I never gave much thought to the scientific study of how particular qualities or traits are transmitted from parents to offspring. And yes, you would be correct to say I probably didn’t think about it much, because I have a hard time just reading that first sentence aloud. Needless to say, deep contemplation on the subject did not happen. So, I came to my own conclusions about ‘self.?
Quite simply, you are who you are, a solitary sentient being, an individual who takes his or her own path through life.
Heredity, schmedity — especially if you consider that learned folks say each body has between 20,000 and 25,000 genes — and only a pair from your ma and another from your pa. From your parental units you ‘inherit? your nose shape, eye color, skin pigment and a couple of other physical traits. But the essence of yourself has nothing to do with how your DNA stacks up.
I reckon I was happily ignorant. All right, I’ll say it: Genetics are stronger than I first anticipated. Never one confused for being a brainiack, I figured this out only recently. It hit me as I harkened back to those thrilling days of yesteryear at the old Rush homestead in Independence Township.
I remembered one of my father’s 2,874,000 directives given to me when I was but a lad.
‘No singing at the dinner table.?
Now, I don’t know if the link is strong between Pops Rush and myself, or between myself and number two son, Sean. You decide.
On Sunday, while dining in our kitchen, I looked over to the four-(almost five)-year-old Sean and pronounced, ‘No singing at the dinner table.?
So, was it specific Rush DNA sequencing casusing Sean to sing at the dinner table as I used to, or was I genetically predisposed to giving Sean the same what-for my dear old dad gave me upon hearing tunes at the table?
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Boy, ain’t it amazing what straws a man will grasp for when he has nothing to write about?
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When George Orwell penned his now widely read novel, 1984, in 1949 he wrote of an oppressive, tyrannical government. He affectionately called this governing body, Big Brother.
I, like many, read that book while still in public schools. I don’t have a copy of it, but, with today’s technology I was able to go on-line and find this quote from the book: ‘People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your onetime existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.?
Zip forward to 2005 and boy, how the times are a’changing. Were Orwell just now writing his futuristic nightmare, would Big Brother be an oppressive government or would it be a puppet government actually run by corrupt corporate types?
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Speaking of scary business news, wasn’t it wonderful to hear the plight of Olatwnji Oluwatosin. Ola, 41, was the Nigerian national found guilty of scamming ChoicePoint Inc.
ChoicePoint is the company that mines for data about you, me and every other person in America. They then sell the info to anyone with enough money. Well, reports are out that up to four million people may have had their data stolen from ChoicePoint by Ola.
If the information on us is so easy to access and steal, it isn’t a stretch of the imagination that anybody can be vaporized. Doesn’t matter how your DNA is arranged or what your perception of self is. With a stroke of a key, you could be gone.
Welcome to the future.
E-mail Rush: dontrushemdon@charter.net.