DNA

During my life I have come full circle in regards to the behavior of the American people. When I was young I was very good at making excuses for people. No matter how a person behaved, I could justify it based on some past situation. It was never their fault and they could not be held accountable for something that they had no control over. I got so good at this that I ultimately arrived at the point where no one was responsible for anything. As time passed I came to realize that this was not realistic. I saw more and more examples of people who were raised in the same family, lived in the same neighborhoods and went to the same schools and yet grew up to be quite different. One brother became a priest and another a criminal. With the onset of genetic testing, I now find myself beginning another cycle surrounding the behavior of people. It started with physical things like weight control. There are genomes that cause some people to gain weight, some that cause people to feel anxious, some that cause people to use drugs and lately some evidence that there is a gay gene. I can accept all of these changes but if I project into future discoveries, I find myself once again justifying behavior in many ways. For example, what if we discover a gene that causes criminal behavior? Can we punish a criminal if they were genetically predisposed to commit crimes? When we completely unravel the DNA molecule and understand the actions of each gene will we reach the point where no one is responsible for their actions?