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| One of my cousin's had this wonderful reply to the question, Does knowing your family history improve your life? |
A family's history impacts a family in multiple ways. As I explore my family's history going back over a hundred years, I see both positive and not-so-positive threads throughout time. I believe that knowledge of these threads helps you to promote the good and mitigate the not-so-good.
How do you determine those positive and not-so-positive threads in your family history, and how can you act in real time to mitigate the negative and promote the positive?
Listening to the old stories and researching the facts via old news articles and records helps you to determine the threads that exist. in my family, I have noticed some of the following threads:
Health issues
Clearly people on all sides of my family have experienced some similar health issues, and those issues have impacted people's lives significantly. Knowing about those health issues helps us to do what we can to prevent the unhealthy impact those issues can have.
Personality traits
Via particular lines, I can see some dominant personality traits too. In one line of my family, there's a great desire to lead and be known. Some might describe this as a grandiosity of sorts--a grandiosity that included a bit of theater, spirit, adventure, and strength. Clearly this trait had its moments of success and moments of struggle.
Another strong trait that moves over time through multiple lines in my family is a strong commitment to family--sticking together and supporting one another. This trait remains strong today. In addition, amongst a few lines in my family is a strong commitment to education. There are many teachers in my family line, and many who valued and obtained great educations at multiple institutions.
Family members over time also demonstrated a good ability to stay true to their commitments via the work they chose and personal commitments too. And there's been a spirit of acceptance too since family members chose varying lifestyle paths that were accepted and respected by other family members.
Personal and societal struggles and benefits
The time people lived in greatly affected their lives too. For example, prohibition upset many lives in my extended family. When prohibition took place, people had to change their work ways, work that was related to pubs and alcohol. The GI bill positively affected many relatives since that bill gave my veteran uncles and their families the ability to get good educations and suitable homes after service in the military. The fact that my family, in general, missed the worst of World War I, II, and The Vietnam War simply because of their ages also saved my family a lot of strife. People associated with my family's pattern of birth mostly missed the wars whereas people about 10-15 years younger than me had generations who served in every war. I believe that timing effect greatly influenced families over time too.
The places where my family lived affected us as well. My family over time came from farming communities first and then industrial cities. People emigrated for a better life, and then worked in multiple jobs that earned them the ability to live good, simple lives. Thanks to the fact that my grandfathers were postmen, my family did not face the harshest effects of The Depression since my grandfathers had steady jobs throughout that grim period of life in America.
My family past did not face the hardships related to slavery and mostly missed death and destruction of The Civil War. Family lore says that one family member served in that war, but I've yet to find proof that substantiates that story. Going way back, family members did experience the political strife and wars in their home countries and seemingly lived in rebel communities that fought against the oppression of the dominant political powers in Poland and Ireland. Perhaps that's where many family members get their exuberant rebel, freedom-loving spirits.
How can we infuse our knowledge of a family's past into a positive future?
The important aspect of studying a family's past is to figure out how to use that knowledge to live a good future. For me, the traits I want to bring forward include a commitment to family, tolerance related to multiple lifestyles, and avoidance of the health struggles family members faced. As far as threads related to grandiosity, theater, and leadership, I think it's good to look back at how family members past used those traits for good and not-so-good in order to learn about what's positive and not so positive with regard to those traits.
Our family history sheds light on how to live a good life going forward, but our family history should not limit the avenues we travel. Just because no one in your family may have traveled the life paths you desire doesn't mean you shouldn't travel those paths--while carrying on some family traditions, you're also forging new paths, paths that your descendants will evaluate, learn from, and use as considerations when they choose their paths.
There's much to learn about our family histories--good knowledge that can help you to live good lives going forward, and stories that we'll add to as we live our own lives and make our unique choices too. Onward.