I have written about this subject on several occasions but wished to revisit it one more time. The subject is your roots and the establishing of those roots. I have talked about the loss of my own home town to time and economics. It was my choice to leave that place and also my choice to not return. The reasons are not that important. I have now lived in Greensboro for a number of years. I'm not certain just how many, but somewhere close to twenty five would be my guess. I wonder if that would qualify me as having established roots here ? My boys graduated from high school here. Two of my grandchildren were born in the local hospital. One son is a town commissioner.
In one sense I would have to say yes. I am established here. In another, no roots here. In order to have roots you must first be planted. It is a rather crude analogy, but I do not have any blood relatives buried here. No ancestral ties or roots if you will. Is that the defining factor ? Can one be called a native of the area or as having roots here without having that stipulation met ? It could be said, I have surface roots here, that would be a fair assessment.
With my interest in genealogy, and the tracing of my own family tree, I have discovered roots everywhere. I have relatives buried in several states that I am aware of. None in Maryland so far. I know I have roots in Sweden and Germany as well. Unless you are a pure Native American that would be true of us all. And I'm quite sure their ancestry would include some foreign blood as well. And so it follows that I am doing nothing more than spreading the root system out. Has not man sought to do that since the beginning ? Maybe not on a conscious level but the minute he began to roam that became the case. A well established root system is the basis of a healthy plant, is it not ? Each of us must do our part. The choice as to where we sink the roots are not always within our control. Driven by fate or chance ?
In one sense I would have to say yes. I am established here. In another, no roots here. In order to have roots you must first be planted. It is a rather crude analogy, but I do not have any blood relatives buried here. No ancestral ties or roots if you will. Is that the defining factor ? Can one be called a native of the area or as having roots here without having that stipulation met ? It could be said, I have surface roots here, that would be a fair assessment.
With my interest in genealogy, and the tracing of my own family tree, I have discovered roots everywhere. I have relatives buried in several states that I am aware of. None in Maryland so far. I know I have roots in Sweden and Germany as well. Unless you are a pure Native American that would be true of us all. And I'm quite sure their ancestry would include some foreign blood as well. And so it follows that I am doing nothing more than spreading the root system out. Has not man sought to do that since the beginning ? Maybe not on a conscious level but the minute he began to roam that became the case. A well established root system is the basis of a healthy plant, is it not ? Each of us must do our part. The choice as to where we sink the roots are not always within our control. Driven by fate or chance ?
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