WHY I DO GENEALOGY
The Story Tellers.....
We
are the chosen. My feelings are in each family there is one
who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their
bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to
feel that somehow they know and approve.
To
me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but,
instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are
the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have
been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone
before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do.
In
finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have
I stood before and cried? I have lost count. How many
times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you
would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave
and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say.
It
goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and
why do I do the things I do? It goes to seeing a cemetery
about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I
can't let this happen.
The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It
goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our
ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to
what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and
losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness
to go on and build a life for their family.
It
goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a
Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they
were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That
we might remember them. So we do.
With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence,
because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, I
tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the
next generation to answer the call and take their place in the
long line of family storytellers.
That, is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls
those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones.
(
Unknown Author ) |