Why look at ancestry?

Well, first off, I was afraid this would happen, if I started writing around the time I went to bed or get up in the morning; my mind hijacked me in the middle of the night! I awoke at 3:30 a.m., as did my darling wife, Trina, and then my stomach started acting like a hungry baby waiting for a feeding, and my mind wouldn't go back to sleep. Trina, in her dedication to my noble sleeping cause, jumped up and got me some milk and told me not to get up to write. I nonetheless did write down a couple of Bennish quotes.

Tell me what you think: 1. "Young men injure themselves saving the cat, middle-aged men injure themselves tripping over the cat, and old men get a dog."
2. "In America, the upper class make things happen, the lower class have things happen to them, and the middle class is constantly trying to figure out what the heck is happening.
3. How can Americans "love their neighbor", when 75% don't even know their last names?
4. Gridlock in the government is highly achieveable as long as Congressmen remember that, in order to get elected, they need to care more about their own constituents, than they care about the needs of the country.

So, I did struggle back to sleep after a half hour. My poor wife was not as fortunate, as it took her well over 1 hour to get back to sleep. Before we proceed, let's have a moment of silence to acknowledge her sacrifice for the cause......

Why pay attention to one's lineage? It is more than just some way to appreciate our ancestors. It is a way for us to see patterns, to get some insight into who we are, to gain strength or to see what we need to do differently to break a pattern. By examining Ben Franklin's heritage, one can get a fuller understandling of what he was about, and what motivated him. From this we can
learn as well through seeing what are the deeply held beliefs that we need to act upon, either through their encouragement or through their oblideration.

Ben's family came from Ecton, England and they took on the descriptive surname of "Franklin"
which means "free man." They had a tradition of being blacksmiths. Ben was the youngest son ,of a youngest son, of a youngest son, of a youngest son, of a youngest son. (No, I do not studder, that's five generations of youngest sons.) They were Puritans. His father came to America for financial and religious freedoms. They were vocal and wise people in their communities, as well as tradesmen. In Ben's immediate family, he was the youngest boy of ten boys, and had two younger sisters. In the two years before he was born, two different brothers drowned. What do all these clues mean? Well tomorrow I will tell you my analysis.