A Week With The Amish – 7 Takeaways

Here we have some Old Order Amish buggies
and in this video guys
I’m gonna talk about what I learned here
in Amish Country Ohio.
Holmes County.
It’s been an unbelievable trip and journey.
I’ve learned a ton
met so many interesting characters.
So I want to share with you my biggest
takeaways.
Number one.
Amish
for those that aren’t Amish
you know we all look at the Amish
as the Amish, right?
It’s one label.
It’s not.
There are so many different sects
and to make it over simplified right now
I’m gonna talk about this hat.
this is a Swartzentruber hat.
Now these are the Amish
we traditionally think of.
The ones away from electricity.
The ones completely removed
from the modern world.
Well that’s just a certain type of Amish.
There’s Old Order.
There’s Dan.
There’s New Order.
There’s Beachy Amish
and these are the Amish that
can drive cars around and
use technology.
So you can’t necessarily
like may of these communities in the world
just put
one label on them.
Second takeaway, community.
They…
I don’t think it comes as any surprise but
It’s always different
when you feel it, okay?
They have a very, very, very
strong community.
I just got back from an event
where they’re fund raising.
They’re doing an auction
for kids that can’t afford
their healthcare bills and
none of them have health insurance.
So they collectively come
together as a community
and pay each other’s hospital bills.
I drove by a funeral the other night.
I mean it was hundreds
if not thousands of people out there
from around the community.
Everyone sort of came in for it.
So
it’s really nice to feel
the strong
rooted culture I would say.
Number three, language.
Most Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch.
They’re all bilingual.
Even the most conservative
can speak English.
But they speak
Pennsylvania Dutch at home.
Most of them.
So
I was told by a writer here, David Kline
that
without that language
without the cohesiveness
of their native language
there is no way their
culture would stay together.
I found that quite interesting.
So it’s almost like
in a way, traveling to another
country when you come out here.
When you integrate with these people
and get into their lives and their homes.
You hear different language going on.
You see different customs.
It’s like traveling to a
completely different country.
Number four, technology.
Okay, we can see here
solar power battery.
This is my friend Brian.
He’s an Old Order Amish
and it looks sort of like a normal home.
They have some
kerosine lamps inside.
They have some solar.
They do have running water inside.
It’s sort of like a normal place
but I’d say as a whole
especially the more conservative you go
there’s not much technology in life
The most conservative, there’s none
and
it’s almost like your stepping back
into forgotten times in a way.
And there’s something
peaceful about that and calming.
Maybe just because I’ve
been in cities for so many years
that I feel it but it’s just sort of a…
Not everything is about a screen.
Even though they exist.
I gotta be completely fair.
It just depends the person you are with
but as a whole
it’s not
the center point if that makes any sense.
I don’t think
the screen is coming out
to dinner with the family.
If the world ever does
completely go into the ground
then the most conservative Amish
I don’t think will be too affected.
Nothing will really change in their lives
short of a nuclear winter.
They won’t even know it’s happening.
This is my rental car
but every time I’ve drove
up to my friend Brian’s place…
There’s been nothing in the driveway
and it’s like nobody’s home
but it’s because they don’t have a car.
So his sect of Amish
Old Order
can be driven around.
So I can drive him around, that’s okay.
But he wouldn’t be able to be
driving around in a car on his own.
Problems.
I don’t want to
over-romanticize any culture
and as I feel like a foreigner
coming into another culture
when you have a short amount of time
everything looks great usually.
Especially here.
I mean
the gardens are kept well.
Everyone’s mowing grass.
everything looks nice.
The people are very respectful.
Very little crime.
But I’ve gotten in a lot of
conversations this last week and
what everyone sort of told me is like,
“We’re human just like everyone else.”
I mean there are drug
problems in the society.
There are drinking problems in the society.
There are every other type of problem
that every other society is dealing with.
Maybe at a lesser level.
I don’t know.
Definitely on the surface
it looks very well off
but don’t get me wrong when
I show all these places and
speak so highly that
I’m trying to romanticize the fact
that there are no problems here.
There are problems.
The puppy mill thing
is a big deal obviously
that’s gotten a lot of attention.
I didn’t meet anyone
that had a puppy mill.
It’s not like I came into contact with it
but it does exist.
Obviously there are those that
want to break free from the religion
and move out on their own
and maybe they’re excommunicated.
I didn’t come into that story
but I know it happens.
So no, not everything is perfect.
Friendliness.
I thought it would be a little less open
a little less friendly.
I thought these people are really
trying to hold their world together
and be apart
from the modern world,
the outside world to some degree.
Therefore they’re gonna be cold
inhospitable.
Couldn’t be any further from the truth.
People really
helped me
smiled at me
brought me around
gave me their time.
Maybe I was lucky
but overall there’s a nice
friendliness in the culture
and it’s interesting how they get
along with the non-Amish pretty well.
I heard some people don’t.
Like they want to have nothing
to do with the non-Amish
but a lot of people do
and that surprised me.
I didn’t think it would be
so easy to get into.
Now to get into with a camera
different story.
That’s not easy.
That’s super hard.
It’s been a challenge.
So I’m pretty happy with
the footage I’ve gotten here
over my last week.
And lastly, I want to say hard work.
These people work hard.
I want to do a shout out
to the Swartzentrubers.
These are the most traditional Amish people
as I said earlier.
They work the hardest.
I mean they’re heating their water.
They’re canning everything.
They are living completely off the land
and those people…
Wow, all they do is work.
But Amish in general work very hard.
They’re very proud of what they build.
They’re very much
hands focused and
building furniture
or working in the field.
So
they see the end results of their work
and they’re very proud of that.
So lastly
will I become Amish?
No.
It’s not happening.
I’m too much of an individual.
You know we all come
from different conditions
different circumstances.
I see the attraction.
I fully see the attraction
here in this community
and I’m not saying my ways
are better or worse at all.
Because I admired a lot of what I saw here
and a lot of what I experienced.
So big respect to all of the Amish
who showed me their world with open arms.
I want to especially thank Josh Miller
and Brian Miller.
No, they’re not brothers
but it seems like everyone
either has the name Miller
or Yoder.
There are a few other names
but they’re very popular names.
These guys really brought me in.
Without them
no way I woulda had
the access for the series.
If you haven’t seen the series
I’ll leave a playlist at the bottom.
I got into different
aspects of the culture
here but no.
Amazing people.
Want to thank everyone involved with this.
All right guys, if you haven’t
been to Amish Country
and if you’re thinking of going I would say
be super respectful.
Like I don’t…
I don’t like putting
cameras on people’s faces
that don’t want it.
I didn’t have a telephoto lens
zooming up on people’s personal life
and there’s so many times
where I had the best footage ever
and I couldn’t use the camera
and I coulda probably snuck it in.
I don’t want to be that guy.
It’s quite disrespectful.
So the best stuff was really off-camera.
So keep that in mind if you come here.
Just be respectful.
Be cool to people and
they’ll give it back in volumes.
All right guys
thanks for following the
journey in Holmes County Ohio.
See you in the next one.
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