My daughter and I were philosophizing over crispy chicken and avacado salads yesterday about which has the most influence on our eventual life circumstances, heredity or environment. She leaned toward the latter, whereas I believe in the former. Certainly, I can see how both have wrought the person I am today. I come from parents who strongly believed in the American Dream of owning a business and making a bundle, and one can excuse them for this attitude since they grew up during the Great Depression. What is hard to excuse is their single-mindedness which made them rather unavailable, and unequipped to deal with a child like me. I am intrinsically sensitive, emotional, prone to excess, and terrified of everything and everybody. I hated being embarassed, and it happened to me many times at the hands of my parents. And though I had the ethic of moderation shown to me in my parent's drinking, I became an alcoholic. My daughter did not. Since half of her upbringing occurred in my sobriety, could this be the reason? Or did that gene become recessive in her while dominant in me? Isn't it possible, since we know that heart disease, certain forms of cancer, and a whole panoply of dreadful diseases are indeed hereditary, that we also pass on proclivities like addiction? Oh, one could debate forever. Mark Twain said all men are like watches. Some are Rolexes, some Timexes, and that's that. Well, I know that's not true. But I also know that both my children behaved differently in utero, and that behavior continues to this day! I think in the end it comes down to overcoming the genetic markers, and developing CHARACTER. That is not a natural occurence, character. That is an acquired trait, one to be greatly desired, and very hard to live up to on any given day. Hey, I'm working on it.
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