Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Genetic bad habits?

An episode of the Today Show mentioned a new study showing there might actually be a "cheating" gene. There is evidence that there is a gene that shows whether or not a man has more of a capability of cheating on his wife. I was thinking about this and wondering whether or not it would be a good thing to be able to detect this kind of thing. I should interject that it's not because I am suspicious, it was just part of my usual insomnia - laying awake with nothing to do but think. Anyway...wouldn't this be bad? No one would ever go into a relationship with one of these individuals and may be missing out on a really good thing. The people discussing the gene said that many factors influence whether or not a person will cheat, such as upbringing, not just the gene. I was also thinking that this would be a real bummer for those that knew they had the gene. There might even be a wave of scheming and conniving to cover up results, such as men switching urine or blood samples to throw a girl off the scent of his impending fate. Plus, would people start avoiding those people just for the purpose of gene refinement? So if someone has a bad trait, do people choose not to procreate with them so that their offspring can avoid the gene? Craziness! What if you were really in love with someone and discovered this? Do you just kick them to the curb?

This also reminded me of a conversation about ethics in one of my counseling classes. There is a code of conduct stating that a therapeutic professional will not get involved with a client or friend/family member of said client for 5 years. We were discussing this in class and someone posed the question about what would happen if you didn't know the person was a relative and you were in love. One girl said that you would just have to end it, which seemed pretty cold. I can't imagine just walking away and saying "See ya" just because of a law and having it be so cut and dry. Luckily I am married and I imagine this sort kind of thing is pretty rare, but it was kind of on the lines of the cheating gene. Could I just walk away? That would be crazy; although I may want to reevaluate this on a day where I am not mad at my husband.

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