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| The Human Comedy by William Saroyan |
Just the other day, I came upon this quote in a book titled You've Got to Read This Book by Jack Canfield and Gay Hendricks.
And, as the genealogist and person concerned about the legacy she leaves behind, felt like she was struck with a lightning bolt!
The part that struck me the most was "but the best part of a good man stays".
This line describes my father like as if it was written specifically for him.
All five of us children and all his grandchildren are good decent people with good hearts.
If you ask any of us about where we got our values, it was from fantastic examples in our parents.
We are who we are because of who they were.
I grew to adulthood surrounded by my parents, two grandmothers, and many other good, decent relatives with good hearts.
These good values were passed down to me, because they were passed down to my parents.
I now have two questions for you go answer:
- How many ancestors that I've never met were part of this immortal line of "the best parts"?
- And, are we doing all we can to pass down these "best parts" to the next generation?
Thanks for sharing! It’s true, all the good parts of my loved ones are the parts that are passed down and remembered. The strongest, most resilient and honest ancestors typically experienced tragedy, violence or hardship early in life, and they decided to grow and invest in the “good parts” instead of giving in to hate. They passed these values on to their children and grandchildren. The best thing we can do for future generations is to remember the good parts of our ancestors, try to understand how they overcame hate and hardship, and make sure that our children know their stories.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, EvaAnne! I couldn't have put it in more succinct terms. Thank you for reading!
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