Where We Come From

It's all different. The places we say we come from and the places we know we come from, or the places that others tell us we come from. But who is right? Is the anthropologist right, your geographics, or is your grandmother right? For many people it's not an issue, or more like it's not a care. We European American's have the idea that we are American's with European heritage, but a lot of us simply pass it by and don't pass it on. We are left in a rut of the never ending I have some of this and some of that...but we rarely have ancient traditions passed on to us that we can pass on to the next generation.

Take for example myself. I know "who I am"...Lisa Hiller, I have two older brother, and two parents, who have siblings and parents of their own. I grew up in La Crescenta, CA where I played soccer, rode bikes, hiked, surfed, fished, and laughed. That's about it. Apparently my ancestors didn't have stories memorable enough to pass on, or a catastrophic event happened to the story and never made it to the 21st century. What i have learned is basic my family originated in Scotland on my mother's side and Germany on my fathers side. But beyond that We are lost in the rest of the Emigrants stories.

It is strange to think that I have little to say about my European Ancestors and where they came from, but even more strange to say that I know even less about my ancestors that lived on the same soil I am living on now than I do about my European Ancestors. The idea that a culture can be lost in a matter of generations forever if people do take the time to preserve it is sad and discomforting. I only hope that once I am passed on to whatever lies beyond this life that my future family will have a story to help them know where our family comes from.