I want my sons to know the places and people that formed them, to know where they have come from and therefore where they are going. What a counterintuitive claim: to know where you are going you must first know where you come from, as if retracing your steps makes the path ahead clearer. For it is only in that long and loving attention to the place that formed me and the history of my people that I can understand who I really am and the work that needs to be done. For a generation that has lost “home,” it will take willingness to do this work – to collect the stories, letters, and facts and compile them in some way. It will take a father’s love to write the book.

Knowing your past will guide your future.