JGR FAMILY REUNION
THEY did not choose us, nor we chose them; we never
knew them, nor they us; yet we are inextricably bound
together of all eternity and there is no law in the
universe, no metamorphosis physical or spiritual, that
can ever alter this inalienable truth.
OFTEN we may wish for different ones and feel
moved to deny the ones we have, but this is as futile as
it is foolish to invent spurious ones, for our deception
will surely be unmasked, if not by others, ultimately by
our won conscience.
WE owe everything, our very
existence, to our ancestors, and yet we know next to
nothing of them because mostly their lives were so
humbly recorded, It is good that we seek to expand
our knowledge of their lives so that we may better
understand our own.
THEY made us, body and
soul, and we must accept without complaint of rancor
what they were and what we are, for nothing and no-one
can ever change this fact and it is barren folly to
dwell obsessively upon it.
WE recognize that
the legacy of genetic inheritance is a double-edged
sword. We should be grateful for those gifts of
personality and disposition our ancestors bestowed upon
us which we find beneficial and not rail against those
traits we find less appealing, for it is surely in our
own hands to change them.
WE should take pride
in our ancestors and their achievements whenever
possible, whether high-born or low, rich or poor, prince
or pauper, and not seek arbitrarily to revile or condemn
them for acts of which we know nothing of the causes.
WE
must learn from them, from their mistakes as well as
their successes; from their tragedies as well as their triumphs;
from their sins as well as their virtues; from their
hopes as well as their fears.
POSTERITY and
history are irrevocably intertwined in the present. No
coherent vision of the future can exist without an
affinity for the past and cognizance of the lives of our
forebears.
REMEMBER that we, too, are the
ancestors of those yet unborn and we should seek to
leave for them a heritage of which they can be as proud
as we are of that which our forebears bequeathed to us.
WE
bless and thank our ancestors for the legacy of the good
things they gave us, forgive them their errors and pray
that we will endeavor to use wisely the knowledge which
they handed down to us.
