THE CHOSEN
We are the chosen. 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.
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 now 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 the fathers
fought and some died to make and
keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and
immense understanding that they
were doing it for us.
It is of equal pride and love that our
mothers struggled to give us birth,
without them we could not exist, and so
we love each one, as far back as we
can reach. 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 they and they are the sum of who we
are. 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 my
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 restore the
memory or greet those whom we had
never
known before.
(unknown author)