We may have lost ourselves...
Recently we explored the value of learning our own history and acknowledging those among us who have lost the connection to their personal family history due to colonization or slavery.
Why does this matter to ALL of us?
For us humans, without our own genealogical and cultural history, we miss out on a sense of belonging and identity, a sense of continuity and emotional connection across generations. We miss the stories where we discover the accomplishments and resilience of our ancestors to be inspired, and possibly even be amused by some of them.
As we know, or can imagine, the pain, over time, of being stripped of one’s language, one’s family history and one’s culture is devastating and heartbreaking. Not to mention the physical and emotional scars that have been imprinted on the collective memory of our communities.
We may need to go back to move forward.
While we are starting to understand the generational impacts of colonization and slavery as a thing, we can start to deal with the damaging effects of burying the truth and overlooking what has happened.
We can all take part by having the courage to look into our own history and get a clear picture of those whose shoulders we are standing on and who we are as a tapestry of our ancestors and family history, our culture, stories and language. Uncovering the good, the bad and the ugly.
