Seed of thought: John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Chapter 2.

It is interesting to think about ourselves in the grand history and future of our lineage. I think the overwhelming needs of the ego tend to cause the self to overlook the “grand scheme of things”. Think about it. Unless you are of some grand social importance, the mention of you in a historical document would be fairly short. Aside from your lineage, location, birth date and death date, what do you think they would actually mention?

The increase in technology changes this a bit because our grandchildren will have access to much more information than we had ever come into contact with in regards to our ancestors. Depending on how many generations live before we blow ourselves to smithereens or die of some catastrophic natural disaster, our generation may be the first generation that will be studied by our great great great grandchildren. We are the first generation to have dumped our entire lives into the global pantheon of written history. The things we do or don’t do will be studied for centuries or even light years if we are able to survive or prevent the eventual destruction of our planet, solar system, galaxy etc etc. Our generation will not be as aware of this fact as future generations will be. If you had grown up with the ability to know everything about your great great grandparents, your perspective on your own place in time and space would be much more grandiose….. Sure the selfishness and needs of the ego will still exist but the things we do and say will seem to matter a little bit more in the grand scheme of things.

If our great great grandparents were terrible or fantastic people, it is likely that we don’t know about it. It is also likely that, although they wanted to make an impact on their children and their grandchildren, they did not really fathom the concept that their actions have a widespread chain of consequences that can span centuries or millenniums.

The technology of the future is such a mystery to us at this point. Although it is a part of our daily lives, we are still experiencing the infant years of the internet. Data aggregation and studies will far surpass ours and turn our current internet footprints into usable chunks of data. It will be possible to know what kinds of events, purchases and decisions will cause a chain of positive or negative outcomes for several generations.

In closing: I have no real idea when my ancestors decided to move to America and how they ended up in Ohio. It would be mind blowing to know how they felt and to read a blog about what they were interested in. It would also be humbling to see how their decision to move here could be compared, in a socioeconomic context, to friends and families who decided to stay in their original countries. If I ever have great great great grandchildren, they may be able to connect with very distant relatives or family friends that had long parted to other parts of the world!

It brings a strange kind of comfort to know that my ancestors and the historians of the future may stumble upon this blog and read what I had to say even though almost nobody cares to read what I have to write about at this current moment.