Category Archives: General Interest

For many years it’s common to hear people in America lament about our lack of community or read articles about how this new project or technology is the panacea that will create strong communities, as connected and idyllic as in the good old days. From social media to politically-motivated community organizing, there’s advice galore on how to build and empower strong communities, yet invariably they don’t live up to their hype. Even worse most of these modern day “community-building” projects end up creating more divisiveness and people feeling more alienated.

So what really allows people to feel that sense of close-knit community? 

Today I was rereading parts of a book I purchased in 2015 that still prods me to think about what really matters. In 2010, Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World, written by Suzanne Woods Fisher, was a finalist in the ECPA Christian Book of the Year and it was Fisher’s first book. She’s branched out into writing fictional Christian-themed books since then. I consider this book a gem, no matter what your religious or spiritual beliefs.

As Fisher works to explain the Amish, often referred to as the “plain people,” she provides stories and conversations with Amish people and lets them explain their culture, lifestyle and beliefs. She lets them reveal their hearts and at the end of each chapter she poses questions for each of us to ponder in our own lives.

The Amish choose to live without most modern conveniences and dress in distinctive dark-colored clothes. Making careful decisions about their lifestyle and the welfare of the community extends to every corner of how they live their lives. That dedication to the community goes much deeper than just the material “stuff” that clutters our lives, it’s about deliberately choosing simplicity. 

Woods wrote, “The Amish have a guiding principle that seems to rest on Jesus’ words: to only live with things that they really use. And to treasure them.” At the end of the chapter on Simplicity, she poses the question, “Look around the room where you are right now. What is gathering dust? Does it have value to you? Think about the things that share your space — are they things you value or do they hinder what really matters in life?” Then she poses a harder question, “How would you describe simple living? Fewer possessions? Fewer choices? Or what about an emphasis on only the things that really matter?” 

Lo’ and behold we now have all sorts of decluttering experts and minimalist experts these days promising that if we pare down on the “stuff” we’ll find more peace and contentment in our lives. Fisher explained, “It relates to guarding well what the Amish truly treasure: their families, their homes, their communities, their faith.” They keep their priorities clearly in focus, not the glitter of new gadgets or pop psychology that everyone else is buying.

Woods explained something I didn’t really understand about the Amish and how they choose which modern things to use and which they shun. Practices vary, because church leaders in different Amish sects make those decisions and sometimes it’s a period of probation, weighing out its long-term effect. Woods explained, “And always church leaders consider where a change could lead the younger generation. They try to see beyond the immediate benefits of change to the effects it could have down the road. How could this new technology or gadget tempt someone away from the church? Or to disobey God?”

The Amish are big on setting limits on almost everything. Fisher explained the Amish believe that maintaining a connection to the land and farming is vital, but Amish mostly keep their farms to no more than eighty tillable acres. They limit the size to something manageable by their family. They also keep their communities small and will split them into another community if they grow too much. The goal is so that everyone in the community knows everyone else and is connected. She explained that it’s not only stuff they try to limit, but they also try to avoid temptations. I’ve heard diet experts for years advise that the easiest way to avoid junk food and bad snacks is to not buy it – avoid the temptation. There are other experts (and a whole marketing effort selling 100 calorie snacks & small portions) that urge carefully limiting the amount of snacks. We’ve got more “addictions” in our modern age than most of us can keep track of and all of that speaks to a people with so many diversions and choices, yet an inability to set limits and boundaries.

Another interesting limit mentioned in this book was some Amish church leaders were concerned that phones might encourage gossiping and interfere in people taking the time to meeting in person, which is a central part of Amish life. Just thinking about how life changed from phones to cell phones and the advent of messaging, well, I’ve been frustrated and felt alone sitting at the same table with some family members or other people who are engrossed in their cell phones and don’t even make eye contact or carry on conversation. Loads of people avoid actual phone conversations now and opt for text messaging.

