It’s In The DNA
My friend recently completed a book on her family history. It’s fascinating to see the documents about her family and read about the lives they led.
On the maternal side of my family ‘the tree’ is researched back to the 1200’s, but I don’t have documents, pictures or any real written history of my family from there. On my father’s side, there is the family tree that isn’t nearly so far reaching, but a book about, at least part, of the family history.
It’s fascinating to see pictures of family and how often one person in the family just kind of looks a bit different! My sister’s children, like mine have dark hair, brown eyes, with medium skin tone. But right in the middle of my sister’s family is one child who has blonde hair, blue eyes and more fair skinned than his siblings! Jokingly, of course there are the comments, “he’s the milkman’s,” but in reality when searching down through the lineage, you’re going to find several generation back, was a blonde haired, blue eyed relative!
Of course, it has to do with DNA and genetic principles which mostly escape me, but I understand that each of us is unique with a long stretch of DNA that comes from both sides of the family, and through many generations! Is it any wonder there is the occasional child who picks up those genes to remind us of lives long past?
I remember a show many years ago where one daughter came across a picture of a great aunt she’d never met. The first thought was it was a picture of herself, but clearly the date of the picture confirmed it was not her! The aunt, as it happened, was planning a visit to her nephew she hadn’t seen in many years. Excitement reverberated through the house hold about the visit. Sure enough, the aunt arrived and the young girl, who was quite beautiful, met the woman who she mirrored visually, when the woman was much younger. Her heart sank when she opened the door. The woman was not at all what she expected. Her once blonde hair was now red and kinky and totally what she did not want to look like as a sixty-year-old woman!
What she learned, however during the visit, was there was more to a person than just their looks. The great aunt had been around the world, met kings and queens, all kinds of dignitaries, received gifts from princes and a whole host of other benefits from people she met along the way. Her personality and character endeared her to all she met. The young girl finally realized it’s not about how we look that matters! The important part of life is being “who we are” with character, values, a mission, helping others, kindness and all the other characteristics that make a person memorable.
When we recognize our character, values, mission, honesty, integrity, and how we treat other people outweighs what we see in the mirror, we can often be a lot happier with life, because we are happier with our self!
So I challenge you to take a good look at the person you see in the mirror. Are you struggling to look like the perfect “air-brushed” celebrity on TV? Is the person inside happy with who you’ve become, or is there a need for a little improvement? Do you demonstrate good qualities toward others and yourself? When you can be happy with “you,” accepting yourself for who you are, life is much more pleasant!
Photo Credit: https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/genealogy.html