From Jean Heide -
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
storytellers 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.
-Author Unknown
____________________________________________________
Sell on Yahoo! Auctions no fees. Bid on great items.
http://auctions.yahoo.com/