"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be"
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
People choose who they want to be. Irrespective of any factors that may preempt them to become either heroes or villains in life, their decisions to choose a path speaks volume to the type of people they are.
In my village, it is believed that a snake can never give birth to sheep. Logically, this is factual, but when the context is human behavior, and lifestyle in general, a villain can actually give birth to a hero. It all boils down to the decisions taken by the person in question.
In this post, i will be making a response to hive learners prompt; Human traits. Lots of questions where asked in this prompt, so, i will answer this question based on my perspective and beliefs. So, pull a cushion, grab a drink, pop corn or something else, and lemme tell you my perspective.
It is a well known fact that there are many agents of socialization. These agents of socialization (home, school, and peers) tend to affect the way a person thinks, and behaves. Sometimes, when we see somebody acting in a particular way, we will get a hint of where that person is from or where he or she has been to in the past.
My knowledge of developmental psychology is very much limited when compared to professors in this field. However, one thing i know for sure is that villains are not born as villains, they are created over time. Also, heroes are not born as heroes, they are created over time.
Metaphorically speaking, the fact that Mr Michael is diabetic or is known hypertensive patient does not men that his descendants will be diabetic or hypertensive, instead, it increases the chances of them being diabetic. This accounts for why his descendants needs to take prophylactic steps in other to avoid these diseases.
The truth is that nobody is born a hero or villain. Everyone is innocent without good or bad until agents of socialization acts on them. When a child grows up in a good environment with healthy relationships around him or her, that child may grow up to have healthy traits. Kindness will lead his path as he will not want to hurt anyone.
Conversely, when a child grows up in a bad environment that consists of all sort of crimes, there is a high chance that they will grow up to see these crimes as normal things, not realizing that its not a good thing. Some people realize the bad in what they are doing but they continue nonetheless.
I have seen in some cases where parents will train their child in the way they should go, but when the child grows up, they will deviate from the path they grew up in. There is not a blueprint of how to raise a child. What is ideal in one parents mind is totally different from what is ideal in the mind of another parent. However, this doesn't mean that we should leave the child's fate to luck or the parents should roll a dice and let the dice decide the child's fate.
I think the decision of wether or not the child chooses the path of good or bad should not be for the parents to make. Instead, they could guide the child with clear information of what good looks and feels like and what the consequences are, also, parents should inform the child on what bad looks and feels like and what the consequences are. Let the child decide on what path they want to follow.
One thing i know for sure is that, a child that wants to be good, will be good and a child that wants to be bad, will be bad. It all boils down to the informed difficult decisions made by that child.
Thank you for reading