Social Networking

Here is network but it is not very social. In fact, it is quite deadly. Those caught in the network loose their lives.

I have for some time resisted using the social networks of “Facebook” and others. Maybe it is because I’m not a very socializing person or maybe because I’m too much of a private person. Anyway, Google joined the social networking world by putting up a site called “Google +”. I don’t remember who it was, but someone invited me to become a member of family circles and friends. After listening to many arguments for engaging in a social network, I decided to join up. I put up my profile and photo and made my first post to the site last week. While I can see great advantage in staying in close contact with family and friends, sharing activities through communicating and highlighting events that occur within the family, I also see it as a great distraction away from some of life’s priorities.

There is no doubt that we need to communicate among ourselves and build strong relationships among family members, but are we focusing upon life’s events that really build relationships? All of my grandchildren are anxious to share the lives of their children with us as grandparents and more importantly with their parents. I find joy in seeing our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, prosper and in finding joy themselves in righteous living and activities. I also become saddened when they make unwise decisions that may lead to sorrow and unhappiness in their lives.

From my perspective, there are few grandchildren that know very much about their grandparents and fewer that know anything about their great grandparents and perhaps there are none that know anything about ancestors beyond that. Would it not be wonderful to communicate among ourselves stories and activities that we remember about those from whom we descend? Perhaps if we peeled off a few hours per month and got away from the blur of our everyday lives and begin delving into the lives of those from whom we descend, those living as well as those who has passed on, would that not bring about a lasting relationship for eternity? Would it not strengthen our grandchildren and encourage them to be honorable and faithful? All of us are grandchildren of grandparents of which some are living and some are not. For those who have passed on, it becomes more difficult to become acquainted with them and the stories that they would have shared with us if they were living now, but they have their stories. The question is: Who will tell them?

This family Blog has contained the stories of some grandparents as I’ve tried to share with the family some of their lives. Each of you are authors to this blog. As an author you can post stories and highlights of parents or ancestors, but few if any have the time to share. The exception is Charlet Mallett.

Would it not be wonderful if there existed blogs called: “Walker Family History Blog”: “Hull Family History Blog”; “Bennett Family History Blog”: “Reinhart Family History Blog”; “ Giandomenico Family History Blog” ; “Portis Family History Blog”. I’m sure you get the point:

There are more than one set of grandparents all of which have stories that could contribute to the lives of our children.

Well, perhaps the social network is the place to share such stories, if not, then it is a distraction to building meaningful family relationships. This blog seems like a natural outlet for sharing family history. There is more value in history than we can imagine and we should be using it to strengthen our youth.

RHB