The Amish are a group of people who are often overlooked and viewed as avoiding the modern era and choosing to “living under a rock.” They live a simple life and live apart from the world. They are usually known for their horse-and-buggies and simple, modest clothing.
The Amish movement originates from European Anabaptists. They were persecuted for their different beliefs and sought a safe place to practice their beliefs. One Anabaptist named Jakob Amman who disagreed with some Anabaptists. The Amish was a faction of Anabaptists who had the same beliefs as Jakob Amman. The Amish later fled to the newly established Pennsylvania. Ever since, the Amish community has grown. After, the Amish split into the Old Order Amish and Mennonites.
The Amish are not one entire organization. Instead, they are like many smaller communities who may have different customs and rules. Some may be more liberal than others. The most notable of these rules are electricity and automobiles. These rules are not to ban the technology itself, but the effects that these technologies would have on the communities. For instance, phones, computers, and other technologies that can connect the Amish to the internet can severely damage the community. This is one reason the Amish Community is so tightly knit. Families in these communities form churches and these churches move to different families’ homesteads instead of having one church building. Amish schooling only goes to eighth grade and the clothing is simple and modest. They also speak Pennsylvanian Dutch in their communities. These are all things that separate the Amish from the rest of the world.
The Amish schools are vastly different from American Public Schools. Amish schooling only goes to eighth grade and are run on a small scale. There are no school districts. They are operated by parents and have no bureaucracy. This gives rights to parents in education. They train the youth in the importance of community and teach tradition instead of progress. They prefer correct knowledge instead of critical thinking and teach humility and cooperation instead of aggressive competition and pride. They also value the community’s identity instead of the personal identity. They believe that truth is revealed in the Bible and stress believing instead of questioning and searching for truth. This may seem like it is outdated, but in my opinion, many of today’s societal problems tend to go back to issues that are not taught in public schools. However, they are taught in Amish Schools.
Shunning is another practice that the world uses to criticize the Amish. Shunning is the practice of cutting an individual from every aspect of the community and is done for violating the code of conduct essentially. This can be for breaking the rules or leaving the Amish life completely. It stems from the Bible, and it is to get the person to see their error and repent. To get “un-shunned” the person must confess their error to the church and repent of it. Most of the time, sunning hurts both the person and the community, but they see it, as necessary.
The Amish reject Social Security and Insurance. Instead, they use another age-old technique. It is again another technique that is heavily based off the Bible. It is the community supporting itself. For instance, if an Amish farmer’s barn were to burn down, not only would his community contribute money to build a new barn, but they will all get together and build thebarn. They all know that if everyone helped contribute to the community when things like house or barn fires or even medical emergencies happen, if it happened to them, the entire community would help them as well. It was basically the idea of insurance, but better. This is because there is not a third party siphoning out some of the money slowly. The Amish’s version of insurance is more efficient. This type of giving is known as an offering and is one of the purposes of the Christian Church. The Amish do not need Social Security because their church will help them and provide support when they need it. This used to be true across America and even today, some churches will take special collections to help members who are in need. Insurance policies and Social Security made these unnecessary, so a major action of the church providing aid to those who need it has become less prevalent. Yet, the Amish community, due to their retention of their traditions and their tightly knit communities, have continued to rely on the church to help them. It is very uplifting to hear that the Amish community is willing to help each other.
A downside of losing the tight-knit communities is that not only do we not know our neighbors, but we lose all the support that our neighbors could provide. The word community means “A group of people having common interests.” This meaning is seen when used to describe a group like the “Philosophical Community,” but it is not seen as your neighbors anymore. How can your community be a community when you do not know people other than your next-door neighbors? Knowing everyone is impossible in cities with large populations, but in more rural areas, it was not uncommon for everyone to know each other. They were not afraid to stick up for each other. If a scam artist came into town and took advantage of people, the town was not afraid to run that scam artist out of town with pitchforks. If someone were to commit a serious crime or break the rules that the community had made for themselves, the same thing would happen. When you compare this to the Amish’s Shunning, it is very similar.
I live in a rural area and my town is nothing like it used to be. Because I enjoy studying history, my town’s history is a favorite of mine. I read about how my town used to be and I wish I were there to experience it. I often ask myself the question “What happened” and “How can I fix it.” I have concluded that:
- The invention of the automobile has destroyed local communities. Before automobiles, horses were the main form of transportation. Of course, there were other types of transportation like trains, but they had routes and were mostly for shipping goods of longer journeys. It was easier to ride your horse to the next town instead of riding the train. Because of this, each town was somewhat self-sufficient. In other words, each town would have at least a general store, post office, banks, newspapers, lumbermills, mills, and blacksmiths. You would work in your town for a business or as a farmer. You could walk to work. After the automobile was invented, it was possible to commute to work. You did not need to work in your town. It was also easier to move away to better places. Businesses also realized that if they had stores in population hubs, people could drive to those hubs to purchase things. Now, it is no wonder why my town is hurting. You could drive fifteen minutes north or south and get your groceries or hardware. Companies do not want to have stores in town because there are stores 15 minutes away. (This is also basically the 15-Minute-City concept). Because of this, there is nothing keeping people in town. They are more willing to move because there is nothing keeping them there.
- Because of people moving away from town, the openings allow for rental properties. People buy up these houses and charge people to live there. The tenants usually have no loyalty to the town because they are willing to move from town to town. This is because they do not own a house. They do not have to worry about selling the house and buying a new one. They also do not care about the house itself as much as if it were their own. The rental property usually will be left unmaintained and will become rundown which hurts the rest of the community and can turn potential home buyers away. When renters move frequently, it makes it impossible to get to know everyone in your town because they move away quickly.
- Technology allows people to see better places to which they could move. Technology has connected the world. Before, you had to travel to a place or get information from someone who traveled to a place to imagine what it is like. Now, you can search for a place on the internet and see a 360-street view of the place. This allows you to compare the place you are now to your dream destination, which can encourage you to move there.
I am not saying that any of these are bad, but it is interesting how the Amish have avoided all these issues and have kept a tight-knit community by avoiding these technologies. It is possible to avoid these with these technologies, but it requires effort. The Amish have been slowly “catching up” with society. They allow young adults in their community to experience things that are normally not allowed in the Amish community such as technology. After that, they can either choose to stay Amish or leave the community all together. It is no secret why more young Amish are leaving the community in today’s age. Still, most of the Amish choose to stay with the community because they value the community. The Amish community has found a way to keep the community together by living the Amish lifestyle. Their communities are much stronger and unified, and their communities are truly communities. That is why the Amish succeed without Insurance and Social Security.
We can learn something from the Amish who several see as out of touch with society. Only then can we save our communities. After we strengthen our community bonds, we can feel the support of the community and I think the stress that many face when they have difficulties will disappear. The community is something that we must not forget. Follow the example of the Amish and strengthen the ties of your community and get to know all your neighbors. Encourage each other and work with them to strengthen your community. Watch what happens next and you will be blown away.
