The Breakup Gene

     News may have never been true. Fact and fiction, like the five or six words of Donald Trump, often blend into something wholly unrecognizable when control is at stake. The Internet has undoubtedly complicated the matter, bringing word of celebrity deaths decades before they occur and video evidence of real UFOs, compliments of Photoshop. Science seems to fall victim to this confusion on a daily basis, so when seeing an article that implicated genetics as a potential culprit in the case of failed relationships, I was skeptical. As if there weren't enough reasons to pass the buck already, now a gene could take the blame for Steve the jobless rapper who lives with his mother, being undateable.

     Naturally like anything online, I read enough of the article to form my own opinions and dashed to my local library where I could source reliable materials for cross-reference. I didn't actually visit the library or remember anything specific about the report, but the following opinions are true. What seems appealing about said discovery has less to do with excuses and more with the potential for us to solve a complex problem with a simple solution. Like turning to cosmic sea creatures and farm animals to explain why Jim and Sally didn't last, we can readily accept one dimensional concepts like fate in the face of the hard work that comes with correcting decades of antisocial behavior.

     Perhaps the most difficult part of choosing the narrow path is how long it takes. Snappy ideas and the judgments accociated promise immediate results. Isolating a gene that can be used to explain your last three drunken-rage fueled breakups might lend hope that a medical solution exists or at least Darwin might have the last laugh at our expense. Sadly the latter doesn't suit our requirement for instant gratification or personal application so a door has opened. When we know the answer to a problem is demanding, it is merely a matter of time before progress opportunistically lends a hand in exchange for a monthly service charge.