The internet changed the world in many positive ways, despite all the bad things that have stemmed from it. I realized many years ago that I can learn many hands-on tasks better via watching videos than by step-by-step manuals and diagrams and pictures. With some new needlework/craft projects, I watch the videos, pausing, and then performing each step, to get the hang of it. The ability to rewind and watch the task performed as many times as I need to is much better than trying to look at a diagram or picture. Plus, with many videos the instructions come with advice on common problems and trouble-shooting, and often cheerful encouragement.

On the negative side, the internet can also be a huge time suck, where I can waste hours browsing, watching videos, reading a lot of pointless information rather than devoting that time to more worthwhile endeavors. There’s an even darker side to the internet that leads many people down very dark paths – porn, gambling, scams, and every other sort of human vice, often luring or preying especially on young people or the elderly.

Since I was a kid, I’ve been clipping newspaper and magazine information, project ideas, recipes, etc. and I still print out a lot of recipes and craft/needlework information. As long as the internet is easily available and Pinterest exists, well, I am going to take advantage of that. I also won’t voluntarily discard all of the modern conveniences. However, I am trying to work on limiting my screen time and avoiding online hot take news and social media drama.

An interesting thing about gadgets is with my four oldest granddaughters, I bought them several kindles over the years and then a few years ago they told me they prefer actual books. I think 2020, and all that “virtual learning” turned off many kids to sitting and looking at screens all day long. One of my granddaughters told me it just feels better holding a book. Another interesting trend is despite all the options for digital music, record players and actual vinyl records are making a comeback. One of my 16 year-old granddaughters wanted a record player for Christmas. However, the toss side of this is that most young people, according to survey after survey, would like to be a social media influencer and millions upon millions of young people grew up without any social boundaries, where posting selfies (many inappropriate) and updates on just about every moment of their lives is fairly common. Down the road, surely many will regret their youthful social media posts. There are loads of adults who get emotionally invested in engaging in social media drama too.

With social media, along with the awful, there are amateur content creators who produce worthwhile content of all sorts. I’m trying to choose more carefully whose advice, instructions, ideas, even recipes I’m going to follow.  This goes for letting any media influence my emotions too, because even many people online, who wax on about their Christian values, can spread unverified information, negativity or ideas and advice that runs counter to what matters to me.

I am not Amish. While my family heritage is mostly PA Dutch, my family isn’t Amish or Mennonite. My ancestors were early PA Germans settlers, many in the mid 1700s, at the same time many Amish arrived, but they were German Reformed and lived more secular lives.  There are still small enclaves in rural PA where the people cook traditional PA Dutch food and some still speak PA Dutch. My father and his relatives spoke PA Dutch around each other, but they spoke English too. My family attended a UCC church, that had been a German Reformed church, not Amish or Mennonite, and we lived like modern Americans, but I have always been fascinated by the Amish. 

Most of us aren’t going to voluntarily give up modern conveniences or try to live like the Amish, but there’s merit in their devotion to simple living and making careful choices on which modern technology we allow into our lives.  Very few gadgets and appliances live up to their hype or end up adding any real value to my life whatsoever. Even more worrisome is some have negative impacts on people’s lives. Living under a microscope, where every touch on a keyboard or click of a mouse and even how long we look at a screen is recorded and sold as “data” or that could be used to label us, should raise alarm bells about our privacy and personal liberty. I find it alarming and creepy how if I look at some item online and ads for that item shows up everywhere I go online. I don’t want household appliances that monitor every step I take, every move I make and government or corporations using that data to manipulate, judge, label or try to control me.

The larger concerning issue with modern technology is it’s ability to divide and isolate people. The idea that the internet would unite the world sure hasn’t panned out. The Amish believe in living simply, in close-knit communities, where their families and neighbors all know each other and more importantly are committed to each other’s welfare. It’s that commitment to each other that is the vital building block of community. 

In 2021 Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative reporter, went to talk to the Amish and looked into how they handled the pandemic. She reported, “The Amish community in Lancaster, Pa., (and Amish counties across the state) is making it through the pandemic without experiencing a catastrophic loss of life despite its refusal to adopt many of the safety precautions portrayed as necessary to prevent widespread loss of life. While officials in most U.S. cities ordered businesses and churches to close for several months in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, the Amish continued working and never stopped worshiping together at church.” 

