This is a continuation not of
Alexandra Rain’s article but a parallel article. This bit is from the Sept/Oct 2020 issue of YourGenealogyToday magazine, an article
by T.S. Davis titled “What I’m Looking For.” I quote from his article:
“It is an odd obsession, and people
who are not consumed by it can’t understand why we don’t focus on our own lives
at the least instead of scouring the internet and tramping around graveyards on
the weekend, or why we don’t worry more about what’s going to happen to our
family than what already has happened. There’s no good retort to this argument.
But I will say this: the past is as unpredictable as the future, but unlike the
future, the past is discoverable, and often a lesson can be learned that
prepares us for the future. And also, a person’s unique personality and
struggle in life, their contribution to the human experience, is not forgotten
until the past person who knew and loved them is gone. Until that happens,
something can still be learned from them. And even when they finally are
forgotten, some future obsessed descendant like me may come along and discover
them all over again and appreciate them for the interesting life of anonymity
that they lived.”
“Most of us would like to be
remembered ourselves, so we do our fair share of remembering. Finally, there is
the desire of practically everyone not to feel alone in this present moment. We
want to be part of a tradition, a family that struggled and failed, or
succeeded, and struggled again, a family that somehow, inexplicably and
miraculously, led to us in this present moment. Because it somehow validates
what we’re going through and gives us the strength to continue.”
**Thanks to Scientific Magazine for the image via Google.
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