Nature vs. Nurture

Nature vs. Nurture--that's a great debate topic, right? Not in my eyes...not anymore.

Most people argue that it's either one or the other: people are influenced and shaped by their nature (genetics) or their nurture (environment). Well, I've got some news for those that like to argue about it until they're blue in the face--you're both right. And you're both wrong.

Why would humans NOT be influenced by both? Yes, our genes shape our physical makeup--weight, height, brain and body functions, and we can definitely turn out a certain way based solely on that. But humans also have the ability to adapt--cognitive thought processes. We can choose to be the way we are, simply because that's the way we are, or we can strive to be more, SO much more, given the right environment and stimulus.

I've been by myself for the last five years--working nights, sleeping during the day, hardly seeing or communicating with any humans at all, outside of my parents and a few close friends--and I had become a self-loathing, overweight, social outcast. I did that to myself, all by myself. That was Nature's shape for me.

But once I discovered Nurture and its possibilities, things are suddenly changing. I've significantly opened up to my friend at work, whom I didn't confide in or reveal much about myself to for the simple fact that I didn't know how to, and his insight and life experience has opened my eyes to all kinds of new ways of thinking and being. His walk of life was drastically different from mine--we pretty much have nothing in common whatsoever--yet we 'click'. He's experienced things I've never even dreamed of, and vice versa.

At the same time, I've discovered an online community of exceptional individuals, who not only think outside the box, but throw the box aside and make a whole new one, just for the sake of doing it. They push the envelope, discuss and debate topics I never even knew existed, and share thoughts and beliefs from ways of life I had never even considered previously. This is Nurture.

Now, as far as the debate goes, Nature forms our body and shape, the vessel through which we experience the world. No doubt it is going to influence how we feel, act, and think throughout our life. Nurture is all around us, and we make the conscious choice to either let it shape us, or ignore it and be who Nature has made us. For some, that's a good thing--an extremely intelligent African American youth growing up in the ghetto will greatly benefit from Nature over Nurture, while a different youth of an average or below average intellect with access to libraries, internet, and education would definitely benefit greater by allowing Nurture to mold him, while letting Nature fall to the wayside.

I've chosen to open my mind to Nurture, in the hopes of rising above the 'default' setting Nature has given me and becoming something truly great, something that I and others can be proud of. It's a choice--an intense, personal choice--to allow Nature or Nurture to guide you through life. Whichever you allow into the driver's seat, just be sure your heart is in agreement, because at the end of the day, it's your life that's affected by it.