My quest to find my first family would never have been

Hear the voice of Saroo Brierley, who declared with gratitude and awe: “My quest to find my first family would never have been actualized without technology.” In these words lies the union of two great forces—ancient longing and modern invention. For the yearning of a child to find his kin is as old as humanity itself, but the means by which Brierley achieved it belonged to a new age. His story is the song of the eternal human heart, fulfilled at last through the tools of the modern world.

The ancients, too, knew the pain of separation. Wars, storms, slavery, and exile tore families apart, scattering blood across distant lands. Often the lost remained lost, their names forgotten, their bonds broken by time. But what once was impossible has now been made possible. Technology—that which many fear as cold and lifeless—became the vessel through which love and belonging were restored. Brierley, taken as a child from the arms of his mother, crossed oceans and years. Yet through the power of digital maps, images, and the worldwide web, he retraced the path of his earliest memories until he stood once more before the home of his youth.

Think of the long nights he endured, searching with patience and perseverance, scouring satellite images for landmarks etched in the memory of a five-year-old boy: a train station, a water tower, a pathway. Many would have abandoned such a task, calling it hopeless. But his quest was guided not only by memory, but by faith in technology—a faith that this new tool could serve the oldest of human desires: the return to one’s own. At last, his search bore fruit, and the circle of his life was made whole.

In this story, Brierley teaches us that technology is not merely wires and screens, but an extension of our humanity. It can enslave if used for vanity, but it can liberate if guided by love. Just as writing once preserved the wisdom of elders, and the printing press spread knowledge to the multitudes, so too does modern technology have the power to restore connections long broken. It is not the machine itself that holds meaning, but the way it serves the human heart.

The deeper wisdom of his words is this: that quests do not end in despair when courage and innovation walk together. Brierley’s journey was not only about finding his family, but about showing the world that what once seemed impossible is now within reach. He carried with him the persistence of the ancients and the tools of the moderns, proving that the old and the new are not enemies, but companions in the march of destiny.

History has always shown this pattern. The sailors who circumnavigated the globe relied on new navigational tools to fulfill ancient desires for discovery. The builders of great bridges used steel to unite cities long divided by rivers. And so, in our time, a man with a fractured past used technology to unite with the faces of his origin. Innovation is not only about progress in commerce or war; it is about healing the deepest needs of human beings.

The lesson for us is clear: do not despise the tools of your age, nor treat them as idle toys. Use them with wisdom and love. Let technology serve your highest purposes—to learn, to connect, to restore, to build. If you are separated from your dreams, let innovation become your ally in finding the path back. If you are cut off from others, let it bridge the distance. Like Brierley, let your quest be guided by both perseverance of spirit and the tools of the present.

Thus let his words echo across the generations: “My quest to find my first family would never have been actualized without technology.” Let this remind you that every tool mankind has forged is but an extension of the eternal longing for home, for connection, for wholeness. And may you, too, learn to wield the gifts of your age not for vanity or destruction, but to bring light, unity, and fulfillment to your own journey.