Amish Picnic

I have been getting to know the monster of globalization and I see how it is fed by technology. And more personally I have been living with all these people whose lives are simple technologically but their lives and their being feels so whole. I want that. The other night I left work and when I walked outside I found a bunch of coworkers and some new people sitting at the picnic table in the middle of the yard. It was dark and they had stuck three candles to the table for light. They were drinking beer and eating nuts and salad. They usually drink beer here by pouring it into 8 ounce glasses from a 1 litre bottle. If you pour into your own glass then you must pour into everyone else’s. And the salad was in a bowl with three forks. When they invited me over I was struck by how palpable the sense of community was just in that little space. I sat next to one guy whose English is good named Gai. He poured beer into a glass for me and translated some of the conversation so I could get up to speed. Then he and I started talking about the subject. We were talking about NGOs and how control and power is consolidated in Thai society. We talked about taking vacations at the beach and then about people wanting to feel fulfilled by what they do but sometimes having trouble finding that. And we talked about the villagers in the hill tribes. Younger villagers are farming less and getting jobs in factories more and more, much to the disapproval of the village elders. The youth want to earn money to buy motos and cell phones. In one generation life in the hill tribes will be completely transformed. Some villages got solar cells three years ago and the kids already spend their whole Sunday glued to the TV. Then Gai asked me about the Amish. We talked about how they decide as a community whether or not to accept new technologies by discussing the ramifications they will have on life. We talked about how their children are taught the value of the Amish lifestyle but also allowed to go try on life in the cities of the US. I told him most children return to be Amish. It was great. During the long patches of Thai speaking I just looked around and took it all in. Their faces lit by the dancing light and the energy they had when talking and listening to each other. And I thought to myself, “This is way better than spending the night in front of the TV. Why doesn’t everyone do this? This could be so great for the world.” So I decided that when I get settled in Portland and the weather starts to warm, I’m going to build a picnic table. And I’m going to invite everyone I know and also people I don’t know to sit. And there will be candles and we will drink beer from 40s and have salad and nuts. And I want to talk to people, about what they see and what they do and what they wish. To make community.