Learning from the Amish

I live in the midst of the world's largest Amish community, and I used to think I knew all about them. The truth is, however, that I don't understand them any better than I understand anyone else, or myself for that matter. I know that the Amish don't like to be treated as if they are an alien species; they're just people who pursue a certain lifestyle that makes them stand out from the rest of us. Perhaps that's why I've never tried too hard to probe into their beliefs and reasons for how they live, or maybe I'm just lazy. But I think there's a certain amount that we can learn from observing the Amish from a distance, even if the conclusions drawn from such observations are groundless.


To be Amish, one must be patient. Horse-drawn buggies travel slowly, especially uphill. Clothes take their sweet time to dry on the line. Non-mechanized farming is practically zen-like. Impatience is a form of stress, and while Amish life is far from stress-free, they are professionals at patience.

Eschewing most modern conveniences, the Amish also do without the headaches such conveniences bring with them. Their computers never crash, they seldom worry about the price of gasoline, and power outages mean little to them. They never have to figure out how to hook up a stereo or download a digital camera, and the switch to all-digital television broadcasting will come and go unnoticed. I don't know many people who know much about auto mechanics or internet technology, myself included, but we rely on such technologies to make our modern lives possible. The Amish rarely employ a technology they don't thoroughly understand (cellular phones being the principle exception), and thus forgo the worries that such blind reliance brings.

The Amish are exceptionally good neighbors. There are countless stories of Amishmen coming unbidden to the aid of their 'English' neighbors. I have an elderly friend who lives alone in a small house amidst an Amish neighborhood. Her neighbors keep a close eye on her, charitably providing such services as snow-shoveling while always being aware of any changes in her routine that may suggest trouble. The Amish lifestyle itself is neighborly in a passive way. They're relatively quiet, reasonably tidy people with happy, playful children. They don't keep late hours and don't generate a lot of traffic on the roads.

The Amish lifestyle is difficult, filled with hard work and relatively little leisure. There is little hope for amassing great wealth, and those that do (chiefly through oil and gas found beneath their land) have few ways to spend it. They must endure being treated as a tourist attraction or even a circus sideshow, and they do so with equanimity. I wouldn't want to live the life of an Amishman. But maybe that's because I haven't learned enough yet.