What is it that makes one person happy with the status quo, and another person need to know details? Almost obsessively.

What makes one person want to make a difference and another not care if he or she is even remembered?

What is it that lets one person indulge in wanderlust, while another is anchored to one location, saddled with endless family archives?

What are all the nuances of difference in these extremes?

What is it that makes you, you and me, me?

Is it responsibility? desire? vision? compulsion? curiosity?

Do you believe that you have a purpose in your life? How about multiple purposes? Do you know what they are?

I’m just a person who has seen the beauty of knowing historical roots, who wants to pass it on. When I was growing up, there were historical events that were good and historical events that were evil. A tie to one’s historical past can give life direction and a sense of accountability, just knowing that there were people before you who made a difference.

I never thought this would be as important as it is today when I see history being altered on a daily basis. Who would have ever thought that there would be a tampering with historical events? Now, motivations have been altered, contemporary concepts have been inserted into historical events, political correctness and incorrectness have been attributed to past historical figures, and historical foundations have been uprooted. My grandchildren may never know true history.

I heard a wise statement: If you forget history, you are doomed to repeat it.

Hopefully we can learn from history and not repeat its mistakes. After all, you don’t need to be hit by a truck to learn that it is not safe to step out into traffic without looking both ways. Isn’t one of the first concepts we teach our toddlers the idea of ‘HOT’ around fire and stoves and such so that they don’t need to learn about burns the hard way?

As I have studied my ancestors in the 1800’s and even in to the 1700s, the passage of time seems to shrink. A hundred or more years no longer seems as far off. They were still people, after all, with thoughts and desires similar to mine. Survival may have depended on a good garden rather than the grocery store. There was no such thing as social security or welfare. When you were broke, you were broke. You either borrowed from a relative, or begged.

Their worldview depended on understanding of their immediate surroundings. They did not have global knowledge at their fingertips as we do today. Most people were neighborhood-oriented. There was no such concept as political correctness. You either fit in or you didn’t.

We may never experience the same circumstances, but many principles still remain. Knowledge of our collective and individual historical roots does a lot towards building our collective character, wisdom and compassion.

P.S. Oma’s mother, my grandmother is the one in the photo on the far left.