IT WAS NOT THAT LONG AGO that families would sit around a fireplace or dinner table and elders would pass along their collective wisdom. They would share their family’s oral history and entertain their children and grandchildren with stories that would ultimately shape their faith, beliefs, and character. By knowing their own family’s history, those children understood their place in the world. Their legacy was a North Star they could follow. Their legacy was their internal compass.
TODAY, as people change jobs, parents get divorced, and kids are shuffled around – the elders rarely have the opportunity to teach their traditions, share their wisdom, and pass along those important family stories. Recent generations of kids have more activities, more gadgets, and many more distractions. They have everything but a deep understanding of their family’s history. And those priceless photographs, antique documents, passports, ledgers, love letters, and recipes keep fading and getting more brittle everyday. They probably won’t survive for a next generation to embrace.