| Who Are The Amish Essay, Research Paper
Who are the Amish
If you are interested the values and lifestyle of the
nineteenth century, here is a great example: The
Amish, is a group of religious people who live in
settlements in 22 states and (Ontario), Canada. The
roots of the Amish come from Mennonite community, a
part of early Anabaptist Movement in Europe, which
took place at the time of the Reformation. At that
time, this movement were seen as heretical and the
members of the movement oppressed and people were
cruelly put to death by both Catholics and
Protestants. As a result, of this oppression from
larger religious groups and having a different point
of view in terms of interpretations of Christianity,
the Amish fled to the rural areas and isolated
themselves from the others. This separation from the
others can be the best answer to why the Amish have
insisted on being different from the contemporary
world. The Amish continue emphasizing the basic values
of the nineteenth century. Their distinctions from
other minorities in America are their different
beliefs, community structure and their simplistic
lifestyles.
Until 1972 the Amish were forced to complete
high-school, at which point the supreme court
overturned this ruling to allow them to discontinue
after elementary school. Their lack of faith in the
American school system was made them to want withdraw
their children from school. They feared that U.S. high
school would spoil the children’s peaceful, simple
tendencies and push them into crime and violence.
Instead of public high school they have their own
schools, staffed with teachers from Amish backgrounds.
In the words of researcher John Andrew Hosstetler,
“The Amish school has generally been successful in
preparing young people to be honest, hardworking and
conscientious adults, capable of earning a living,
raising Christian family, and contributing to the
Amish community.” (29). Most Amish schools today have
one room and one teacher for all eight grades, and
English is the language of instruction.
Unlike the U.S. culture the Amish have their own
small communities. They live and die only within this
community without mingling with any others.
Individuality is of no concern to the Amish. They
become part of a whole community when they are
baptized, and remain so until death. The two most
important rules of the Amish demand that they are
separated from the rest of the world and that they
must be obedient to everything the church asks of
them. These two rules bring heavy restrictions on
them. Their strong ties to family and community limit
their interaction and participation in modern American
society. They do have to work among people outside of
their religions, for example, many in dairy factories,
but they do avoid working with any kind of modern
electronic machinery. They fallow the same
restrictions at home. For instance, most Amish
households do not have a central heating system, but
instead heat only the living room. This practice
gathers everyone in one room of the house and applies
to the importance they give to family and community.
Ruth Hoover Seitc states that “Almost all members of
the Amish community help each other to build a barn
and nothing is prefabricated. The entire structure is
built on location. In a single day.” (99). They try to
stay together and help each other with problems so
that interaction with the outside world is minimized.
The Amish still insists on rejecting modern
technology. For instance, they use gas lamps instead
electric lights and they reject using highly
sophisticated farming equipment, the Amish prefer
horse and cattle. “Kerosene lamps or pressurized lamps
are commonly used for general lighting. Ironically,
Amish farmers who do not use electricity may have to
put with massive power lines cut g through their
farms, ” says Merle Good in his book “Who are the
Amish?” (93). In addition to this the Amish children
play with hand-made toys. From a functionalist
perspective it can be said that the Amish are for the
most part isolated from American culture. They have
their own strict beliefs, their own churches and their
own communities. Family structure is more important to
them than the role they play in society. Amish people
refuse to be slaves of technology in the modern world.
Their basic principles in living are simplicity and
self-sufficiency, which are also factors in isolating
themselves from modern American culture.
The old order Amish gather to worship together, but
following a belief left from the years of exile and
torture in Europe, where they met in caves and
forests, they do not congregate in a church. Instead
Amish are separated from the modern Americans who
gather and pray in churches, although they have one
similarity in that they both study the same holly
book, the Bible. Bill Simpson points out that “The
Bible remains the central book of the Amish people and
they view the Bible as the guide for faith and life.”
(59).
The Amish mostly support themselves with agriculture.
They are very successful at farming, which is their
way of living according to their basic value,
simplicity. Mark Tompkins writes “The majority of all
Amish families earn their living by farming. Corn,
tobacco and alfalfa are favorite crops. ” (19). The
Amish have little impact on the American economy. Some
of them do work in regular jobs, but the majorities
are farmers who support their own community rather
than contributing to the American society. Stephen
Schiff reports that “Amish volunteers help prepare
meat to be canned and shipped overseas through
Mennonite Central Community. This worldwide service
agency distributes many millions of dollars of aid and
service to countries of all political affiliations,
‘in the name of Christ.’ (73). They sometimes organize
auctions that are open to the general public, but this
is the only time they interact with others than their
own community.
The Amish do pay taxes, but they do not receive any
social service relief or medical aid. They do not take
any kind of assistance from the government because
they do not value modern comforts in any way. It could
also be said that patriotism, which is an important
part of American culture, is not an issue for Amish.
Although they were required to join the army during
WWI, they were mostly stationed in offices and medical
facilities due to their strict ideas about peace, not
harming others and not bearing arms. Willis Thompson
and George Hanson, two such Amish people who survived
the war and are now living in Olivet Michigan as
professors in the local college, refused to take arms
during the war. They were as a result put into medical
troops to serve out their duties. In this way they
were able to maintain their personal beliefs without
jeopardizing the good of the country.
Amish as a way of expressing their faith, wear simple
clothes. While the American have been the slaves of
clothing daily fashion, the Amish continue to wear
their traditional clothes. For example, unlike the
mainstream women, Amish women wear modest dresses with
long sleeves and full skirts covered with a cape and
apron. On their heads, they wear a prayer bonnet; the
white one for marrieds, and the black one for singles.
Amish women also never use jewelry. This sharp
difference in terms of clothes is also seen between
Amish men and the mainstream men. Amish men and boys
wear dark colored suits, black socks, loose-fitting
trousers, solid-colored shirts, and black coats and
hats.
Almost all Amish are trilingual. They can speak a
regional dialect of German, High German, and English.
At home, they use the regional dialect. High German is
their worship language. English is only used when they
faced with anyone who is not Amish. They use the
dialect of Germany, when they speak to each other.
In deed as a result of having some tragic
experiences, the Amish have preferred to isolate
themselves from the modern world. They reject
modernity because they think that modernity can
destroy their simplicity and solidarity. However, it
is not possible to say that the Amish seem stuck in
history. Although they look like they stepped out of
the rural nineteenth century, in fact, they change.
They definitely are not stuck anywhere. Before
accepting new innovations, they examine them
carefully. If the innovations do not assist in keeping
their simplicity and their togetherness, they probably
will reject them. Unfortunately, in order to survive,
this unique culture has had to make many compromises.
With the advancement of technology and the growth of
population they are beginning to face many problems,
such as the loss of farmland which is so vital to
their survival. Tourism and housing developments have
contributed a lot to this problem. The younger Amish
generation is showing signs of wanting to the leave
the community, which is an act that could have many
effects on the next generation of Amish. The chances
of survival for the Old Amish Order against the modern
U.S. culture are not very strong. Sadly they might
give in to the pressure eventually and go with the
easy flow of modern society, and this will be the end
of a magnificently unique Old World establishment.
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