Quote Originally Posted by DowntownAmber View Post
As usual, mastersgem, I am following your post with considerable interest (you always seem to cast us into controversy!).
thank you, i think? lol *winks*

Quote Originally Posted by DowntownAmber View Post
Obviously cases are being made for both the "nature" and "nurture" side of this argument. This leads me to think that it's likely a healthy dose of BOTH. I am firmly convinced that our experiences do not define the whole of who we are, and certainly can NOT make us into people we are never inclined to be in the first place. However, the incidents that occur (especially the traumatic ones) as we live our lives are most certainly deciding factors in how our raw materials come together to form a person.

If I were to head to my kitchen right now, I could mix up two bowls of cake batter from identical ingredients. I could do EVERYTHING just the same, but then put one cake in the oven for 45 minutes and the other in the microwave. For those of you that don't bake, let me clear this up by saying I ain't gonna' get the same end result. The point? No matter what you start with, different preparation gives different results.

If I felt like prolonging the metaphor here, I could approach it from this angle as well: while the cakes are baking let's head out to the grill -- one grill, one temperature, no variables. Everything I put over the flame will be subjected to the very same set of conditions. So, I set a stone on one side of the grill and a block of wood on the other side. After a little while, the stone is still there. It's a little hot, mind you, but I can grab it off the grill and set it aside and when it cools down it's still going to be the very same stone. The wood? Most of it has burned away. I can scoop as many ashes up as I want, but I'll never be able to make a block of wood out of them again. The same experience that left one type of material unscathed, wrecked another.

We need, as people, to understand both things: what we are, and the effect our lives have on those innate tendancies.
i truly enjoyed this Amber, well done hun