Well Said. Thank you for posting this message. It speaks to the hearts of all of us that search for our roots and see their lives live again. I believe it gives us a better understanding of who we are when we see their past and the choices ancestors made or events that impacted their lives (and ours). Jo Anne ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2006 2:55 AM Subject: [JOHNSON] PLEASE} THIS SHOULD BE READ BY ALL-THIS IS WHY WE DO GENEALOGY > > GENEALOGY AND WHY WE DO IT > > > We are the chosen. 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. > > Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life > into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All > tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have > gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we > somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have > lost count. How many times have I told the 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. It goes to who am I and why do I do > the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds > and indifference and saying I can't let this happen. > > The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing > something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to > accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their > hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to > go on and build a life for their family. > > It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep > us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing > it for us. > > It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, > without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can > reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we > do. > > With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we > are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the > story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to > answer the call and take my 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 restore the memory or greet those whom we had never known > before. > > (unknown author) > > PLEASE, I have found NO OTHER statement to better explain > our effort. > YES I know there is no Family information here, BUT i see so much posted > that I believe this BIT Could bring us to better understand WHY we try to do the > things that we do, SO as to reap that great feeling we get when some one is > able to find that > Answer that we have all been trying so hard to locate & just THINK that BIT > that <SOME ONE> You, Your Cousin or that Persistent OLD Pest that so often > gets trashed, What do you know THA ole goat finally found something. Cousins That > is Why I am sending this <BIT> Because the reason that WE NOT I, but all of > us are Needed to bring this, <BIT TO FRUITION>. > > These are som of my Families but I am Related to ALL of the > People that I ha listed & then alot more. > > Cousins I hope that each of MY Cousins have read this & PLEASE, SAY YOUR > thoughts to. CUZ A T <[email protected]> > > There must be something you can think to say, Good, Bad OR________?? > > > > > > > > > > > ==== JOHNSON Mailing List ==== > Do not flame other members of the mailing list > > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > > >