m of every disorder, and I am not sure we ever will. Regarding homosexuality, with the exception of the traumatized individual who turns to it for safety, I strongly believe it is a predetermined trait. I do not have an answer for the fifty- percent of identical twins that are not gay in the studies except that maybe we don’t know all there is to know about identical twins. I can’t explain why I prefer the opposite sex, I just do, and I can’t imagine that a homosexual would have any more of an explanation that I do for their own sexual orientation. With alcoholism, I would have to lean towards the environment as the primary influencing factor. From a personal perspective, I should be an alcoholic by all rights. Nearly my entire family on my mother and father’s sides is composed of alcoholics, either recovered or not, and my environment growing up for the first 11 years of my life was with a bi-polar alcoholic. Somehow I managed to escape the disease (at least thus far), but I know that not everyone does. In my case you could say environment caused me not to be an alcoholic because of my negative exposure to it, I could not imagine living my life in such a way. Genetics may play a role in determining alcoholism, but that does not explain the individuals who develop the disorder, but do not have it in their family history (if that is possible in our day and age). I also do not feel we should rule out the possibility that the disorder skips generations. I think both sides of the nature vs. nurture issue are correct to varying degrees depending on the issue. Obviously we are not able to change our height, shoe size, or natural hair color, but if we are plagued with a trait that is not considered “normal” that we want to change and have the ability to do so, by all means we should. It comes down to what is in our entire character makeup, and our ability to overcome the negative influences of o...
