Name On A Rock

 My wife is into researching our family history. It is very interesting stuff. She has uncovered ancestors on both sides of our family that have served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War and World War 1. She has found where some were buried. On a trip last week to North and South Carolina and Georgia we used a day to try to find the cemeteries of some of our ancestors. We drove for hours up into the north section of North Carolina and looked for one family cemetery. After following directions from online research we came to a wooded area. I stopped a man on a tractor and he knew the cemetery and pointed in a general direction into the trees. We both searched for awhile and never found it. We left there and headed for a second cemetery and once again followed directions and were stumped as to where exactly it was. After stopping at a local home we were pointed to another home that had the cemetery on it's property. We pulled up the drive and saw a fenced in cemetery. After getting permission from the owners we found the headstone of one of my wife's ancestors buried in 1826. What a piece of history! Our last stop was at an old church and cemetery with two of my ancestors. Once again, our directions took us to a wooded area. A knock on a door across the street revealed that the church and cemetery had been moved in the 1960's to a local park. After locating the park, we found the church and cemetery overlooking a golf course. We found the headstones of my ancestors buried in 1765 and 1767. That was before we were even a country!

In the second cemetery I saw several headstones that were just rocks with the names and dates scratched into the surface. Even some of the nicer headstones were almost unreadable due to age and deterioration. It brought me to the realization that we all are reduced to a name on a rock. It was interesting to be standing there in these cemeteries and imagining the time they lived in but then it was sad to think of all the lives long gone and forgotten. Very few of us will be immortalized in the history books. Most of us, like our ancestors will not be known, in any way, after a couple of generations unless someone is doing some family history like we were doing. There is no telling how many family cemeteries have been lost to nature never to be found again. 

There are a few people that will be remembered forever in the history books. Some, like Carnegie, have their names on libraries across the country that will be around at least a little while. Even those with their names associated with name brands or other items are quickly forgotten over the decades. 

I, unfortunately, have my name on a rock already at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial as I am listed as a survivor of the tragic event. My name and many others are inscribed in marble on the grounds. I'm sure even this will eventually be destroyed in the future when that past means nothing to those in the future. It is certainly nothing I am proud of as it also represent those that were lost that day.

All of this is a reminder to live every day fully and have a positive impact on the people and family around you. Even if I am only remembered by the living for 50 years or so, I want to be remembered in a positive way. I don't want to be remembered as an evil person, a mean person, an ungrateful person, etc. I, as well as most of you, want our friends and family to say good things about us and have good memories of our lives and interactions we had with them. We all need to live our best lives today, knowing that one day we will just be a name on a rock. At least that's how it works on this old Earth of ours. 

On a positive note, the spiritual side of me is not worried about being remembered as I will be enjoying the sights and sounds of Heaven and will meet all those that have come before me. 

Have you researched your family history and found anything interesting? Have you looked for ties to the past like we did in our search for the burial sites?