The word ‘root’ can take many different forms in one’s life. Some people automatically think of the sources holding up a tree. Others describe ‘root’ as the main source or cause of something. Many people think of ‘root’ as the developed family tree we continue to add to.
Imagine your family lineage being an old, crooked tree with roots that are so thick they are peaking out of soil around the trunk. They are holding up the thousand-year-old tree and doing a pretty good job of it no matter how it appears. This tree has so many stories embedded into its history. One kid may have climbed up its stoop every day, a couple may have had their first kiss under that tree, or even a hammock tied at the strongest part of its base on a warm summer day. There is so much more that isn’t told about roots, without them, all those memories would be a fantasy. Family trees can be a way to make those memories permanent.
A family tree continuously grows from our ancestors to future generations. The explanation as to why you are here and where you fit in this large world. How the crazy third cousin is also your aunt. The people you are surrounded by now are the ones you call family. Those are also roots. People that stand by you even when you feel like crumbling. Ancestors from hundreds of years ago still make it on that family tree; we are still all connected with branches and roots to make the fruitful, forever-growing tree of life.
The challenge of representing the term ‘my roots’ was surveyed to several NCC individuals. 23 people filled out the anonymous survey and were simply asked for one word that describes the word ‘my roots’. With no context whatsoever, the pool of community members surrounded themselves with similar definitions. Descriptors such as “beginnings”, “history”, “childhood” and “origin” stemmed from the word ‘root’. In comparison to the root of a tree, many people believe that they themselves have roots and are a tree of their own.
As analyzed in the survey, our roots can be where we come from and what has changed us into who we are today. Many answers from the survey had a common theme of family and new beginnings. Most people stated roots meant values, family and their childhood. Whether this be the hometown streets that they would ride their bikes down every day after school. Or that one scrape on your body that you can still describe the pain you felt. Even the people in their lives that are supporting them in the future they are creating for themselves. Those are their roots.
To conclude, the world might be ever-changing around us but there is one thing that will always hold true; where we came from and the experiences we have had that will always live in us. The term ‘our roots’ will remind us of where we came from and how we made it to where we are today.
