In some countries it becomes more popular that many people try to find out the history of their family What are the reasons for people doing this Do you think it s a positive or negative development

In recent years, there is a trend that increasing number of people is keen on discovering the history of their family. There are a wide range of reasons that account for this situation, while some of the factors will be discussed in this essay, followed by potential effects on individuals and families. There are mainly two reasons that contribute to this situation. For one thing, the desire for family identity and enhanced social status motivates people to acquire the knowledge of family’s history. This can be proven by the case that numerous successful entrepreneurs tend to dig out their family history which can strengthen their social status and reputation, especially when this history is long and impressive. For another, people have a sense of responsibility to preserve the history of family. And this sense of responsibility comes from the education of the elderly in the family. For instance, a grandfather might tell his grandchild a multitude of stories of their ancestors, which create the curiosity for knowing the history. This situation can result in both positive and negative development. On one hand, the discovery of history helps people to obtain a sense of family belonging, which in turn leads to the behaviors that are beneficial to the family. This is most evident that people with high sense of the belonging are more willing to contribute to the families, such as offering financial support for their relatives who encounter difficulties. On the other hand, the process of looking for the history takes people’s time and money. As some of the history can date back to a couple of centuries ago, it is quite difficult for them to look for it, and even worse, if they are unlucky, the finding may result in nothing. To conclude, so complex are the reasons that it requires the attention from the public regarding this trend. From my perspective, although there are some negative effects, the benefits brought by the family history cannot be ignored simply because the merits far exceed the downsides. Therefore, what I suggest is that individuals and families should try to investigate ‘where are they from’ when they have adequate money and time.