The Amish wanted no parts of the pandemic social mitigation efforts to isolate sick family members or neighbors and many refused to go to a hospital, preferring to take their chances being cared for at home by family and friends vs. not being able to see loved ones.. She continued, “In fact, the CDC shows that counties like lancaster, with substantial Amish populations, have the lowest Covid rates in the state. Lower, in fact, than areas that still have mask and other health mandates in place.” In the beginning of the pandemic, COVID raced through Amish communities, but they continued living their lives as normal. 

Building real communities, where members of the community work together on common goals and care about each other’s well-being and welfare, is what has kept the Amish thriving for hundreds of years. It’s also what has historically created close-knit communities all over the world. All the technology in the world can’t replace those simple human connections. While it sounds so easy, for many of us searching our own hearts and reaching out a hand to even people we care about can be challenging and we’re all inundated with information overload that can keep us distracted and unable to even focus on the simple things that really matter. Getting back to the basics might be the key.

Note: I stuck in a few photos of some of my PA Dutch themed cross stitch, a PA Dutch hex sign I have in my foyer and a PA Dutch cookbook I’ve had for decades. The Amish boy and girl cross stitch at the top is a Diane Graebner design. Graebner’s Amish art is very popular and many of her designs have been converted into cross stitch patterns.

This post is going to jump around a bit from the political to the personal and hopefully end on a positive note. Many people believe they’re telling you the truth, even when they feel no responsibility to do the legwork to try to verify the information they present as facts. Instead they tell you to do your own homework. I’ve seen this on numerous sites that delve into politics and where they get into the hot take viral stuff a lot. 

Well, yes, we should all do our own homework, but if someone’s presenting “news” and advising people how to respond to that “news,” then they should feel some responsibility for making sure the information they presented was accurate. This trend of racing to repeat the hot take news permeates actual news organizations, with actual journalists and among social media content creators. Everyone likes to race to “amplify” is the word they use these days, the stuff that everyone’s talking about.

I try to present links to where I found information and also, try to take the time to do a bit of research. When I joined the Army, I attended the Defense Information School and went through the basic journalism course. That was back in 1979, but I still remember how many times my instructor made me rewrite articles and he challenged us on how we presented the facts and how we went about sourcing and verifying information, along with all sorts of ruthless critiquing our grammar and sentence-structure. I realized then that I wasn’t a very good writer, but I do love writing.

Yesterday I read a piece on a right-wing site about the Netflix movie, Leave the World Behind, which was scathing, but also included examples of messaging that I missed. I hadn’t been to that right-wing site in a long time, but just decided to take a glance at the headlines. The piece, Obama’s New Movie, Same Message: Blame White People, describes the first alarming event to unfold in the movie:

“To be sure, there was ample foreshadowing suggesting that Americans would ultimately be blamed for their own suffering.  The oil tanker that crashes into the beach is the “White Lion,” a reference to the early-seventeenth century privateer credited with delivering the first Africans to the colony of Virginia to be sold as indentured servants.  We get it: oil and slavery are both really bad.”

Even though I missed the “White Lion” messaging, the movie was filled with left-wing racial messaging and the only character in the movie, who had done anything to prepare for an emergency was negatively labeled a “survivalist” and portrayed as being greedy and a mean-spirited, bad neighbor, for not just handing over antibiotics to the liberal neighbors, who came knocking on his door.

I’ve watched plenty of prepper videos on You Tube since 2020, with advice on how to handle people who come to your door wanting your supplies in an emergency and how to protect your home in an emergency too. Protecting your home and family is of paramount importance in a crisis and chaotic situation. Before 2020, my emergency preparedness efforts were, what I’ll describe as inadequate, not well-organized, and looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, as far as to how people really behave in emergency situations and chaotic times. I was focused mainly on weather emergencies. 2020 was a huge wake-up call for me, because I hadn’t thought seriously about civil unrest or the breakdown of law and order. 

