NATURE or NURTURE

The eternal question in education, sociology and science is whether human beings are what they are because they were born that way (Nature) or were trained by their parents or society (Nurture). I believe that the photo to the left answers that eternal question without the expense of a double-blind study or a huge Federal Grant to a major university. It is a picture of a 2 year old whose mother and grandmother, whom we shall refer to as Thelma and Louise, went to the Lily Puliter store on Nantucket and bought these "Legally Blonde"pink sandals.

In the wild, items like this do not exist. Sure, there are flowers in this color, but one would not be inclined to wear them on ones feet. It is only through the magic of the Fashion Industrial Complex that something like this could come into being, and be sold to a gaggle of women shopping at Lily. "Ay, que linda!" or "How, cute!" and pretty soon, Little Miss Muffet has "learned (nurture)" that shoes, particularly with names like Manolo. Lily, Ralph, or Jimmy Choo, are the main reason for getting up in the morning. And the eternal mystery is solved. Once the acorn of style is planted at this early age, the oak tree of con-shoe-merism grows. And "Itsy Bitsy Spider" is shoved out of the way by Isty Betsy Johnson. There, I've saved a bundle of money from the stimulus package so other important scientific studies can be done, like "Why boys pee off the front porch." I'm thinking that's probably nurture too, but I am willing to hear what comes out of the Harvard study.