Liny:
I'd both agree and disagree. Here's how.
You may have been predisposed to be [fill in the blank] impulsive, alcoholic etc...and there is an element of choice involved..but I think [just my .02 btw] that the decision that would prevent the manifestation of the illness/disease, or at least help to keep the fallout from being more than a minor apocolypse <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> , is made well in advance of the issue/situation that threatens most addicts [I'm including WS in this category].
It has been my experience that any time a person is making a decision they are laying the tracks for their lives to roll over. So here's the imagery. All of the tracks that a person has layed lead to X..the train is hurtling towards its destination at breakneck speed. Is it possible for a person to derail the train at the last minute? Yes. Is it likely that they will? No. Path of least resistance says that you will follow your trajectory to your doom. What's to be done about this? Ah! This is where choice has it's most dramatic impact. Who charts your trajectory? Who decides where and how the track will be layed? You do. So, if a person is aware that they have a certain predisposition/weakness/flaw/whathaveyou, they have the option to set up their lives in such a way that to succumb to this problem is a near impossibility. This would qualify as extreme precautions, I believe.
This is also where nurture comes into play. You may have a truly genetic predisposition to be weak in an area of life..heck, everyone does..but will you know how to effectively manage yourself? Do you have the skills, and therefore the tools to accomplish the task at hand, or will you follow the habbits and tendancies and paradigms that you were raised with..will you ever rise above your default reactions to things? Are you even self aware enough to know that there is such an option? Will you nourish both the ability to benefit from hindsight, and gain foresight? Will you choose to use the moments when you are
not in a crisis and can think with clarity and try to bypass having to be in such situations at all?
When I see an individual who has both a likely genetic predisposition and a failure to have been nurtured in a way that would help them compensate for it..I see a strong candidate for future infidelity. It isn't something that
must play out..but it probably will. There are some that will develope necessary skills in time..and yes, even a few who will derail at the last moment...but the general population will follow their habbits and everyone who engages with them will be shelled in the subsequent explosions. --Noodle
