Blaming Hereditary,Nonsense

Many of us believed that the culture and the way of thought are hereditary. Not like that. In Our physical features, no doubt, hereditary has a great role to play. But in the case of thought and behavior, it is not true; some other elements have greater influence. The thought and faith make us what we are. We can see a lot of examples from our history. One of the best living Indian examples is Dr. A.P.J Adulkalam, the world-renowned scientist of missile technology.  He was born and brought up in a very poor family and no members in that family had any skilled profession or none of them was so called genius. So when he was in L.P School, he had to become a newspaper boy to meet his family requirements. One day his teacher took him along with his classmates to the nearby beach. While enjoying the beach, walking and talking, they approached a flock of birds sitting on the sand bed. Seeing the human flock the birds suddenly took off and made a beautiful formation in the sky. Seeing this teacher asked him and his classmates “why birds are able to fly?” Many answered what they learned from their class but the teacher was not ready to accept such answers. At last teacher, himself answered that inside the birds there were engines that helped to float and fly in the air. This answer triggered the creative thought of A.P.J in those days and he began to think and dream about an engine that helps to float and fly in the air. Gradually that thought and dream led him to what he is now. 

In nutshell, a change in thought totally changes person or personality. Or a change of mentality makes changes in person and in personality. It is not much related to hereditary. Not only the life of A.P.J but the lives of many other great people are examples for this fact.  We can see this truth in Bible from the words of John the Baptist. Look, Mathew, chapter three verses 7-9,

“7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham”.

Here John the Baptist says “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance”. This denotes the required mental change, or change in the thought, and thereby the qualities and deeds needed to make changes in personality. Abraham was one of the great prophets and he made great achievements with his faith. But those who were the descendants claimed the heritage of him didn’t have that ability and quality. That’s why John warned them. So what we are is our own product. Otherwise, anybody can make changes by making changes in their mental activities, faith, and beliefs. 

Sometimes we try to make changes in persons but results in failure. Then we blame the hereditary. Actually, some other thoughts must have a greater influence on the person than the thought we tried to impart. We never think about that side. What a person is his present stable thoughts. So excavate the mind to reveal the present personality. Only after knowing the present thoughts or mental state, we can make required amendments to the existing and plant new thoughts. In another version of this statement we can retell this truth like this, “until and unless a person is very open, it is very difficult to make any change in that person or personality.” Again, an open minded man can always make tremendous changes in his life. But “where and why the man is open” determines the direction and magnitude of change of that man.