Intro to Mil & Steve
Why was I born?
Why am I livin’?
Jerome Kern
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Every litter has a pup nicknamed “Killer.” Killer isn’t a bad dog, he’s just a bit of a bully. He goes his own way, takes what he wants when he wants it, picks on his siblings and doesn’t cuddle well.
I have whelped and raised almost a dozen litters of puppies, including Dalmatians, golden retrievers, Labradors and mutts. More than once I have spent 48 hours in labor playing doggie obstetrician. One phenomenon always holds true: puppies leave the womb with their personalities fully formed.
By Day Two you can tell which pup will be the cuddliest, which will be the suck-up, which the complainer, which the loudest, and which one deserves the nickname, “Killer.”
Eight weeks later, when they’re adopted out, their personalities haven’t changed at all. You can civilize and train them, and teach them to behave in an acceptable manner. Within limits, you can change how they act, but you can’t change who they are. “Killer” will always be a willful, loud tough guy.
So in the age-old debate about nature vs. nurture, I come down solidly on the side of nature as the primary shaping force of personality, with nurture running a few lengths behind.
I don’t like this observation. It runs completely counter to my social and political philosophies. But there it is.
My observations of human puppies have not changed my “personality-out-of-the-womb” theory. The fussy baby (absent any physical cause) becomes the fussy child and will, generally, become the fussy adult. Subject, of course, to the nudging influence of nurture.
Sometimes, a large amount of puppy training, or a large amount of study, guidance, self-reflection and practice can so successfully apply a grease-paint gloss over the puppy/person’s true nature that it can actually seem to have developed a different personality. In reality, it is but another mask.
Some religious sects believe that certain babies are destined, from the moment of birth, to go straight to hell, while others believe that we control our own destinies. I can go either way: I believe we are born to be what we are, but we can be made better or worse by our nurturing and, in some instances, with a great deal of effort, can almost create our own lives.
Predestination? That’s me. Free will? That’s me, too.