This is an interesting article about the pitfalls of ancestry DNA testing and speaks to the rise of support groups to process what we learn from that testing when what we learn is something that is contrary to what we have always believed about ourselves. But, honestly, I take issue with two things in the article.
1. While I can certainly understand curiosity about one’s ethnic origins, I find the concept itself somewhat disturbing. Why would anyone care if I am Irish, Scottish, Black, White, Asian, etc. In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? I am human, after all, and that is what matters. Anything else is simply curious factoids that do not change my nature as a human being.
2. The article speaks of someone finding out that the father who raised her was not her biological father. Again, I say, does it matter? Any two sets of DNA can come together to form a child. But those who raise us, they are what form the adult. To lament that that one is not the biological offspring of the person they always called “Mom” or “Dad” seems somewhat out-of-touch to me. Sure, curiosity may lead us down a path to interesting facts, but “facts” are not always the truth. The “truth” is that the woman who taught us the difference between right and wrong is our mother. The man who swept us into his arms and kissed the boo-boo away when we were hurting is our father. Biology be damned - it does not change that truth.
I understand the curiosity, but I do not understand the obsession.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/02/24/first-came-home-dna-kits-now-come-support-groups/lrQbt7wMAZXAboSsTlybJL/story.html?event=event25&fbclid=IwAR3npCdd5LteRCQFOzgoUDnqu5OABKpWUM_I-9AMTtkcS9HfafM3Umlto5g
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