Hidden Deep Within

The more I research family history the more I realize that people don't change, only time does.

Family remains the foundation that keeps us strong.  We need each other to give us strength, confidence that we can succeed, knowing we are loved for who we are, someone to turn to in our time of need and for every other reason imaginable.  When we give up on those that make mistakes, when we don't teach kindness, forgiveness and respect, the family breaks down.  We are only human after-all and we are prone to make the same mistakes of  all those that came before. 

We can try to teach our children the lessons that we have learned, but they never take the more experienced advice and therefore go forth and make the same mistakes we made.  All we can do is to be there to catch them when they fall.  Just think, if we had the ability to generically pass on the lessons of the past as animals do. 

Times have changed, yes.  We have more wonder drugs keeping us living longer and healthier.  The world has gotten smaller for we have better roads so we can drive further and planes fly around the globe faster than ever before.  Housework is done more quickly today with all the modern conveniences, and we don't have to grow our food, we just go buy what we want. No need to make our cloth or spin the yarn.  We have more time to do things that we enjoy.

We all inherit from our parents our skin color, hair color, the shape of our nose and the color of our eyes. But, do we also genetically receive memories from our ancestors on particular interests such as politics, music, a writer of poems or books; perhaps also passing on their experience for us to continue and build upon past talents.

Are we born to be leaders or followers, lambs or warriors? Is this where, what we call, our destiny derives from? Are we being guided by forces within ourselves that push or lead us to a place whether we want to go there or not?  Perhaps we just might be a happier and more contented human being by not fighting those hidden forces that rest sometimes too deeply and quietly within us. Perhaps we have forgotten to listen.

Animals are born with the instincts and knowledge needed for survival. Why not us? Have we come so far in a modern society that we have lost the ability to read the messages passed on to us? Perhaps we are too busy to feel and listen to what is embedded in our genes.

The answer to my question became apparent to me when I completed and published my book, Forever Laced. The connection from one generation to another led me to believe that yes, we have a genetic memory. What do you think?