Blog Dis
We become our parents...
2026-06-02
It doesn't really matter what you tell yourself, that you're different, entirely unique, an original above all other originals, and decidedly not like anyone else, if you will, nor anything like your parents. Yet, and if you're honest with yourself, and take a good hard look at yourself, you'll see the interwoven threads that connect from your personality, to reach all the way back to your parents, and their parents before them.
The one caveat in this scenario, or least seemingly so, is when a child is an orphan, and is raised by two non-biological parents. Here too, however, there'll still be threads, from direct contact with the adults stepping in to fulfill the role of parents, and how their parenting methods will socialize an adopted child. The behavior and personality of these kids will be shaped by their role models, which is in effect the similar impact that biological parents have on their own children. Let us not forget as well the role our grandparents had on our parents, and how some traits, habits, quirks and outrageous idiosyncrasies will be passed on down the line. The resemblance of your face even, whether it's your mother's or father's, will be displayed in your face, to a degree.
I had a habit as a young kid, prior to becoming a pre-teen, and it was the way I would soothe myself with my blanket, to rub the edge of my fingers on the blanket's edge. I did this every day, without fail. I even remember doing it, until one day when I had returned home from school, grade 3, I discovered my blanket was gone, retired by my mom, who wanted me to grow up. It was devasting! 😂Lo and behold, my niece demonstrated the exact same behavior. I noticed one morning when I was visiting with my sister and her two kids. My niece and I laugh about it now. I never taught her this because she had yet to be born at the age I was engaging in this stimming practice. But there it was, a habit that had jumped along the familial lines.
Anthropologists have stated for decades that children will most closely resemble their father in order to give the father a valid reason to take a vested interest in the child, knowing their son or daughter is in fact their own, rather than to run off and make babies with another female. This too still occurs, however, and it doesn't stop the connecting thread from displaying itself. Biology is the study of life and living organisms, of which humans have invested a good deal of research, to learn all we can about genetics, cells and molecular structures, physiology and anatomy, as well as ecology and evolution. It's a wide-ranging subject, the study of biology, and it's not difficult to understand why many persons enter this field of research because there are many different avenues to pursue. Apparently, it's very satisfying as well.
Allow me to highlight the case of DNA, the plethora of genealogy and family history laboratories that have become all the rage, to be able to pinpoint precisely the breakdown of your family DNA, and to be given a sense of your familial make-up. One company, in particular, called Ancestry is regarded as one of the biggest: a subscription based firm that has cashed in on finalizing Family Trees as well as to provide to its clients historical documents, sometimes rare photos that've been buried in archives. I have extended family members who've done this, to hand over a sample of their DNA. But not me. The whole idea of me freely giving up a sample of my DNA to a company, without having any control on where this sample ends up has never sat right with me. Ancestry is known as the most profitable and biggest consumer genomics company in the United States. So, maybe it won't come as a surprise that China also has companies of this nature based in the US, over and above illegal biolabs that have been uncovered with links to Chinese nationals.
Sounds scary? It should scare you, not the notion that you've inherited traits of your parents, that you will eventually become like your parents, but that your DNA is sought after by companies. Scammers too have used this historical information on your family to pitch their false-identity to you. It's happened to me and to my nephew as well.
I've lived longer than many persons who communicate on X. I've seen the obvious threads between me and my parents. My dad was the strong quiet type, a by-product of his manly generation where men didn't express their fears openly, or complain, or wear their hearts on their sleeves. I see myself in my father because I'm not one to do the same, unless I'm dealing with intense physical pain, and then I'll allow my emotions to tumble over the line of private and to explode in the open. Dental pain will do this to me. Skin cancer surgery will do this to me. And getting hit by a car while cycling has surely done this to me, when the eventual pain set in, after my adrenalin rush had subsided.
I also see my mother in myself and how she was and still is crafty with her spending habits, to understand early on that a home, when well-managed, has the power to empower you, something that she had learned from her mother. My Mom could take a part a vacuum cleaner, tinker with it, and then put it back to together, and it would work. I've started down this path too, tinkering, while my kitchen drawer which holds my hammer, various screw-drivers and the like continues to grow. I've repaired broken tower fans that should work but didn't, until I figured out a way to peel off their secure casing, to get at the part, and then to put everything back together. There is also another trait that I've inherited from my mother and that is to be naturally organized. I've been called this most of my professional career as an Executive Assistant, and it actually comes natural to me, when I observe how the obvious isn't so obvious with colleagues who struggle. I didn't wake up one day and decide I'm going to be organized. Rather, the habit or trait appears to be pre-coded into my being. This trait of organization is often associated with German fastidiousness and ingenuity, and perhaps it's no coincidence that my mother is German, more precisely West Prussian, which was an historical province of Prussia, prior to it becoming part of Poland. The province of West Prussia was regarded as a state within an army vs how we might generally view countries as being an army within a state. I can attest to their serious natures, and I have one too, whereas my father's Irish and Newfoundland heritage has also taught me the value of not taking everything too seriously.
