MOVING ON
Our days in Indiana were filled with activity. We spent a day in Louisville and visited Churchill Downs where we wagered a few dollars to justify our attendance. Of course, we spent a day visiting the cemeteries where loved ones of the past now reside and several days touring the countryside, visiting old friends, relatives and a day at the Lake. Our visits with the nephews and nieces were great and since our last visit to Indiana there have been several additions to the “clan’ through marriage, births and by assimilation of affections, awaiting “the binding”. I am blessed with a wonderful family, good friends and pleasant memories of my roots.
A particular highlight of our trip was a day exploring the Amish country in and around Montgomery. After a bountiful lunch of traditionally prepared Amish bounty, we drove through the outlying countryside where we were treated to the cordial hospitality of those unique and those I call “down to earth” gentle people. Our drive through the community resulted in an enlightening visit to a buggy factory, watched as a “free style” artist applied beautiful trim on a buggy door, observed barefoot children delivering a cool afternoon “refreshments” to the laborers and sampled cheeses at a cheese factory.
The simple traditions of the Amish, their dedication to a culture and way of life that scorns modern “luxuries” provided a reminder of just how far we have advanced in our upward mobility. Horse drawn plows and farm implements of yesterday do not and cannot meet the same standard for accomplishment as a power driven tractor and other modern day devices. I was particularly taken by the thought that the environmentalist among us should visit these “back to nature” enterprises. They should have the opportunity of experiencing first hand the pesky flies, draw water from a well, travel on dusty gravel country roads, smell the aroma of fertilizer freshly dropped from its source and gaze upon a field devastated by animals who savored the fresh crop of what was intended to provide food for the cold winter months.
A comparison with the “old ways” and the “modern way” becomes more striking when one travels a few miles down the road and sees, first hand, evidence of the vastly improved productivity of a farm utilizing modern day technology. Electricity, power motors, pumps, trucks, cars and automation provide an improved quality of life that is discernable even to my unenlightened eye from a distance. As we drove in 90 degree heat down dusty gravel roads in our closed air conditioned car with its tinted windows we passed horse drawn buggies transporting families on errands and destinations unknown. I smiled at myself as one part of me yearned to satisfy my curiosity with an in depth study of the faith, convictions, character and moral standards of these simple, good people and face the recognition that I could not survive a week in their midst. I am sure that my “impatience, intolerance and assertive ways would soon tax their gentle nature and I would be in for a long, dusty and hot walk to the nearest traditional farm. Thus, I must admire them from afar and forever be puzzled by the motivation that keeps a people blind to progress and bound by faith. It is more than my simple mind can bear. There you have it – another dribble from the drab.
