I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

that David played and pleased the Lord

Just 'cause I like blowing people's minds with the Amish. The Amish aren't backward, they aren't simple, they aren't itinerant craftspeople (when I was looking at house I looked at some Amish Houses, you just don't want to know), they aren't technophobic. They are, however, major consumers of cellular technology and now, solar technology. We English are about to get lapped by the Amish (which is hard for them to do in horse buggies).

2 comments:

Todd Wheeler said...

I read a book a while back called Better Off. The author spent a year in an Amish-like community. I thought it was very interesting that the community was not anti-technology, just very careful and thoughtful about what technology they used. For the most part, they rejected most motor/electric using devices, but did have a phone (that is one device for the community) and I believe a generator or two for emergencies.

Steve Buchheit said...

It all depends on the local Bishops as to what they bring in. The major criteria is that they need to have no ties to the outside world. The cellphones make it in because there is no physical wires. There are bunches of cheats (some homes I looked at had an electric generator to run the well pump), if their power-tools are pneumatic, they can use those (even though the air compressor is run off of a generator). The one thing I do admire about them is that careful thought process about what they allow into their lives and I've tried to do that as well. I am a gadget and toy kid, but now I think about how much I want to do. Heck, it took me three years to start a blog an I'm a late iPod user (although now I don't know what all I'd do without it). I still don't carry a cell phone all the time (it's sitting at home right now).