Harnessing the Power of the DNA Code
By Veronica MacDonald Ditko
An Accidental Anthropologist
DNA research has revealed a lot of things, from where certain diseases originate, to what eye color you have. I am still holding out for another kind of discovery, something a little more intangible. I truly believe that experiences or intuition are passed down through the genetic code.
I’m not alone. There is a new scientific field called Epigenetics which looks at the ways in which environment can affect DNA and then shape the way you look and act. While most of these studies are focused on diet and environmental factors such as harmful chemicals, there is a growing body of research that looks at stress, which can create profound effects, and how that is passed down.
My mother tells me I am nearly a carbon copy of my grandmother personality-wise. I never met a vegetable I didn’t like and I’m a Neat Nick, well, that is until I had two boys that mess up the house every passing minute. And I am certain one day I’ll be able to figure out what genes gave me these traits and likes/dislikes.
But there is one thing I can’t explain. When I was a child, I watched the Thorn Birds saga, a television mini-series starring Richard Chamberlain and based on some very popular books by Australian author Colleen McCullough. The story in a nutshell is a priest who falls in love with a woman he knew since she was a little girl, and the ensuing struggle he has to stay faithful to the Catholic Church. I have never picked up the actual books and I’ll tell you why.
I watched the mini-series with bated breath, hung on every word. And in the end I cried my eyes out. I cried harder than I ever have in my life, except for maybe in the aftermath of September 11th. I felt like it was happening to me. My mother didn’t know what to do with me.
When I was in high school, they aired the series again. I remembered the impact it had on me as a child. But I thought I was older, wiser, and better able to handle it. I couldn’t. Again I cried like a baby. And again, I related it to my life like it was happening to me, and trust me I have never been in love with any member of the Clergy.
When I was older, I was told some news that would change me forever and shed light on these indescribable feelings. My grandmother’s father (my great grandfather) was the product of a broken union between a teenage girl and a priest. I don’t know about the Italian priest’s life, but her life was ruined. She died when she was about 30 years old. The shame of living in a small town in Switzerland was too much to bear, no doubt. And she had more than one child by him.
The fact is I sympathized with the priest while I watched the Thorn Birds saga. Somehow I knew the internal struggle he had between true love and his commitment to the church. I was so sad for him. I understood him. He only wanted to do what was right but his heart kept getting in the way. I knew what he was feeling. But how could I? I was just a child.
If I ever see the Thorn Birds air again on television, I don’t think I’ll watch it. I would have to relive it all over again, and honestly, it is so upsetting to me, I don’t think I could bear it.
But this much I know – I have never even remotely thought about a member of the Clergy in a romantic way. And while I find religious people fascinating, I will never allow myself to go there. Is there a piece of genetic material telling me not to do this? I really think there is. Not everything can be learned through demonstration. Sometimes, you just have to know what to do when faced with something unfamiliar in your life, but seen in the lives before you.
Call it intuition, call it what you like, but listen to this inner voice. There is probably a reason why.
Veronica MacDonald Ditko is originally from the Jersey Shore, but married and settled in northern New Jersey. Her journalism career started a decade ago after studying Psychology and Anthropology in Massachusetts. She has written for several newspapers and magazines including The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Springfield Union News and Sunday Republican, Happi, Chemical Week, The Hawthorne Press, The Jewish Standard, Suite101.com and more.