Family

Family is somewhat of a strange phenomenon. I’m speaking mostly of extended family. I got the idea to do this blog entry several months ago when some of the antics of my relatives were brought to my attention via facebook. Now, before I get to the meat of this entry, let me just go off on a tangent about facebook. Those of you who have a facebook account are not going to like what I’m about to say. So you may want to quit reading right here. First of all, cool people do not do face book. Face book is a waste of time. There are so many more productive things that could be done with your spare time. Now, I’m not one to preach about time wasting, because heaven knows I’m a big lollygagger. But I know a lot of people spend many hours on face book when they should be doing other things. Such as spending time with their family, studying, magnifying their church callings, or other important responsibilities.

But that’s not the worst part about facebook. I’ve always been a private person. Why would I want people to know what I am doing at all times, and every detail of my life? And, why would I want to know these things about others? I really have no desire to know what horrible things people do. And specifically what horrible things my relatives do and say. I don’t want to see racy pictures of my relatives. I don’t want to read their cuss tooth laden remarks. I left high school a long time ago. Why would I want to go back? Isn’t that the mentality facebook brings? Why isn’t so and so my friend? I have more friends than you, and so forth.

So, if you have a facebook account, I’m sorry you are not as cool as me. But, then again, that bar’s raised pretty high. There aren’t very many people who reach it. :-)

Now, to the real reason I started this blog entry. I find it somewhat strange that just because you share a certain percentage of DNA with somebody, you are forever associated with them. When I think of my relatives, there are some of them I am very pleased to be related to and associated with. And there are others who I’m somewhat embarrassed to be related to and associated with. The reason is mostly because of lifestyle choices and behavior. I’ve mentioned before, my disdain for stupid people. I would argue that people who continue to make poor choices belong in this category. And I’m afraid to say that I share a good portion of my genetic makeup with some of these people.

If I remember correctly, going back to genetics in college about 20 years ago, first cousins, blood uncles and aunts, grandparents and grandchildren share 25% of their genes. Full siblings share 50%, as do parents with children. For each generation removed, the percentage goes down by half. I mention this because the people I’m writing about in this blog share 25% of my genetic makeup. That’s huge amount. For people to be that closely related and to be so different is interesting. This is evidence for the nature versus nurture argument. But that’s another story. Although I will mention that I believe people are born with their personalities intact, sorry tabula rasa people, but environment, i.e. the way you are raised, plays a major role in who you become.

Perhaps the strangest part of family to me is when someone you are related to gets married, you are suddenly family with a complete stranger. And often times, it's someone you don’t even like. Therefore, all of the in-laws jokes out there. I understand the biological necessity of genetic diversity. But dynamically, it seems somewhat strange to me. For some reason, when someone with whom I share a good percentage of DNA, behaves stupidly, I tend to feel that it reflects on me. Even though, it really has nothing to do with me. And for some reason I don’t feel that way about family members with whom I don’t share any DNA. Call me crazy. Maybe I’ve taken too many biology courses :-).

Since I’m talking about family in this blog entry. I want to mention ancestors. As most of you know, I’ve spent a good portion of my waking hours, and even sleeping hours to be honest, thinking about and working on my family tree wall. As a result, I’ve begun to do a little genealogy research. Come to find out, I’ve got ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary war. Ancestors who were Quakers. One ancestor who was the first woman to travel to California in a stagecoach. So the story goes. One ancestor who served a mission to India, and was married by Brigham Young in winter quarters. And then on the dark side, a son and grandson of one of my direct ancestor's brothers who were tried and acquitted of murder. So, thankfully I’m not directly related. But I wouldn’t doubt it if I was. I’m hoping to do a lot more research and find a lot more information about my ancestors. Another interesting fact, about one of my great great grandfathers, is that he was considered mean because of his directness, he told it like it was. Didn’t beat around the bush, etc. I’m wondering if I didn’t inherit that quality from him. :-)

This didn’t turn out exactly as I had imagined when I started this blog entry. I went off on several tangents. The point I wanted to make was that your actions, whether good or bad, reflect not only on you but those with whom you are associated. i.e. your relatives. I find it interesting that just because you share a certain percentage of DNA with someone, you are forever associated. So, please think about all the people you will be affecting, before you do something stupid. And if you want to be as cool as me, delete your face book account.

That’s my two cents.