"Public Craves What Amish Stand For"

I read something in the Dallas Morning News yesterday....maybe we all are craving a bit of a rest from the rat race that doesn't seem to feed a deep hunger that is in us.

Public craves what Amish stand for
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, April 26, 2008
By MARY JACOBS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Donald Kraybill has written and spoken extensively on the Amish and what they taught the world about forgiveness after the 2006 Nickel Mines school shooting tragedy. Now he's turning his scholarly focus to another facet of the religious community: Amish technology. That's not an oxymoron. "We have 2,000 Amish-owned and operated businesses in eastern Pennsylvania, and many of their products are produced by machines," said Mr. Kraybill, who will be in Dallas next week. Even though the Amish opt out of public utility electricity, and do not own motor vehicles or use computers, they are achieving remarkable success in the commercial world. Although the Amish were once almost exclusively employed as farmers, development and economic pressures have steadily carved away at their farmland. Many Amish now work in commercial enterprises, ranging from Ohio furniture crafters and New York sawmills, to Pennsylvania quilt shops and Indiana construction crews. In some communities more than 80 percent work in factories or small businesses. And they are doing well – fewer than 5 percent of Amish business startups fail, compared with the overall 50 percent failure rate for small businesses in the U.S. The Amish work ethic and habits of frugality help make the businesses lean and profitable, but have also triggered tensions with the outside world. Many businesses employ young family members between the ages of 14 and 17 (Amish young people typically do not attend high school), posing a conflict with child labor laws that has generated some scrutiny from state governments. Meanwhile, "technological taboos" haven't hindered Amish entrepreneurs. They adapt equipment and harness nonelectrical power sources, such as hydraulic and pneumatic, for manufacturing operations. "A lot of people assume the Amish are Luddites – opposed to all technology," said Mr. Kraybill. "That's completely erroneous. They use a lot of technology, but they use it selectively." When it comes to technology, he said, the Amish place the collective welfare of the community over individual conveniences that technology provides. For every technological innovation, he said, the Amish ask first: "Will this new technology harm or fragment our community? Will it build us up or tear us apart?" Thus, the Amish refuse electricity from the public grid – aiming to remain nondependent on the outside world – but happily employ homegrown power sources, for example. What's fueling the demand for all these Amish-made products? Ironically, despite their studious avoidance of public life and meager advertising budgets, the Amish have carved a strong brand identity in the mind of American consumers. "I think consumers view the Amish as being untarnished by the modern world," says Mara Einstein, author of Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age. "Consumers think of Amish products as better made, unlike other products in our 'throwaway' society." Mr. Kraybill cites another factor: consumers' yearnings for the intangibles the Amish represent. "Part of our fascination with the Amish community is our sense of dismay we feel with modern culture and the fragmentation of our own lives," he said. "The products we buy from them signal our interest and hope for that place and stability in our lives. "Most Amish people live within 10 miles of where they were born. There is this rootedness and strong sense of stability." Given that the average American is exposed to 3,000 marketing messages a day, Ms. Einstein said, religious groups typically can't grab much billboard space in the American imagination. But the Amish, with their distinctive dress and unusual lifestyle, have achieved the spiritual equivalent of the Nike swoosh: a visible image, a clear message and a compelling mythology. "And they've done it without even trying," said Ms. Einstein.