Nature VS Nurture

In the debate of Nature vs. Nurture I believe that it is a combination of the two forces however if forced to choose one side I more closely side with the nurture stance.I find myself leaning that way for a number reasons however I do not have a  problem with gender roles. While in the podcast gender roles were mainly focused on I do not agree, as I probably should according to the podcast, I believe that gender roles are somewhat nurtured in to us. Yes men have certain traits through nature and yes so do women but I believe that through media and other social influences gender roles have become what they are. I also believe that with the same emphasis on changing gender roles that it can be accomplished.

My main arguments for the nurture side of the debate are my sister and mother. Both my sister and mother were adopted as babies and both are very similar to their adoptive parents. In watching my mother and maternal grandparents interact you can see a close reflection of her in them. To me however it is much more apparent in my little sister who I see daily. My sister was born in Guatemala in September of 2002 and we arrived in March of 2003 to pick her up to take her home, at only 6 months old. Despite being birthed by one woman, spending 6 months with yet another and finally spending the past 7 and half years with us she is undoubtedly a member of my family. She has many of the same mannerisms and actions as my family does and has even developed a sense of humor very like my father and mine, she emphasis many of the same things we do. She shows the same types of kindness, humor and other emotions and actions that I as a child showed, that my parents both emphasised. These things to me are hard evidence that a person becomes who they are through nurture. Despite being from another country thousands of miles away she is most like my family and I and that I think can only come through nurture, through the way a child is raised and the things which are shown and imposed upon them, through this people become who they are.

Another reason, and a much more naive one, I believe in nurture as a shaping force is because to believe that nature is the main shaping force of humans is to believe that people can be born bad, can be bad to the core. This to me is pessimistic, at the risk of sounding naive I believe that the soul of a person is good, that intentions begin admirably and through nurture and misguidance evil steps in. Why I believe that I can not necessarily say other than the fact that I think it disconcerting to believe some of the worlds most angry, evil people were simply born that way. That evil is an ever present force and not one that is pushed upon us to take the place of kindness and love. However naive and childish that may sound.