Prompt - Yes, we are the product of our DNA. The product of evolution. But, we’re also the product of countless choices to be kind.Jarod Anderson, Cryptonaturalist
It is in the handshake. It is in the hug. It relies on the foul-smelling bad breath of a fire breathing Karen excoriating spew in our face. It is in the rumble of a lullaby deep in the chest of a grandfather soothing his grandchild to sleep and provides forever resonance and an abject sense of peace. It is in the stippling of gooseflesh risen from the lilt of a singer or the coo of a child as it suffuses us with warmth to last a lifetime. It is in the hackles at the back of the neck that rise in fear of nightsticks or tear gas when our feet and passion carry us down a Black Lives Matter street or Grant Park war protest.
It builds from a random bar fight with black eyes and sore knuckles and the smell of beer on the laundry soaking to get the blood stain out and teaches us to hang our heads in shame or raise them in triumph. We learn our gait by walking beside a parent holding our hand, and then skipping beside a friend at five, and again holding hands with the first girl of our dreams and finally moving in slow motion behind a box holding the last girl of our dreams.
Our voice is small, or it resounds, lifted or smothered by the chorus around us and the discordance of their tunes. It trains us to resolve into harmonies of mutual support. Riding the teeter gives us both balance and terror, as we are held aloft with not enough girth to bring it back down. It crushes our spirit when we’re abandoned at the top to drop, while our totter partner laughs. We grow into rule followers by staying within hopscotch lines, resolving into coloring within lines with a five pack of crayons, hoping we understand diversity of skin tones is only a function of availability not a reflection of worth.
We learn to build and destroy with Legos and Lincoln Logs and while color by numbers is okay copying test answers is not. We recognize and ape smiles and frowns mimicking our way into emotional content. We learn pain with the first skin of a knee or bump on the head, but real pain at the first spanking, the first slap of a hand or the first break of our hearts.
We learn the conjoining of ketchup and tater-tots creates an amazing flavor, which is followed by the combining of ballroom dancing, the pressing of lips, the sharing of tongues; eventually leads to creating a new life who seeks experiences both new and old at the same moment. We discover disappointment when the fact of Santa turns a corner of age and disappears, followed by the profound knowledge that lying, despite pronouncements about telling the truth and the story of George Washington, is de rigeur. Yet, we must remain gullible because we trust the same Santa liars through the demise of the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and God. Some of us carry it forward and some discard it for cynicism.
We are convinced of the perfection of science and nature while exploring the magnifying glass view of an ant hill, simultaneously learning of cruelty when some kid burns one up using the pinpoint of the sun. We discover amazement in the twinkling of fireflies on a summer night and learn about murder when we find them all dead in the morning in the jar we left on our night table.
It is said we are the product of the combined DNA of our parents. We are also the product of every human interaction of life, including the sharing of this