PART OF YOU IS PART OF ME

    We are who we are because of many factors, the most important of which are our genes. We had no part in our genetic make up and we can do little to alter it in any way. Yes, science and medicine are trying to find ways to tinker with our genes so as to eliminate disease, and that is good. But our gender, skin color, intelligence, skills and abilities, and so much more are determined at conception. We can do nothing about that fact whether we like it or not.

    Part of who we now are is also determined by the decisions we have made all along the way, by the roads we have chosen to take and the roads we have decided were not ones we preferred to walk down. We cannot go back and retrace our steps or undo our decisions. They were made and we are now living with the results. We may wish we had made other or better decisions but we cannot dwell upon it. We can only learn from the past and hope and pray that when we come to the next fork in the road, we will choose the better one.

    We know all that, of course. We are all well aware that our genes affect so much of who we are and what we do or cannot do – especially those things we cannot do which we wish we could. We do tend to envy the God-given (read: genetic) talents of others and tend to downplay or take for granted our own. We also know the secret to a long and healthy life is fourfold: 1) a healthy diet, 2) proper exercise, 3) a good attitude, and, 4) the right genes. Without the latter the other three may not help. With the latter the other three may not matter. Such is life.

    One of the main factors that contribute to who we are as a person is one that we often overlook, if we even recognize it at all, and that is that the people whom we have encountered in our lives make up a part of who we now are. Part of you is part of me. Every person who has passed through my life is now some how in some way a part of me. Some people have had a tremendous influence on who I now am and others less so. But each and every one of them has changed me and helped make me into the person who I now am. That is true for me. It is true for everyone. There are no exceptions.

    All we need do to realize just how important other people have been in our lives is to take some time to think not about those closest to us and whom we know have influenced our lives and the choices and decisions we have made and continue to make – our family, our spouse, our teachers. Rather, we should reflect on those whom we have met only in passing, perhaps not even personally. A book we have read or the personal example of another we have observed has changed us: the volunteer who is always there, the young man whose genes have betrayed him but who never complains, the woman who always has a kind word for everyone – the list is endless for each one of us.

    We carry with us wherever we are those whom we have encountered all along those roads we have taken over the course of our lives. In many ways they have truly become part of our genetic makeup. We are better people because of them and we need to give thanks to God for them.             WJP