The Road to Stardom

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On Living a Life Void of Needless Complexity

The recent tragic news of the senseless and evil murder of Amish schoolgirls in Nickel Mines, PA has shoved the Amish community into the media spotlight again. It seems like any news coverage of any group of people, especially the Amish, must have the prerequisite of being saturated with sensationalism before it is broadcast. This is exactly what I'd imagine they don't want to happen.

While I understand that news stations are "required" to cover this breaking story because tragedy is considered newsworthy, I equally understand the Amish not wanting the "outside world" pointing their little cameras at every man in a wide-brimmed hat and every horse-drawn carriage they see. I think the peculiarity of the Amish community adds to the hype in immeasurable ways.

How peculiar to live in a society that holds fast to tradition and simplicity. How peculiar to live a life without technological advances. How peculiar that their families and their local church is held in such high regard, with such respect.

Peculiar? On the surface perhaps, but how many of us on some days would consider trading our cell phones, laptops, 51" widescreen televisions, daily commutes, tensions at work, and cookie-cutter homes for the life they live?

Can you imagine a life where you work the soil for a living? Where you wake up with the sun to tend to your animals and acres upon acres of fertile farmland? Where if you need a barn built, the entire community raises it for you in a matter of days? Where the local church and religious devotion are central to your everyday life? Where, if your daughter is senselessly murdered in school, you have an entire community to join you in mourning her loss?

We sometimes scoff at their simplicity, but oftentimes our complexity is what deserves the scoffing. Are we really better off in our HOA-regulated, hedonistic, technologically advanced lives than they are in their tightly-knit, community focused, blood, sweat, and tears life?

Sometimes I'm not so sure.