Uniquely Us

Daily writing prompt

Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?

View all responses

Above Portrait: Learned Psychologist Nancy Segal PhD

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Be we Daily Prompt devotees or dabblers, I’d expect the lion’s share of our responses to wind up along the lines of these three-fold, cut to the chase conclusions; namely, the inevitable interaction of…

• Nature’s DeoxyriboNucleic Acid (DNA)
• Nurture’s parental aptitudes / attitudes
• Society’s positive / negative influences

Initially, I thought such a summation would be sufficient to make this post a wrap, HOWEVER, my being the curious type, on a whim, I decided to Google studies of identical twins raised apart. If you’ve got time to spare for some advanced reading, you won’t regret following the links within the following synopsis “teaser”…

“That research, which looked at identical twins who were reared apart and only met as adults, found remarkable similarities between those virtual strangers, suggesting that genes strongly influence aspects of our personality, intelligence and other traits that had long been thought to be mainly shaped by environment.”

[read more here: re PhD Psychologist Nancy Segal’s livelihood and life.]

Google Search • 31 March 2024
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As for my own advanced study of human nature, I’ll leave you, this day, with the following intriguing notion; regrettably… long sigh… only a thought experiment…

WHAT IF the reared by wolves Donald J. Trump had actually been a separated at birth identical twin, the “only” difference being that his brother (let’s call him Daniel) had been adopted and raised by some kindly folks; namely, Lillian Carter (15 August 1898 – 30 October 1983) and James Earl Carter Sr. (12 September 1894 – 22 July 1953); aka Jimmy Carter’s parents; you know, the former U.S. President who (for nearly four decades) listened to his head, heart and soul; hence, opted to tirelessly, literally hammer out work to construct over 4,000 homes (as a VOLUNTEER on behalf of Habitat for Humanity (toiling away, even as a nonagenarian)!

“That’s one of the things Habitat has given to us: an ability to share, side by side, building a home with families that have never had a decent place to live.”

39th U.S. President Jimmy Carter
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NOW… WHAT IF, some wealthy philanthropic souls were to dangle before Donald’s flaring, feral nostrils, oh, say, about a gazillion bucks (tax-free) (in small unmarked bills); you know, to lure him permanently off the campaign trail; to, best of all, surreptitiously do the Daniel / Donald switcheroo; btw, The Carter raised Dan the Man who grew up to be a truly humane human being!

Alas… once again… long sigh… (for obvious reasons) that’d be impossible… but… we can still keep that good thought; in hopes that there are still a few, remaining presidential wannabes, out there, who are more keenly attuned to mythical Daniel’s genuine, generous, gentle disposition rather than incurious, avaricious, petulant, vengeful, curt, cruel man-child Donald’s.

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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The We / Me Scale

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It’s a forgone conclusion that We v. Me pretty much sums up today’s ugly, never the twain shall meet, THICK, hyperpartisan divide; especially Stateside. If your own homeland suffers from a similar mental malaise / meltdown, you do have my heartfelt sympathy and, for what it’s worth, my Get Well Soon wishes.

Naturally, dual connotations of a word, such as THICK, not only define that vast divides’ dimension, but also aptly describe the Me-oriented persons’ density. To get a better handle on this, we’ll need to…

STEP #1: Establish / Title a Scale and briefly describe each tier’s people…

The We/Me Scale

• Free We: Progressives, who accept laws, which lead to society’s betterment
• So-so We: Capitulators, who obey life enhancing laws only to avoid penalties
• Sorta Me: Bellyachers, who seem to obey; yet, litigate virtuous laws to death
• PO’d Me: Anarchists, who’d overthrow a nation to absolutely overturn all laws

STEP #2: Run a thought experiment to assess how each brand of beings will likely react to, oh, say, their local communities’ public safety motivated, public sidewalk snow / ice removal mandates; oh, say, in the wake of a climate change generated, freakish winter storm.

