no set line as to what they will use and not use (from my observations). I've seen them use a photocopier in a carpentry shop lit by coleman laterns. They built a desk for my son. Installed some oak stairs in our house. Excellent craftsmen.

Again, you can't tell a die-hard Amish by looking at them. Most of what I see are Mennonites, but they LOOK Amish.

One of my frat brothers was Mennonite and you would NEVER KNOW IT. Absolutely everything about him was average/normal. Except, for his age, he had excellent carpentry skills, and a tough as nails get it done attitude.

Buckeye_Sean Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Where I live in Ohio I've had lots of interaction
> with the Amish and Mennonites. (Just picked up a
> load of firewood from an Amish sawmill last
> weekend.) In high school I worked with a builder
> who used Amish carpenters. Got to know them very
> well and they even invited me over for dinner one
> night around Christmas. Strangely enough they
> used power tools "on the job" but would use all
> hand tools at home to do the same jobs. Being
> competitive in today's market is very tough for
> them. I am sure they have to "bend" more and
> more.

A few years back, my sister-in-law hired Mennonites to build her gaudy McMansion on a former farm about an hour's drive north of Pittsburgh. They worked with a traditional contractor who let them use his power tools, etc. and then rode home in their buggies.

They were quiet, pleasant fellows to be around when I was there for a visit. Unfortunately, they also don't believe in DEODORANT, which can be a stinky problem in the summer months.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2005 09:08AM by the_poochies.

If you are interested in this lifestyle, mick e recently read a pretty good book about the austerity movement.

Better Off by Eric Brende, a catholic MIT grad student who decides to do his thesis on a one-year immersion into an unspecified Amish/Mennonite community. The village he joined was one of the most conservative groups in the country, living simply essentially as pioneers did.

[www.amazon.com]

His writing could be a little better - he's pretty young - but his insights into this intriguing world are well worth the price of admission.

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Unpaid Social Liaison

Having been raised on a farm in Northern Idaho(yes, there is land above Couer d' Alene), I had many Mennonites for neighbors. I had about 10 of them at my country school classroom as I went through those 8 years of gradeschool. They were very good neighbors, always helpful and kind. They were expected to quit school at the legal age of 16 and do one of the trades available up there: Farming, Logging, Building. They do the best work and have no trouble making a living due to their stellar reputation. There's a lesson there somewhere.

can't they use deodorant like Tom's Of Maine or somethine less caustic?

i see Mennonite and Amish in my area (PA) on a regular basis. horse & buggies, the whole bit.

seems like a lot of Mennonites ride bicycles around here, and the women always wear long flowered dresses, stockings (thick) and running shoes.

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And lets no forget The Electric Amish -

[www.electricamish.com]
[www.electricamish.com]

and they even use computers

[www.mystique.net]

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How do the amish/mennonites survive without government (programs, subsidies, entitlements, medicine)? (rhetorical,of course)

there must be different sects of Mennonite's. there's a Mennonite family in my homeschooling group. they are more like mature, conservative hippies. peace activists. they live simply but do have a van and the usual tools of modern living. the husband teaches at spelman college.

I loved Witness.

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3GHz - The clock is STILL ticking Steve.

Mennonites have electricity, cars, own businesses, use deoderant and perfume and go to college. I know this because I dated a mennonite chick back in 1980. I met her when I played at the Chattaqua Institute amphitheater one summer (Chattaqua NY). She was gorgeous, 5'11 blond haired and green eyed. And only 20. She was going to some college in Indiana but was from Lancaster PA.

My Grandfather was a Mennonite Minister. He sailed to the Holy Land twice, once without the wife and once with. He later sold fertilizer and feed and had one of the first cars in the Valley given to him by his company to help him cover his territory. They unloaded it off the train and he drive it home. He drove it up and down the field until it ran out of gas too. The "Brothers of the Church" were quick to tell him that either the car would have to go or he would. So he drove the family down to the Church of the Brethren.

Anyway Mennonites, like Jews come in many forms. Orthodox to Reform. My grandfather was cool about cars but made my uncle paint the chrome black. The ideal behind all that stuff was not to draw attention to yourself. My father served in the Navy and two uncles in the Army. By the time I graced this earth, my Grandfather was dead and Yellow Caddies were common in the family. We had a Turquoise Lincoln with suicide doors.
I was baptized Methodist and married a Catholic Fitzgerald.
Horse and buggies are still common to the North and South of me.

Did I say all that?

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Staunton, Virginia

Cool story, thanks for posting.