{"id":12716,"date":"2014-06-20T18:43:53","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T22:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/?p=12716"},"modified":"2014-06-22T11:07:07","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T15:07:07","slug":"wannabe-amish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/?p=12716","title":{"rendered":"“Wannabe” Amish…"},"content":{"rendered":"

photo-2-small.JPG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA wannabe really is clueless on the real deal, only seeing what he wants
\nto\u2026But you can tell the wannabe what he needs to know; we don’t all have to
\ngo through deep waters to learn that [if we do] we will get very, very wet.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Excerpt from an email message
\n___________________________<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what it is. I guess I\u2019m just a magnet for certain things. And no, I\u2019m not grumbling about the emails that still trickle in now and then from readers. I appreciate the time people take to write, and tell me they read my book. They had to be a little affected, or they wouldn\u2019t have gone to all that bother. It\u2019s when they take things a little further, as has happened a couple of times just lately, that I sigh and shake my head. It\u2019s when they tell me. \u201cI really feel like I want to join the Amish. I\u2019m serious. Can you help me? Is there anyone you know that you could connect me with?\u201d And I sigh a little bit more. Some of my closest friends around here are Amish. But I\u2019m pretty protective of those relationships. I sure don\u2019t like to bug my friends with a load of unnecessary baggage. So no, I think to myself. I don\u2019t know of anyone who could help you become Amish. I don\u2019t usually bother even responding to requests like that. It wouldn\u2019t get anyone to any good place, anywhere. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong. I\u2019m glad the Amish are as popular as they are, in the current publishing climate. That popularity is a big part of the reason that the Tyndale people ever gave me a shot at my book. Absent that, I don\u2019t kid myself. The book would never have been written, because it never would have gotten anywhere. So I\u2019m grateful that people like to read about the Amish, whether it\u2019s fiction or memoir. (I think that whole market\u2019s getting pretty saturated, though. I can\u2019t see it holding on to such intensity for much longer. But maybe I\u2019m wrong.) And I\u2019m not going to scold anyone who takes it to the next level, and wants to join. But I\u2019d like to have a little chat with such people, right here. <\/p>\n

First off, I\u2019ll tell you. You have no idea of what you\u2019re asking. You really, really don\u2019t. It\u2019s not the kind of culture that adopts outsiders well. There is little mechanism for such a thing. And what about the language? How are you going to learn that? You have to be born into the culture. Yeah, I know. It all looks too good to be true, so idyllic and peaceful from the outside. You marvel, that people can even exist in today\u2019s world, in such a setting. But they\u2019re just people, too. Flawed, like the people in your own world are. You yearn for something more, something deeper, in your life. Which is fine, to yearn for a more peaceful place. But coming from where I came from, I can tell you that some of those \u201cpeaceful places\u201d look a lot more peaceful from outside than they actually are when you\u2019re in them. I mean, I just wrote a book about all that. And if you\u2019re contacting me, you\u2019ve probably read that book. <\/p>\n

They\u2019ve tried it by the dozens, people have, over the years. To join from the outside. I\u2019ve always been fascinated that anyone would even want to. And I think it takes a certain type of personality, to get so far as to even try. I saw a good many of those people up in Aylmer, back when I was a child. Somehow, that community was a magnet for such seekers. It probably had something to do with Family Life<\/em>, and those other magazines they were cranking out up there. Here we are, speaking grave noble proclamations. Here\u2019s the shining city on a hill. Here we are, living right before God<\/em>. And they came from all over, it seemed, the eager wannabes. They sure brought some color and flavor into our rather drab and provincial lives. We didn\u2019t really treat them all that politely. But they were fun to hang around with and talk to. Bottom line is this, though. Of all those characters that came slogging through, all starry-eyed and eager, of all those seekers, not one of them made it. At least not that I know of. <\/p>\n

Oh, except one man did. But he came around way early on, when I was pretty young. He wasn\u2019t with the crowds of others, and he wasn\u2019t that welcoming to those others. That one success was David Luthy, the eminent Amish historian. He set his roots, there in Aylmer. Married. Raised a family. And there he remains today. But he was a rare, rare, and I mean rare exception to the rule. I\u2019ve always thought he made it because he came from a hard-core Catholic background. I\u2019ve said it before. Amish guilt and Catholic guilt are pretty much twin models. He was (and is) highly educated, with a Master\u2019s Degree from Notre Dame. And he was figuring to enter the priesthood, when he heard about the Amish. He decided to check them out. Their simple structured lifestyle appealed to something deep inside him. And he joined, up there in Aylmer. Or maybe it was northern Indiana, where he first touched base. He learned to speak the language, pretty fluently. He was a staff writer for Family Life<\/em>, when Dad and Joseph Stoll launched that magazine. And he wrote all kinds of little moral stories. I remember one such story about the \u201clittle places,\u201d in which he decried that the Amish were moving away from their legacy of farming. I guess he saw that happening in northern Indiana, where they work in factories a lot. <\/p>\n

