The Amish is the unique people in America. They are considered religious group that their ways of life seem contrast to American ways of life. I got to know the Amish people when I just came to the US. I remember that when I visited my friend home to have drink, his older brother told me that ” In the US, we have a group of people who live like 17th century; they ride horse as their transportation, they don’t use electricity or modern technologies, they don’t use any contraception that why parents have many children, they make a living by farming or produce wooden products,etc.”
The Amish people were born from Reformation and Anabaptist Era in Europe. They disagreed with principal of Catholic teaching, so they separated and formed their own group to practice their religion. At that time, Catholic had influences over countries where Christian lived. Many countries allied with Pope in Rome persecuted the Amish people by put them in jail or beheading, so they migrated to America. The first group of Amish migrated to the US in 1730s in Berks county Pennsylvania, before they moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Amish people consider Lancaster, Pennsylvania is their capital. The Amish has total about 260,000 people today(99% live in America), their population are expected double every 20 years because of their high fertility rate( the average of the Amish parents have about seven or eight children). Sadly, there is no Amish left in Europe where they were born.
I admired the Amish people because of their simple lifestyle, hardworking and stress free. Based on my research, stress free is not the case in the Amish life today, because they get to know and involved with English world ( the Amish called non-Amish is English). The more you know, the more you have the desires to acquire something that you know, so where stress emanate from. I remember twenty years ago, when I was a student, my friend from countryside in my native country invited me to visit his home town. He knew I was fascinated by other people with different cultures(I think I have got many troubles because of my curiosity), so he took me a tour to minor ethnicity. We paid for joining their traditional dance with other tourists, after the tradition dance, we were tourists having a chance to have conversation with dancers. I picked a young beautiful dancer to chat:
Me: Do you live with your parents?
Dancer: No, I live with my boy friend in my city. (I am feeling sad a little bit.)
Me: So, you come here to work as dancers whenever you have schedule show?
Dancer: Yes.
Me: Do you prefer to live in modern world?
Dancer: At the beginning, when I moved to live in the city, I didn’t like it. After I used to get the city lifestyle. Now, I have no desire to move back to live in my community whatsoever.
Me: Do you love the city lifestyle or your boy friend?
Dancer: I love both, but if I have to choose one of them, I would choose city lifestyle.
Me: Absolutely, you are a city girl now, you are no longer a pure ethnicity girl.
A few days later, my friend older brother took me to his few hectares tea farm ( a hectare equals to 100 ares or 10,000 square meters). He hired ethnic people to harvest tea and clean up grasses in his tea farm. After that, we stopped by the ethnic market where ethnic minorities selling their farm produces, wild animals that they trapped from forest. On the way to my friend home, I had a conversation with him:
Me: I am surprised that ethnic people can form the group to do labor business with other majority ethnicities.
My friend brother: the majority of farms are big, few people can’t take care effectively when the farm owners need. In addition, ethnic culture is more community than individualism, so they form group laborers in order to deal business with farm owners easier.
Me: I saw you and ethnic group leader negotiated for the labor price. The ethnic minorities knew how to inflate the price before you guys bargained for appropriate price.
My friend brother: Do you think the minorities “just come down from mountain”? They know all about how economic and market work, they just want to live with their ways of life.
Me: I saw my own eyes the beautiful dancer rode a motorbike with her boyfriend behind, why on the way we went home a lot of minorities walking a few miles to their home.
My friend brother: Many children of minorities who go school with King or young people do business with king, they all know how to use bike or moped for their transportation. Only old minorities don’t catch up.
After I went to my friend home, I had a conversation with his dad. He told me that when he was a kid in 1960s, he and his friends took advantages from minor ethnicity over trading. At that time, you could trade a candy for a chicken with ethnic people. But they learned quickly after awhile. Nowadays, I watch TV or YouTube, I see the majority of ethnic minorities live like normal people in my native country.
Few months ago, I had a free time to visit the Amish restaurant in Middlefield, OH. I don’t know who is real owner of restaurant, English or Amish, but the Amish food was delicious, the Amish servers were professional just like English servers put on the Amish traditional clothes. What I observed, the Amish servers know how to engage with the customers in order to make customer please and come back to their restaurant. In my opinion, the only thing make they unique is they still ride horse as their transportation.
Even though, the Amish ways of life is unique and should be preserved, but I don’t think in the long run, the Amish can keep their ways of life when they have to get involved with English world for their living. just like the minority in my native country, the more they interact with outside world, the more they become just like the outsider. In my opinion, the religious groups are hard to change than the non-religious groups. I admire the Amish people for their simple ways of life, I don’t think that I can live with their lifestyle. Sometime what you admire or embrace, it may not be suitable to you. Please let me know your perspective about my perspective in this article by leaving comment below.