Okay - reading about the Amish is fun - but...

[Snoopymom]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38042172/ns/news/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1

Here is an msnbc picture of an Amish girl on rollerblades. I just thought you might be interested in it. I love the week in pics

oops you have to scroll to number 6

 

[simba20]

Where I live we have a small Mennonite community. They drive, use credit cards, shop at the mall (for what I don't know considering they make their own clothes -- the women are all in the same style of dress and the nem are in polo shirt/khakis or flannel shirts/jeans/khakis depending upon the season). There are also a few Mennoite schools in our area too.

Also a lot of the men are contractors/carpenters in our area.

 

[EllenFrasier]

After reading some Amish fiction books, I really wanted to be Amish. It sounded so pure and simple. Such a clean way of life. Then I remembered that they get up at 5 am and go to bed at like 8 pm, so that would not work for me! And the no central heat did not appeal to me either - getting dressed in the dark and freezing my ta-tas off was enough to dissuade me from becoming plain. Now Mennonite, I might consider....

 

[simba20]

After reading some Amish fiction books, I really wanted to be Amish. It sounded so pure and simple. Such a clean way of life. Then I remembered that they get up at 5 am and go to bed at like 8 pm, so that would not work for me! And the no central heat did not appeal to me either - getting dressed in the dark and freezing my ta-tas off was enough to dissuade me from becoming plain. Now Mennonite, I might consider....

A Mennonite family used to live down the road from me (we moved recently). Regular old neighborhood street, they had two kids, a mini-van, husband drove an old restored truck. They held weekly gatherings at theri house (luckily they lived at the end of the street which had some lots of woods so all the cars could park down there). They also had a last name which is well known in the community -- as some part of the family owns a large construction firm. Aside from dress, you would not have known......

 

[C.Ann]

Where I live we have a small Mennonite community. They drive, use credit cards, shop at the mall (for what I don't know considering they make their own clothes -- the women are all in the same style of dress and the nem are in polo shirt/khakis or flannel shirts/jeans/khakis depending upon the season). There are also a few Mennoite schools in our area too.

Also a lot of the men are contractors/carpenters in our area.

A Mennonite family used to live down the road from me (we moved recently). Regular old neighborhood street, they had two kids, a mini-van, husband drove an old restored truck. They held weekly gatherings at theri house (luckily they lived at the end of the street which had some lots of woods so all the cars could park down there). They also had a last name which is well known in the community -- as some part of the family owns a large construction firm. Aside from dress, you would not have known......

Well - you can be sure that they're not "Old Order Mennonites" then.. The Old Order still sticks with the more restrictive regulations - newer Orders (as many as 12 different types of Mennonite Orders just in Lancaster County, PA alone) - all have variations of what is acceptable and what isn't.. That's what makes my research into the Amish (as well as the Mennonites - because they are so often mentioned in conjunction with the Amish) so confusing.. It's very hard to get them all listed - and determine who allows what - but it's fun!

 

[C.Ann]

I don't think paying for/taking a cab is a good comparison. The taxi driver is earning his living by being hired for rides. Neighbors of the Amish more than likely have their own jobs, their own families, their own homes to take care of, etc. so any time they are driving Amish people around is taking time away from those things.

Like I said, an emergency is one thing and certainly understandable, but to be asked over and over and over? If it were me, I wouldn't like it.

And I just really don't understand the thinking that they are forbidden to have a car of their own, but it's perfectly okay to ride in them.

I could answer the last portion of your post, but there's a religious aspect to it that I think may cross over against the DIS guidelines in terms of discussing religion..

I will say that I wondered about that myself - but then I found the answer and it makes perfect sense - if you are Amish.. Many of the things that people on the "outside" find hypocritical only "appears" that way because we haven't looked into the "why's" of those things.. After doing so, it really does make sense - for the Amish..