The other day, I was just thinking: There are 7 billion people in the world --and they're all different. Why? And what makes a person what he or she is? What makes us what we are?
So a couple of days ago, I talked about it with my neighbor in 7G. He's a psychologist. And he said, "Our environment and our experiences shape us. They're what makes us what we are. Like Mickey Mouse. He was born and raised in Disneyland--so he was all happy and shit. He was like, 'Oh--I'm all happy and shit.' Mel Gibson, on the other hand, lived really far from Disneyland. Like in Australia. And he was exposed to racist ideas at a young age. So he's all like, 'Damn Jews and blacks.' And not with a Mickey Mouse voice."
So according to the psychologist, that's why Mel Gibson was what he was and why he is what he is.
But then yesterday, I was talking to my neighbor--the one in 4F. He's a geneticist. And he said, "We are what we are due to our natures. We're pretty much born to be a certain person, and that's it. Environment doesn't do much.
"Mickey Mouse wasn't even born in Disneyland. He's from New York City. And Seattle. But he chose to move to Disneyland. He was all like, 'I'm all happy and shit.' And he moved to Disneyland, to be around happiness and shit.
"And Mel Gibson was born to be racist. When most of us were kids, we were all like, 'Daddy--can you tell me the story about The Three Little Pigs, or Goldilocks and the Three Bears?' But Mel Gibson was all like, 'Dad--can you tell me the story about The Three Covetous Jews, or Goldilocks and the Three Black Guys Who Tried to Rape Her?' Because that's just the way he was.
"Or even if he wasn't racist as a kid, he was just going to become racist. There was no avoiding it. Even if he had grown up in Disneyland, he would've befriended all the racist characters. Like maybe Cruella De Vil or something. He would've found some racists in Disneyland, hung around them, and started some sort of KKK group. Like he would've been drunk during a Disneyland parade, yelling 'The Jews will never take our freedom!'"
So according to the geneticist, it's just all in our nature.
But the thing is, both of my neighbors--the psychologist and the geneticist--make a lot of money, and they're both respected and whatever. But they have completely different views when it comes to this. And this is their specialty.
So I just ultimately came to the conclusion that... Or no. Wait a second. I didn't come to any conclusion.
I probably have to ask a third neighbor, as a tiebreaker. Like Lao Tzu--my neighbor in 7G. He's a famous ancient Chinese philosopher. Maybe he can shed some light on the topic. But I'll tell you what. I'll bet my other ancient Chinese philosopher neighbor Confucius--he lives in 3C--will probably disagree with Lao Tzu.
So here's what I really learned. You can learn a lot by talking to your neighbors--but at the end of the day, there's still going to be a lot of stuff that you're not going to know. That's just the way things are.