This was on one of my GA lists. I wish I knew who the author was. Nancy We Are the Chosen My feelings are, in each family, one is 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 all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. 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. And in finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before and cried? I have lost count. 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 I am and why 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. 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 lives for their families. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to an understanding that they were doing it for us.....for the future, 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 them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, we tell the story of our families. It will be up to the ones called in the next generation To answer the call and take their places in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do family genealogy, And that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. [Author Unknown] Nancy Website: http://www.geocities.com/twincousin2334 List Admin.: USCW-SEVEN_PINES; CARMICHAEL; GODBOLD; FAIRLEY Message Board Admin.: MISSOURI CIVIL WAR; FAIRLEY; GODBOLD; RICHMOND COUNTY, NC