Reflections on Genealogy
The popularity of genealogy in recent years points to the innate curiosity of humans who want to understand from where they come from and what makes them...well, them. This recent trend has been fuelled by main stream media via television shows and advertisements with genealogy themes. There are other irresistible reasons that drive people to seek answers to the question “where does my family come from? “ For example, People seem to have an inherent desire to identify with a group. In fact saying "I'm Scottish," or "I'm part Egyptian," is like wearing a badge of honor. There's also the allure of "pedigree." Being the descendant of anyone who left a significant mark in the distant past is enough to conjure up a nostalgic smile on the family historian face. However, the overriding impetus for genealogy’s popularity seems to be that we simply want to know our histories. Wouldn't it be nice to know that your great, great, great grandfather sat on a hill in Carnac, France in 1700 staring at the sea as our great, great, great grandmother painted his portrait? To visit that hill yourself, makes knowing your family story all the more of an amazing experience! I can’t begin to explain what it was like for me to see the buildings my ancestors saw, to walk in their footsteps and to pray in the same church they prayed in.
Kim
