The Amish: Living Simple in a Modern World

There is a large group of people in America. Their number is over 200,000. They don’t have computers, don’t have the electricity to run computers, and don’t want the electricity to run them. These people are known as ‘the Amish’. Emma is an Amish girl. Let’s explore how and why the Amish live as they do from her interview:

The Interviewer: Emma, you are an Amish girl. Tell us, who are the Amish?

Emma: The Amish are a group of a religious community. We’re originally from Europe, but we now live in the USA and Canada.

The Interviewer: What makes the Amish distinct?

Emma: We have an 18th-century lifestyle in a 21st-century world. This makes us different. We avoid modern technology. We don’t drive cars. The folks get around in horse-drawn buggies, use lanterns for light and cook with gas stoves. Many of us have no telephones or electricity in our homes.

The Interviewer: Why don’t you use technology? Doesn’t this make you isolated from the world?

Emma: Absolutely not! Technology is a distraction from life. Without electricity, you spend more time with family, and who doesn’t love that? We believe community is at the heart of our life and faith. And we live as a loving community apart from the world.

The Interviewer: So, you don’t have any connection with the world, right?

Emma: Oh, no! Of course, we do! We only avoid technology when it might damage the community, not because we think technology is inherently evil. In some cases, for example, electricity is permitted to warm homes.

The Interviewer: How is a daily routine for the Amish people?

Emma: Life is different from other people’s lives in many ways. It is not easy for Amish families. We get up at five o’clock in the morning and start work. The men work on the farm. The women do the chores, prepare food and make clothes. Then we go to school.

The Interviewer: Oh, do you attend school?

Emma: Yes! Education is taken very seriously in our community. Most children attend one-room Amish-run schools. We are traditionally educated only until the age of 13. Most of us are trilingual. At home we speak Pennsylvania Dutch, but at school we learn English and German.

The Interviewer: Which word would you use to describe the Amish?

Emma: Hımm Plain! Yes, we’re plain people. We prefer the traditional wisdom of our ancestors over your ‘modern’ way of living. We live by the practices of past generations.