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I just had a long conversation that got me thinking.

I possess a unique character, or at least I hope so for everyone else’s sake. I have some things that I am just awful at, and some things that I will admit I am good at. For example, if you give me a pencil I can draw a pretty handsome stick figure, but I can barely plunk out “heart and soul” on a piano. I’m just not “a natural” pianist. I think most people would agree that the fact that piano doesn’t come easily to me is a genetic trait (but feel free to contradict that statement). Now, if I wanted to, I could practice piano every day for 15 years and I’ll bet you that eventually I’d be good at it. With time and work, I can teach myself a skill that I don’t intrinsically possess. In other words, though I didn’t inherit a talent for piano, I can force my brain to learn it. Truthfully however, I’m still not “a natural” pianist, so, did I really change anything about my inherited character? I certainly did not change my genes. Can we really change our characters, or is it the most we can do to make choices to act out of accordance with them?

This was a silly example, but you can see that it could be applied to more serious topics as well. Take someone who gets addicted to things really easily. That person could fight their tendency toward addiction and not ever actually be addicted to anything, but does that change the fact that he or she has that character trait? Then again, maybe that’s just the point: You can’t change your genes, but you have the ability to act against your natural tendencies from them, which is an interesting idea in itself.

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