What my Ancestry DNA test recently taught me

I recently took my DNA test to evaluate what ancestry my DNA most closely aligns to. Perhaps you have done this, and similar to me, anticipated what the results would be before taking the test. 

Based on my family heritage and what I knew to date, my Mom's side was mostly German with some "English" thrown in there. I air-quote English because it was never clear to me what that meant - am I more "Winston Churchill" or more "William Wallace", more "Bono" or more "Beatles"? 

On my Dad's side, I honestly had no clue what my ancestry was. I knew two things before taking the test: 

1. My Grandma mentioned our ancestor's were a part of the Mormon settlers, that perhaps we snuck onto to ol' wagon train heading west and after getting into the Pacific Northwest, dismissed religion all together. 

2. The surname Eller was related to a German term for "those that lived near the elderberry bush". So in considering my heritage from my Dad's side, does that mean that the Knight in the Monty Python was insulting me directly?

When I got my results from the test, there were 4 major insights that I quickly learned:

1. I wasn't as "German" as I thought. In fact, German made up only about 25% of my DNA story.

2. I was primarily Irish, Scottish and Welsh (~50%), which totally explains everything now. 

3. I have about 14% Spanish in my DNA story, confirming my love for churros, exploring (but in a more humane way), and flamenco guitar.

4. There was not a single iota in my DNA story that indicated I had Native American ancestry, which is something that was somewhat believed in the family for many years, stating that we may have ancestors from the Nez Perce tribe. Maybe it skipped me...

5. I have like a billion 3rd to 5th cousins. 

Essentially, I am mixed bag of European ancestry (just like a billion+ others) that has no distinct homeland, heritage site, root to where my ancestors originated from. Maybe that's great, add some diversity and branches to the family tree, but it made me pause...

I realized that there is nothing unique about me that I can make claim to. No lineage to any famous world changer from long ago. No claim to any lordship or royal title. Not even a clear trend in migration, except west perhaps. 

That was a few years ago, and I have re-visited this many times since I received those test results, especially in the last few years, and began to realize how stupid and shallow that thought was. To think that there was nothing unique about my ancestry is similar to visit the Golden Gate Bridge and think that it is just another bridge, dismissing everything that went into envisioning, designing, constructing and maintaining the bridge. There is always so much more than what meets the eye. My great-great-great grandchildren may look at their ancestry and say, "Wow, my ancestors were from the West Coast of USA. Hippies. Tree Huggers. They probably walked around in Birkenstocks sipping coffee and driving around in their fossil-fuel efficient cars" and leave it at that, dismissing the aspects of culture related to the space, place and pace of our lives today. Or maybe they will pause, and think of the beautiful, unbelievable path that led to them becoming them, all the broken fragments that seemed to have no distinct rhyme or reason, to watch them converge into a beautiful mosaic that makes up their DNA story. 

I am eternally grateful for my ancestors, for the decisions that they made that led them to creating my story. One thing I wish now, perhaps accentuated lately as I reflect on lives that have passed, is to hear their story. 

Can you imagine how amazing it would be to hear the stories of each generation, to hear their adventures and struggles that they experienced in life. To hear about what made them click, drove them to make the bold changes that they did, or kept them in place for so long. To hear about the things they observed that brought them joy, or to hear of issues that they had no control over yet broke their hearts. 

I would imagine that there would be many similarities in each generation, and probably across families. We are more alike than different. And chances are that the experiences we prioritize in our lives currently such as love, dignity, justice, and others, our forbearers prioritized a millennia ago, and our descendants a millennia from now will continue to do the same. It is ingrained in us, impartial to time. 

During this challenging time in our country, it is very easy to forget that we are "cut from the same cloth". We are drawing lines in the sand, polarizing and categorizing groups, fostering an "us vs. them" mentality. However, I don't think that this will prevail. 

I am seeing people recognize that these immortal virtues of love, dignity, and justice, know no borders, are not exclusive to one country, race or religion. Human history has shown that times of great crisis can cause civilization to "reset" itself to being healthier than it was before. Sometimes it comes through dismantling and dispersing when stubbornness and selfishness prevails, but it can be a realignment for the humble and gracious. I believe that is what is happening right now, at least that is what my "optimistic" spirit is wanting to see. We (as a country) definitely have some serious issues to deal with, but we have the capacity to work together. We have the ability to figure it out and enable our "get it done"-ness to address these issues, live humbly with one another, finding a way that all can get their basic needs met to live healthy lives, while enabling those to that aspire for more to do so, to push the envelope. 

Remember, somehow, a beautiful, flamenco dancing Spanish woman connected with some strong, "elderberry-scented" logging German man, who had a kid that eventually met another kid from one of the best Scotch distillers and Irish comedian couple (its my imagination), eventually resulting in me. 

What has this taught me? 

Humans are amazing, and the best things happen when we work together. 

So after reading this, think about your amazing DNA story and what had to happen for you to be you. Then think of the people you interact with, and think about their amazing DNA story and what had to happen for them to be here today. 

Religion, at its root, literally means to "re-connect", connecting the divine with the human. You were created in the image of the Divine, and guess what, so was your neighbor. Honor that. Celebrate that. And let's start working together.