Genealogy is one thing that allows you to connect to your past. It helps you to learn where your family came from and how it was shaped in preceding generations. As the world has become more global and the United States has become much more of a melting pot there are people who do not know where their ancestors originated. Genealogy allows you to do all of these things.
Genealogy is also a way to pass things on to the future generations. Often people only look backwards from themselves with a desire to learn about their past, but do not realize how much their research can affect the generations that are to come. As you learn the stories surrounding your family history you can preserve them and pass them on to family members that will come in the future.
Some may look at genealogy as simply a list of names of people. However each of those people made choices that affected the generations that came after. Learning how we are all linked together can help us to make better choices for the generations that are fun.
Completing your genealogy can also be addicting. It is exciting to find the missing name or person and be able to fill in the blank part of your chart. Genealogy can be like a treasure hunt as you sort through census record and other records to find the people that belong to you.
One of the best parts of genealogy is to understand the stories, and events that affected the lives of your family members. To do this you really need to understand the history and living conditions that those family members dealt with. It can bring history to life and the stories you learn will help you gain a better understanding of the world in general.