I think he grasped at a perfect concept of what he thought the Amish should be, should look like. They shouldn\u2019t have little places. They should have farms. Like so many others who try to join from the outside, he was more Amish than the Amish. And in the end, despite all he wrote about the glories of working the land as s family, of seedtime and harvest and the beauty of it all, he never was a farmer. Which I completely understand. I\u2019m not a farmer, either. He ended up on a \u201clittle place,\u201d himself. And from that little place, the man produced an enormous body of first-class, historical writing. <\/p>\n

Since those years, David Luthy has done some of the finest quality research about the history of the Amish. And he\u2019s produced some of the finest writing ever done on that subject. It seemed like it was just destined to be, that a man like him would come along, and preserve much of the history of a culture he wasn\u2019t born into. It\u2019s kind of startling and surreal, when I think about it. I certainly respect the man a lot, and I respect all he got accomplished. <\/p>\n

But I still don\u2019t understand why he did what he did, in joining the Amish. And I\u2019ll say it one more time. He was a rare exception. For every success story like his, there were a hundred wannabes that crashed and burned. And burned out. <\/p>\n

Years and years ago, right about the time I was fixing to go to college, David Luthy said something to my father that Dad never forgot. \u201cI always thought Ira might want to move here and help me with my writing and research,\u201d he said. Or something along those lines. I don\u2019t know if he actually meant it, but Dad latched right on. And he seriously asked me, the next time I came around. \u201cWouldn\u2019t you consider taking up David\u2019s offer? You\u2019d be accomplishing something real and lasting, if you worked with him. He told me you\u2019d be welcome.\u201d I never even remotely considered the offer, although I was flattered that David thought highly enough of me to mention something. I\u2019m not a research kind of guy, I told Dad. I\u2019d get bored to death, trying to force myself into a role like that. Besides, I don\u2019t want to be Amish. It took me years, to break away. Why would I ever want to walk right back into that mess? Dad never quite let it go, though. Pretty much every time he saw me after that, for years, he brought it up. \u201cDavid Luthy wanted you to come and write for him. That was a real opportunity for you. I sure wish you would have gone\u201d That\u2019s fine, I\u2019m honored, I always said. I don\u2019t regret it, though. I guess that\u2019s what\u2019s going to have to count, in my life. <\/p>\n

So David Luthy made it, to join the Amish for good. And Sam Johnson made it, too, there in northern Indiana, about the time I came wandering into his life, a desperate and despairing man. I\u2019m really glad Sam stuck it out. He was there for me, right when I needed someone like that the most. <\/p>\n

But I think of all those other poor souls who came wandering by, all those years ago. I can\u2019t remember their names, and their faces are blurred, in my memory. But they came. They came and tried to follow their visions of living the peaceful Amish life. Poor lost souls, is what they were. I feel nothing but pity for them. They came from families, somewhere. And when it all blew up, when none of their dreams worked out, when they left, they went somewhere. I wonder sometimes where they are today. And how all their lives turned out. Here\u2019s what I want to say about those people. They all spent a lot of effort, a lot of time and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, to follow their vision of joining the Amish. A lot. And eventually, they all drifted off, deeply disillusioned. Sure, you can chalk it up to \u201cjust having an experience.\u201d They certainly had one that most people never get to see. But still. All those years, all that toil, and all for nothing, in the end. <\/p>\n

And recently I heard from such a person, someone who had tried to join the Amish. She sent an intelligent and reflective email. She\u2019d read my book, and wanted to tell me she nodded her head a lot while reading. The stuff I wrote was real. And she told me. She and her husband had joined the Amish in an eastern state. They never felt as if they were totally accepted. She didn\u2019t go into a lot of detail, but I could see that happening, not being accepted. And then they spun over to the Eastern Mennonites. I don\u2019t know much about Plain Mennonite groups, but the Easterns are among the strictest, at least around here. Nice people, don\u2019t get me wrong. You just don\u2019t want to try to join them. Anyway, that didn\u2019t work, either, the woman wrote. At some point, then, they drifted back to the outside world. And that\u2019s where they live today. And she told me, in conclusion. \u201cNow we are back to being Christians.\u201d <\/p>\n

And so they looped around, this woman and her husband. I don\u2019t know if they have children, she never said. And I\u2019ve thought a lot about her statement, there. Now we are back to being Christians. Isn\u2019t that what it\u2019s all about, in the end? To be calm wherever you are, to follow Christ wherever you are? She did say they had some good experiences as well, among the Plain groups. And met some very nice people. I\u2019m sure they did. But it seems to me there was a lot of wading through deep waters, too, and a lot of lost time. You don\u2019t ever get that lost time back. It just seems like there was so much wasted effort. And for what, in the end? For what? <\/p>\n

