Aug 15

Sunny this morning about 17 C -sun is getting to thermometer which says 22.

Have a sore back this morning - thanks Barry. So I jumped into the hot tub about 0630 and took an Ibuprofen. I did sell our old car the other day so the driveway is looking a bit less cluttered which rreminds me, I had better cancel it's ads.

Here is a short piece I did a few years ago.

Immortality?

This morning I was thinking about genealogy – the satisfaction of breaking down the walls erected by time, by distance and by the human factors.  My thoughts also reminded me of historical knowledge I have gained and the appreciation of the trials and triumphs of my ancestors in a simpler but often a more unforgiving world.  I am sure that every family has at least one ancestor who became an immigrant.  In this modern world of cell phones, communication satellite, email communications and nine-hour elapsed time from Europe to North America, it is hard to fathom what it was like to leave family and friends often knowing that you would never see or hear from them again.

These thoughts and similar ones, I am sure cross through the minds of every individual that has discovered the satisfaction of tracing ancestors, the thrill of finding fellow descendants and the joy of meeting these new found relatives and sharing family history, photographs and memorabilia.  For the very lucky ones (of which I realize I am one) there is the happiness of not only the opportunity to share but to find that these fellow descendants can also become friends.

One more thought that occurred was that in carrying out my genealogical hobby, I and others are providing for a form of immortality for our forbearers.  When I look at the walls of my home, I see my great grandparents looking out at me from the pictures I have hung there, but more than that when I discuss them with my family members, I find that I refer to them by their first names.  In the beginning it was for conversational ease, but as time goes on I find it has developed a tone of respectful familiarity and so in a sense these parents, grandparents, great grandparents and others have become more than just a census statistic or an obituary.  They are in my memory as real people and therefore, for me, they have attained immortality. 

John Little

2005