On the Amish

    Sugar Creek, Ohio. Tourist magnet. Home to the Amish. When I visited Ohio with my family this summer one of the highlights during the trip was seeing Amish country. My mom was once neighbors with the Amish when she lived in Ohio. However, I had never experienced this different group of people being a native to Colorado. At first, I felt indifferent to whether or not we saw a horse and buggy. Nevertheless, my mom talked my grandma into driving down to Sugar Creek for the day. We stopped at Lehman's, an Amish hardware store that was like Colorado's version of a feed store with one exception- Lehman's had everything ranch and house related. Soap, bells, stainless steel milk buckets, candy, tools, candles, toys, pots, books, old farm equipment, cheese making supplies, wood carvings, canning jars, etc., etc.

 Unwittingly, I had stepped into another world, though I did my best to conceal my wonder (for I did not want to look the fool staring at the Amish people in front of me in the store). Never had this girl from the western side of the country realized that the east contained such a unique type of people. The west collided with the farm culture of the east. I was unprepared for the opinion that I would form on the Amish and their lives in the short period I visited.

  The Amish are a beautiful people. Rarely did one see any member of their community that was overweight or unhealthy in appearance. Their skin glows with an unexpected radiance, free of acne. None made any impression of being impolite. I attributed their quiet nature to the fact that they kept to themselves, that they remained content in any situation. I did not feel like they shunned us or held distaste toward any tourist. Consequently, what I observed was a bunch of vacationers stopping by to see the freak show in Sugar Creek. Yep, freak show.

  Everyone crowds around Amish country like it contains some type of planet dropped from the solar system. I felt bad for the Amish and this was something that I was not expecting to feel. Do not take my feelings the wrong way, my visit stays as a fond memory and I found it very interesting. Still, it appears to me that the reason all of us crowded into Lehman's and caused traffic jams down the country roads where the Amish lived was generated by the uncanny desire to see something viewed as a unusual contrast to our society.

   Depending on the Amish sect, not all groups refrain from using cars and electricity. We saw quite a few Amish people driving around. I remained under the impression that they did not dare touch anything related to the modern world. Not so.We ate with them at a restaurant and I even saw an Amish woman in the mall there.

  I will never forget the people that I saw there. I appreciate them and can see why they are often the subject of novels and stories. They are truly unique, in a way that is to be admired.......