I love history and especially my genealogical family history. I did a DNA test with 23andMe for two reasons, health and family history.
I did worry about invasion of privacy from data collecting of DNA. I do know one of the founders of 23andMe is Anne Wojcicki, was married to the co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin. That really gave me pause, but this was something that was important enough to me to do anyway. I just hope it's not a decision that will bite me in the hindquarters later.
My results:
The results had me pondering a few other things.
A couple of surprises was I had Jewish and African ancestry. I had no clue. However, when I thought about it, nothing should surprise me. Everyone's lineage goes back thousands of years.
There are groups of people out there that hate based solely on race or county origin. That thinking their race is pure is absurd. The chances of someone being 100% of one race is close to nil except in very remote places on earth. Also with patriotism of county origin, do you have it for the country you live in or all the countries one has ancestral roots? To me separate countries are nothing more than lines drawn in the sand, manageable peaces of land. Throughout history humans have been killing fellow human based on this very insanity. It makes me wonder how many times in war people have killed their relatives without even knowing it. If they had known their DNA roots would some if not all refuse to go to war? Could a simple saliva test bring some peace in this world?
What do you think?
Dna may define your ancestry and lineage but it doesnt define your self image. It can only enhance or influence it if allowed. Most claim whatever ancestry affects them positively today, the negative is usually discarded.
This is very true and most people are very attached to their self-image.