Ancestral Roots.... Important?

Typical business classroom. Everyone bored stiff because the teacher is making an already terribly dry topic even more unbearable. Ironically, the lecture is on 'motivational theories'! Don't think they're too pragmatic about the stuff they teach... atleast it doesn't seem that way!
And then there's those monotonous questions.. 'Assess the suitability of Maslow's heirarchy of needs for the employees of Sony Corporation' and 'Suggest which motivational theory would most suit a tall structure',
And 'Evaluate the importance of familial roots'
Wait a mintue!
.... say what?!

Considering this topic seems to be like attempting a business question! Four levels to attain - knowledge, application, analysis, evaluation! And just like those business questions, I wonder, truly, how important?

Familial roots seems to have been the central theme of my weekend. And not just those, roots in general. Ancestors, descendants, genealogies, history (yea Thesaurus, anymore?) - the words that highlighted my weekend (which, by the way, was three days ago! Anyhow..)

It started with Dan Brown (yes, The Da Vinci Code!), mind-boggling me with the alleged "descendants of Christ" (wow..don't get me started! Perhaps another post..). The cherry to top that, Choir practise begins early Friday morning with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, followed by an attempt to probe into our individual genealogies. So basically, I have Dan Brown and my catechist throughly confusing me. Those "say what?!" moments have once again arisen. Very close to that, however, I find myself asking another question that seems to be the only way out! "How important is this?"

Honestly, does it really matter where we come from?

With Dan Brown shaking the very spine of my faith, this question seemed to be the only way to remain sitting straight. What does it matter which family Christ came from? Would it have made a difference if he had descended from a line of paupers rather than the line of Kings? Would he still not be God? Would he be any less of a healer, would he not still be our Saviour? Would his ancestral roots change who he is and what he came on this earth to do?
And this multitude of questions then turns its focus on myself, and whether my ancestral roots will be a determinant of my self worth! Would it make a difference?

Oh enough of questions! Time for some answers... don't you think?

I am an amalgamation, to my awareness, of my immediate ancestors (my parents, my grandparents, my great gran.. alright lets not push it..*hehe*) and the envrionment that surrounds me. For every day that passes by, perhaps only the influence of my parents and my envrionment truly make the difference. The rest seem to be as trivial as a hurricane sweeping across Central America - occupying a vestige of our concern yet failing to have any drastic impact. The person I am today has no connection what-so-ever with my great grandparents, except perhaps for that remote genetic trait and an occasional cultural custom (which I'm sure, at the rate of globalisation today, has deteriorated in itself). The questions that take presidence, rather, are 'What kind of a person am I?' and 'How do I live my every day life?'. Therefore, my very own genealogy is just another triviality to me.

In the movie 'Story of Us', Michelle Pfeiffer talks about how obtaining the answers to the smaller questions in life enables us to ignore the fact that we are incapable of answering the big questions. Care for another perspective? No? Oh well, you know I'm going to give it anyway! *hehe* Answering the smaller questions often enables us to then tackle the bigger ones. (Business students.. ring a bell? Anything? Guess no one was listening either! Anyway..)

Resolving the triviality of my own genealogy, leads to the resolution of the triviality of Christ's own genalogy. And why should it not, I say.

For at the end of the day, our faith is only our own.