The Place of the Wild Sisal

Where are you from? What is your heritage? In America, there is a pervasive obsession about where you are from. Genealogy is very popular because everyone wants to know what their blood lines are. They have their DNA tested, which gives a representation of their descent. Just like astrology, the results are very general. You get a map of numerous places that demonstrate your origin. You do not get any specifics because there is no way to trace your lines back beyond a few hundred years. This leaves thousands, and even a couple million years of unknown interactions and migrations of cultures. The exponential mixing of people is beyond our scope of comprehension. So how can we profess to be a specific nationality, tribe, race, or culture? An anthropologist named Dr. Louis Leakey discovered some human tools in 1931 in Africa. He concluded that Homo habilis were the first early human species, and lived in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania some 2 million years ago. Olduvai means "the place of the wild sisal" in the Masai language, which is a native plant to the region. In other words, this was the Ground Zero of human existence! Each and every human can trace their DNA back to this point on Earth. This is 90 year old news, yet we continue this fantasy that somehow we are all different. There are people everywhere who are proud of their nationality, and there is nothing wrong with this. However, this has to do more with culture created there than what their bloodlines are. Within each of these cultures, the amount of interaction, and mixing of gene pools is quite complex. In fact, if there was not any outside blood added to the mix, the result becomes dangerous to healthy reproduction of the species. Mixing of bloodlines makes us healthier and more culturally vibrant. Let's look at an example of a common proclamation here in America. Italian immigration to the USA was quite prominent between 1880 and 1930. However, it was actually more prominent and significant to South America, specifically Argentina, than to North America. Many people in the USA proclaim immense pride with their Italian roots, and rightly so. It is a beautiful and diverse culture of food, music, art, language and the ground zero of the Renaissance. Let's take a look at how bloodline pride gets a little distorted. I will use my own family as part of my genetic theory of evolution. 3 out of 4 of my children's grandparents are of different origins than Italy. Their paternal grandmother had parents who were both from Italy which makes the grandchild 12.5% Italian. A friend of ours who claims to be Italian, with an authentic Italian name, had parents of different origins. Her father had a grandfather who came directly from Italy but the 3 other grandparents were from countries in Europe other than Italy. The paternal great grandfather who was from Italy married a woman from Greece. This makes the great grandchild only 6.25% Italian. Yet, because it was the paternal great grandfather, the great grandchild retained the Italian last name. A name is a powerful thing. It gives the impression that one is from Italy, or has Italian citizenship. The other child with a British last name due to the paternal great grandfather, carries the British last name. One child is deemed Italian even though he is only 6.25% Italian. The other child is 12.5% Italian, but because of his British last name, and the lack of proclamation of a specific nationality as part of his identity, he is not Italian, even though he has twice the Italian bloodline. Do you see where this is going? Do not disregard what makes up the other 93.75% of where you come from! There is no one in this great country that can be considered one particular bloodline or another. We are all incredibly mixed, either in the near past, or the distant past. We are all Homo habilis. We are all from Olduvai Gorge. We are all human. Stop the false pride, and start identifying with your fellow human for who they are as a person. Their heart, their soul, their intellect, their personality. What are you? I am guessing that I am 50% soul, 25% heart, 20% personality and 5% intellect, but that is a rough estimate. Who knows? Maybe somebody really smart sneaked into my bloodline along the way to give me a higher percentage of intellectual capacity. There is only one thing I am 100% sure of... I am from the place of the wild sisal!