The Story Tellers.....
We are the chosen. 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 and take 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.
( Unknown Author )