While I don’t want to abandon my religious convictions about helping people, I believe protecting my family and home is a higher duty than trying to take care of other people, so I’ve had to reevaluate how I go about my own preparedness efforts. And, while I’m not someone who has made being a “prepper” my entire life, since 2020, I invest a lot more time acquiring information and working on my own preparedness. 

I firmly believe working to become better prepared for emergencies, in these tumultuous times, is something everyone in America should do. 

It’s easy to use data to make whatever case you want and the vast majority of BLM protests in 2020 were peaceful, however those that weren’t peaceful caused more damage than any other riots in US history. The rioting and looting during the 2020 BLM protests really served as a wake-up call to me, because in some of those riots, the police were ordered to stand-down. The other thing that struck me was how quickly normal neighborhoods could become dangerous. One of my adult children lives in a city and there was some BLM protesting there and a bit of chaos. Here’s an even-handed 2021 review at Reason magazine, of those violent protests in 2020: Gaslighting Last Summer’s Riots and the Law Enforcement Response. For me, it was a wake-up call that I hadn’t really thought enough about what happens if the police don’t respond to protect my neighborhood or home or what happens if they become overwhelmed with too many emergency situations to handle. Just realizing how quickly things can go from normal to chaos hit home in 2020.

I still believe that principled and proactive leadership, at any level, even in your own family, can keep your family and group calm and working together. As a society we lack principled leadership at every level – in our federal and local government, in our communities and most of all within too many families. In fact, the idea of needing leadership in families would be dismissed by many people and arguments about every person’s opinions matter and everyone has equal say and all sorts of other debates would ensue. In American life over the past century, there’s been a complete abandonment of the idea of there even being a “head of household,” who is not just the primary breadwinner in the household, but someone who plays a key leadership role in nurturing, protecting and guiding his/her family. Parents used to be the leaders in their families.

If you choose to lead, hopefully you’ll think about how your advice and behavior “influences” (that’s the popular word these days) other people. If you choose to follow, well, hopefully you think long and hard about the character and competence of the person or people you choose to follow. 

Getting people fired up about Us vs. Them constantly isn’t a good leadership model for pulling America together, but its’ the kind of leadership millions of Americans (on both sides) gravitate to. It just adds to the divisiveness and rancor. People seem to want someone to blame and be angry at some evil person or group labeled “THEM,” who are out to destroy us, the good people.  I click on a few You Tube prepper/homesteading channels as sort of a barometer of how the Trump base is reacting to the conspiracy-addled right-wing social media echochamber and I click on X and read some liberal news opinion writers as sort of a barometer of how the liberal left is reacting to the conspiracy-addled left-wing social media echochamber. There’s a whole lot of anger at “THEM” on both sides.

In 2014 I wrote a blog post, Who will defend our castle?, in which I mentioned one of the last combat skirmishes, the Battle for Castle Itter, in WWII (thanks to JK for that link). Castle Itter was a German castle that the Nazis used for VIP prisoners. A small group of American soldiers were sent to secure Castle Itter. I wrote:

“The almost farcical nature of the characters and events in the battle for Castle Itter provides a quirky, yet almost emblematic view of  how in the unlikely circumstance of fighting for their lives, this castle’s curious mix of inhabitants, like people everywhere, can put aside national and personal loyalties, to unite in moments, because not much else mattered, except surviving.”

“The story centers on VIP French prisoners, whom the SS kept imprisoned in Castle Itter during WWII.  As the Americans advanced across Europe in the waning days of the war, a young American first lieutenant, John C. “Jack” Lee, Jr., made the mistake of volunteering to go secure the castle, after a surrendering German major arrived to tell the advancing Americans about the VIP prisoners held prisoner in nearby Castle Itter.  The young American officer sets off with 8 volunteers, plus 5 soldiers from the African-American Company, along with the surrendering German major and a truckload of his German soldiers.   The French VIPs, upon seeing their small rescue force, were unimpressed that such a paltry band of soldiers was sent to rescue their grand personages.  But quickly the scene changed as the castle fell under attack from SS troops.  The squabbling French VIPs (which included two French generals, who despised each other) and  the surrendering Germans all turned to the young American lieutenant to take charge of their castle defense.  To get the full impact of the absurdity of the events, read the full story of the battle for Castle Itter (here’s the link again).”

