Amish Vacation

Last night, I attended a lecture with Dave Eggers and Maria Semple at Seattle's Town Hall.  Listening to two accomplished writers discuss their work was great way to spend an evening, especially as the proceeds from the event support 826 Seattle, a non-profit writing and tutoring center for kids.  Maria wrote one of my favorite books, Where'd you Go, Bernadette.  I read Dave Eggers A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius ages ago and I take a look at his literary journal, McSweeney's, every once in a while.  I haven't read any of his newer stuff, but apparently his new book, The Circle, is a dystopian novel about technology and the internet taking over our lives.

This week is also the first week back at school after Spring Break, and many of my friends took trips out of town.  This got me thinking, and I merged the dystopian theme of The Circle in with vacations.  What if we could take a week vacation or a longer sabbatical with the Amish?  I don't mean to romanticize, glorify or criticize their religion.  Rather, this could be a way Americans could take a break from their cell phones, computers, processed foods and big box store shopping mentality and live a non-connected life where we are closer to the means of production of the things we need.  We could learn to kill and pluck the chicken we intend to eat for dinner.  We would live without indoor plumbing.  We would ride horses instead of driving cars.  We could learn to sew our own clothes, make shoes and maybe even raise a barn.  Perhaps we could learn woodworking with handmade tools.  I would love to learn to quilt.  We'd have to create our own entertainment, perhaps through song and dance.  Most importantly, we'd have to talk to each other.

I am not sure how this would benefit the Amish.  They would deal with people going through video game withdrawal and whatnot, which would not be pleasant.  I am not sure how they function in the modern economy.  Could they accept money from unplugged-tourism?  They sell furniture.  They might be able to profit from sharing the experience of eating organic food and no screen time.

There are a few things that could make this potentially difficult.  I am not sure how the Amish approach modern medicine.  I am allergic to horses and hay, and living on a farm without Zyrtec would be miserable.  What about people who have conditions like diabetes who need medicine to stay alive?  Could they make exceptions for insulin?  What about books?  I could understand not bringing an e-reader, but what about a paperback?  I don't know enough about the Amish to know the answers.

Would we be able to survive?  Would we need training before hand, like mountain climbers and marathon runners prepare before their endeavors?  We could have cultural guides help us prep, and we could scale down our internet use and salt intake before the trip so we don't go into culture or food shock.

And what would we gain?  Removing ourselves from our current culture and entering another one gives us fresh eyes to look at home.  When I was in high school, I stayed with a family in Caen, France for three weeks.  While the language, food and currency were all different, I also saw a different way of life, shifitng from suburban to urban.  The family lived in an apartment in the city while I lived in the suburbs in a house with a backyard.  My dad drove me to school.  The kids in France hopped on a city bus or walked to where they needed to go.  There were no cafes or shops within walking distance of my home.  Instead of going to the one-stop grocery store, my french mom went to the bakery, the butcher, the vegetable guy, and a prepared foods guy to buy dinner.  While I liked my home in Columbus, Ohio, this trip changed my perception of how people could live.  I didn't know any other life besides the suburbs. When I graduated from college, I found an apartment in the city.  I didn't own a car and took a bus or a train everywhere I needed to go.  I walked to the grocery store.  We might reevaluate our connected lives, and we might seek a better understanding of how things in our world are made.

And now we live in a connected world via the internet, but we are less connected with how things are made.  Maybe we need to step away from it all before Eggers' futuristic dystopian society becomes a reality.