A couple of days ago I was thinking about legacy. I’ve been having those thoughts more frequently with one brother who died last year and one sister currently battling stage IV pancreatic cancer. As the family historian, I do know facts about the lives of many of my ancestors. But much of their stories and their struggles have been lost to time. And, I wonder about those stories and the stories of the current generations.
A few years ago, when I watched Free State of Jones, I was immersed in the plot in an extraordinary way with the impact of discovering truths and how they can hurt or help descendants. Also, having watched Yellowstone, 1883, and 1923, I wonder if the sacrifices and the struggles of today will matter in the future.
Think about it… in 150 years none of us reading this post today will be alive. Between 70 to 100 percent of everything we are fighting over will be forgotten. What do we know about the individuals who carried the world on their shoulders 150 years before us? Do we remember their names, their stories, and/or their faces? Most of us find it difficult to even picture that era – 1873. We like to think the digital legacies will remain long after we are gone, but who knows. People will have to maintain and care about them. How many of the ordinary stories will be relevant through all the noise? What is a family historian to do?
As my thoughts meander into my individual past, I remember in high school, how my school day started. In the mornings I used to meet my friends and sit outside the lower set of doors of the school’s auditorium. Above me on the wall were old class photos from decades before I was there. I remember in my time in those halls as an observer who skirted around different groups how some people fought, some were determined, some had friends around every corner, some were loners, and some clamored to be in the “in” clicks, hurting many along the way. Now, thirty-seven years later, none of that really matters, well at least not to me, even though the scars of adolescence I see in my peers on social media sometimes peeks into that. But does that matter to anyone else but the individual?
Our class motto was “Believers Become Achievers.” It was believing in myself through that motto that catapulted me into adulthood with the message that I needed to believe in myself and be self-reliant. It was in believing in that motto that encouraged me to see the basic good and drive in others which pierced my sarcastic GenX view of the world that if something bad can happen, it will, and not to expect anything in this world.
When I went back for a reunion several years ago, my class photo was on that wall that I had sat on floor beneath so many years ago. It was startling. I’m sure that the students who sit under it now don’t give my class a thought. And maybe that is inconsequential since they are on their own journeys of self-discovery. These thoughts remind me of Dead Poets Society, which was an essential zeitgeist film of my generation. Carpe Diem! It’s a reminder to get out there and take risks and be bold with our dreams, which is a good thing to remember in middle age, since it is all so fleeting.
My life and my struggles seem as irrelevant to my Millennial and Gen Z children as I viewed my Silent Generation parents and the Boomers, when I was younger. It wasn’t until my mid-thirties that I realized and appreciated the past and wanted to know more.
Those of us that are GenX are used to feeling irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. We were over-shadowed by the Boomers who called us slackers at every turn. We are just the generation that flew under the radar and got things done and are still doing that in the middle of middle age. This suits me just fine. I come from a very large family and my modus operandi was to always fly under the radar, poking my head up here and there as necessary. It’s a good spot to observe and learn from.
As a couple of my older brothers said to me on different occasions, “you know a lot about everyone.” Yes, I do. But is this information useful? Will the things I record in my pursuit of genealogy be of interest to later generations? Who knows. I’m left wondering who will pick up the mantle and will want the twenty years of research that I’ve amassed. Will any of this matter? If I had a Delorean from Doc maybe I could find out.
Our Humble Road 
“Will any of this matter? ” If it matters to you, then it matters. Also what the past generations did or did not do matters in ways today that we just can’t comprehend. For example look how you are or/were influenced by your parents. But that came from people you raised them and so on down the line. Take those class pictures for example, those students influenced their teachers (hopefully for the better) who then taught you. As family historians the best we can do is to try and tell their stories so future generations will have some idea who paved the road they are now traveling on and perhaps also a slightly better understanding of the why and who they are.
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