Shakers: An Accepting Society

What I found most interesting, reading Utopian Communities in America, Watching Ken Burns, and visiting the historical society was that The Shakers were an accepting, welcoming society. I was surprised that as they were intentional communities, believed in purity, and very organized, they were open to anyone who wanted to join the community and accepting of everyone's choice of life, Shaker or no. Further, I was found that they more accepting of individuality than even the Amish, people who had similar ways of life.

Reading Utopian Communities and watching Ken Burns, I learned that they let anyone join who wanted to, when they wanted to. One of the remaining shakers, in an interview, told viewers that her family brought her to a Shaker community when she was a child and that they took her in. There, she lived a full life, completely devoted to the Shaker society. Further, the Ken Burns video mentioned winter Shakers, people who took advantage of their shelter and resources in the cold months. It also mentioned people who took from there crops. It mentioned how the Shakers were very generous and let these things happen despite the fact that they knew they were being "taken advantage of," whether they saw it as that or not. I was just impressed at how truly devoted and accepting they were to strangers and people who showed interest in their community, whether they did so for their own personal desperation, or they actually wanted to be a part of something greater.

After visiting the shaker museum and reflecting on the reading and video, I felt that I had a more developed understanding of their acceptance of individuality, more specifically. The representative at the museum expressed beliefs like "live and let live" and their true acceptance of others. One thing that clearly stood out was the quilt that Shaker sisters made for a sister who got married; marriage being a practice they don't believe in. The Shaker sisters felt it more important to give a gift to their loved one, and show their care despite the irony of the quilt, and their belief in celibacy. I was shocked at the Shakers' unbelievable acceptance of individuality and choice. Their recalled actions and some of the first person accounts we watched showed this; that despite their beliefs, they proved to be accepting of anyone's choice in life. It really speaks to their character and their loving nature. In contrast, I found that the beliefs and actions of the Amish really spoke to Shaker character. The Amish also spoke of choice and the freedom of decision, but they expressed negative emotions to the choices that they obviously viewed as negative ones. After being there to witness them talk about it, I find this a significant trait that they had. Unlike the Amish, although we never actually met a Shaker, they seemed content with any choice of any individual and never expressed any existence of a negative choice. I found this as an unbelievable state of mind.