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From:
Subject: Re: [LEWIS] Reason for Deaths in Ancestors
Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 22:44:20 EDT




Oh what does it matter if it has been printed before here it is again.

THE STORY TELLERS

We are the chosen.
My feeling is that 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 the memory
of all our flesh & blood who have gone before. We have been called, as it
were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story,
Tell our story... so, we do.
In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood
before now and cried? I’ve lost count. How many times have I told my
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. Who am I and why do I do the things I
do?
It goes into seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and
indifference and saying -- I can't let this happen. The bones here are bone
of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes into doing something about it. It
goes into pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they
contributed to what we are today. It goes into respecting their hardships and
losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and
build a life for their families.
It goes into deep pride that they fought to make our Nation...from whatever
standpoint or whatever side. It goes
into a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us…their
future, that we might be born who we are…that we might remember them. So we
do, with love and caring, scribing each fact of their existence, because
we are them and they are us.
Therefore, as a scribe called out, I tell the story of my family. It’s 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

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