SO, WHY DOES IT MATTER TO US WHERE WE COME FROM?

Even when I was much younger, I had a level of curiosity about my family roots. Of course, I had hoped that I had been adopted when I did not want to be related to my nuclear family, whatever the reason may have been.  And trust me, I could always find something.

However, I never asked anyone in the family specific questions. They didn't seem to matter and I had all my mom's aunts' surrounding me. How quickly time goes. They died, and I never got to know way too many things.

Fortunately, for a graduate course back in 1983, I had to do a paper which was a case study of my family based on a multigenerational view.

Thank God for my knowledge based hoarding trait. I still have the paper and the a piece of cardboard with a very limited family tree.


I had asked a few questions and gotten some answers. I was concerned with moving forward in my life and didn't give thought to really looking back.

I just took out the paper. I was 33. Wow. Half a life ago. My mom was 70. By then the grandparents were all, already dead. The only information I had was how old they were when they passed, and what country they were from in the old world. I have found that one of those was probably incorrect.

Ancestry.com has been around for a few years. They have a TV show I think.  The one where celebrities find their roots and get flown all around the world.

Of course, you and I are not going to have it handed to us the easy way.

And still, new are sites are popping up. People now realize they can charge money for what was old, public information.

HYPOTHESIS

Recalling  a post from when I first began, I explained research. A hypothesis is an educated guess. I have some information and I have an idea of what it might mean, so I state a hypothesis and test the theory. FYI. I'm not testing anything. Unless you all decide to give me responses and this can then become a survey based research project.

Most humans have a trait for curiosity. Most humans are self-concerned. For survival, the more one knows about oneself, the more easily one can protect oneself.

I have no idea whether this is accurate or not. Whether it might be relevant. I don't care.  Well, not so much.  However, it gives me a place to start with my question. Why does it matter to us where we come from? Or came from? I'm not sure which would be correct.

There is also the collective curiosity which has lead to such fields of study as world history, anthropology, archeology, evolutionary psychology, sociology and I have no way of knowing how many others.

You don't know it but I need a break. I'll be back and you won't even know I was gone. Technology is like that. So is reading and writing.

I have to say, I didn't want to come back. I'm tired. Where were we?

Ah. I just tried to read a Wiki paper on Jewish DNA.  It was way over my head, and I can't remember how I put the font on the computer which is too small and fancy to read and now I can't get rid of  it.

So, if they use the Y gene, they trace the papas. They seem to be the goo holding it together. However, there are two other ways of looking at DNA, which are Mitochondrial (mommy) and autosomal (individual).

I think I've gotten off track. Shock!

WHY DO I CARE?

I have not answered this question yet.  Being brought up with negativity I can tell you some of the things I don't care about. Probably because I know them. The family health issues. I know there were mental health issues, I know that heart problems rather than cancer seem to be the "killer" and I know where I got my coloring, flat feet and temperament from.

From all the psychotherapy I know how I got crazy. What I don't know, not completely, is how my parents got crazy. Well, mostly I'm in the dark about  my mom. Man, something had to demolish her self esteem. I can't imagine anyone being born that way. 
 Dad's dad was a rage-aholic  and his mother was seriously depressed and institutionalized for a year. Again, how did their parents get to be who they were. For me, that's what it's about. Everyone will have their own reasons.

WHY DO YOU CARE?

Hell if I know. That's yours to figure out. You may also not give a crap. That's fine too. Or maybe you come from one of those families who already knows everything. I was always so envious of you. Written down in the family bible or tales handed down with family treasures.


THEORY

Human beings have a biological and psychological need to know from where they came. We human beings are social creatures. We cannot survive on our own. A sense of belonging is most likely innate. We create families, groups of friends and acquaintances because we have a strong need for them. Therefore, if you can feel a connection to a group of ancestors. your family, you have proof that you belong to someone. Avery special group affiliation. You know you are not alone and should never have to be. Even when they are all dead and gone, they're still with you.