DNA Mormons

Have you read DNA Mormons in the blog By Common Consent?

"Maybe like us you are a proud descendant of Mormon pioneers, confident in your knowledge of your Western European heritage, a typical DNA Mormon-American," writes guest blogger Joanna Benson.

[But], after graduating from BYU, moving to the south, and being repeatedly asked if her husband was Arabic, Mediterranean, or Jewish, Joanna and her husband finally decided to get DNA testing.

Were they in for a surprise.

They expected the DNA test to show her husband was British, Swiss, and maybe a little bit of German; that she was British.

Instead, the results indicated he was of northern Indian descent, she of Slavic and Mediterranean.

"Shock and disbelief, yes," Joanna writes.

But as she began to review world history, she realized "with wars, slavery and revolutions, the world is like a giant mix master," and importantly "this time I could see myself in the mixer."

As Joanna further processed what she'd learned about her family history, trying to make meaning of it, she concluded that "the time has come to reveal the gathering in myself." "[And so] I gladly step out of the small dark box of Euro-centrism, into the big tent of humanity where the real party is going on....Now when I meet someone of another nationality, I can truly think perhaps you are my cousin."

So beautifully said -- thank you Joanna.

Comments

[Aaron Hutchins]

A nicely expressed thought, as you indicate.