A Tribute to our Ancestors on this day of Thanksgiving.
THEY did not choose us, nor we them; we never knew them, nor they us;
yet we are inextricably bound together for all eternity and there is no
law in the universe, no metamorphosis physical or spiritual, that can
ever alter this inalienable truth.
OFTEN we may wish for different ones and feel moved to deny the ones we
have, but this is as futile as it is foolish to invent spurious ones,
for our deception will surely be unmasked, if not by others, ultimately
by our own conscience.
WE owe everything, our very existence, to our ancestors, and yet we know
next to nothing of them because mostly their lives were so humbly
recorded. It is good that we seek to expand our knowledge of their lives
so that we may better understand our own.
THEY made us, body and soul, and we must accept without complaint or
rancour what they were and what we are, for nothing and no-one can ever
change this fact and it is barren folly to dwell obsessively upon it.
WE recognise that the legacy of genetic inheritance is a double-edged
sword. We should be grateful for those gifts of personality and
disposition our ancestors bestowed upon us which we find beneficial and
not rail against those traits we find less appealing, for it is surely
in our own hands to change them.
WE should take pride in our ancestors and their achievements wherever
possible, whether high-born or low, rich or poor, prince or pauper, and
not seek arbitrarily to revile or condemn them for acts of which we know
nothing of the causes.
WE must learn from them, from their mistakes as well as their successes;
from their tragedies as well as their triumphs; from their sins as well
as their virtues; from their hopes as well as their fears.
POSTERITY and history are irrevocably interwined in the present. No
coherent vision of the future can exist without an affinity for the past
and cognizance of the lives of our forebears.
REMEMBER that we, too, are the ancestors of those yet unborn and we
should seek to leave for them a heritage of which they can be as proud
as we are of that which our forebears bequeathed to us.
WE bless and thank our ancestors for the legacy of the good things they
gave us, forgive them their errors and pray that we will endeavour to
use wisely the knowledge which they handed down to us.
© Roy Stockdill 1997
My best wishes to each of you and yours on this Thanksgiving day.
Kathleen Burnett
List Mom