Born into pessimism

Sometimes, life is too fatalistic for my tastes. It’s a fundamentally anti-American thing to say that we are too molded by the past, that our destinies are rough-hewn before we have control of our own lives. Sad, too, to learn too late that this is also true of those around us.

Certainly, this isn’t determinism; but without even knowing what causes us to shape and shade our thinking, how much are we hamstrung by invisible ropes? I thought briefly that perhaps I should never read research again, but my feeling here are they same as they are with consumer DNA testing: learning where the risks are gives us power to choose.

Ignorance is submission. Knowledge is power. Action is dignity.