Why We Need To Know About Our Ancestors And Their History ? Now More Than Ever !
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
—Marcus Garvey
The more we discover about our past, the greater a connection we feel to our ancestors. As we record our own history, we open the opportunity for future generations to connect with us when we are gone.
In a popular TED talk entitled, Everything You Think You Know about Addiction Is Wrong, British journalist Johann Hari teaches that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it is connection. Connecting with members of our family past and present by learning their history fills an innate need in each one of us.
Compassion
Learning the history of our ancestors helps us gain a greater understanding of the challenges they faced, and it often inspires greater love and compassion for their flaws and mistakes. This compassion can easily translate to our relationships with the living, within our families and outside them. We all face hard things. Remembering that fact in the context of others’ shortcomings allows us to be better employees, managers, spouses, parents, children, siblings, and human beings.
Our family history goes beyond the names and dates we find in our tree. It’s about what makes us who we are. It’s about people with whom we can form deep connections. It’s about people who lived and breathed and suffered and triumphed. It’s about roots and branches and leaves and entire forests. It’s about all of us.
25 Reasons to Make Your Family History an Intergenerational Activity
- “We are all an accumulation of not only our life experience, but those who were our ancestors.” – Connie H.
- “To preserve our family history.” – Shirley H.
- “I am the only child of a woman from Weisbaden, Germany. She always kept Germany a secret. Don’t know why, but it kept us from having a relationship, all my adult life. She never threw anything away. But all evidence of Germany and paperwork is gone. I’d love to know where I came from.” – Anna B.
- “It is fun to learn background on families.” – Paul W.
- “To know our heritage and where we came from. Where our past became our present.” – Kelly W.
- “My family is all gone, though I do remember a few members from when I was a child. I want to pass this information onto my grandchildren. Our world is changing so fast and our young people may never know the lengths our elder family went to.” – Carole H.
- “I am the only one in my family interested in leaving a family history and a legacy.” – Gloria N.
- “To know what has made our family so strong.” – Susan D.
- “To know about my family and the history of it all.” – Samantha W.
- “Learning about family history is important. It is essential to understanding ourselves and basic humanity and diversity. Family history also helps to keep memories alive and allow each generation to have an idea of who they are and where they come from.” – Taleta M.
- “To know who you really are.” – Janice B.
- “Because my grandparents passed away before I was born, I want to know more about my family.” – Bonnie P.
- “I would love to see if I can find pictures to tie into some stories.” – Cathy O.
- “Because I lost my father nearly 30 years ago, I am trying to do a family tree so I can leave it for my children to learn about the grandparents they never met.” – Lynne R.
- “Because I want my kids, grandkids and all generations to know where their family came from and to be proud of all of them!” – Judith I.
- “Something I will hand down to my kids.” – Gloria G.
- “I have 17 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren and would love to be able to pass down some family information to them.” -Katherine B.
- “To know and connect my family blood line, since no one in my family knows the my father’s side. It would be great to get in touch and meet all of them.” — Virginia W.
- “Get younger generations interested to continue on with findings.” – Rebecca E.
- “So much history there. I would just love to know after 52 years of wondering.” – Anna B.
- “We have at least one family meal at our house and the grandchildren come. We do ancestry together and they love doing the searching.” – Carole H.
- “Establishing a family tree, having family gatherings and taking pictures to put in an album and on disc that will be used to add more over time and years.” – Taleta M.
- “My family is already wanting to know more about the family. Especially my great, great, great and so on, ancestors. I would love to learn right along with them.” – Dottie W.
- “I share everything I learn with my family and also put together binders of information for future family to enjoy.” – Ryan M.
- “I plan to make a book with some stories and pictures for the family.” – Cathy O.
Without our ancestors we are nothing
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