My family has been involved in genealogy for about 50 years and we have found out many interesting things and many interesting people in our family tree. But along the way I believe that most of us have gotten a real prospective about this. We realized that, while interesting, it mattered not to how we needed to conduct our lives. We realized that our ancestry contributed to how we think and act, often in surprisingly prophetic ways. But we also needed to be responsible for our own actions and deeds and could not count on our ancestry or us it for any explanation or excuse.
In short, while it made us we were on our own.
That is why it irritates me so damned much when people seem to be so involved in who the are descended from. The seem to be more involved in the life of their ancestor than in their own life. I mean, if I am a direct descendant of a King, while interesting means nothing more that curiosity unless there is a fortune, title, or castle involved. Otherwise, related to a famous person is fun but it is not YOU.
The same goes for the damned commercials where a person needs DNA evidence to change from German to Scottish (just how serious was your commitment), or to find out what tribe in Africa she belongs to, or that they were Native American, or were Eastern European instead of Italian. I find it somewhat disingenuous. I found out, via DNA, that I am mostly Irish, but I already felt that all of my life. Maybe I was lucky. But isn’t is kind of weird that it takes a DNA test for you to have an affinity to a people? Just saying.
Nature or nurture?
The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.
Appreciating the dedication you put into your blog and detailed information you present.
It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while
that isn’t the same outdated rehashed information. Wonderful
read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS
feeds to my Google account.