No Going Back. - Centre For Peaceful Solutions

Maria Arpa

Wednesday Whisper

1 May 2018

This week

No Going Back

Plus…

Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness

and

the Wednesday Whisper

Tracing Our Lineage

Recently, I was talking about Maltese surnames and then ancestry in general. I know many people who have traced back their ancestry. There’s even a TV programme in the UK called ‘Who do you think you are?’ In each episode, a celebrity goes on a journey to trace parts of his or her family tree.

Being back in Chicago reminded me of a conversation that really affected me on my last trip. A building contractor who has been helping us out and become a good friend was talking about where he grew up. During that conversation he mentioned that he can only trace his line back to his grandparents because before that his family were slaves and they have no information on where in Africa they came from.

And, this is the case for millions of African American people. I noticed an overwhelming sadness at the loss of heritage and the forced moulding of a human being into another life on such a large scale. I felt the enormity of the consequences of such actions on humanity and how the injury loss and harm has affected all of us for many generations.

There is no doubt for me that any leadership which doesn’t take into account how actions that cause injury, loss and harm affect the whole of its society for generations is lunatic.

Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness

This week has been about identity. Who am I in relation to my ancestral line? What has affected me? And what positive effects can I send down the line?

The Wednesday Whisper

Is there anything that hasn’t been reconciled from your ancestry? How does that affect the present?

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