Jonsson's Ancestry
OVERVIEW:
1) We all have unique ancestries.
2) Everybody traces back all the way to the beginning.
3) Absolutely everybody.
4) We all come from very, very old families.
5) Imagine.
It's funny how warped our concepts of ancestry and lineage are these days. (At least to this artist.) I was surprised by many newly released and previously guarded family secrets (why?) over the course of my lifetime. See what you think....
As a child I was told that my ancestral heritage included being Swedish, Irish, English, German, and Native American.
"Wow, Native American -- that's an Indian", I thought as a kid. To me that was pretty amazing, especially with all the movies about Indians I'd seen in theaters and on TV. In my teens I learned about the real struggles of Indians, especially the ones living on reservations, problems which included alcoholism and disease. Not a pretty picture like all the myths I'd grown up believing. I felt sadness and curiousity with that discovery. Today I feel honored to have Native American ancestry.
"Wow, Native American -- that's an Indian", I thought as a kid. To me that was pretty amazing, especially with all the movies about Indians I'd seen in theaters and on TV. In my teens I learned about the real struggles of Indians, especially the ones living on reservations, problems which included alcoholism and disease. Not a pretty picture like all the myths I'd grown up believing. I felt sadness and curiousity with that discovery. Today I feel honored to have Native American ancestry.Imagine finding out many years later (aprox. 2003) that my great-grandmother was Jewish, meaning I also have a German-Jewish heritage. (Follows the maternal bloodline.) That explains the inexplicable affinity all my life with people whom I later learned were Jewish. I thought my new found heritage would be the biggest surprise of my life. Was I wrong! After all, what could possibly top this Christian man actually being Jewish?
Well, finding out in 2009 that I'm also African-American did the trick. (That certainly explains some things). Once again that amazing and constant affinity was, and is, present.
For my entire life when I hear someone use the 'n' word or make some stupid joke about indians, I get this sick feeling throughout my body. I used to wonder why I would be offended on a physical level about something not connected to me. Surprise, I am connected, and still effected on the DNA level.
My purpose in writing this brief article is to make you think about the uniqueness of your own heritage -- who you are. Remember, everybody comes from an 'old family' that traces all the way back to the very beginning of human existence. Each and every one of us. I repeat, absolutely everyone.
--JONSSON
Thank you.
All images and text © 1985-2012 Eric Johnson aka Jonsson, All rights reserved.
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