When I was learning to hit a baseball, my dad used to tell me, “Keep your eye on the ball.”
That’s a bit of baseball philosophy that could have served me well, in many aspects of life.
But the fact is, what I wanted most of all, as a kid, wasn’t a base hit. It was the uniform, the well-oiled leather glove, and the pair of cleats. Mostly, I wanted to look like a baseball player. I could tell, from a very young age, I was never going to be a star player. But couldn’t I at least I look like one?
So… when I found a photo of Amish girls playing softball, it made me think. Turns out, you don’t need a uniform, or even shoes.
How many other things have I been hankering after — all these years — that I don’t really need?
I got interested in the Amish people because I came across an advertisement for DeWalt cordless power tools, that mentioned something about Amish carpenters. I’d heard that the Amish generally steer clear of automobiles, machinery, and electricity, so I was wondering how you would charge the cordless tools without electricity.
But from what I can tell, DeWalt does seem to be a preferred brand.
As it turns out, electricity is perfectly acceptable to most Amish people, so long as you generate it yourself, at home — something that’s a lot easier to do nowadays, thanks to small-scale solar and wind, and portable gas generators. It’s electrical power from the ‘outside’ that offends the Amish.
The main thing the Amish try to avoid is becoming dependent upon the English. That’s what they call the rest of us: the English.
Conformity is the enemy.
From Romans, Chapter 12:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Apparently, there are about 350,000 non-conforming Amish belonging to about 40 different ‘denominations’, some denominations being more conservative, and some more progressive. I’m not sure whether the wearing of shoes is considered conservative or progressive.
A couple of interesting facts:
About 6% of Amish men currently use tractors for farm work.
About 97% of Amish women use motorized washing machines.
In terms of gender, we can see who is the more progressive.
As farming has become more and more challenging in America, a large percentage of Amish men have become carpenters, furniture makers, and home builders. This transition has led to some surprising opportunities. For example, when the designers of a planned theme park in Williamstown, Kentucky wanted to build an authentic replica of Noah’s Ark, they hired about 100 Amish carpenters to build the 510-foot wooden ship. Reportedly, this is the largest timber-framed structure in the world.
Presumably, built out of gopher wood?
The LORD’s instructions to Noah, from Genesis, Chapter 6:
“Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it…”
If anyone would be able to build a three-hundred cubit (510-foot) wooden ship out of gopher wood… it seemed, to the theme park developers, to be Amish carpenters.
According to a careful analysis of the Book of Genesis, it seems likely that Noah and his three sons (Japheth, Shem, and Ham) spent about 75 years building the original Ark. The Amish carpenters built a full-size replica in 5 years. (Using DeWalt tools, we assume.)
But that’s not the main reason we ought to become Amish.
For one thing, the Amish obtained a Supreme Court ruling in 1950, declaring that, because of their religious beliefs, they did not have to pay into Social Security.
And the second thing: the Amish do not wear jewelry, so when you get married, you don’t have to spend money on wedding rings. (But they don’t allow divorce. So it’s a trade-off.)
One more thing: the Amish are about the only home-grown sect in America that is successfully growing its population. The Amish population has doubled since 2000. At this rate, the number of Amish will surpass the current population of the U.S. (327 million) in approximately 215 years.
Mainly, because they believe in having as many children as possible.
If we were all Amish, there would be kids everywhere… “keeping their eye on the ball”… not on their cell phones.