Connecting with the past.
Who do you think you are? - And yes, I am talking about the program on the telly -- well, that's what got me to thinking at any rate...It's a must-see in our house, we love it, love the whole process; the who, the where, how they learn to care... (No more rhymes, promise.)
But why-- what is it that we learn to care about? Those people who are lost to the past, are no more than strangers - even if there is a genealogical tie. And yet the emotion that bleeds from the screen is all-encompassing. And as I watch, I feel that no aspect is forced or contrived, and perhaps that makes me naive, but I'm sure I would feel the same way tracing my relatives.
It is the connection they are searching for, a way to tie themselves to their roots by safeguarding the histories of the generations who went before, as are we all.
The current question of the masses seems to be 'where are we headed?' When the unconscious desire exhibited by us all is to know where we came from. By aligning ourselves with our ancestors, are we hoping it can offer guidance as to the choices we make regarding our future, or is holding them in our memories an unconscious way to fend the fear of our own mortality?
Just a thought, on a rainy afternoon.