As the first cells divide in the process that eventually yields one of us, with our quirky uniquenesses and personal imprints, I wonder how many of our characteristics have been pre-determined there in that microscopic blob of DNA already?
If you monitor scientific journals, as I do in my work as an editor at MyWire.com, you know that scientists are drilling closer to answering question like that one, almost on a daily basis. This week, the story of a study of animal behavior made headlines.
The study's authors presented a case that the range of personalities and behavior types exhibited by various animals all point to the universal search for an evolutionary advantage, species by species. Sort of like Nature couldn't tell what might work best: quiet or loud, aggressive or shy, strong or compact, fast or deliberate, selfish or altruistic, violent or peaceful, hypersexual or asexual, and on and on.
Maybe that explains some of the otherwise incomprehensible characters I have met in my lifetime -- they are part of a grand evolutionary experiment, tempered by culture, language, location, and all sorts of other random environmental factors.
And then, of course, by Nurture.
As I've noted before, while it's natural we should take pride in our children's accomplishments, should they have any, a typical parental comment ("she gets that from her dad") seems unsupportable to me. Reproduce enough times, as I have, and you get such a random distribution of qualities as to reduce even a narcissist to tears in trying to explain how his child seems to be good at that, and not at this.
It was animal report day today in second grade. My daughter's project revolved around the lifecycle of the Siberian Tiger.
Her friend Samara's focused on the Newt.
I rarely do this, but I just had to lift this photo from our sister blogsite, Sidewalk Images. Click on it to enlarge it, and consider the man's expression. He seems genuinely perplexed that he's ended up in the gutter.
After all, wasn't he "his father's son?" Dad never sank this low...
-30-
1 comment:
I really enjoyed reading your posting tonight, and I'm equally happy that you posted early. I look forward to ending the day by reading your blog and thinking about the questions you pose, tonight's being the consideration of incomprehensible characters we've all met over time. It's relieving to consider the systemic influences rather than feeling it all on an individual basis.
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