Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy (29 page)

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Authors: Donald B. Kraybill,Steven M. Nolt,David L. Weaver-Zercher

BOOK: Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy
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Although farming continues to hold a revered place in Amish life, the majority of Amish people in many settlements have abandoned their plows. In some of the larger communities, fewer than 10 percent farm. This shift to nonfarm work is the biggest change in Amish society in the last century. Still, despite their growing involvement in business and commerce, the Amish remain a distinctly rural people, living along country roads and on the outskirts of small villages. Many families combine off-farm work with hobby farming.
In recent decades, hundreds of Amish-owned shops have sprung up in some communities. Most of these are small family businesses with fewer than ten employees and are usually, but not always, overseen by men. The bulk of these businesses produce wood products—household and outdoor furniture, gazebos, small barns, and lawn ornaments—though quilt shops, greenhouses, and bakeries have also been very successful. With low overhead and an ample supply of family labor, the small home-based shops tend to be very profitable. The annual sales of the larger businesses may exceed $5 million.
Construction work also provides employment for many Amish men in some states. In certain communities, dozens of construction crews travel considerable distances to build homes and commercial buildings for non-Amish people. In other settlements, the majority of Amish men work in English-owned factories located in rural areas or small towns. In northern Indiana, for instance, many Amish work in factories that assemble recreational vehicles.
The growth of nonfarm employment has brought new wealth to many Amish communities. Some leaders worry that the new jobs bring too much “easy money” and will eventually erode a work ethic built on generations of farming. Others fear that fringe benefits, such as medical insurance, that accompany outside factory employment will undermine the commitment to mutual aid within the church. For this reason, many Amish communities prefer home-based shops to “lunch pail jobs” away from home. “What we’re trying to do,” said one shop owner, “is to keep the family together.”
Technology
 
Many outsiders mistakenly think the Amish reject technology. It is more accurate to say that they use technology selectively. Televisions, radios, and personal computers are rejected outright, but other types of technology are used selectively or modified to fit Amish purposes. Amish mechanics also build new machines to accommodate their cultural guidelines. Moreover, they readily buy much state-of-the-art technology, such as gas grills, shop tools, camping equipment, and some farm equipment.
Why do the Amish fear technology? They do not consider technology evil in itself, but they believe that technology, if left untamed, will undermine worthy traditions and accelerate assimilation into the surrounding society. “It’s what it will do to the next generation,” said one bishop. Mass media technology in particular, they fear, would introduce foreign values into their culture. A car is seen not as immoral but as a harmful tool that would pull the community apart. Horse-and-buggy transportation keeps the community anchored in its local geographic base. Cars would bring greater mobility that would erode local ties.
Most Amish groups forbid using electricity from public utility lines. “It’s not the electricity that is so bad,” said one member. “It’s all the things we don’t need that would come with it.” Electricity from batteries is more local, controllable, and independent from the outside world. In some settlements, for example, Amish use batteries to power lights on buggies, calculators, fans, flashlights, cash registers, copy machines, and typewriters. Solar energy is sometimes used to charge batteries, operate electric fences, and power household appliances.
Amish use of technology often perplexes outsiders. Why would God frown on a telephone? What sense does it make to keep a tractor at the barn but not take it to the field? Is it not inconsistent, if not outright hypocritical, to hire English taxi drivers but refuse to own cars? And what could be the difference between 12-volt electricity from batteries and 110-volt current from public utility lines? These distinctions may look silly to an outsider, but within the context of Amish history they are important cultural compromises that have helped slow the pace of social change and keep worldliness at bay.
All of these adaptations reflect Amish attempts to balance tradition and change. Economic viability often factors into their decisions about technology, but convenience for convenience’s sake is not a high priority. The Amish seek to master technology rather than become its slave. Like few other communities, they have shown the tenacity to tackle the powerful forces of technology in order to preserve their traditional way of life.
Government Relations
 
Contrary to some misperceptions, the Amish do pay taxes: state and federal income taxes, sales and real estate taxes, and public school taxes. They are exempt from paying Social Security taxes, however, because they consider Social Security a form of insurance and refuse its benefits. The Amish believe that the Bible instructs them to care for church members who have special needs, including the elderly. To rely on commercial or government insurance would mock their faith that God will care for them through the church.
The Amish are taught to respect and pray for governing authorities according to biblical admonitions. However, when caught in a conflict between their conscience and civic law, they cite the scripture verse “Obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). From their reading of the New Testament, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, they believe that Jesus’ followers are to be nonviolent, and they forbid self-defense as well as entering the armed forces. They generally avoid holding public office and engaging in political activism. They are, however, permitted to vote. The rate of voting is typically low unless a local issue is on the ballot.
In recent years, numerous conflicts have pitted the Amish against the growing regulatory power of the state. The points of friction have included military service, education, Social Security, health care, property zoning, child labor, photo identification, and the use of slow-moving-vehicle signs. To cope with these various conflicts, the Amish have formed a national steering committee with representatives in various states to work with public legislators when issues arise. In general, however, the Amish have fared rather well in a political system that respects and protects their freedom of religious expression.
Blemish and Virtue
 
