I've done the Ancestry DNA thing and have traced my family back hundreds of years. It turns out that I come from a long line of people who couldn't read or write, which explains a lot.
I've learned pieces of the sometimes tragic stories of my ancestors and almost feel like I know them. I imagine that, someday, my descendants will seek out information about me. I imagine that society will have changed a great deal by then and I wonder if they'll judge me in the context of their own time.
A Vegan Future
My prediction is that humankind will create a more advanced version of the Star Trek Universe. A higher consciousness society where there's no such thing as money, war and governments exist only in history books and we have tamed our attitudes to the point where we respect all life.
I expect all humans to be vegan or, maybe, some kind of ultra-vegan who only eats synthetic vegetables rather than killing actual plants.
They'll look back at the savagery of the ancients (that's us) and curse our names. "How could they have taken the lives of countless others just to prolong their own?" they will ask. Well, I have an answer for them.
Bacon
I wasn't born into a Jewish or Muslim family. If I had been, then I may have stood a chance. But even though I don't eat much bacon and it isn't a major part of my identity, as it is with some people on Facebook, the thought of giving it up is anathema to me.
I'm (temporarily) moving back to Japan next month and shan't waste any time in visiting a yakiniku restaurant and ordering piles of raw meat. Most of it I'll cook, but the rest will be mixed with a raw egg yolk and wolfed down with glee.
I don't have any good defence for my actions. I know that what I'm doing is wrong, from an enlightened point of view, but I'm pathetically weak. I'm the kind of person whom I once despised the most - one who says "I know" with resignation when his failings are pointed out to him.
Time Capsule Moment
Penston's of the distant future - if you're reading this, I just want you to know that you're better than me and I wish that I could have been more like you. Please keep in mind that I tried to build a better world in other ways.