Old Order Mennonite Memoirs

Editor's Note: This Roseann Zimmerman column is reprinted from the Sept. 8, 2011, edition of the Herald.

"Mom, lately all the stories you've read to us are about hardships," my son re- marked.

"Really?" I answered. "What have I been reading?" "Well, first there was Nat Bowditch during the Revolutionary War and only a star to steer his sailing ships by and next there was Judy's Journey."

Yeah, that was a Lois Lenski book and it told the story of migrant workers. From Florida to New Jersey they followed the crops that ripened. They could load all their belongings in one jalopy after each crop was picked and moved on to the next. Lois would interview poor, working people like that all over the nation and practically live with them before she wrote their story. I borrowed this book from my mom's bookshelf.

"And next you read Hansi, Captive of the Swastika, survivor of World War II."

Yes, I bought that book at a yard sale. Maria Anne Hirschman wrote this autobiography in 1973. Was it a children's book? Not some chapters. Could a girl rebuild her life after being a Nazi teacher for a beloved leader, Adolf Hitler, and the war having defeated them? Is there life after a slave labor camp? Does a praying mother make escape possible? Would America ever seem like home?

"And now you're reading "The Breadwinner Trilogy."

This book's setting is in the beautiful, but war ravaged country of Afghanistan during the time of the Taliban. Deborah Ellis takes us through the horrible lives that the brave children suffer as their homes are blown apart by bombs and many other awful things. Yes, I guess I am reading hardship books.

"Well, lives do have hardships on this earth," he was told.

Do we have hardships? We can go to the backyard and bring in loads of food, just for the picking. In these books the next meal was always their daily concern and it was always meager fare. When we can load heavy clusters of grapes into our bike boxes and take them home to juice and can? When we can pick red rasp- berries every day and prepare delectable dishes? And this names only two of the many of September's bounty.

What are my hardships if I am not forced to wear a burqa (a loose enveloping garment that covers the face and body) to go to Traditions to buy canvas and tassels to make a new hammock sling? And can I even go without a male escort? And my windows don't need to be painted black so other men can't see me; they are open, in fact.

Do we have hardships if our children can play badminton as darkness falls and crickets sing peacefully? That is, instead of trying to sell cigarettes in the market so that we might have one more loaf of bread. Do we have hardships if our children can learn to read and write instead of having their schools bombed?

And our grown children can go to the homes of their friends Saturday nights for singings like they did along Old School Lane. They can eat supper together on Sun- day nights like along Kelly Lane.

Does America have hardships when we go to the church of our choice and worship in the way we think right? We don't have to worry about the police barging in and hauling us off to prison and torturing us. And we can have instruction classes for our youth in our age-old way without fear.

Do we even appreciate the freedom in this country? One day Mrs. Hirschman was asked to speak to California prisoners (in the true story we read). She was asked a hard question and this is part of her answer: "My young friends, I have long searched for the meaning of democracy and freedom. I thought Americans knew it, but they don't.

Americans are the ones who seem to know the least about the value and philosophy of the freedom they possess. Listen, young fellows: freedom makes good people better and bad people worse. Remember that. Some of the rough things happening in America today are the price this land pays for its freedom. As for me, I prefer to pay the price and stay in this land. Those who can't take it should find another land; they might be happy to come back to these United States after a short time in another country."