In The Blood

I just stole the title of this blogpost!  It’s also the title of a really good John Mayer song called “In The Blood”. The song is about the old nature vs. nurture argument. In it John is wondering if he is stuck with some of the painful attributes of his parents.  He wants to know if it will wash out in the water or if it’s always in the blood.

That is a really good question. I’ve wondered, often, how much of who I am is because of who my parents were and how much is because of all the life experiences I have had.  I guess it is both.

Being a counselor I see first hand, every single day, how much our childhoods affect our daily lives. How much love and attention did we receive? How were we  treated in comparison to our siblings? How were our parents’ marriages?  Have we seen or been part of any traumas? Were we given a spiritual life? The list goes on and on and on.

But we have to remember that our parents had parents too. The way your parents were toward you was often a by-product of how their parents were to them.  For example, my mom quit school in ninth grade to work in a cigar factory in Mahanoy City, PA.  She was adamant that I go to college.  Unfortunately, she never lived long enough to see it happen. My dad was born into a Mennonite family that was pretty strict. What I got from him is that life should be fun and you should enjoy yourself!

I know I got my stubbornness from my mom. Stubbornness and the tendency to go quiet when things aren’t going well.  But was that learned behavior or is stubbornness part of the Becker Family DNA? From my dad I got the “stick up for the little guy” trait.  To this day I can remember him saying, when some rich guy got house arrest for some illegal activity,  “if he didn’t have money, they’d slap his poor ass in jail!”.  So is my trait learned behavior or does the George Family DNA include an empathic gene?  Who knows?

I guess I will never know the answer to these questions. My kids, Andy and Emma, may be asking themselves the same question years from now. Maybe they do now.

I know that some of my siblings and cousins read this blog. I would love to hear their opinions on this! Actually, I would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on this and read examples from their families.

My readership is up and I would love if it could become more interactive. There is a place to comment at the end of each post.  Enjoy the short week!  Next blogpost on Friday.