We all come from a family, of which, it’s important in the knowing of ourselves, to know our family, as to its traditions, its heritage, its past, its present, and its possible future, so as to do then our good part to make our fair contribution to our family heritage. In life, everybody has a story, and if we do not take the time to listen to those stories of our elders, it will be a lot more difficult to understand and to appreciate our family, for within those stories, are going to be life lessons to be learned and to be expanded upon, and if we miss out on that very thing, we are lessened because of it.
It is important to remember that we all go through stages in life, so that, while we might not be able to imagine our grandparents as being children in their day, they were, in fact, children. So too, the knowledge that they know in regards to their life so lived, has relevance to us, because we are tied to them through not only our interactions with one another, but also through our bloodline, and those who pay fair tribute to those who came before them, are the same that can garner nuggets of wisdom, from our members of the same family tree.
Each of us wants to be remembered but also appreciated, which is why it is so vital for us to spend time, listening to those who have a life full of previously expressed experiences that we can have the opportunity to identify with -- in addition to the important fact, that knowing our family history, helps us to comprehend better who and what we are, through that family background that often serves to explain our own eccentricities, desires, and hopes.
So too, the thing about stories, is that if we are unwilling to listen to those stories or not to pay much attention to them, then we will miss out on our personal history, to our detriment. After all, as much as we might believe that the world strictly revolves around just us, the fact of the matter is, that all of us bring something of value to the table, and the more that we know about our family members, old or young, the more that we can appreciate our heritage.
No doubt, sometimes dealing with certain members of our extended family can be difficult, but that isn’t all that much different than the fact that dealing with certain members of society can be difficult. The difference, though, is that family members are our people, thereby providing us with the opportunity to appreciate where they are coming from. Indeed, the appropriate time to cherish a family member is when they are amongst the living, for when they depart this world, so do their stories, as well as their personal interaction with us, which is why we need to do our good part, to spend time and devote attention to those that came before us, so that we can meet them in the here and now, for our wise understanding of their immense value.