What is the most important thing ever done by one of your ancestors?
Post your answer in the LEAVE A COMMENT section below. I’m not the boss of you, though. Don’t write anything for all I care! Maybe your great-, great-, great-, great-grandpappy invented the “LEAVE A COMMENT” section.
. . .here are my thoughts.
What is the most important thing ever done by one of your ancestors?
Henrietta Lacks. HeLa cells. To be unaware of this story, is to be unaware of the history of race relations and injustice in this country. The use of the word story, though, sells the atrocity short. Yet atrocity might be too strong a word given the immense impact on medical research Henrietta’s immortal cells continue to have 70+ years after her death. I’m relatively sure none of my ancestors have done anything nearly as instrumental to the lives of billions of people as has Henrietta Lacks—yet completely without her consent. Unlike Henrietta Lacks, I will not be immortal. I’ll have to be content with the limited decades I get on Earth. I suppose the most important thing any one of my ancestors have ever done is easy to identify. Frankly, it’s a huge multi-way tie. Equal credit goes to all those who got-it-on, bumped-uglies, put the wand in the ol’ chamber of secrets. We’re talkin’ fornication, people! After all, they wouldn’t be my ancestors if I wasn’t here. Thus, the creation of offspring naturally deserves top billing on the list of my ancestor’s most important accomplishments.