Living in the past in the 21st Century
Lit up by the light of a candle, a bible is being read pleasantly by the eyes of a women who cannot conceive a life without her God, and her family, to whom she devoted the whole day.
“Pleasure? Yes we have pleasure. We get it harvesting vegetables and everything necessary to make lunch. Joy? Of course, that’s what we feel when we remember we’re giving our lifetime to the “Lord”. Happiness? Being with, and only with, our families.”
You might find it hard to tie these answers in with 21st century’s people, but they actually are. The Amish have isolated themselves from society since their very beginnings, just to be away from sin and obey the bible; striving to be holier than thou.
Driven by curiosity, an ordinary human being tries to do and experiment with new things or, as some people say, open your mind (someone more sensible said: if you open your mind too much, your brain will fall out). But this is clearly not the case for the Amish; who seem to have locked their brains with a combination lock, swallowed the combination and then, forgot it.
That’s the only life they know, peasant farmers that can only relate the word Blackberry with a small fruit found on bushes. But as long as they’re happy and free to decide to live that life or a different one, I think their isolation is just a peculiar characteristic rather than something to be worried about.
Now Channel 4 is making an experiment in which a cultural clash is going to happen, between Amish’s youths and UK mid-class youths, to see how this “squarest teenagers” cope with an alien life away from everything they know. Not sheltered anymore, not protected anymore, not God anymore? This experience is called by Channel 4, on their webpage, as a “massive eye-opener” for the latter, I hope that experience goes for good and give a lesson for both of the parts, apart from the flashes, cameras and rating purposes for which it actually seems to have been set up.
You can read more about the Channel 4 programme The World's Squarest Teenagers and watch complete episodes, with subtitles, here.
“Pleasure? Yes we have pleasure. We get it harvesting vegetables and everything necessary to make lunch. Joy? Of course, that’s what we feel when we remember we’re giving our lifetime to the “Lord”. Happiness? Being with, and only with, our families.”
You might find it hard to tie these answers in with 21st century’s people, but they actually are. The Amish have isolated themselves from society since their very beginnings, just to be away from sin and obey the bible; striving to be holier than thou.
Driven by curiosity, an ordinary human being tries to do and experiment with new things or, as some people say, open your mind (someone more sensible said: if you open your mind too much, your brain will fall out). But this is clearly not the case for the Amish; who seem to have locked their brains with a combination lock, swallowed the combination and then, forgot it.
That’s the only life they know, peasant farmers that can only relate the word Blackberry with a small fruit found on bushes. But as long as they’re happy and free to decide to live that life or a different one, I think their isolation is just a peculiar characteristic rather than something to be worried about.
Now Channel 4 is making an experiment in which a cultural clash is going to happen, between Amish’s youths and UK mid-class youths, to see how this “squarest teenagers” cope with an alien life away from everything they know. Not sheltered anymore, not protected anymore, not God anymore? This experience is called by Channel 4, on their webpage, as a “massive eye-opener” for the latter, I hope that experience goes for good and give a lesson for both of the parts, apart from the flashes, cameras and rating purposes for which it actually seems to have been set up.
You can read more about the Channel 4 programme The World's Squarest Teenagers and watch complete episodes, with subtitles, here.