***** Vol.3 Chap.27 Calm before the storm *****
The restaurant was a fancy one. May-Ling kept looking at Frank and tried to follow everything he did. When Frank adjusted the silverware on the table, she did the same. When he took the napkin and place it on his lap, she did the same. She looked at the table and there were so many glasses and silverware that she got totally confused. Even though she was thirsty, she dared not touch any of the glasses.
“Frank, may I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Which is my glass of water?”
He smiled and said, “The one to your right.” To illustrate the point, Frank took the glass to his right and took a sip. Then he placed the glass back on the table, a little closer to his side. She quickly followed the same.
Picking up the menu and studying it for a while, May-Ling noticed the price for the entrees. After she converted the prices to rmb, her mouth dropped to the floor.
“Are these prices for a single dinner?” She asked Chris in exclamation!
“Oh, don’t worry about the price. Order what you want.”
“Thank you, but I don’t understand. The price of one dinner here already could pay for half a month’s rent for my clinic.”
They all laughed, thinking that was a joke, but May-Ling was quite serious about what she said.
“May-Ling, what do you like to eat?” Frank asked.
“I don’t know. Most of the menu seemed to be written in French or Italian!”
Again, they laughed.
“Yes, there are many French words on the menu. Let me help you order. Would you like fish, shrimp, scallop, crab, or combinations of these? If you are not familiar with American cuisine, a combination plate is the best.”
“OK, I will take a combination plate.”
“Would you like your meal broiled or deep fried?”
“What is broiled?”
“That is when they cook over a hot grill.” Chris explained.
“And deep fried?”
“That is when they bread the food and cook it in hot oil.”
“Sounds interesting. Hmmm, I like the first one better.”
“Then I suggest the Broiled Captain’s plate.”
“That sounds good. That is what I want, then.” She replied feeling like a real captain.
Frank studied the menu a little more and selected the Cajun style Mahi Mahi. Chris, who loved to eat, ordered a surf and turf with broiled lobster paired with an 8-oz filet mignon. After they placed their order, he started the conversation.
“First, I am so happy that both of you accepted my invitation to come and talk this morning. Both of you represented two opposing perspectives…”
“I knew you had something to do with this,” Frank interrupted.
Chris smiled.
“I have been interested in this nature versus nurture debate for a long time and the research that you all did was interesting. So, I arranged this meeting of the minds.”
Chris set the tone of the ensuing discussion.
“From what I heard this morning,” Chris continued, “Frank, your results showed that there is a potent influence between genetics and the outward violent behavior. This suggests the part that nature played on a person, but also suggests that a person may be predisposed to violence, an idea we all abhor or rather not dwell on.”
Chris took a drink.
“May-Ling, your results suggested that violent behavior can be curtailed by proper therapeutic measures, meaning that behavior modification is possible. This speaks to the influence of nurture. But the caveat is that the modification potentially can be beneficial or harmful.”
Chris looked at Frank.
“Frank, can you speak to your perspective and I would like to listen to May-Ling’s perspective.”
Frank paused for a long while, took a sip of the iced tea while deep in thought, and spoke slowly, carefully crafting his word to convey what was deep within him.
“I think nature has its place, but I don’t believe it is absolute. ‘Predisposed’ may be too strong a word. I rather like to use the word tendency. Many traits are passed on from one generation to another generation, e.g. disorders like heart disease, breast cancer, leukemia, etc.”
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He turned to May-Ling and said, “You can probably name a lot more than I can.”
And he continued, “Just because your parents have leukemia does not mean that you definitely will have leukemia. However, medical science tells us that the offspring would have a higher chance of developing leukemia. We have the same situation here.”
“Interesting ideas.” Chris replied. “What about you, May-Ling?”
“A person’s behavior can be changed, either by a person’s own volition or by external environment or therapy, such as the balance of the yin and yang forces. Most of us learned to conform to the society that we lived in. We curtailed our aggressive behavior, to the degree tolerable by society.”
“And when you don’t, you get thrown in jail.” Frank added.
“So, you suggest that nurture can make up for the lack of nature?”
“Sure.”
“Frank, since you brought out the prison system, can people be rehabilitated in a prison system?”
“Anyone can, given the right incentives.”
“Both of you are agreeing with one another.”
“We all admit that our personality is both nature and nurture…” May-Ling said.
“It is a matter of degree between the two.” Frank completed the sentence.
“Initially, nature plays a greater role. But as we grow, the influence of nurture plays a commanding role.” May-Ling added.
“Let me quote the saying that a leopard cannot change its spots. This suggests that behavior modification is futile. For example, can a thief be taught to completely abandon a life of stealing? Some said once a thief, always a thief.”
Chris was playing the devil’s advocate.
Frank thought for a while. May-Ling responded to the question first.
“I worked with several gangsters, if one may call them that. My experiment had shown that their behavior can be temporarily corrected for a short period.”
