DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID

The jeepney ride to Commonwealth this morning was another topic-compelling moment for me. I was taking out a few coins from my purse when I noticed this kid of about 5 or 6 standing from behind the driver's seat, facing the rest of the passengers. He was wearing neat clothes and a cap that perfectly fit his little head, and was waiting for someone to say "bayad po" so he could reach out his hand to get the coins and hand it to the driver, who I assumed was his dad. The fast forward button auto-pushed inside my head and I thought, years from now, will this little boy become exactly like his father, or will he be one to break off from a seemingly inevitable cycle?

Most often than not, we are defined by what most of our family members have become. If you've come from a line of doctors or lawyers, then you must have been expected to be one yourself. Most successful artists have come from a pedigree of artists as well. Pressure, expectation, or simply the lack of self-derived motivation must have urged you to string yourself to what your ancestry generally dictated for your generation. But I find it quite staggering how some people can break off from these dictates, people who seem to have found the secret protein to alter their own DNAs.

It was never easy. I always knew that I will not be an engineer, a scientist, a schoolteacher, or a lawyer like what most of both of my lineage generally patterned me to become. For over thirteen years I was trying to find that secret protein to alter my life structure. But though you know what you're up to and you have the firmness to stay out of the stereotype, sometimes it just doesn't work out right. In this light a certain understanding creeps up to me to believe that our DNA is not simply a protein that may define our physical and personal attributes--- it may mean more like a life-pattern, one that's not easily broken off over generations.

But if one thing gives me hope, it's that DNAs are anti-parallel. They have nucleotides that run side-by-side in opposite directions joined by ester bonds, giving a complementary structure just like a simple family--- our families. We can run into opposite directions yet maintain a bond that will hold us for the next million years. And because some DNAs are found quadruplex that branch out, I have reason to believe that though these blueprints could not be broken, they can probably be altered over time given the right push, the right modification process, and the right purpose. #

photo credit: drmomma