I have decided to delete my genealogy pages. While interesting, genealogy has proved to be a distraction from the present.
Too much energy spent on discovering and displaying one's ancestry, extolling their virtues, and attempting to establish a connection with these people we never knew does not assist in making us better people.
We are not the sum of the parts of our ancestry. We can be whomever and whatever we want to be. We can be better - and we can be worse - than our ancestors.
Does tracing our lineage tie us any closer to the people who are in our everyday lives? True, I have met distant relatives through the years, but none have become significant in my life nor changed my life. And with none do I still maintain any contact.
There's an old saying that you can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. And you can choose, to some degree your future family.
I don't know that the saying at the top of this page is accurate. The past is finite - signed, sealed, and delivered. And I don't know that whether or not we care about our own particular pasts has any bearing on our futures. Our futures are infinite - open to any possibility - if we care to explore and take advantage of those possibilities. Even at the age of 50, I find that my life is not set in any particular course.
What the my puttering in genealogy has produced is a more acute sense that what I do today is what matters. Burying my head in the past does not contribute to that.
So I bid you all success in your search for your roots. But even more, I bid you joy and peace in the present and limitless futures.
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