Being Amish

Let us all just take a moment to reflect on how odd it is to title a blog post Being Amish. I am pretty sure that there are no Amish bloggers out there, or if there are Amish bloggers, they are begging for a shunning. Around this house lately there has been lots of talk of being Amish. Call it strange, but stuff like this happens more often than you might think. Growing up my sister, Betsy, and I would frequently "shun" each other. Shunning was a glorious and ceremonial act, the shunner would place their thumb on their nose, fingers extended, then quickly utter the words "I shun you", while equally quickly making a fist, while keeping the thumb on the nose. It was the official way to shun, and if I were more tech savvy I would post a demonstration video (but being borderline Amish, no video post). By the way, Betsy and I also really suck at shunning each other, we both like talking and we are rarely mad at each other. Back to the events that sparked this current Amish fascination in our home; the thunderstorms, tornado warnings, and threats of power outages. It started sitting in the basement while the tornado sirens blared outside. I always hate to lose electricity, because I am a pansy. I like my hot coffee, hairdryers, TV, and unspoiled food. I may worry more about losing power than having my house blow away. The logic being if my house blows away I can completely justify staying in a hotel. It was pointed out to me by a wise young person in my home that the Amish do quite well without all of the things I consider necessities. At this point I felt like shunning that wise young person, but as mentioned before, I suck at shunning.

However, the threat of losing power and being humbled by the reminder of a whole community of people that can thrive without electricity, I felt it was time to reevaluate my dependence on the power grid. So I reflected on how I could be more Amish (aside from improving my shunning skills). Here is what I learned about myself, I just like modern conveniences. I can't be Amish. I can only do without electricity for 24 hours, after that it gets ugly. I will not be going on Survivor and drying my socks by a fire. My necessities may be frivolous to some people, perhaps to whole cultures, but not to me. Could you go Amish? I secretly hope not because then you would quit reading this blog. What is absolutely necessary for you to be comfortable? And if you can make a pie like an Amish baker, please send me recipe.