Imagine going to sleep a wealthy person one day and waking up the next day to the knowledge that your family’s wealth was built on the profits of slavery. That’s a reality many families have lived through for centuries. And it’s sad that it takes a massive war to put an end to such inhuman selfishness and cruelty. Here in America we continue to cope with the aftermath of slavery, but Europe has its own demons. The family that owns Krispy Kreme Donuts and Panera Bread began to suspect their forefathers had a dark past. In 2014 they hired a historian to uncover the truth. The donuts and soup we all love are made by companies that were founded by Nazis.

The current owners and management of these companies disavow their family’s Nazi past, and they made a donation to charity in partial atonement of their grandfathers’ sins. Of course, history will always remember that Albert Reimann, Sr. and his son Albert Reimann, Jr. supported Hitler and used slave labor culled from French and Russian prisoners. Their heirs will walk under that shadow for generations to come. For our part, we must never forget that slavery continues to be a problem even today.

Family history carries with it many joys and burdens. We all want to know where we came from, especially when we’re young and still learning about the world. But there are other reasons to want to know your family history. Anyone who is concerned about heritable diseases should know their family medical history. Every year we learn about new risks based on family history, such as this recent news about an increased risk of Alzheimer’s. It seems unfair that a family should have to go through similar pain generation after generation. Of course we all hope to find cures for these ailments, and soon.

Learning about your family’s roots is sometimes more than just knowing your relatives are. It can be a way to restore a lost and forgotten past. History isn’t always what we think it is, as the German family mentioned above learned. You may grow up believing family folk tales only to learn, upon digging into the records, that things were not as grandma remembered them.

We’re losing history with the passing of every generation because people don’t preserve the details of their lives. We don’t pay much attention to ourselves even though future generations will want to know more about us. If life isn’t fair to families, it is the families who are even less fair to themselves.

Some cultures are better at preserving family knowledge than others. When it is ingrained to your mores, your habits, and your sense of community it’s much easier to preserve who your family was. One need not look further than some community programs. Regional genealogy societies and other groups with special interests in family history help people preserve the past. They also teach us the value of learning about and remembering our ancestors.

And other cultures around the world preserve the past in monuments, cemeteries, stories, and songs. They honor many past generations of ancestors. Their reverence for loved ones long gone is touching and important. It helps them know who they are and why they are important.

You’re not important because of who your ancestors are. You’re important because you give honor to those around you, and respect the family that gave you life. What you do with your years is your business, but you should hope that those who come after you will honor and respect you, too. Give them a reason to do so. Give them something special to remember.