So, the German soldiers inside the castle and two French generals, who despised each other, all fell in line and worked with the small group of American soldiers, led by a young American Army officer, John C. “Jack” Lee, when the castle fell under attack by the SS. If this unlikely group could unite in a moment of crisis, I feel certain that Americans can too… if we choose to.

I’ve been challenging myself to stop jumping reflexively to the “Us vs. Them” way of thinking and instead trying to think about ways to present my views and beliefs, without dismissing people who hold views that are completely different. That doesn’t mean I want to appease people or go along to get along or not speak my mind, it’s just that if I am talking to someone who I hope I can reach and get them to listen to my viewpoint, that’s not going to happen if I beat them over the head constantly. I’m trying to find ways to find small slivers of common ground with people I care about, who hold completely different political views and it is truly a challenge, because I’m very quick to jump on my soapbox and spout my conservative viewpoints or point out what I consider the far-left crazy, that I believe is wrecking America. 

Many people who are on the left, hold equally strident views about Trump and right-wing Americans and believe we’re wrecking America. There are loads of liberals who are terrified of Americans who own and carry firearms. Deep down, even liberal elites know that the people who do prepare and do know how to defend themselves and others are who to turn to in a crisis. In this Leave the World Behind movie, no matter how negatively they tried to portray the “survivalist,” when the chips were down, he’s the one the liberals went to for help. The wealthy liberal elites rely on armed bodyguards, not ones wearing peace sign necklaces or blabbing about their pronouns. Bottom line is that if things get more chaotic we might not know what’s happening all over the country or world and what’s really going to matter is what’s happening in our own neighborhoods. Most of all, real change starts within each of us and no matter how much craziness is swirling about, we can all take steps to become better prepared – spiritually, mentally, physically, financially and within our own families and homes. 

I want to circle back to Ronald Reagan’s favorite dystopian novel, The Journal of David Q. Little, by Daniel R. McMichael, which I hadn’t even heard about until reading an article where this was mentioned. While many people, myself included, view the 2020 pandemic lockdowns and BLM rioting as wake-up calls to how quickly our rights can be infringed upon and civil order can slide into chaos, for many other people, they view the threat as the Americans who resisted lockdowns and spoke out against “defund the police” or Jan. 6th.

We live in a time filled with non-stop propaganda hitting us everywhere we turn – even in the name of an oil tanker in an Obama-produced apocalyptic movie. In that 1967 McMichael novel, the narrator, David Q. Little, sounds like many people today. While he’s aware that things are no longer normal, his wife and best friend, who is an ardent proponent of socialism, keep talking him around to why all the changes being made that curtail civil liberties and erode constitutional rights are only minor sacrifices they all need to make temporarily for the greater good – world peace. David Q. Little came to the realization that America had been surrendered to communists gradually, but his wife and best friend were much slower at coming to that realization. However, in the end they all had to face the truth, as their jobs were eliminated, their homes seized and even their children taken by the state. They were exiled from society. As the chaos and tyranny spread, it became nearly impossible to avoid the truth (or becoming an enemy of the state).

With our overload of information and everyone and their brother now taking to social media to add their two cents, it can take stepping away from the social media and news media noise to see more clearly. I like to find some quiet time to reflect lately, because it helps me sort through the information overload and escape the online “hot take” drama. I highly recommend taking some breaks from the media noise.

As 2023 winds down, rather than ramble on about the past year, try to forecast what 2024 holds in store for us, or make resolutions, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and wish you a happy and joyous new year.

Yesterday I ran to Hobby Lobby to buy some yarn, because they had all of their yarn on sale for 30% off, then I wandered into the jigsaw puzzle aisle and found this amazing cow puzzle. Their jigsaw puzzles were 40% off. And before I left I took a quick walk through the Christmas remnants and found this cute Christmas puzzle for 75% off:

No matter what else happens, I know I’ve got some needlework and jigsaw puzzles in my future.

Hope you have a wonderful year!