The "other" group which I have chosen to focus on are the Amish people, I found an Amish country news website based in Pennsylvania. Amongst having the local news for their people on the site it also offers some interesting articles showing the difference between themselves and "normal" Americans. Many people will be familiar with atleast the name Amish if not all their ideals and may be familiar that they are in many cases a separate independent society with the exception of selling some of the produce which they make such as milk, vegetables etc.
One of the articles tells of how important the traditional family and family values are to these people. They feel that in modern society people tend to look oustide of the home for most things e.g. education, religion, entertainment etc but they feel that it is important to keep these within the home. The main factor in the reason behind this lifestyle is their religious beliefs and how important a role they play in the everyday lives of the Amish. To some it may be seen as an extreme way of carrying out your faith but who's to say how the way anyone lives is normal or right or wrong. I myself am in somewhat awe of a people that to me live such a simple and self contained life as I have grown up in a society with many different forms of entertainment and ways of getting distracted from whats real. Where as on the other side I feel that because the world is ever changing you shouldn't hide away from it but embrace it if you want to or not. People are free to live any life they so wish but I don't see anything wrong with watching a little bit of tv after a hard days work.
I was intrigued by the Amish after recently watching a film called "Amish Grace", which is about an outsider who comes into the Amish town to collect their milk and for certain reasons explained in the film holds hostage the local girls school and kills around 7 of them. The story follows how their religion helped them through this terrible time and showed how forgiving a people they are, also showing the reaction of people from "normal" American socities about how they could learn from their "Grace".
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