Skip to main content

How Different Would We Be Walking In Another Person’s Shoes?




Biological vs. environmental influences in a person’s makeup.

If we walked in another person’s shoes, how different would we be from them?

The old adage asks an important question; one that may have more than one answer.

The crux of it is related to the psychological discussion on what is the most influencing factor in a person’s personality and psychological makeup: biological vs. environment.

I think the prevailing belief among the masses leans toward the biological side, yet the truth leans toward the environmental side.

Both are important in the ultimate makeup of who and what a person is and how they behave and think.

It makes sense that the environment a person is around will have the most impact on their makeup. Who their parents were, if they had both parents, siblings, etc. The factors are endless, yet their culmination is a uniquely influenced person, a societal creation, a manifestation of social mores.

The main factors are:

  • Parents/guardians
  • Siblings
  • Friends/acquaintances
  • Financial situation
  • Stability with home/school
  • Culture
  • Area lived at
  • Social mores
  • Abuse suffered
  • Tragedies endured
  • School experience
  • Physical looks and abilities (biological, yet creates a different environment as well)
  • Major societal changes/disruptions

Those are just some of the main environmental variables that influence a person’s overall makeup. I’m sure there are some peer-reviewed studies that can prove the advantages of growing up rich vs. poor for instance.

Just look at the tendency for children of famous people to follow in their parent’s footsteps, whether sports, music, business, acting, etc. Growing up with a parent who accomplished becoming a professional in an elite field is often enough for the child to do the same.

Some may say, they have similar biological makeup, yet many others have similar as well, yet didn’t reach that level. The difference is having someone in the environment who is doing said things, giving children a better chance of doing the same.

Having money or not makes a huge difference in outcomes with people.

Not to say, having money produces better outcomes, yet it does produce more opportunity and gives people a better chance of reaching their potential.

Still, their character might not be mature, and their mentality might be weaker than a person who grew up poor, yet found a way to make it, notwithstanding they never reached their potential in a certain area where they had talent, etc.

The teeter-totter of life ensures everyone is on an even playing field, even if it doesn’t seem like it. Whatever you have there is something you don’t have in contrast (you can’t not have something you have). Certain things are less desirable, yet they may bring more faith or character building.

At a certain point, we are in control of our environmental influences for the most part. Let us choose wisely, for they will form our personality and character.

Being grateful for what we have and not coveting what others have is important. Being content with what we have while working to improve things is important.

Understanding that no one has everything, and every level of society offers unique benefits, we can appreciate who we are while always trying to refine and improve our issues and situations.

The point is: Get away from being a respecter of persons, stop worshiping celebrities, and be content with who you are — be grateful for what you have, including the experiences and environments that influenced your life, and forgive any and all offenses involved.

Also, don’t let others look down on you and convince you of their worth at the cost of your own.

Ultimately, we can learn to empathize with our fellow humans without condoning their crimes or behavioral issues. If we walked in their shoes, would we be any different than them?

I think we would be different in some measure with our inborn traits, yet facing the same environmental factors, we’d be more similar than most would think.

---

If you’d like to support my writing, click here.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thrown in the Trash by NewsBreak

Out with the old, in with the robots. My time writing for NewsBreak is now over. The upstart news app used writers like me to get their bandwagon going, and now it has discarded us after becoming respectable in the realm of news. I can’t blame them when it comes to me, as I’ve been writing opinion pieces exclusively for the last year. I started out writing local news articles about Oregon, but changed my strategy because of time constraints. I would take news articles from Oregon and rewrite them basically; not with AI, just with my noggin. Some did well, others were stalled by their algorithm. I could never tell if an article would do well or not. All in all, I made more money with NB than any other writing effort online besides copywriting. This brings me a lot of satisfaction with my time there, but sadly, it has come to an end. Recently, they sent me an email explaining they are going to make all the contributors reapply to be a contributor, as their strategy has changed; something...

Is Efficiency More Valuable than Reality?

Growth requires failures and errors, yet technology is removing these for efficiency and convenience. Maybe the most important question 21st-century citizens should ask is: “What level of technology do we need to live healthy and balanced lives in this world?” Why do we need online technology at all? Why do we need smartphones? Why do we need AI? And, importantly, what price will society pay for these technologies? Is the price worth whatever benefits these technologies offer? At this point, the prudent answer would be no, they are not worth the price, because, for one, they aren’t necessary, and two, they are detrimental to our character, development, and individual freedoms. The main theme for the integration of online automation technologies in business and personal use is efficiency; it will streamline processes, take away mundane tasks, and all without pesky human error. The problem is, people have a hard time arguing with efficiency, but is it the most important thing in life — d...

Future Freedom = Being Without Online Technology

Online technology was created to control humanity. One thing we can all agree on is that online/smart technology will only increase and become more integrated into our lives in the future, even at an exponential rate, as technological advancement reaches singularity. Therefore, we can conclude with deductive reasoning that our individual freedom will only be achieved without said technology. If this technology, manifested with AI automation, is going to be used to control us in every aspect of our lives, then freedom will not exist. Freedom is not just doing everything the controllers tell you to do or get punished, it is being free to do what you want do, under the natural law of treating others as you would want to be treated (do no harm physically to others, don’t steal or damage property/possessions of others, etc.). The near future is going to be defined by how technology is used to control humanity; it will be done under the guise of something other than control, but that is the ...

City of the Damned

The people have been spoiled by wealth and ease The city is a place to hide for the damned Wicked hearts full of evil Fearful and suspecting Not able to discern evil or good As they judge everyone according to status and money They’ve lost something important Yet are unaware of the tragedy They’ve been conditioned They’ve been brainwashed By a targeted social engineering program The city is full of pride Haughty people in vain pursuits People who love money and pleasure People who don’t fear God, nor think they are mortal They are ignorant of their miserable state They mistake it for a cloak of glory When it is a rotten rag that stinks like sin Fake smiles and conversations Fearful motives as they accuse and manipulate They destroy and cause chaos With their lies and deceit All those who have discernment should stay far away From the city of the damned