[TheForge] Amish

Fri Mar 15 20:07:00 2002

Terry,

I'm rather intrigued by your post. While I was at the auction I mentioned I
had some dealings with one of my Amish friends there. He is the buggy
builder I mentioned earlier, and he is the author of the hair splitting
quote I mentioned. He asked me if I would put a cast iron implement seat on
ebay for him, and I commented that I figured he would be using a laptop
computer by now. It mad sense to me that he would be able to do this as he
was able to use battery powered tools, but he said it would never happen.
His reasoning was as follows:

"Men doing what men will do, a man can get hisself in trouble with a
computer. But I have never seen a man get in trouble using a screw driver,
battery powered or not." Then he tried to sell me a cordless screwdriver.

I can't tell you how much I respect this man and his family and the
lifestyle they lead. He walks a fine line between modern society and the old
ways, making a living, raising his kids right and maintaining his faith and
beliefs.

Thanks for you post. I appreciate the insight it provides.
Regards,
Donn

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry L. Ridder" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 3:07 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Amish

> hello;
>
> to clear up some misunderstandings concerning amish, old order mennonite,
> mennonite, and other similar groups.
>
> commonsense is used concerning the use of telephones, computers, etc.
>
> while i use computers, telephones, etc i have a propane refrigerator
> and freezer. i do not read newspapers mainly because i find them too
> depressing. i have propane gas lights, and kerosene lanterns in the
> house. my friends in arthur, illinois, who have businesses have telphones,
> fax machines, copiers, etc. kenneth, who is a cabinet maker, still powers
> the shop by line shaft. in the office is a telephone, fax machine, copier,
> etc. kenneth, has a web page. you will not find a telephone, fax machine,
> copier in the house. their use is viewed as the cost of doing business.
>
> i have propane gas lights in my computer room. it is a joke with
> people around here that i type my e-mails by gas light.
>
> a better joke is that i troubleshoot cellular remote sites and wrote
> part of the software used to plan where cellular sites should be located
> but i do not use a cellular telphone, pager, etc.
>
> as of this wednesday i now have an 11mbps 802.11 wireless ethernet
> connection to the internet. i just canceled the 128k isdn circuit
> this morning.
>
> the lifestyle is not rigid there is room for variants.
>
> i have tutored for years several mennonite and amish children in
> math and computers. the one boy is now 19 years old and doing well
> working on computers and building computers. we joke that we are
> an amish/mennonite computers users group of five. ( there are others
> in the group. ) i do know that there is at least one amish linux
> users group.
>
> some groups allow the use of tractors while some have choosen to
> use only draft horses. some groups allow the ownership of a car
> but not drive it. ( they hire someone to drive it.  very long story. )
> some groups do not allow the ownership of a car. it boils down to what
> the community is comfortable with.
>
> the issue of "wires", whether they be telephone, electric, etc is not
> a black and white issue. to someone looking at the communities from
> the outside it looks like 'hair splitting' but it a subject matter that
> is difficult to explain. their use is really governed on a case by case
> basis.
>
> if anyone has questions i will be happy to try an answer them to the best
> of my ability.
>
> On Fri, 15 Mar 2002, [email protected] wrote:
>
> bob>
> bob> maybe not stupid but i have to wonder about anyone who would
> bob> willingly give up so many personal freedoms. like reading
> bob> books that might interest you, listening to radio, recorded
> bob> music, tv, newspapers, computers, the list goes on and on....
> bob>
> bob> amish around here are able to use cell phones since they don't
> bob> use wires...talk about splitting hairs! like somehow all those
> bob> towers are less "wordly" than wire!
> bob>
> bob> please don't get me started on this...oops too late.
> bob>
> bob> bob s.
> bob>
>
> --
> Terry L. Ridder
>
> digging deep, i feel my conscience burn
> i need to know who and what i am
> this hunger jolts me from complacency
> rocks me, makes me meet myself
> ----kendall payne---closer to myself---
>
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