• Free We folks will willingly shovel every several hours, throughout the entire, seemingly interminable event, in an eco-friendly manner; only resorting to snow blowers if they have medical issues.
• So-so We peeps won’t venture outdoors until the bitter end; barely meeting the stipulated snow removal deadlines.
• Sorta Me individuals might hire enterprising neighborhood youngsters to get ‘er done, but, typically, will await the spring thaw. In the meantime, these scofflaws, if/when fined, will delay payment while litigating till hell freezes over.
• PO’d Me entities will flat-out flip-off all laws and fines; all the while fantasizing about off-the-beaten-path plots to browbeat civil society into submission or obliteration (whichever comes first); their responses varying; i.e., depending on the severity of their psychoses.

Most worrisome is how that last on the list ilk might even consider bizarre tactics, such as…

• Setting up a “hunter’s blind” to ambush any enforcer who’d have the “audacity” to fine them.
• Hiring a backhoe operator / helicopter pilot to excavate / evacuate the public sidewalk; airlifting each snow / ice loaded concrete section to a nearby airport; to be jetted off to some torrid locale; and, once everything melts, reversing the entire process.
• Literally going ballistic by hacking into their homelands’ nuclear facilities; targeting and launching the nukes, thereby melting down every molecule of frozen H2O; HELL, every molecule / atom period (nation / worldwide).

Granted, even the possibility of that sounds astoundingly farfetched, BUT, then again, prior to January 6, 2021, so did the possibility of a sitting U.S. president, first, rallying HIS private army; next, deploying them to attack the very nation that he had sworn on the Holy Bible, to preserve, protect and defend.

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Acceptance? Ambivalence? Animosity?

 

While the demographics are (at best) hazy, it’s safe to say that folks are in the minority if they identify with any of these letters: LGBTQIA.

It’s also safe to say that how the straight world relates to them runs the full gamut of:

1. Acceptance
2. Ambivalence
3. Animosity

While I harbor Acceptance within my head and heart, I’d now like to ask my straight readers:

Which of those three “A” words would you choose to assess your own feelings?

• For those who’ve chosen #1, CONGRATULATIONS! End of blog!

• For those who’ve chosen #2 or #3, I encourage you to read on.

I’d like all of you to participate in my experiment that’ll take scant minutes to run. While it’s OK to regard this as a thought experiment, only, I believe that your actual participation will afford you palpable results… touchable results that will help get you in touch with your feelings… maybe even evolve and elevate your sentiments upward to that optimal, desirable level of Acceptance.

Read all of these instructions before starting:

1. Remove a sheet of paper from your printer.
2. Grab a pen or pencil.
3. In script, write out this sentence inclusive of the “?”: “This is my identity?”
4. Sign your full legal name.
5. Now, here’s the tough part. If you’re left handed use your right hand
…and vice versa. REMEMBER: NEATNESS DOES NOT COUNT!

Is everybody ready? OK. Complete your writing assignment while we playback the Jeopardy Think Song…

So… let’s now take a look-see at how everything turned out. Does your handwriting look messy? Maybe even illegible?

Well folks, that’s precisely my point.

While I am no PhD toting, white lab coated geneticist, it is my strong belief that… just as our DNA has regulated which hand we favor… it has also determined [1] who we favor / fall in love with and [2] whether or not the gender identity we harbor within our minds matches our below-the-belt anatomy.

• Consider the awkwardness you felt when you were forced to use the wrong hand.

• Would that awkwardness be any different were we to force any LGBTQIA person to adopt / adapt to a straight lifestyle?

• YES… the awkwardness would be far worse because, for them, that’d not be some minutes-long Interwebs experiment where they could easily switch back to their favored hand afterwards… that’d be real life… a lifetime of being who they are not!

I would encourage all, who actually ran our penmanship experiment, to save your work. Pin it up on your bulletin board or stick it to your refrigerator with a magnet.

Then… every time you find it difficult to accept the LGBTQIA community… look at your handwriting. Look at your own words, “This is my Identity?” and your own signature.

• That Illegibility stems from going against your DNA…. being someone who you are not.

• No lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer / questioning, intersex and asexual / allied person must ever be forced to go against a DNA ingrained sexual identity… to be someone who they are not!