Are you the sum of what comes before you?

[RedGlitter]

Warning...RedGlitter's thinking deeply today.

Some of you have seen that African proverb I like so much that says "All you are is in the palm of your hand." Well I got to thinking about how that could be construed.

How far should one ride on the legacy (good or bad) of one's family? You see in movies how people are so proud to "hail from" their rich, well to do status bound ancestors. We tend to think that if you're from a family that produces millionaires, doctors, lawyers or just people with a strong personal code of ethics, that you must be the same way but this isn't always so.

The people who jump to claim their stellar heritage are not the ones related to outlaws, criminals, lowlifes or dregs of the earth.

I come from a line of farmers and ranchers on one side and proper German immigrants on the other side. Mostly good and decent people in spite of their many quirks. So does that make me good and decent by proxy? Can I claim that? If I do, don't I also have to claim my skinhead Aryan pride cousin? And my cousin who is now Muslim? And the outlaws of generations long ago? And my drunkard relatives who can't hold jobs? Isn't that only fair?

Human nature requires companionship, to belong to a clan of sorts. To have an identity and often much of that identity comes from those who came before us, are yet to be born and who are here now. People to belong to.

Or are people solely responsible for their own legacy?

Edit: I just realized something I said that came out wrong. I was not implying there's something wrong with my cousin being a Muslim. There isn't except that she's weird about it. That's all. That just came out all wrong.

[KB.]

I'm pretty quick to claim my heritage and it is full of nothing but outlaws, scoundrels, and dregs. One of my Grandfather's (Dad's dad) great uncles was a ruthless highwayman on the Natchez Trace, back before it was a road, not that it is much of one now. I have pictures in a safe deposit box of him when he was hung, shot, and seperated from his limbs. My Grandfather, same one, was a moonshiner, and a frequent resident of Buford Pusser's jail house. My Father has a sister he doesn't know about, and never will as I am the only one that knows that is still living. My great uncle, grandfather's brother, was a snake oil salesman in the twenties. I fit their mold just right.

[buttercup]

RedGlitter;665775 wrote:

Human nature requires companionship, to belong to a clan of sorts. To have an identity and often much of that identity comes from those who came before us, are yet to be born and who are here now. People to belong to.

Or are people solely responsible for their own legacy?




A little of both i think, 50% what your born into & 50% what you do with it. Clan names have particular traits here in Scotland. Am i typical of my clan = yes in many ways. You could also say i'm typical to my star sign. Scatch the surface of either & you'll find many more complexities that make me individual within both of them.

[Carl44]

my dads people are tough fighting men well except for my grandfather who i thought the world of ,but i am a softly spoken wuss really ,my father once told me when i was in my 20's about a very beautiful woman who really had the hots for me i said dad my daughter has just died i have another child on the way (chantelle) and i really want to make a go of things i'm not interested ,disgusted my father screamed ause at me saying i was not the man he thought i was ,go figure a man disowning his son for not cheating on his partner :wah:





my role model in life was my grandfather and my uncle Fred both very good men ... more so my uncle Fred who always had a kind word for anyone whether a tramp or a millionaire it did not matter to this colossus of a man :-6:-6

[Mystery]

KB.;665804 wrote: I'm pretty quick to claim my heritage and it is full of nothing but outlaws, scoundrels, and dregs. One of my Grandfather's (Dad's dad) great uncles was a ruthless highwayman on the Natchez Trace, back before it was a road, not that it is much of one now. I have pictures in a safe deposit box of him when he was hung, shot, and seperated from his limbs. My Grandfather, same one, was a moonshiner, and a frequent resident of Buford Pusser's jail house. My Father has a sister he doesn't know about, and never will as I am the only one that knows that is still living. My great uncle, grandfather's brother, was a snake oil salesman in the twenties. I fit their mold just right.


I live 25 miles from the Natchez Trace! (part of it anyway). They've recently completed it in my area, and you can now drive it with ease. Of course, you still have to be careful of scoundrels :-3

[Mystery]

This is similar to the age-old nature vs. nurture question. IMO, it will never be completely decided, because so many people have very strict views of whether experience or environment create a person. Personally, like others have said, I believe it's a combination of both. I don't buy into the apple falling from the tree theory, because while many values and morals are ingrained from our upbringings, those things can be changed, whether that's for the good or for the bad. I have some pretty shifty characters within my family, and while I love them dearly, I'd never copy their behaviors.

[Bryn Mawr]

When I was a child I was the product of my parents and family.

When I grew up and became a man I became myself.

I answer for who I am and for what I do.

Whilst my parents shaped the child, I shape the man.