Ancestors
Many are not glad about the family they were born into. Many are not glad with their ancestors. To a large extent the anger is justified, to a large extent the anger is misplaced.
Ancestor
An ancestor is a person in a “family line” who played a pivotal biological role in bringing about person(s) in the present. Mostly, the term ancestor is used for those beyond the grand-x level, that is great-grand mother, great-grand father and upwards, who are mostly dead.This implies that unless you who are living today go barren, willingly or not, you will likely be an ancestor to some other person(s) sometime in the future.
Shape
The past is the present lived that exists in memory (biological, electrical or mechanical) whose effects have shaped the present.Ancestors play a major role in the life of the members of a family line. “They lay or do not lay the foundation”[1] upon which other members of the family can build.
So that the present you live in was shaped in the past by actions taken or not taken by “your” ancestors. Hence, anger towards your ancestors is justified because if the present is bad, they played a significant role in making it so.
Future
If the present you live in is shaped by acts of your ancestors in the past, and you, save you go barren, will also become an ancestor to some who will live in the future, it follows then that you are today an ancestor in waiting, taking actions that will shape the future of your descendants.What this implies is that, if it be true that your ancestors have botched the job of being good ancestors, you will likely get the same tag from your descendants if you fail in the now to do things that will set up your descendants for a “better life”, this becomes more probable if your energy is predominantly directed at complaining about the botched job of your ancestors, hence anger towards your ancestors is misplaced.
This means that, in terms of prioritizing your energy allocation or attention, your focus should be on your own actions in the present and the impacts it will likely have on descendants who come after you.
Matter
Does it matter what your descendants say about you? Wouldn’t we all be dead and gone by the time they really start tracing and checking out our past lives?I really do not know if it matters or doesn’t, but I have come to believe that thinking in terms of posterity forces one into a higher level of thinking that one would not otherwise have ventured into, this also leads to making better decisions and taking actions that have higher odds of paying off in the long run.
So that considering posterity not only pays off in the now, it also pays off in the future.
What then?
Be to the unborn generation, that which you wished your ancestors were to you, for it is up to you to see that affliction does not rise the second time.Thank you for reading.