Heroic Blood

"If you don't know your family's history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree."
~Micheal Crichton

Last night I watched Braveheart. I love that movie. I hated it when it first came out, unaware of my Scottish roots and genetic ties to it. Robert 'The Bruce' is one of my ancestors. He narrates the story of William Wallace in the movie, and as most who know the movie, becomes a traitor and takes the side of the nobles. In the end, it is Wallace that inspires him to become a great leader, and his efforts won independence for Scotland. It is an inspiring movie, especially when you know it is a real story, and you are a tiny piece of it. Sure, an uncounted number of my ancestors were just thieves and cattle rievers, but many, like Rob Roy MacGregor, had a life of legend.

My ancestry bears a thousand men and women that fought for the things we forget we have. My veins bear the blood of heroes, and also those of whom only their name is known, their stories have long since faded in time. Left bloodied on the battlefield, or the bottom of the ocean, no doubt the greatness they displayed is unfathomable, and more often than not, forgotten. Kings, queens, revolutionaries, freedom fighters, warriors, knights, soldiers whose bravery lies untold. Who am I, that I should be given a body that shares its history with them? What boldness have I? No doubt, the heroes in my blood have succeeded, if I sit here unbothered by war, untouched, unscathed by any danger other than the swinging sickle of death brought on not by war or revolution, but time and accident. Brilliant stories from the past have meaning when read, no matter who you are, but when you are aware that you share the same blood with the hero that sacrificed so much and fought so hard, there are simply few words to define it. At the same time I wonder how can I honor them? My life filled with such simplicities, is hardly an honor to something so great. My life can become so trivial, lacking any kind of valor or heroic act. I have spent so much time wrecked over things in life that didn't go my way. I have moped about the hand that was dealt, all along ignoring what is in my veins. There are things worth fighting for. There is a peace worth saving. There is a freedom still crying out for preservation. What will I bring to the table? What will I leave behind?

Inspiring websites about some of my more heroic ancestors:

http://www.guykemper.com/index.html
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/robroy/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bruce_robert_the.shtml
http://www.marileecody.com/maryqosimages.html
http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/kinginde.htm
http://www.clangregor.org/history-graves.html