Tradition and teamwork are awe-inspiring in this time-lapse of an Amish barn raising. Scott Miller shot 1600 pictures from 7:00am until 5:00pm and compressed the 10 hours into 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
Imagine if the owners of that barn had instead hired a company to do the same work. It would have required a massive mortgage that would likely have outlasted the owners.
Now instead, thanks to their community, they’re potentially debt-free with “only” the cost of materials to cover.
What would society look like if this kind of massive cooperation was common practice in all communities worldwide? I’ll tell you one thing. There would be no mortgages for the average family, because just as in old times you’d come together as a community and build your homes, your school, your church, etc. A “you help me and I’ll help you” kind of deal.
Is this impossible to imagine? I don’t think so. And with open source house designs such as the WikiHouse we could be returning to these old self-reliant ways of furnishing shelter for ourselves, debt-free. Of course this does not only apply to shelter, but to everything from community gardens to neighborhood watches.
I’m looking forward to that future, for my own sake and for posterity.
