Amish

I took the liberty of gathering our postings on the Amish.

I live about two hours from Pennsylvania's Amish region, and it's well known that these people shun devices that were invented after the year 1900. I recall driving past Amish homes in the early night, and the homes were pitch dark, except for a couple candles in the window. I can't help suspect that their leaders were "tipped off" a long time ago about the impending pole shift. These people are hardy, they live close to the earth, and they are more prepared than most of us to survive in a post-shift world, having developed a strong sense of community. You know what happens if an Amish barn burns down. The whole community pitches in and rebuilds the barn in a matter of days. That's the kind of community I want to be part of after 2003, and much of my current efforts are directed toward establishing a community. I don't want to survive as an individual, nor do I think I can if I wanted to, nor do I want to survive just as a small family - that may not be possible either.

Mike

 

While the community concept is dandy, the rejection of technology seems a bit extreme. It's good to know how to do things the hard way (and it's often good enough anyway). But maybe if they knew anything about torus or dome geometry and construction, perhaps their barn wouldn't blow over in the first place, right? So while 'living off the land' is a good idea in one sense, completely rejecting technology is completely senseless - at least to me. Imagine what technology and the good community can do in unison! Why only accept 1/2 of the deal when you can have it all?

Joe

 

There is no reason for technology to dye out. It's here, let's keep it. In the past, civilizations and information died or was lost because they either ate or burned their books to survive. Like wetting your pants in winter to get warm. Feels good for the moment, but... The Amish are great people and would seem to have a handle on how to survive immediately after the pole shift and are used to the life style. We should gather some of that info for it is good. But, on the other hand, as time goes on, they will remain in the same life style. Religion as we know it, will go out the window (the reason for their life style). Then what? We are just like a plant, we are either growing or we're dying. No in between. I choose we grow with technology and take it with us. Learn what we can from examples like the Amish until we can put the technology to good use.

Clipper

 

Every unprepared person for hundreds of miles around will hit upon the idea of visiting the gentle and productive Amish of Lancaster County, PA. I personally don't want to bother these nice people, as they will have plenty to cope with.

George

 

The sad part is that those unprepared people might very well take all the supplies of the Amish and leave them with nothing. Of course the thieves themselves would also have nothing when the supplies ran out. The skills and knowledge of the Amish would be their most important asset. That and their sense of community. However, I suspect that the Amish will be in worse shape than the rest of us here in Troubled Times: their lifestyle is built around growing food, but they don't know anything about electricity. Not too good if the sun "takes a nap" for a spell. Along those lines it is absolutely essential to take at least some of our technology with us if we plan to survive.

Ron

 

The Amish are a good model in that they rely on community and farming, a time past in fact.

Nancy

Offered by Pat.