Who Do You Think You Are?

No, I'm not trying to a smarty-pants, I'm talking about the show on NBC.  Each week, they follow a celebrity as they research their family tree.  Sound boring?  It's definately not.

If you've ever done any family tree research (and I have), you soon find out that every family history has twists and turns.  The celebrities profilied on Who Do You Think You Are? learn this pretty quickly.  Most of them (like most amateur geneaolgists) have some idea where to start- little bits and pieces passed down through the generations.  The full story always turns out to be so much richer.

This past week Lionel Richie learned that his great-grandfather,r born a slave, later went on as a free man to found an African-American fraterallnal organization, the Knights of Wise Men, to help others in his community. When you find someone like that in your past, it really is a humbling experience--it's like after all the things  your ancestors went through that got you where you are today, you owe it to them to make something of your life.

Sometimes the end result of family history research can be bittersweet, too.  The previous week's episode of this show was about Kim Cattrall's search for the grandfather who abandoned his young family 70 years ago.  He just up and left one day, and no one had seen or heard from him since, not even his own mother.  Turns out he'd just moved to a nearby town and remarried (without ever divorcing his first wife).  He made a whole new life for himself and raised another family, seemingly without ever a thought about the first wife and little girls he'd left behind.  Tragic, and sad- but in the end,  Kim's mother and her sisters got to meet the siblings they'd never known about.

If you're intested in researching your own family tree, this show is definately a must-see. Knowing who and where you come from adds greatly to your own sense of self, and will serve as an inspiration to you in your own life.