YOUR VIEW: Amish family values should be guide

Opinion

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August 15, 2010

Special report Special to the Daily Times The Glasgow Daily Times Sun Aug 15, 2010, 06:41 AM CDT

GLASGOW — Dear Editor,

A few days ago I cut a some hay here on the farm and decided to have it square baled. I knew it wouldn’t make a lot because it was the second cutting and the area covered only a small amount of ground.

As I have done for several years, I contacted my Amish neighbor about getting him and his son to help load the bales. Even though the hot weather lately has been nearly unbearable, he let me know that when the hay is baled they would be right on over to help.

About the time I got the hay raked, the tractor and baler arrived. That’s when I hooked my tractor to the wagon and waited for the Amish to come. By this time the sun felt like an oven and it was getting hotter by the minute. Several minutes passed and I thought, “Where’s my promised help, it’s past time for them to come.” Then the thought hit me that they are on slow time and won’t be here for another 30 minutes or so.

It wasn’t long before I heard some kids hollering and said to myself, “Who in the world is that?” I looked up and it was the Amish man, his older son plus two of his younger sons and one of his daughters coming across the field to the hay wagon. I climbed on my tractor and everyone else took their places. The Amish father stacked the hay on the wagon while the eldest son walked along, handing up bales.

The smaller boys, who looked to be around five or six years old, stayed on the wagon with their father. The young girl, appearing to be about 12 years of age, stayed on the ground, picking up some of the bales alongside her brother. As the stifling heat beamed down, I kept the tractor just barely moving, using the clutch often to stop beside the bales. As we moved to the last windrow, and in anticipation of the final bale, I asked the young girl if she was “ready to go to the barn and get an ice cold can of soda pop.”

She turned and looked at me with a smile, not saying a word. That’s when I saw her brother whisper something in her ear. I don’t know what was said, but about that time their father hollered out to me, “That’s the reason the young ones came, they knew you would have cans of cold drinks for them.” And they were right. When the load of hay got to the barn the five-gallon cooler that was full of ice water and cans of ice cold soda pop became a delectable treat for everyone.

I’ve always heard the more you have, the more you want. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know. I do believe the more we have the more we take for granted. I know it sure didn’t take much to make these Amish kids happy. Sometimes I think many children today have so many things that their value becomes meaningless to them. I don’t know precisely what the lesson here is, but I do believe there is one and maybe it applies to all of us.

David Keith

Smiths Grove

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