I’ve been thinking about about my ancestors who fled Italy today. One of my great-great aunts will be 100 years old later this year. When her village was bombed during WW1, she rescued her injured mother by dragging her up a mountain on a mattress and hiding in a cave.
She survived and later immigrated to Canada. Anyway, I think that’s one small part of where my strong sense of justice comes from.
My controversial hypothesis on neurodivergence is that it’s an evolutionary coping mechanism genetically triggered by some combinations of environmental factors and generational trauma. Heightened perception and pattern recognition designed to offer future generations a better chance at survival.
We know that DNA is impacted by trauma and while my DNA couldn’t have been directly impacted by my great-great aunt’s lived experience, it could have been impacted by her brother’s (my great-grandfather’s) experience.
Even though he was already in the US at the time, it would make sense to me that he was deeply impacted by his family’s experience. It makes sense that under these circumstances, that trauma could encode loud noises (bombs) as something to fear before my grandfather was born.
Five generations later, it makes sense to me that his great-great-great grandson was born with naturally sensitive ears and his great-great granddaughter is baffled by the way human beings continue to utterly fail an open-book test on humanity.
All of this to say, we have much more to inherit from our ancestors from their trauma – we also have their resilience, their survival, and their wisdom already within us.
May we all be courageous enough to embody it.
Amen.
Not to be all “merch at a funeral,” but don’t forget that I own and operate blessedbeebyhp.com and the Blessed Bee Mutual Aid Fund!
These days, nearly all profits from the shop are going towards mutual aid requests from UU Religious Professionals and LGBTQ+ organizations in our local community. The more you buy, post about, and share with others about my work, the more support I can offer. Thank you for your support.
Helen "HP" Rivers 
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