Why Genealogy?

I found this anonymously written article and will quote with a few adaptions of my own.

 

    We are the chosen. My feeling is that in each family there are some who seem to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them alive again. To tell the family story, and to feel that somehow those who went before are known. To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts, but instead breathing life into those who have gone before.

    We can be the storytellers of our tribe. All tribes have the story tellers. We have been called to it. Those who have gone before cry out, "Tell our story!" So we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves in the middle of the story.

    How many graves have I stood before and cried? How many times have I whispered, "We are grateful for the  torch of faith you passed on to us." How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt a connection of family love? I cannot say.

    It goes beyond documenting facts. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever in weeds and indifference and saying, "I can't let this happen. These are bones of my bones and flesh as it were of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to appreciation for what our ancestors did and accomplished. How they contributed to what we are and have today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their enduring faith, and hope for the future. It goes to a deep appreciation for their understanding that they persevered for us, that we might have what we do and that we might remember them. So we do.

    With love and caring we scribe each fact of their existence, because we are part of them, and they are part of us. We tell the story of our families, because we are their family. It is up to us to answer the call and take our place in a long line of family story tellers. It is a call to young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. That is why we do genealogy!