Martin Luther King Day

Forty-two years ago this April the world lost a man who preached and practiced equality. Today we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. who left us too soon. In my heart I like to believe that, had he lived till a ripe old age, he would have continued his fight for human rights for all and that his rhetoric and actions would have prevented much of what continues today. I wish all human beings would use common sense. It makes sense to me to be tolerant of each other whether tall, short, skinny, pudgy, gay, straight, black, white, white hair, red hair, flat feet, walking with a cane, wearing a burka, driving a bus, flying a jet, or sitting at home trying to keep warm. I think of all the aid coming forward for Haiti.

Common sense should be that we take care of each other on a daily basis. We don't tell untruths about a fellow politician, don't shoot someone because we don't like their religious beliefs, don't jail someone for unsuspectingly walking across the border into your country, don't get upset because they got the last of the big bargain at the electronics store, or get a job promotion. We don't have to worry that any child or adult is starving or drinking contaminated water. Everyone has easy access to medical care.

I am on a research trip and the other night six women sat in a hotel room in our pajamas and talked for hours and hours. We had a variety of body types, ages, shades of skin, and still we bonded. We had tons of stuff in common. We all love to laugh, tease, share research, hug, and learn. Some have children, some don't. We talked of common things such as the trials and joys we have encountered over the years. We talked about genealogical research problems and successes. I like to think that we were doing just what Dr. King advocated.

He shouldn't have had to advocate it because it just should have been that way, always. As I have said before, I have a pie-in-the-sky hope that peace and equality are terms that we don't have to advocate or Dream about. They just will be the norm. Please.

Equality among family history researchers

Many scenarios come to mind. When you attend a genealogy meeting and "talk genealogy" with those sitting around you, what comes to mind about the other people? Is it their home life, life style, color of their skin, political leaning, or religious affiliation? Do you consider whether they are single, married, divorced, in a relationship, gay, straight, thin, fat, tall, short, have children, or drive only a red car? I bet these things don't come to mind. Genealogy is a great equalizer.

Yes, we might be concerned about someone's genetics -- but only to see if we might have some common genealogical background that DNA testing might help out. We might be interested in their religion if they live in a particular town and attend a particular church -- but only to see if they can obtain a copy of a christening record for you.

In that conversation one person mentions that they are German and their parents came to the U.S. from Germany. Ah -- you are now interested. Parents alive? Might they be able to help you translate a document?

If we ask what side the family fought on during a specific war, we aren't asking so that we know whether to shun them, but to see what kind of knowledge about history they might be able to tell you about or where some records might be.

When visiting a library or archives, those questions in the first paragraph don't really matter when we meet the librarian or archivist. We want to know if they have knowledge of the archives' records from the Civil War or if one of them could help read two faded words on a document.

If someone says that their great grandfather was in prison, we don't move to a different chair, we ask what prison and whether they were able to find any records.

As I have said many times, wouldn't it be great if the whole world operated like this? Hate crimes, political tirades, religious persecution, and so many other things could be distant memories. It's Family History Month. How can we get the rest of the people to think like genealogists?

Among my genealogy friends (aka genealogy family) I have tall friends, short friends, gay friends, straight friends, friends who don't know how to drive, friends with silver cars, friends with no religious affiliation, friends with advanced degrees, friends who struggle to spell correctly, friends who are young, old, retired, and just about any other label. But labels sometimes hurt and in genealogy there are few of those. Equality is important for everyone.