Sunday, December 30, 2007

What It Means To Remember: Or, Why I Do Genealogy

Florence Mary Wiltse, 1905-1957
Big Moose Lake, New York, 1950
Descendant of kings, fishermen, and farmers

What does it mean to remember? It is to live in more than one world, to prevent the past from fading and to call upon the future to illuminate it. It is to revive fragments of existence, to rescue lost beings, to cast harsh light on faces and events, to drive back the sands that cover the surface of things, to combat oblivion and to reject death.

Elie Weisel, "All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs."


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank-you. Simply beautiful. Sometimes I need to be reminded why I do this when somedays it seems that the burden is too heavy and the questions too difficult to answer.
You have reminded me of its' worth.
Sincerely,
Jeffery Record
jeff@therecordfamily.com

Kevin said...

Thanks, Jeffery! I try to keep these thoughts in mind, myself, when I hit those roadblocks.

All the best,
Kevin