Nature vs. Nurture

Biases, prejudice, intolerance – these human characteristics, which are so entwined in so much of human struggle, seem not to be qualities we are born with. So for the “nature vs. nurture” aficionados, listen up – feeling that you are better or superior to another group of humans is plainly “nurture” – that is it is something you learn from your early environment growing up – this is not rocket science.

I leave it to the psychologists and sociologists to help explain this phenomena – but my uneducated guess is that there is some feeling of security and esteem achieved by various activities that makes one feel to be “better” or “superior” to someone else. Or for your “group” to be seen as better or superior to another.

Being a WASP myself (only by definition – not by pride), I was in for a shock when I first lived outside the United States in Saudi Arabia. There American white men were not at the top of the pecking order. In Saudi it was the Saudi men and this also varied by tribe, age, and wealth. Baboons and other apes have long been studied and shown to have a very structured and constantly tested hierarchical order – so possibly there are advantages in nature to this “I’m better than you” mentality.

But at birth and at death - those crucial intersections with eternity – it seems that human pride and vanity are for naught – and perhaps we might examine how more humility might afford individuals and societies a better quality of life. After all – isn’t that a core Jesus idea?