In all the years I have known the Amish - I have never seen them underfeed, or mistreat any animals in their care. The workhorses here are well fed openly, and well groomed.
Jeff
The Amish
by James_Slash 33 Replies latest jw experiences
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THE GLADIATOR
AK - Jeff Hi Tiger! I can understand why animals being well fed would be important to you.
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AK - Jeff
Stereotyping is often unfair.
Jeff
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AK - Jeff
Hi Glad. LOL
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miseryloveselders
A good documentary to check out is The Devil's Playground. It's about that window of time Amish youth are given to live life without typical Amish boundaries, and regardless of their actions they won't get kicked out of the community or shunned. At a certain point they have to make a decision as to what life they are going to live, within the Amish community or as an outsider. It's a pretty fascinating and graphic documentary. Opened my eyes up on em. They're pretty much like any other group of people on this planet.
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blondie
I was wondering, there have been several child abuse cases amongst the Amish; do their religious leaders report them to the non-Amish authorities?
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StAnn
There are a bunch of Amish just west of me, one county west, actually. I agree with AK Jeff, around here they are much more primitive re: lifestyle. But a lot of them moved here because farmland was cheaper here than in PA and NE Ohio and they're pursuing a real rural life, so maybe attitude has a lot to do with how strictly they follow the rules.
We also have here the Old Order German Baptists, another Mennonite sect. Not as primitive as the Amish but very similar.
I've found that people are people no matter their religion. In legalistic religions, like the Amish or the JWs, people find ways to circumvent the rules when it suits them so that they can have what they want. People can dress as quaintly as they wish but, underneath, they're still people with the same tendencies as the rest of us.
As someone else stated above, there are a lot of homesteading families that pursue the "back to the land" lifestyle and raise their families in a close knit, loving atmosphere but don't wear different clothing. I find that a lot more appealing than a group like the Amish. DH and I have actually considered buying a farm of our own and pursuing a more primitive lifestyle but we're working on having an "urban homestead" at the moment. Having three disabled people in the family makes it harder to live without the modern conveniences.
And to the poster who complained about how cheap the Amish are: yep, if you want to live a "simple" lifestyle, you have to be frugal. Very frugal. I actually talk with the Amish and the Old Order folks just to share tips on frugality. I personally enjoy it but I don't rip people off. For instance, when I go to yard sales, I rarely haggle. If we go out to eat, I don't lie about my kids' ages to get kids' meals (they are small for their age). And we have our own divided plastic plates and things to take to picnics so that we don't have to buy paper goods. I think the only paper goods I buy, other than toilet paper, are napkins. If I didn't already do so much laundry (5 loads a day), I'd use cloth napkins too. All of these things add up.
So to AK Jeff, I think, who said he'd like the lifestyle without the religious overtones, you can pursue urban homesteading where you are or homesteading if you want to go even more into it. It starts out as a mindset and turns into a lifestyle. You don't have to have any religion in it.
But I'm not giving up my air conditioning. Had enough of that when I was a kid.
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diana netherton
I have lived in Lancaster County for ten years and have gotten quite familiar with the Amish
and their ways. I have varying views on them, both positive and somewhat negative and sometimes
just downright confusing.
Let's start with the horse and buggy. Older order Amish are not allowed to drive, however,
they can own a car. They hire a driver. Or they'll take a taxi. Kind of like saying you can't have a beer
in your house but you can at a bar. Also, their buggies' wheels are made of steel and they tear up
the roads something fierce. Not to mention being stuck behind them, especially on Sundays. And their
horses leave big piles of mess everywhere which I'm always dodging when I'm out for a bike ride. I've
also seen them treat their horses very inhumanely. Last summer I saw one horse frothing at the mouth
while the buggy driver was whipping it to go on. The horse fell over. They're not all like that, I'm sure, but
I've seen my fair share. Plus puppy mills were mentioned and they're quite common among the Amish out
here.
Electricity... anywhere but the house. Phones. Most of them own cell phones. I see them talking on them
quite frequently. I'm not fooled one bit about their keepint totally separate. It's impossible really.
Child abuse. I work in the legal system at the courthouse and it really is a HUGE problem in the community.
Like the JWs they tend to deal with in "in house." Most of it doesn't get reported. Megan's Law website has
several Amish men listed as perps in this area alone. One lives down the road from me.
It's really pretty much like the JW religion only JWs shower every day, have no facial hair, and actually drive the cars.
These are my mixed feelings on the Amish.....
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undercover
These are my mixed feelings on the Amish.....
I admire their work ethic and their sense of family and community... or at least the sense of those things that seem to be publicized in a good way about them.
I have seen/read things about child labor issues and problems with their youth. I found some things troubling. Things that could be avoided if the community was more open and more open minded. I got the impression that many youth are trapped. If they leave, they have no support, no family, etc. Much like anyone who leaves the JWs, except maybe worse sense they are not only mentally 'no part of the world' but physically as well.
But I've always felt kinda sorry for them to a point also because I could see that they physcially represented where I was mentally on one time. Living backwards in a forward thinking time and place.
They do have a particularly unique issue to deal with that most JWs will never face: tourists and rubberneckers. JWs live among us and work with us and live in our neighborhoods (And on this board, most of us have JW family/spouses). We could be around a JW and never really realize it unless they told us.
The Amish though, they do stand out. They took the 'no part of the world' thing literally. And because they do, they've become a tourist attraction. And that's not right. I visited friends in PA back when I was still a JW and they took us up to Lancaster and we saw all the Amish farms and houses and shoolhouses. We saw them in traffic in their horse and buggies. We saw their simple clothes, the men with untrimmed beards and flat brimmed hats. The women in their plain dresses and aprons and caps. What a surreal experience to be a JW (one cult member) driving around staring and pointing at Amish (another cult member). I was embarrassed for them and embarrassed that I was in a car full of gawkers.