Embracing community

You can buy bikes from a least 7 people around this area but only from one real bike shop boasted the shop keeper I dropped in to visit in this small town Amish community in Indiana. I was curious, “What makes for a “real” bike shop”, I asked. “Anyone can sell you a bike but who is going to fix the problems he told me. I’ve been to school, set up shop here, and work this business for a living. These guys around here buy some bikes and claim they are in business just don’t know what they are doing. People buy bikes from them and then bring them to me to set them up”.

I heard his frustration. I also remembered starting up in the photography business 31 years ago. I never had worked for a photographer or taken a photography course. Neither did I have an approved place to do business. In fact I operated a business 3 years before I had the courage to approach the zoning board to get approval for a sign. I suspect there was no one more unprepared to be in business then I. Yet we learned as we went and the business sustained our family.

Most jobs require credentials, doctors, teachers, airplane pilots, lawyers, engineers, even barbers need certification. We trust the people we entrust our lives to have studied and we pay them for their service. Since I taught school for 6 years I too had gone to school to attain certification. But I have to admit I come from an independent farming culture which takes great pride in being able to do things on their own. Building the house I live in with my grandpa’s help, starting a photography business is part of this mentality that says it is not necessary to go to school, just do it and learn as you go.

We have plenty of models to emulate. My friend tells me of his grandpa who finished 8 grades of school as most young men in the church, yet he worked as engineer for New Holland machine company which exists today primarily because of his invention of the baler 70 years ago. His grandfather still holds the record of 52 patents to his name. He says with great pride that when his grandfather designed a product no one needed to check his work. Everyone knew it would work.

But this same self reliant confidence can become our problem. My grandfather believed he could doctor himself better then going to a doctor. With his combination of vitamin E, minerals, and reading the Prevention Magazine, he kept his weak heart going till he was 81. With two sons on two farms each co-signed with him he passed ownership over without a will or need for an attorney. Was he successful? I think he was. What concerns me is that this same spirit of independence and self reliance can create a spirit of distrust, judgementalism, prejudicial suspicion toward others which reverberates into all areas of life. Attitudes that we can do things on our own and we don’t need outside council or support creates distrust of government, church leaders, school teachers, authorities in general. We can absorb these attitudes unconsciously to our detriment. This is the spirit I have inherited and most likely will wrestle with all my life.

Eight times I stood in front of the zoning board to get approvals for different projects I wanted to build. Sometimes I got approval and sometimes I needed to go back to the drawing board. How I agonized each time wondering if my projects could be completed or not. My attitudes each time were one or exasperation and impatience, however eventually approvals were granted. Each time when the projects were completed I have to admit the requirements I was required to comply with improved the final results far beyond my original plan. It makes people roll their eyes when I say that I actually like government. To accept in humility the council of authority is not an easy attitude for persons like me to accept.

Maybe learning to walk in line is the primary lesson of school. Living in community with others in harmony, completing assignments to the approval of a teacher, meeting deadlines is hard for the independent minded person to accept. Another friend likes to joke that he could not let school get in the way of his education. It is easy for the successful independent person without exposure to higher education to criticize and be suspicious of those who respect education. “All I need is the Bible and the Holy Spirit” is the sentiment which makes it hard to build bridges of trust across a widely diverse global denomination. These attitudes are common in my rural experience growing up. Another friend and I attended a church meeting led by a husband and wife team both with PhD degrees from Ivy League schools. During a break in the meetings my friend turned to me and said “I am surprised, I think they actually love the Lord”. Respect for scholarship and those different from us is hard for the independent self reliant person to accept.

This self reliant independent spirit doesn’t need to break down community. This past summer we sat at tables at Church Convention. At our table of 8, one person was new to faith, one person worked as a laborer, several teacher and business types and one pastor had his Phd but no one knew. In Church we are all equal. It was natural to look to the pastor for some authoritative word but he restrained himself. When we recognize our need for each other as a body it is natural to respect scholarship, those in authority, the laborer, the business person, even the bike salesman or photographer who has not gone to school. We just need to sit together as my Amish friend says. My life’s experience punctuates just how much we do need each other in community especially in Church. These were my thoughts as I pedaled back home on the back roads of Indiana.