The Burden of Ancestry

pride
-a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.

-a group of lions

"I'm proud to be an Indian"
"I'm proud of my choice to become an Australian citizen"

While I'm guilty of making such statements and feeling them genuinely, I often wonder , how can one be proud of something that, in varying degrees has been merely coincidental. For instance, starting with the pride about being Indian. Me being Indian, isn't a conscious choice. It's just there and I'm it. Although becoming an Australian citizen was more of a choice, coming to Australia was not. And the latter is just a consequence of the former.

Similarly, a feeling of shame, sorrow or regret for belonging to a nationality/race/religion/caste is equally without any merit. Dealing with it comes down to one of the best lessons a Mother teaches a child: "There's good and bad in everything. It is upon us to take what's good and change what's bad."

Now that is a lesson that deserves Pride. Those who differentiate between the right and wrong or better yet, develop a conscience deserve to be proud of it. Right, wrong and conscience are extremely relative and they may not mean the same to everyone. This where I draw inspiration from the founding fathers of great nations. Right, to me, is respecting diversity, accepting shortcomings and acting to make changes, without prejudice and being judgmental.

The title, "Burden of Ancestry", is what every one of us has in them, some good, some bad. Some were the oppressed, some were the oppressors and some were unaffected. The oppressed, as survivors, carry with them, the burden of all the insecurities of the oppressors. Whether with awareness or not, the oppressors carry forward the burden of guilt.

Each one of us in passing generations have the power to change that in little ways. At the very least, that chain that is being passed on can be severed by trying to learn from the past and by trying to understand, what was previously assumed.