Reclaiming our inheritance by Sherri Rosen
Reclaiming our Inheritance
How important is it to remember your heritage, where you come from and how it shapes who you are? Trees can be beautiful things—in New York City especially, when they break up through the concrete, adding beauty and life to the metropolis. In trees, roots dig deep into the soil and stretch out, an invisible underground network of branches. Most importantly, they convey water and nourishment to the rest of the plant.
Everyone has roots, even when we forget them, even when we do not know it. They could take the form of traditions, history, stories from the past. They are our culture and customs, where we come from and what we are about. But how important is it to us to remember our own heritage? For example, if you’re a woman and you don’t know very much about the women’s movement, does any part of you hunger to learn more? If you are Jewish, how much do you know about the holocaust? Or if you’re an American Indian or an African American—do you long to learn more about the stories of your past? If you’re a Christian, are you aware of the good parts of your faith’s history as well as the bad? Do you speak to your grandparents? Your parents? Do you openly convey your appreciation and your love for your family, your ancestors?
I ask not to be preachy. I would never presume to preach. I only ask because with spring approaching and with so much life in such a beautiful city one can’t help but appreciate the rich culture, the variety of heritages and traditions. It makes me stop and wonder: Do we care about our family histories and where we come from? Do we realize how shaped we are by our ancestors? And do we strive to live in their footsteps? Or is your family history painful? Something that you would like to leave behind, something better off forgotten—or at least, only addressed carefully?
Ones roots are a rich inheritance. They can be beautiful, painful, even full of hope. And I wonder: how can we help ourselves in this life by understanding history better? How will unearthing the past enliven the future? Will it help us not repeat the same mistakes our parents made? The gift of the past and the hope of the future are part of what make this life so messy, but also so sweet, as we struggle like the trees of New York City, to break through the concrete and live in the light.
Redhead’s Rap, NYC
Sherri Rosen Publicity Intl, NYC
Tags: ancestors, grandmother, mother, Sherri Rosen Publicity, sherri rosen publicity nyc
This entry was posted on Saturday, March 2nd, 2013 at 4:57 pm and is filed under African American, Clients, Friends and Colleagues, jewish, publicist nyc, publicity nyc, racism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
