Ascension : Grotto News
Submitted by The Islander (Shari Parkhill) 20.08.2009 (Article Archived on 03.09.2009)

Thought for the Week

This past week, I have been doing a lot of thinking about family.  I am heading off island on leave next week, and will be traveling to a number of places to catch up with family, some of which I haven’t seen in two years.  It will be a tiring trip home, with stopovers in Florida, Toronto, and New York, but I know that I will have a good time.

My family has been through so much this past year, from the very best to the very worst.  It demonstrates how much can happen in a year.  A year that started out so wonderfully with the birth of a new baby also brought tragedy with the loss of beloved family members in an accident, including little ones.  Nothing tests our faith more than this experience.

But our family is still together, even though it now has gaping holes in it.  Every family suffers these empty spaces, since all families lose loved ones.  And no matter how many new lives join our family, these spaces will always exist.  It is, unfortunately, a fact of our life.  But as I’ve said before, it is proof of a life well lived, if the loss of that life leaves such a big hole.  Gradually the hole becomes filled in with the good memories, and the ache lessens.  But it takes forever, it seems.

I’ve been delving into my family history again lately.  I plan to do some more research when I’m home.  We are trying to solve the mystery of where my Parkhill ancestor was from.  There are conflicting reports of whether he arrived in Canada from Ireland, or directly from Scotland where the family originated.  Next year, when I go to the UK I plan to visit some of the areas that I have identified as being the birth places of other ancestors. 

In correspondence with another Parkhill genealogy buff, I’ve learned that four brothers arrived in the United States in the 1700s.  He wondered why four brothers would leave their homeland and travel across the ocean.  It got me to wondering why some people head off to new lands, and others stay put, living in the area where their people have been for generations. 

Here on Ascension, we are all from somewhere else.  What made us start out on journeys that resulted in our arrival on this remote and isolated island?  For some, it was simply for a job.  For others, it is a stopover on their journeys as a member of their country’s military services.  For others it was a sense of adventure, of wanting to see something of this big world.

What makes us all so different?  Why are some people content within the borders of their own small comfort zone?  Why do others feel the pull to journey around this big world?  Who really knows?  All I know for sure is that this is just another thing that adds to the diversity of our world, and makes it such an interesting place.  It is an off-shoot of the gift of free will that we were given by God.  We believe that we are made in His image, so this proves that He has many sides to His being.  No one of us can claim to be the only copy of a one-sided Creator.  We come in all colours, ethnic backgrounds, religions, educations, inclinations, and feelings. 

This is a blessing.  But this is what we seem to forget.  Cultures, religions, countries, and races start to believe that they are the only true people.  From this lack of acceptance comes so many of the troubles in this world.  Maybe, if we all remembered that we are ALL created in His image, we could learn to be more tolerant of others whom we perceive to be different than ourselves. 

So, this week, as we look around our world, here on Ascension, and via the media to the rest of this big planet, let us have more tolerance for those whose language, culture, religion and beliefs we might not understand.  Let us remember that we are all God’s children. 

May God bless all of us; all His children.