# Generational Burdens

**Published by:** [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2/)
**Published on:** 2025-05-28
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2/generational-burdens

## Content

One of the most powerful scenes in the movie Amistad is this one. It’s where the African leader of the group of slaves says that he is “bringing the power of his ancestors” into the courtroom because, at this moment, he is the reason for their entire existence. Regardless of how we feel about our ancestors, the undeniable fact is that we owe them our existence. Biologically speaking and DNA-wise, we are they and they are us. In and of itself, that’s a pretty powerful concept, but it doesn’t come free. It comes with its own set of physical and genetic pros/cons, of course, but it also comes in the form of metaphysical pros and cons. We carry all types of emotional “traumas” or at least imprints that have been consciously and unconsciously transmitted, as much as the DNA has. However, just like we come to understand our physical limitations, we eventually come to understand the weight of our generational burdens. These are much more difficult to identify. We don’t necessarily figure them out on the 4th grade playground. But they are there and we feel them in our bodies. For me, those burdens rest in my shoulders. So my call to my ancestors is two-fold. “Thank you for getting me here” and “I’m going to let go of some of the things that don’t make sense.”

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