my eye color--not blue!
I've been swimming in the Kos pond for a while now, getting acquainted with the ecosystem. I haven't found any super turtles yet. But I did bump into my mentor, SOTS. SOTS is actually not his full name, it is an acronym for "Socrates of the Swamps". Sots has an interesting method of teaching--he does it by asking questions. Now for this educational method to succeed, the student is presumed to have a brain. Unfortunately, this excludes many turtles, and their devolved subspecies known as Repuglicans.
For instance, I asked SOTS why almost all Alligators are agnostics. After minimal contemplation, he replied by asking me about the religious beliefs of my parents. This gave me pause because we gators are not strong on long relationships with our progenitors.
The reason that almost all alligators are agnostics is simply: because their parents were!
Unsurprisingly, this result can be generalized to humans. Why are most Americans nominally Christian--because their parents were.
So now we come to the point: where does Nature end and Nurture begin? The answer ain't so simple, as my mentor SOTS has explained to me on many occasions. But I will defer this explanation to another time.
Now, to the core of this musing: ever since I was a young gator, I noted that I did not have blue eyes; nor did any of my relatives. I have always desired BLUE EYES. But as the picture clearly shows, my eyes are not blue.
I prayed and prayed and prayed for blue eyes. No success. I sought counseling; I read books; I fasted. I prayed some more. Still my eyes were not blue.
In such a state, I beseeched my mentor as to why, no matter what I did, my eyes were still not blue.
SOTS then asked me: "Are you not an Alligator?"
Yes, of course I am.
"Then you need not be disheartened because you are an Alligator. Almost all Alligators do not have blue eyes. You are not wicked or morally deficient. You are just an Alligator," said SOTS.
This unburdened me of my initial concern, but then arose another question I had been repressing until now. "Then why am I so blatantly heterosexual? I have been heterosexual ever since I was a young gator. I did not choose to be heterosexual. Some of the gay Alligators I know have confided to me that they, like me, had tried prayer, counseling, etc. to cure themselves of their gay-ness."
SOTS replied, "The reason lies in your DNA."
This puzzled me, so I asked, "Then why is there such a noisy contingent on the fringes of our pond that insist that such feelings can be cured by prayer, counseling and so on?"
Hence SOTS responded: "That is because some turtles and their devolved descendants (often self-identified as Repuglicans) have a deficient knowledge of science combined with a dearth of compassion. The former condition can theoretically be CURED if the student has sufficient brain-power. But, unfortunately infusion of compassion into these unfortunate creatures often fails."
Feeling thus enlightened, I respectfully took leave of my mentor and resumed trolling for the elusive super turtle.