“Is that an actual permanent behavior correction, or is that only temporary behavior suppression?”
“It is only temporary.”
“Any long-term effects?”
“None so far, but we only started this practice less than a year ago.”
“Are your patients cognizant of their behavioral change?”
“Yes, that is why they all wanted to come back for the treatment.”
“So, they all wanted to be better?” Frank asked.
“Of course.”
“Can you make them worse?”
“Of course, theoretically speaking. I don’t know why anybody would.”
“What about you, Chris?” May-Ling turned the table around. “What are your thoughts on the role of nature versus nurture?”
“I really don’t have any opinions yet. I am searching for the answer and for the truth as much as you are.”
That was a diplomatic answer.
The food came, and they were distracted by the food. The decoration was superb, and May-Ling wanted to take a picture of all the dishes before they eat. Chris waved to the attendant who came and took a picture of the three of them as well.
For a while, they made small talk as they were enjoying their plates.
“How was the captain’s plate?” Frank asked May-Ling.
“Very good, thank you. I felt like a captain and am eating as a captain!”
They all laughed.
“There is more food here than I can eat for three days.” May-Ling continued.
They laughed again.
“What fish is that?” May-Ling asked Frank.
“It is called Mahi Mahi. I don’t know the scientific name. It is a tender fish with few bones in the meat if properly prepared.”
“Mahi Mahi, uh! I got to remember that name.”
“Would you like to try a piece?”
“No, thank you. I got more than I can eat right here.”
When they were almost finished, Chris shot off another question to Frank.
“Frank, if violent behavior can indeed be traced to the genetic coding of some segments of the chromosome, would it be possible that at some later date, humanity may discover a way to correct the genetic code of that segment and make everyone completely non-violent?”
“I suppose so, and I hope that would be soon. In the meantime, we will need May-Ling’s procedure to keep the violent ones in check.”
“Does that mean that good will ultimately triumph over evil?”
“You are extrapolating too far, Chris.” Frank retorted.
“The danger I see is that if we can manipulate a person’s genetic code to be perfectly good, can we not manipulate a person’s genetic code to be perfectly evil?” Chris asked innocently.
“And start breeding a race of super evil fighters?” Frank added.
“Or can we even use May-Ling’s procedures to temporarily manipulate a person’s behavior to be completely evil instead of completely good?”
Chris was playing devil’s advocate again.
“There is always such a danger.” May-Ling replied.
“Then both of you are indeed dangerously close to playing god?”
Frank was stunned, and May-Ling was speechless.
“This is not an accusation, just hypothetically speaking.”
Chris smoothed over the situation.
But both Frank and May-Ling heard the message. Indeed, they may be playing with fire. It was an interesting sanity check, a wake-up call to what they were doing.
“I suppose what started out that is good for mankind can always be abused.” Coming to grips with the reality, Frank said slowly.
“We all want to eradicate evil.” Chris said.
“Of course.” May-Ling replied.
“But is it possible to discover a technique that could make the world better and worse?” asked Chris.
“I suppose there is always that possibility.” May-Ling admitted.
“That is a sobering thought.” Chris followed.
All felt silent for a minute, lost in their own sobering thoughts.
The server came with the dessert order. None of them really cared much about dessert any more. But upon Chris’s urging, May-Ling ordered the carrot cake, Frank ordered the New York Cheesecake, and Chris ordered the raspberry tort with ice cream on the side.
Finally, Chris broke the silence.
“We covered a lot of ground tonight. I appreciate very much your honesty and your perspectives. I don’t think we can solve the world’s problems tonight, right here and now. You gave me a lot to consider. And I hope that I have also given you some points to ponder upon.”
Both Frank and May-Ling nodded their heads.
“I don’t want to part on a sour note. So let me say this as a parting thought. I listened to Kristin’s talk this afternoon. May-Ling, you remembered Kristin at our table at lunch?” Frank asked.
“Yes!”
“From her talk, she claimed dolphins do not exhibit any violent behaviors.” Frank continued.
“May be there is something for us to learn about dolphins.” Chris said.
“Maybe we should all be dolphins.” May-Ling said with a laugh.
“Imagine a human race with no aggressive behavior.”
“That is utopia.”
“That is nirvana.”
“That is heaven.”
Everybody had their own term, but all understood what the others were talking about.
Chris picked up the tab as promised, and they all took the cab back to the hotel. May-Ling thanked Chris profusely for inviting her to come to America and speak. She also thanked him for the dinner and the discussion.
Frank did the same.
Before they parted, Frank asked May-Ling to keep in touch. She readily agreed. They exchanged business cards and May-Ling invited both Chris and Frank to come to China for a visit.
Frank sounded serious about coming.
As they parted, on one hand, Frank had a great conference, but he sensed dark clouds heading his way. He did not know what awaited him when he returned to the university.