I have been working on the family tree for a number of years now and think I am satisfied. Yup, I think I have discovered all I wanted to know and much more. I have discovered after a while, say five or more years of searching, that the ancestors become less and less relevant. That is to say, nobody really cares anymore. Fifth cousins three times removed doesn't mean much to most people. And I have to admit it doesn't really do much for me either. I'm thinking that it may have something to do with the current trend of perceived entitlement based on ancestry. Those threads are tenuous at best. Beyond that I certainly don't feel I should receive any sort of special treatment or consideration based on something that may or may not have happened to my ancestors. Painting with so broad a brush definitely covers up many truths. And so now I have to decide to what to do with what I have discovered. It is like I have won a sweepstakes and now how to figure out what to do with all the prizes. I can't use them all ! On the other hand, they were assembled for my own amusement. I expect they have served their purpose.
Each of us must stand upon our own accomplishments. That is what I was taught and what I believe. Whatever my parents may or may not have done really has little to do with me. Attaching yourself to fame does little for you. As I mentioned the newest trend is to use past offenses for present day gains. Ridiculous claims are made and/or assumed. If you are black, your ancestors were slaves ! How stupid is that ? Well it's not stupid if you stand to gain favor from that assumption somehow. Why not claim that your ancestor was a great warrior chief from a tribe in Africa ? The reason is simple enough, there is no advantage to that. If I am Irish my family suffered through the great potato famine. Well, maybe, maybe not. I myself am of German descent, does that make me a Nazi ? Hardly, although I have been accused of that. I dismiss that as nonsense. Transgressions of the past can not be made right by rewarding those in the present. You can not heal the injured by treating the healthy !
I have assembled a lot of information. Now to put it in some form that is useful. The first thing to decide is, what use does it have ? The answer is readily apparent, to amuse. That is the sole purpose I gathered that information and that is the purpose I should put it to. The problem I have is a limited audience. Who, beyond my family, would be interested in any of this ? The truth is , very few. and so I think I will have to include this information as an attachment to a larger project. Fortunately I have started such a project. That project is writing a book. The book I have started is being written in the first person, my ancestors will certainly play a role. After all, it is how I wound up alive and living in America. We are all the result of a series of actions and reactions. Where that series began and ends we can't know. What events led up to my birth ? I don't know, and am only able to record what came afterward. Even that record is incomplete as I wasn't able to read or write for a number of years. The events before my own memory are not in the first person, but the perceptions of others.
I wonder though if my feeling would be different had I discovered different ? What if I were descended from a great family, one of fame and fortune. Would I then attempt to ride those " coattails " as the saying goes. In all honesty, I expect I would. I believe we all seek the path of least resistance. That is just a part of human nature. We do like to say how hard we struggled to get were we are, take credit for fighting the good fight, but few do it by choice. We are driven more by necessity than any strong moral conviction. That is the reality. The past has gotten us here, that can't be denied. The past can not carry you forward, that is a journey you must make on your own. And that is what I learned by assembling all those records of the past. It took that for me to gain an appreciation of the present !
Each of us must stand upon our own accomplishments. That is what I was taught and what I believe. Whatever my parents may or may not have done really has little to do with me. Attaching yourself to fame does little for you. As I mentioned the newest trend is to use past offenses for present day gains. Ridiculous claims are made and/or assumed. If you are black, your ancestors were slaves ! How stupid is that ? Well it's not stupid if you stand to gain favor from that assumption somehow. Why not claim that your ancestor was a great warrior chief from a tribe in Africa ? The reason is simple enough, there is no advantage to that. If I am Irish my family suffered through the great potato famine. Well, maybe, maybe not. I myself am of German descent, does that make me a Nazi ? Hardly, although I have been accused of that. I dismiss that as nonsense. Transgressions of the past can not be made right by rewarding those in the present. You can not heal the injured by treating the healthy !
I have assembled a lot of information. Now to put it in some form that is useful. The first thing to decide is, what use does it have ? The answer is readily apparent, to amuse. That is the sole purpose I gathered that information and that is the purpose I should put it to. The problem I have is a limited audience. Who, beyond my family, would be interested in any of this ? The truth is , very few. and so I think I will have to include this information as an attachment to a larger project. Fortunately I have started such a project. That project is writing a book. The book I have started is being written in the first person, my ancestors will certainly play a role. After all, it is how I wound up alive and living in America. We are all the result of a series of actions and reactions. Where that series began and ends we can't know. What events led up to my birth ? I don't know, and am only able to record what came afterward. Even that record is incomplete as I wasn't able to read or write for a number of years. The events before my own memory are not in the first person, but the perceptions of others.
I wonder though if my feeling would be different had I discovered different ? What if I were descended from a great family, one of fame and fortune. Would I then attempt to ride those " coattails " as the saying goes. In all honesty, I expect I would. I believe we all seek the path of least resistance. That is just a part of human nature. We do like to say how hard we struggled to get were we are, take credit for fighting the good fight, but few do it by choice. We are driven more by necessity than any strong moral conviction. That is the reality. The past has gotten us here, that can't be denied. The past can not carry you forward, that is a journey you must make on your own. And that is what I learned by assembling all those records of the past. It took that for me to gain an appreciation of the present !
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