Ancestry and Lineage
We are walking libraries of those who came before us. Every ancestor whose name we speak, every story we remember, is a chapter in the ongoing book of who we are. Some of those stories are heroic, some humble, some complicated — yet together they make us whole. When I listen to stories of lineage, I often think of how easily a life can disappear from memory if no one tells it. A person is born, lives, works, loves, and dies — and unless someone remembers, the echo fades. But tell their story, even once, and they live again. Their laughter, their hardships, their small triumphs — all return, if only for a moment. We are the bridge between what was and what will be. The stories we inherit shape us; the stories we tell will shape those who come after. “We are the ancestors of the future.” — Winona LaDuke “The ancestors may sleep, but they are never dead.” — African Proverb To know our ancestry is not to cling to the past, but to understand our place in the great continuum o...