Nature and Nurture

As a student studying human development, I am often found in a class discussing the age old battle of nature and nurture.

For those who do not know about this theoretical crusade, I will explain. In the 50s, there was a man named Watson who said he could make any child become what he wanted by changing his or her atmosphere (we all wonder at the state of his children). His argument was for NURTURE. He said that a person's environment determines who they are.

Later, we had others come along who believed what makes a person (their choices, thoughts, etc) is their genetics. They argue for NATURE.

Somewhere during the beginning of class, I realized that what I thought was an archaic argument is actually still raging on today.  By the end of our class discussion, it dawned on me that this war of words and ideas is based on the question

                                       "Who am I?" 

Does my environment, my parents, my friends, the weather make me who I am? Or does my DNA? In the tumult of ideas cascading through my mind I realized that genetics is unclear, environment is unclear, even choice can get muddled into the fray.

I can't get the questions or debate out of my mind. Not because I'm fascinated by what makes me...me. But because I want to know, why do we spend so much time and energy asking "Who am I?" And what does that say about who we are?

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