So this blog post is going to make my level of geekness go up even more, but thats okay. Tonight I was watching a show on PBS called Faces of America. It is basically a group of several celebrities (I dont know their names but I will post a link if anyone is actually interested) and a journey through their ancestry back CENTURIES. I personally think ancestry is one of the most interesting things ever. I mean, we know who we are now and who our parents were and our grandparents but what about the people that came before them? What did they do and who were they? It may seem irrelavent to some but to me its like, how could I not wonder about them?! Those people influenced and shaped (genectially at least) me today. And I actually, personally, have a piece of that puzzle. At a McGregor family reunion (my dad's side) in 2004 the coordinator of the reunion did ancestoral research and found out we are the descendants of a Lord of Scotland and his mistress. Its weird, but I think thats pretty cool. But back to the show, at the end of tonight's episode they did a human genome project type thing and discovered that EVERY person in the study group shared a common ancestor with another person in the group. All different ethnicities, but all somehow related. For example, actress Eva Longoria shared an ancestor with Yo Yo Ma. Essentially, this means that we could are all related. Now, I know I know, that sounds crazy or like I am getting carried away. But I think it true. Surely, it can be possible? Think about it, a man is capable of having hundreds of children who of course are all half-related, then those children have children and somewhere down the line those children can get together not even knowing the genetic history they share. Now, Im not talking creepy 1st 2nd cousin incest here, but I think that along the generations and centuries we could all have connections to one another. Well, thats just my opinion at least. Maybe its a silly theory, but its what I believe. And I think that if people really thought about it and realized that we could all be connected, that hatred and racism might go away. Again, JMO.
Heres a link if there ANYONE who is as much of a geek as me ;)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is neat! I completely agree with you! I could've written this same post. lol. Ever since my dad died, I've been trying, with the help of my uncle, to trace back some of my family on my dad's side. I've made it to the early 1800's, but that's it. I sort of know my family came from a town in northern Italy, but the info is very vague and I haven't been able to find out more. I'm stuck! Thank you for sharing this!
ReplyDelete