Sociology
Project Outline: To draw contrasts and similarities between my life and the life of an Amish woman my age based on the class material, text, discussion and notes
My reflections on the following:
Donald Kraybill The Riddle of the Amish Culture
"The most important factor of Amish life is Gelassenheit, or submission to the will of God. Gelassenheit is based primarily on Jesus' words, 'not my will but thine be done.'"
Amish Living and My Own: Comparisons and Contrasts
Ever since I was a little girl I can remember wondering about the differences between religions, and which one I would eventually decide to follow throughout my life. I participated in services and delved into literature from Fellowship Baptists, Christian Missionaries, Presbyterians, Catholics, and Buddists. Moreover, I was open to religions my mother studied in her English and Woman�s Studies courses at IUP. Yet it never occurred to me to learn about the Amish; even though they are a group that populates a large portion of the farmland around my hometown. Then when I started reading The Riddle of the Amish Culture by Donald Kraybill, I noticed from the very first page that there would be extreme differences between the Amish way of living and my own. However, as I continued the book, I became aware that we share common values as well. These contrasts and similarities are apparent from three perspectives; one, the cultural differences in my life versus those in the life of a young Amish woman; two, mainstream culture versus Old Order Amish culture, and three, personal similarities to the Amish regardless of culture.
The most outstanding cultural difference between my life and the life of an Amish woman my age is technology. While modernization is �a story of traditional cultures eroding beneath the swift currents of change,� the Old Order Amish have resisted modern technology, choosing instead to maintain tradition (Kraybill 1). Yet my field of study, computer science, thrives on and excels in technological advancement. This advancement is a completely different kind from the kind that a young Amish woman seeks. Whereas �her� activities might focus mainly on housework, needlework, canning, and cooking, my own consist of staying on top of new programming languages, new hardware, and new software. So everyday that a young Amish woman wakes, lives, and chooses tradition over innovation, so does the gap increase between our interests, activities, and lifestyles.
This difference in routine further demonstrates subtle contrasting attitudes between a hypothetical Amish peer and myself. Mainstream attitudes and Amish attitudes both stem from ancestry, but the way we were raised and reflect on our ancestry is very different. For example, the Old Order Amish have a strong knowledge of their past and their origins. They hold a strong reverance for their elders and hardships endured in the past. In fact, �The Martyrs Mirror� is a book that chronicles the persecution endured for two centuries (Kraybill 5). A young Amish woman grows up with this constant reminder of her ancesters and is taught to remember past suffering. However, it seems that in mainstream families children are encouraged to lead happy, productive lives and to take advantage of the sacrifices ancestors made. For instance, my great grandmother wants me to go out into the world and be successful, taking opportunities that she never had. But I have very little knowledge of the hardships she faced, or the hardships her parents might have encountered. I believe this is a major difference between the culture in which I live and that of an Amish woman because it shapes the way we see life, again outlining the differences between tradition and innovation.
However, despite these deep-rooted differences, there are similarities between Amish beliefs, actions, values, and my own. I feel that I have always had an understanding of Gelassenheit since I dislike compliments, prefer teamwork and anonymity, and favor the attitude shown in the following Amish school verse (Kraybill 35):
I must be a Christian child,
Gentle, patient, meek, and mild;
Must be honest, simple, true
In my words and actions too
I must cheerfully obey,
Giving up my will and way.
Though I struggle sometimes, I feel that when I have a problem I have to give up control or �my will and way� and trust that everything will be all right. These outlooks as well as other Amish values like community before convenience, family, hard work, cooperation, pacifism, humility, and simplicity are concepts I cherish.
At the start of Kraybill�s book, I was unsure that I would be interested in this topic. But everyday that I read about the Old Order Amish, I find that their lifestyle, though different in some ways and similar in other ways to my own, is interesting and enlightening.
