On Thu, 10 Apr 1997, chris boyd wrote: Chris, I think you have revealed some remarkable insight. On the genealogy side of things, about four years ago I took the opportunity to ask an 86 year old lady, (related by marriage) about her background, the usual genealogy-orientated interview, parents/grandparents birthdates, places etc ... all while she was showing me her photo albums. IOW, the opportunity sort of presented itself to get her family history. She was very pleasant about it all even as I was writing things down in a steno pad. However, I did not realize until the next day, that my "interrogation" had made her VERY nervous. This lady has been in Canada from the Czech Republic less than fifteen years. She was wondering whether she had done the wrong thing in answering so many questions, which are quite personal when you think of it. Her daughter had to work to reassure her that it was nothing to worry about, " ... only Margaret and that genealogy hobby of hers, no problem, she's harmless". (Good thing I have a reputation in the family <g>). She passed away two years later. On the positive side of that interview, I do have an extensive list of names, birthdates, places re her family history, parents' siblings, grandparents, etc. And she has great grandchildren who are part of my family, so perhaps I have laid the groundwork for her descendants. Margaret Sheremata > whence many of these secret keepers came, I began to imagine their > lives. I imagined invaders arriving in a village (as they seem to have > constantly been arriving, year after year). Do we side with the invaders > to save ourselves or with the defendors? The alliances and allegiances > must have been constantly shifting and changing. > > I puzzle over the simplest of things in my life but thinking of the life > and death puzzles they were constantly facing humbles me. > > My grandparents were so close to the Polish border, so close to the > Russian border, but were ruled by Austria and priests who kept Ukrainian > culture alive in an underground way. They must have all had secrets that > could have betrayed them to those in power or knew secrets about their > neighbors that could have destroyed them. > > I remember reading that the Vikings were actually there (wasn't > everyone!) and that they discovered a society with very little > organization -- nether state or church -- anarchy -- every family > keeping to themselves, thank you very much. > > Realisticly we would have to believe that there is a pysche created by > the living conditions of a people -- I suggest that the same pysche that > produces the secretiveness, perhaps paranoia of these ancestors has a > very positive side as well: Shrewdness and self-sufficiency are two > qualities that fascinate me in the Slavic peoples. >