I've used this joke a few times when admitting to people that I'm German-Irish, which is to say I'm a meticulous drunk. Yes, I am meticulous, but no, I'm no drunk, though after I've allowed myself to indulge, on the rare occasions when I let my hair down, I've been told apparently that I'm the life of the party, just the way my Dad was with his colleagues and close friends.
The threads between me and my parents, between them and their parents, and so on, going as far back as their lineage... well these threads are tightly woven, like structural building blocks, and so tight as to be impossible to untangle.
Then there is China, to return to this point. China has made quantum leaps to build out their manufacturing capabilities, and this includes their biolaboratories, to collect DNA data from as many North Americans as possible, while disallowing DNA data to be collected on their people. The goal, apparently, is to one day deliver online medical services to North Americans, to treat persons based on their DNA history, using the documented cases of recovery and treatments, predicated on their healing success, all of which is being stored in databases.
The future may mean that you won't necessarily have to go into your doctor's office in-person to get a complete physical or to have a specific issue looked at, because your DNA will spell out the full picture. It will be as easy as creating an online profile on one of these ancestral/DNA company's website, and they in turn will recommend a medicine that coincidentally they manufacture themselves.
However, this scenario won't apply to those needing surgery, where your body must go under the knife vs your DNA being sliced into genomes, catalogued, studied, and or potentially to be replicated. I don't believe that the DNA code will be fully cracked, to regress aging, because this would imply that cellular decay will move backwards, or be stopped altogether. I do believe that cellular structure one day will be slowed down to more of a crawl, that our aging bodies, faces and mind will have more time to figure it out, to understand that your heritage is proof-positive that as you age, you will surely begin to demonstrate the old-age habits of your parents.
May our DNA help us all. Just don't ask me for mine because the potential of running into myself, my clone would freak me out.
The one caveat in this scenario, or least seemingly so, is when a child is an orphan, and is raised by two non-biological parents. Here too, however, there'll still be threads, from direct contact with the adults stepping in to fulfill the role of parents, and how their parenting methods will socialize an adopted child. The behavior and personality of these kids will be shaped by their role models, which is in effect the similar impact that biological parents have on their own children. Let us not forget as well the role our grandparents had on our parents, and how some traits, habits, quirks and outrageous idiosyncrasies will be passed on down the line. The resemblance of your face even, whether it's your mother's or father's, will be displayed in your face, to a degree.
I had a habit as a young kid, prior to becoming a pre-teen, and it was the way I would soothe myself with my blanket, to rub the edge of my fingers on the blanket's edge. I did this every day, without fail. I even remember doing it, until one day when I had returned home from school, grade 3, I discovered my blanket was gone, retired by my mom, who wanted me to grow up. It was devasting! 😂Lo and behold, my niece demonstrated the exact same behavior. I noticed one morning when I was visiting with my sister and her two kids. My niece and I laugh about it now. I never taught her this because she had yet to be born at the age I was engaging in this stimming practice. But there it was, a habit that had jumped along the familial lines.
Anthropologists have stated for decades that children will most closely resemble their father in order to give the father a valid reason to take a vested interest in the child, knowing their son or daughter is in fact their own, rather than to run off and make babies with another female. This too still occurs, however, and it doesn't stop the connecting thread from displaying itself. Biology is the study of life and living organisms, of which humans have invested a good deal of research, to learn all we can about genetics, cells and molecular structures, physiology and anatomy, as well as ecology and evolution. It's a wide-ranging subject, the study of biology, and it's not difficult to understand why many persons enter this field of research because there are many different avenues to pursue. Apparently, it's very satisfying as well.
