"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." - Jane Howard
"We begin our public affections in our families... we pass on to our neighbourhoods.'' [...] "To love the little platoon we belong to in society is the first principle of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country and to mankind.'' - Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
"People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors." Edmund Burke. ibid.
"He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections." - Samuel Adams
"A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestry will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered by remote descendants." - Thomas Babington Macaulay
''The antiquary of tradition is the preserver of all that is right and good and true. It is the wisest and most progressive of all the human impulses—for it guarantees continuity for the uncertain days of the future. Let every man and woman warmly embrace the lessons of the past.'' - Calvin Coolidge
One of the important uses of genealogy is that it roots us in our past. It gives us a sense of belonging, of being part of an unbroken chain. It connects us to our family across time, as we are more obviously connected to our living relatives who are scattered geographically.
Our society is excessively focused on the individual, and this is part of our problem, part of the reason why our Western countries are all in dire straits. We have been trained to believe that family, kin, ancestry, community are less important than our sacred individuality. The idea that each of us is an island entire to himself, that we are all self-created, unique individuals who owe little to our ancestors or to our genetics is an attractive idea in our time, as it has been ingrained in us in many ways. The deluded people we call 'liberals' or leftists take this idea of the autonomous, self-contained Individual to twisted extremes, denying any genetic givens, denying that we owe anything to our ancestors or to the collective past. The people we call 'libertarians' are generally even more obsessed with the sacred Individual, and preach against any form of 'collectivism', whether among our living tribe or kin group, and, by implication, with our own ancestors.
We need a corrective to these attitudes, which are harming us as a people. Connecting ourselves to our ancestors is one way to make us more integrated (in the original sense) and more 'whole' as individuals who are part of something much greater.
I could say that there is no conservatism without regard for our past and our ancestry. I have said that, as have others in various ways. Sadly, though, the very idea of 'conservatism' is held in low regard by many, who say that there is absolutely nothing left to conserve, nor should we even wish there to be. These people believe that neither can we restore that which has been lost, nor should we try. We should start over from scratch -- but how, as a collection of atomized Individuals, can we do anything? Like it or not, no man is an island, and collective effort, inspired by a sense of connectedness and genetic bonds, is necessary.
Just as we need to be rooted in our collective history to fully realize our destiny as a people, we need a sense of rootedness in our own personal past, our ancestry. And the two are related; as we learn of our own family's story, or the invididual stories that make up the whole, we feel ourselves to be a part, at least vicariously, of the events of the past as we learn our forebears' part in that history. My own immersion in family history has sharpened my appreciation for the history of our folk. I know that others have expressed the same sentiments.
However, I know that there are always those who are indifferent to the study of their family tree, just as there are those who hate history as being dry as dust, and lacking any relevance to today. There are some people who cannot be induced to take any interest. So be it; you can lead a horse to water, as the saying goes, but...
I only hope that I might induce a few people to take up an interest in their ancestry, and I hope to write a piece or two about genealogy in the next several days.
If any of you have any stories to tell relating to your own study of genealogy or your family history, I would be interested in any comments you have.
