My Blood Tells Me So

Earlier I wrote about the Goins DNA project. Instead of solving some parts of my cultural puzzle, the DNA results seemed to throw about a thousand more pieces into the mix.

But there are some important things to discover when looking at the cultural map of who we are. I don't think I ever realized how old DNA is. I think of me possessing some of the influences of my immediate family members, my grandparents and perhaps even my great grandparents, but DNA is DEEP. I mean thousands of years deep. When I survey the results I expected to find, such as predominately Scottish, Irish and British, I see ancient little markers, popping up for Native Siberian, Yemen, Polynesian and Greek.

When I casually say one of my favorite lines, My ancestors lived and loved so I can be here today (not that that is what they had in mind, but it is one way I think about their lives and how they contributed to my existence), I now go beyond my traditional pattern of generations. I think of the clans crossing the Bering Straits, seeking a place where they could thrive. They are no longer nameless individuals - dust on the pages of some old history tome, but now they are like a memory because I recognize that one of my own ancestors was there. My blood tells me so. I think of the Polynesians and the Vikings - not that I would ever have assumed them connected. But they are connected somehow in my blood. And when I think of all of the mixtures of history and heritage within me, I wonder, aren't you the same as I? At one time, did our ancestors meet and walk a ways on the journey together? Did they meet in battle over limited resources? No matter what has happened throughout history, there is one thing that can't separate any of us. Our ancestors lived and loved, yes. But they also survived. With that thought in mind, It Is Still Good To Be Here.