Allow me to highlight the case of DNA, the plethora of genealogy and family history laboratories that have become all the rage, to be able to pinpoint precisely the breakdown of your family DNA, and to be given a sense of your familial make-up. One company, in particular, called Ancestry is regarded as one of the biggest: a subscription based firm that has cashed in on finalizing Family Trees as well as to provide to its clients historical documents, sometimes rare photos that've been buried in archives. I have extended family members who've done this, to hand over a sample of their DNA. But not me. The whole idea of me freely giving up a sample of my DNA to a company, without having any control on where this sample ends up has never sat right with me. Ancestry is known as the most profitable and biggest consumer genomics company in the United States. So, maybe it won't come as a surprise that China also has companies of this nature based in the US, over and above illegal biolabs that have been uncovered with links to Chinese nationals.
Sounds scary? It should scare you, not the notion that you've inherited traits of your parents, that you will eventually become like your parents, but that your DNA is sought after by companies. Scammers too have used this historical information on your family to pitch their false-identity to you. It's happened to me and to my nephew as well.
I've lived longer than many persons who communicate on X. I've seen the obvious threads between me and my parents. My dad was the strong quiet type, a by-product of his manly generation where men didn't express their fears openly, or complain, or wear their hearts on their sleeves. I see myself in my father because I'm not one to do the same, unless I'm dealing with intense physical pain, and then I'll allow my emotions to tumble over the line of private and to explode in the open. Dental pain will do this to me. Skin cancer surgery will do this to me. And getting hit by a car while cycling has surely done this to me, when the eventual pain set in, after my adrenalin rush had subsided.
I also see my mother in myself and how she was and still is crafty with her spending habits, to understand early on that a home, when well-managed, has the power to empower you, something that she had learned from her mother. My Mom could take a part a vacuum cleaner, tinker with it, and then put it back to together, and it would work. I've started down this path too, tinkering, while my kitchen drawer which holds my hammer, various screw-drivers and the like continues to grow. I've repaired broken tower fans that should work but didn't, until I figured out a way to peel off their secure casing, to get at the part, and then to put everything back together. There is also another trait that I've inherited from my mother and that is to be naturally organized. I've been called this most of my professional career as an Executive Assistant, and it actually comes natural to me, when I observe how the obvious isn't so obvious with colleagues who struggle. I didn't wake up one day and decide I'm going to be organized. Rather, the habit or trait appears to be pre-coded into my being. This trait of organization is often associated with German fastidiousness and ingenuity, and perhaps it's no coincidence that my mother is German, more precisely West Prussian, which was an historical province of Prussia, prior to it becoming part of Poland. The province of West Prussia was regarded as a state within an army vs how we might generally view countries as being an army within a state. I can attest to their serious natures, and I have one too, whereas my father's Irish and Newfoundland heritage has also taught me the value of not taking everything too seriously.
I've used this joke a few times when admitting to people that I'm German-Irish, which is to say I'm a meticulous drunk. Yes, I am meticulous, but no, I'm no drunk, though after I've allowed myself to indulge, on the rare occasions when I let my hair down, I've been told apparently that I'm the life of the party, just the way my Dad was with his colleagues and close friends.
The threads between me and my parents, between them and their parents, and so on, going as far back as their lineage... well these threads are tightly woven, like structural building blocks, and so tight as to be impossible to untangle.
Then there is China, to return to this point. China has made quantum leaps to build out their manufacturing capabilities, and this includes their biolaboratories, to collect DNA data from as many North Americans as possible, while disallowing DNA data to be collected on their people. The goal, apparently, is to one day deliver online medical services to North Americans, to treat persons based on their DNA history, using the documented cases of recovery and treatments, predicated on their healing success, all of which is being stored in databases.
The future may mean that you won't necessarily have to go into your doctor's office in-person to get a complete physical or to have a specific issue looked at, because your DNA will spell out the full picture. It will be as easy as creating an online profile on one of these ancestral/DNA company's website, and they in turn will recommend a medicine that coincidentally they manufacture themselves.
However, this scenario won't apply to those needing surgery, where your body must go under the knife vs your DNA being sliced into genomes, catalogued, studied, and or potentially to be replicated. I don't believe that the DNA code will be fully cracked, to regress aging, because this would imply that cellular decay will move backwards, or be stopped altogether. I do believe that cellular structure one day will be slowed down to more of a crawl, that our aging bodies, faces and mind will have more time to figure it out, to understand that your heritage is proof-positive that as you age, you will surely begin to demonstrate the old-age habits of your parents.
May our DNA help us all. Just don't ask me for mine because the potential of running into myself, my clone would freak me out.