The Amish are far from perfect. Amish hearts sometimes swell with greed, jealousy, and anger. Parents worry about their children, and some Amish youth rebel against their parents, their churches, and even the law. Although the Amish forbid divorce, some marriages do sour. Church leaders have been known to abuse their power, and sexual and physical abuse occurs in Amish families as it does in other North American families. Disagreements sometimes debilitate a church district, forcing the local church to split into factions.
Despite their blemishes, the Amish have developed a remarkably stable society. With little government aid they provide care and dignity for elderly and disabled members. Apart from occasional arrests for alcohol or drug abuse among their youth, Amish communities have avoided many of the blights of modern life. With only a few exceptions, they have no homeless or unemployed members and no one living on government subsidies. Virtually no Amish people sit in prison, and only occasionally do Amish couples divorce. Thus, all things considered, they have created a humane society despite their lack of high school education, professional training, and a full embrace of technology.
The Amish have learned to live with limits. Indeed, they would argue that setting and respecting limits on almost everything is one of the foundations of wisdom. Limits, for the Amish, are a necessary requirement for human happiness. Without limits, the Amish believe, individuals become arrogant, conceited, and self-destructive. To be sure, restraints diminish individual freedom, personal choices, and various forms of self-expression. At the same time, some would say, they grant greater dignity and security to the individual than the endless choices afforded by modern life. To the Amish way of thinking, a respect for limits builds community, brings a sense of belonging, and shapes identity—three important keys to human satisfaction and happiness.
ENDNOTES
 
Chapter 1: The Nickel Mines Amish
 
4
The “southern end”:
For a history of the Amish south of “the ridge” in the Lancaster settlement, see John S. Kauffman, Melvin R. Petersheim, and Ira S. Beiler, comps.,
Amish History of Southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1940-1992
(Elverson, PA: Olde Springfield Shoppe, 1992; available from Masthof Press, Elverson, PA). For a social history of the Lancaster Amish settlement in the twentieth century, see Donald B. Kraybill,
The Riddle of Amish Culture,
rev. ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001). For a history of the Amish in Europe and North America, see Steven M. Nolt,
A History of the Amish,
rev. ed. (Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2003).
 
10
This occurs, the manual explains: Standards of the Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite Parochial and Vocational Schools of Pennsylvania
(Gordonville, PA: Gordonville Print Shop, 1981), 2.
 
Chapter 2: The Shooting
 
18
At about 3:00 on Monday:
Our sources for this chapter include interviews with Amish and non-Amish people familiar with the tragedy, letters and commentary in Amish newspapers, media accounts, and police reports. One of the best summaries of the shooting is “Lost Angels: The Untold Stories of the Amish School Shootings,” a three-part series that appeared in the
Lancaster New Era
on December 13, 14, and 15, 2006. This series, from which our account is adapted, was reprinted as a twenty-eight-page booklet in January 2007. The material in this section relies heavily on pages 11-18.
 
21 “
Consider, Man! the End”: Unpartheyisches Gesang-Buch: Translations and Lessons
[Impartial Songbook: Translations and Lessons], 2nd ed. (East Earl, PA: Schoolaid, 1997), 171. Translation used by permission of the publisher.
 
21
In quiet solitude: Unpartheyisches Gesang-Buch
, 151. Original translation used by permission of the publisher. Revised translation 2007 by David Rempel Smucker, Ph.D., Akron, PA. Used by permission.
 
28
The old martyr stories:
The complete title of the English edition, which is 1,158 pages long and kept in print by Herald Press, is
The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith, and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus, Their Saviour, from the Time of Christ to the Year A.D. 1660
, (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1968).
 
Chapter 3: The Aftermath
 
31
“I can’t put into words”:
“Georgetown, PA,”
Die Botschaft,
October 16, 2006, 43.
 
33
In a public statement released:
The full statement of the Nickel Mines Accountability Committee appeared in the
Lancaster New Era
as a letter to the editor; see Herman Bontrager, Nickel Mines Accountability Committee, letter to the editor,
Lancaster New Era,
October 11, 2006. The letter was also distributed by the Associated Press on October 10, 2006.
 
34
“We will never forget the feelings”:
Mr. and Mrs. Amos K. Ebersol, letter to the editor,
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal,
October 18, 2006.
 
34
“Our perceptions of ‘worldly’”:
Benuel Riehl, letter to the editor,
Philadelphia Inquirer
, October 8, 2006.
 
34 “
We are thankful”:
“THANK YOU,” 1.
 
36
I was a little child:
Mary M. Miller, comp.,
Our Heritage, Hope, and Faith
(Shipshewana, IN: privately published, 2000), 342. Original translation, by John B. Martin, used by permission. Revised translation 2007 by David Rempel Smucker, Ph.D., Akron, PA. Used by permission.
 
Chapter 4: The Surprise
 
44
“He stood there for an hour”:
Mark Scolforo, “Police: Gunman at Amish School Told Wife He Molested 2 Little Girls 20 Years Ago,” Associated Press, October 3, 2006.
 
45
“Do you have any anger”:
“Victims’ Grandfather Talks to News 8,” WGAL. com, October 4, 2006,
http://www.wgal.com/news/9997465/detail.html
.
 
45
“We have to forgive”:
“Grief-Stricken Community of Nickel Mines Trying to Deal with Deaths of Five Amish Girls, Shot in Schoolhouse,”
The Early Show,
CBS News transcripts, October 4, 2006.
 
45
“We shouldn’t think evil”:
David Cox, “Grief of the Amish,”
Sunday Mirror,
October 8, 2006.

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