Writing Feedback / Why tracing family history become popular and it is a negative trend [6]

During the process of civilization, people were trying to identify themselves via answering the questions: who am I and where did I come from? Yet there was no satisfactory answer. Likely, in contemporary world, one can figure out these questions by tracing his family history with the assistance of internet. In fact it has become a fashion and growing number of people are drawing their own family trees. Personally, I perceive this as an undesirable trend.

There are multiple reasons that make contributions to the prevalent of family genealogy. The primary one lies in the human nature. People are eager to find out about the life of their ancestors so as to satisfy their curiosity and sense of belonging, especially for those elderly migrants who want seek roots and honor their long forgotten ancestors. In addition, the pervasive internet access also facilitates the popularization of such trend. In the past, the task of tracing one's family history requires inputs of huge manpower and resources. In comparison the internet has provided an efficient way to build family tree from myriad sources. People do not even need to do the research themselves. Many websites can help them build their family genealogies for free.

Admittedly, tracing family history is a exciting and meaningful experience. However, too obsessed with kin genealogy can be dangerous. Been fascinated by the past, one tend to pay too much attention on the glories or shames of his clan. Anything disgraceful may impose heave psychological burden on him. Besides, concerning about the time and energy waste on such issue, whether it is worthwhile is still doubtful. After all, more emphasis should be placed on the present and make progress.

To sum up, the increasing family history tracing activities can bring negative influences. It is encouraged to honor our ancestors, but we should never stay in the history