Who Do You Think You Are?

There is a new show on TV where celebrities examine their family history. The show, “Who Do You Think You Are?” which originated in Ireland, was brought to the US by Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe from “Friends”) who was featured in the show’s first episode. Kudrow went to Belarus after discovering that she had relatives who died in the Holocaust. There she felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and anger. In an interview, she described her 11 year old son’s desire to go back in time and kill Hitler. I don’t know her personally, but I can’t help but wonder whether she got anything more from her experience examining her roots.

Like many runners, I run with a Garmin watch, which can do pretty much everything a runner can want, other than make me faster. It lets me know how fast I am running, how far I have run and my heart rate. All of this information is stored in the watch for me to learn from. By comparing workouts, I can chart my progress and see how far I have come, and more importantly, what I need to work on. I must admit that I have never done this. I am reminded of this every few months when the watch’s memory fills up and I have to delete all of this information. It is at that moment that I can’t help but realize that, by ignoring my past, I am not progressing as much as I could.

I like the idea of this new show. I hope to get to watch it at some point. For now I have one question for Lisa Kudrow. Now that you have learned about your past, who do you think you will be?