The Story Tellers....we are the chosen... or why I am so fascinated
("obsessed") with Genealogy 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 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 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 andtake 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.
Author Unknown