So if you are a \u201cwannabe\u201d Amish, let me tell you as frankly as I can. It won\u2019t work, to join. It will not work. Well, I guess it could, because it has. But the odds are astronomical that it won\u2019t. And it won\u2019t be anything like what you\u2019re envisioning, joining. It won\u2019t be utopia. There is no utopia on this earth. It\u2019s not the kind of culture that adopts outsiders well. If you come from the outside, you\u2019ll always be an outsider. There is no mechanism for such a thing, to deal with people like you. That doesn\u2019t make you a bad person, or anything like that. It just makes the path you are considering pretty much impossible. You have to be born into the culture. You have to be born into its ways. You have to be born into its language. <\/p>\n

And there\u2019s one more thing that bugs me just a little bit. I\u2019d like to ask those who write me, looking for a connection to the Amish. Did you actually read my book? If you did, how did you not catch the part where I almost lost my mind, breaking away? It\u2019s about as hard to break away as it is to join from the outside, at least for some of us it was. How did you miss all that turmoil, all that tortured anguish, all that frantic running, all that grief? And if you didn\u2019t miss that, why in the world do you think a guy who went through all that would ever want to tell you how to get to where he came from? <\/p>\n

And no, I\u2019m not scolding. I\u2019m just asking.
\n********************************************<\/p>\n

A few closing thoughts on a few things. July 4th is coming right up. Flag waving, rah-rah, we\u2019re-the-greatest-country-on-the-face-of-the-earth Day. I think most of you know how I feel about all that. I won\u2019t be waving any flags. But I\u2019ll be having fun with friends, cooking out and hanging out. And I probably won\u2019t post that Friday. I\u2019m thinking I won\u2019t. Of course, when the pressure\u2019s not on, something might just come on its own. If it does, I\u2019ll post. If not, I won\u2019t. We\u2019ll see. <\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t gone off on a tangent like this for a while. Had to wait for a trigger, I guess. But here goes. The state does nothing but impede the free market. It\u2019s a vile and evil entity, and it will always be vile and evil. The state has not one redeeming quality. Not one. It will always gorge itself on innocent blood until it implodes under its own weight. Then it starts the process all over, and repeats. That\u2019s just how it\u2019s been, through all of history. <\/p>\n

And New York is a vile and evil state. I had a wide load to deliver in upstate New York, scheduled to leave this past Monday morning. We ordered the wide load permits last week. On the Friday afternoon before, around 4 o\u2019clock, the permit service people we deal with called Rosita. There are two counties up there that demand special permits, to take wide loads through. And until those county permits are issued, the state permits will be held back. <\/p>\n

It was all such a mess, over the weekend. I stressed about it a good deal. The two counties require 24-48 hours, to get their permits signed. So the load was backed off. On Tuesday morning, my driver headed out to a truck stop in New Jersey, as far as his permits would take him. And there he sat, waiting until the New York permits were faxed to him. He finally got to his drop point around mid afternoon, to unload. He got home real late that night. Meanwhile, the guys who planned to start the building on Monday had their schedule yanked back for two whole days. All because of the state. All because of a piece of paper you have to pay for, to get to where you\u2019re going. It\u2019s like paying thieving warlords, to cross their territories. No, it IS paying thieving warlords. And it\u2019s all one big racket. <\/p>\n

A while ago, I had some correspondence with a Facebook friend I\u2019ve never met. She comes from a Plain Beachy Amish background out in the Midwest, from what I can tell. She\u2019s broken totally away, like I have from my Amish past, as least in dress and lifestyle. I think she\u2019s a little closer to her experience than I am to mine. She left more recently. <\/p>\n

I forget what my post was about, on Facebook. But in her comments, my friend told me she had spoken recently with a cousin who still is with the Beachys, somewhere out in the Midwest. And that person told her. \u201cWe don\u2019t like Ira Wagler, because he just writes what he wants. He doesn\u2019t care what anyone else thinks.\u201d <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve thought some about that comment since. And I gotta say. It\u2019s probably the biggest compliment I\u2019ve ever received about my writing. I can\u2019t think of one that pleased me more. I mean, if some people choose not to like me because I don\u2019t care what they think, how much freer can you get than that? Especially if I don\u2019t even know who they are. I choose not to walk in \u201cfear of man.\u201d I never try to be deliberately offensive, of course. But I write what I want to write. I don\u2019t much care what you think about it, one way or the other, as far as agreeing with me. I guess I care a little bit about whether or not you read my stuff. I want as many readers as I can get. But in the end, even that doesn\u2019t matter much, not when it comes to writing what I have to say. I\u2019ll write it anyway. <\/p>\n

If I wrote all perturbed about what my readers will or won\u2019t think, about whether or not they will like me, especially readers from Plain places, I wouldn\u2019t get a whole lot of writing done. I never would have. I’d be too paralyzed. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of my biggest passions. Freedom. I will walk free, when it comes to speaking what I have to say. And it\u2019s a beautiful thing, to write free like that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA wannabe really is clueless on the real deal, only seeing what he wants to\u2026But you can tell the wannabe what he needs to know; we don’t all have to go through deep waters to learn that [if we do] we will get very, very wet.\u201d -Excerpt from an email message ___________________________ I don\u2019t know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12716"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12747,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12716\/revisions\/12747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}