Funny that we should be covering so many different elements of
human geography in this class! In chapter 4 we talked about different types of
folk culture and the way that they diffused across the United States. The Amish
was one such culture that we talked about and I have had some interaction with
some Amish people over that last several years. One of my previous neighbors
retired several years ago and he and his wife decided to build a new home in
the country and move away from town. Now to say that they are thrifty is an understatement.
They found a few Amish workers that lived about 50 miles away from us that were
in search of work. Their handcrafting ability and work ethic was very top
notch. My neighbor drove 50 miles one way, twice a day, 5 days a week to pick
these nice Amish people up. They would work on building his house all day and
then he would drive them home at the end of the day. This went on for numerous
months so to be honest I lost track exactly how long. He would order all the
supplies and they would do the work. There were 2 Amish gentlemen that did all
the work and my neighbor helped out as well. Now I haven’t seen their new home
as it was a couple years ago that they moved out there, however it has always
been mind blowing how it was cheaper for him to do all this driving AND pay
their wages than to have a contractor hired and do the job. It was amazing and
I thought that this was an excellent way to help cut costs and also help out
these great Amish folk that were nothing more than good hard working people. I
thought it strange that they would even ride with him since Amish do not care
for technology but my neighbor explained that there were different beliefs among
the Amish people and these people were willing to stretch their beliefs some in
order to be provided with a good job. He said that there are numerous different
Amish families that do this sort of thing nowadays. I have seen some of the
Amish television shows advertised on TV and it looks as though some of these Amish
settlements are beginning to have some dissension in the ranks. Overall I
thought it was a great way for my neighbor and the Amish workers to help each
other out! Here is an article that I found that portrays this sort of thing
well! Great stuff!!
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