Ancestry and the Values it can instill

Looking back at the history of my family, there are many things that have effected my life and how I think on a daily basis. However, among all of these pieces of history, there is one part that really stands out.


The mother's side of my family originates from Scotland (tracing back to the legendary warrior William Wallace), and before the immigrated to Canada, they were quite poor. My great grandfather spent his life working in the coal mine. While this was a common practice at the time, it was incredibly dangerous (and remains that way to this day, despite the massive numbers of safety increases). He was a very hardworking man who worked long days and long weeks. Because of this, he made sure to instill a incredible work ethic in his kids. From this work ethic, two of them went on to become millionaires, and the others were also quite successful.


This work ethic is something that my mother's side of the family always works to instill in their children. While I do certainly respect the history from which I come from, I sometimes find it hard maintaining the work ethic that is expected of me when I am dealing with personal issues. It is part of my personality to take these issues, and allow them to affect me too much in my everyday life. This is something that I have been struggling with recently, however, it is up to me and only me to be able to make the change.