«back to the main page   Amish lifestyle Posted on August 22, 2008   Images from Wikipedia Chris and I watched a movie called” Witness” played by one of my favorite foreign actors Harrison Ford. Witness is a great movie and I liked it. John Book is a cop who was played by Harrison Ford. In the movie, there was an Amish boy who witnessed a crime. By the way, I’m not going to talk about the movie here. One thing that caught my attention was about the Amish people. I was shocked to know that there were people that live like the Amish, I didn’t know about Amish, Chris asked me if I know about Amish people, I told him, I didn’t even know what Amish is. I have no idea about Amish people. But I know now after Chris explained some of it to me and the movie shows some of the Amish lifestyle and that helps me understand. I couldn’t wait until morning, I wanted to go online to get more information about the Amish but it will be very late for me to get online and also I know it can wait till the morning. The next morning, I did research online about the Amish. It’s amazing and I find it very interesting, their history, beliefs, practices, how they live, their lifestyle, I think it’s wonderful. It’s shocking to know that they didn’t use electricity at all. Out of my amazement I asked Chris the same question 3 times, “really, they’re not using electricity at all, and no oven, microwave, washing machine, and no computer stuff like that. And I got the same answer from him, “yes!” Can you imagine that? For sure they don’t have those newest inventions nowadays like IPod, gadgets and everything. Amish people are plain people. They are best known for simple living. Their women wear plain dress, no jewelries. They are early riser and go to bed early. It’s amazing to know about their lifestyle. The kind of contentment they have is so inspiring. They are very contented and they refuse earthly things. I like their lifestyle but I don’t think I want to be like them. No computer…? I enjoy where I am and what I have right now, living in the place surrounded with new technologies, I believe everything is from above even those that have the wisdom to create things like microwave, new medicine and high technology. In the bible, it says that Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above. Anyway, I admire their perseverance and I respect for what they believe. But there’s an article I’ve read about Amish that they do not believe in any musical instruments. They are just contented to sing acapella. But in the bible, musical instruments is mentioned several times. People in the old testament use drums, harp etc. This made me confused a bit because the Amish are known for living in the bible but it doesn’t make sense. They refuse to use musical instruments. For them playing instrument is worldly. Anyway, I am not against how they live despite of it I salute them and I believe what they do is an inspiration. This is one reason if given a chance to go other places, I’ll choose Pennsylvania, and I want to meet some Amish people and of course I would like to experience their buggy ride. I’m glad I did some readings about Amish; it is great to be reminded that it is possible people can live with no electricity, gadgets-modern lifestyles and it is not the end of the world if you don’t own any of those gadgets. So, we have our choice on how to enjoy life, what we need is to learn to be thankful in everything.