Amish in the City, Episode 5: Organic Whoopee?

It’s that time again, friends. Another hour with our Amish and city bred twenty-somethings has passed and I’m here with all the details. Last week the group visited with city kid Whitney’s family. Will we head to Boston this week to meet Nick’s kinfolk? Miriam’s best friend Elsie showed up for a visit. Can we expect Ruth’s favorite heifer to arrive for a milking? On this show anything can happen, so let’s get right to it.

Our show begins with yet another montage of just how dirty a group of post adolescents can make a house. The place looks as if Rob Zombie threw a Bar Mitzvah. Kevan proclaims it to be cleaning day, which sends Ariel and Miriam racing for the pool and some serious tanning. Miriam kicks things off in an interview in which she tells us that we’re halfway through this whole thing and people are learning to get along. We see shots of some of the men doing some cleaning, which is in itself a minor miracle. Mose, ever the organizer, exhibits some of his anal retentive side by compiling a huge list of chores and walking around looking for volunteers to do each one. His goal is to ensure that each person in the house has something to do. In the Amish community, he tells us, “slacking off is not an option.”

He heads out to the pool where Reese and Whitney both agree to pitch in. Whitney says she’ll probably clean the kitchen. “Good,” Mose replies, “it definitely needs to be done.” His demeanor irritates Whitney a bit because she feels like she’s back home with a dad bossing her around and giving orders. As a result, we see Ruth working on the kitchen while Mose vacuums. Reese, Whitney, and Meagan never move from their places by the pool. When the work is done and Whitney is recovering from her busy day of loafing, Mose tries to talk to her. He says he feels he was the only one cleaning while others were busy bitching about things. Whitney swears to him that she wasn’t bitching and her nose grows so quickly that Mose starts to whittle it into a Beano Stick. “When I feel like cleaning, I’ll clean,” Whitney tells him. “I just didn’t feel like cleaning today.” Mose tells us that he’s still a non-confrontational man and he opts to leave the room rather than push further with Whitney.

T-mail arrives telling the group that they are about to explore the “quirky side” of the city. There is a street festival featuring an alternative religious group and everyone is invited to attend. The alternative group referred to turns out to be the Hare Krishna Community of L.A. Miriam’s reaction is one we’ve heard often enough. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she tells us, “The first thing I saw was a couple of guys dressed in weird robes.” Is this the same woman who was ridiculed just a few short weeks ago when she arrived in L.A. in her Amish clothes? The group is greeted by a member of the Hare Krishna temple who not only welcomes them but also gives them a brief history of the movement, which was founded in 1965 in New York. As the group gazes around with varying degrees of interest, Meagan tells us that the only thing she really knows about this religion is that its members sell books at the airport.

As the members of the Community dance and chant in the street, Miriam, Ruth, and Mose stroll around commenting that it all seems quite cool, but it’s definitely not anything like the way that they were each raised. Take just a moment if you need it, to recover from that shocking announcement. Ready to continue? Cool. As we watch a woman kneel and kiss the ground, Miriam, who seems to have left her tolerance in her bonnet back at the house, tells us that she thinks this is all very strange and weird. No sooner are the words out of her mouth than we Ariel trying to chant along with the Temple members. In a clip she tells us that she doesn’t think the Amish realize how similar they are to the Hare Krishna members. “They both have a certain way of dressing, a certain way of wearing their hair, and they’re both very different from Western religions,” she says. I’d comment here that both movements were born in Western civilization, but in her own way she has made a valid observation so I’ll not quibble over spilt dogma.

Jonas has found his discussions with the Krishna members to be fascinating. “This doesn’t really seem crazy to me,” he tells us, “They talk about connecting to their inner being and to me that just makes sense.” Ruth is sensing the irony of it all, noting that she feels like one of the city kids as she questions a stunning and beautiful young lady about the Hare Krishna beliefs. When the woman comments that she was raised in the Community she garners Ruth’s full attention. The woman speaks of being very sheltered in her life and the Amish all nod in complete understanding. They question the girl about her clothing and she explains that she is wearing a traditional Indian garment.

Mose observes everything with great interest but he wants to actually hear about the things that they believe in before he makes any judgment about their practices. Lucky for him, there is an informal gathering after the festival in which they get to sit and ask questions inside the Temple. A man after my own heart, Mose can’t wait to start the questioning. Ruth is actually amazed at the depth of Mose’s inquiries and tells us he asked things that she never would have been brave enough to ask.

Mose asks if they are familiar with the Bible and is told, “Yes, there is no quarrel between us and Christians or any other bona fide religions.” He then asks if they believe that there is one true religion that should be followed. He is told that religion is part of a continuum and, “we are not converting Moslems into Christians – the quarrel is not between religions, it is between the Godly and the ungodly.” Once he has finished his investigation he tells us his impressions in an interview piece. “Although I don’t ever see myself becoming a ‘Hairy Christian,’ I do have to respect the fact that they are so dedicated to their religion.” For those who may be unfamiliar with the show in general, or with Mose in particular for that matter, it should be noted that he was not being disrespectful here. Although Mose seems to be a very intelligent man, he does have problems getting the names of unfamiliar people and things correct.