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Let's see, it's been some time since I've written on the subject, so how about a quick review? First, I clued you in about a conversation that got me off (No, not literally!) on this crazy libido tangent, then promised you three simple constituent parts to give you all you'll ever need to know about libidos in America; that is, three little pearls of wisdom to help make sense of this puzzling human condition, namely: 1) weird science, 2) personal experience, and 3) clones. And so far, I have delivered on how many? You're absolutely right; only two! With that in mind, please indulge me while I set a little more background before I get to the subject at hand. I was 25-years old when I first met Kay and psychologically ready to be wed. Drinking, nightly hell-raising, and one-night stands were becoming humdrum, unfulfilling, and dangerous; and my attitude for physical liaisons had undergone some kind of transformation. I wanted more quality from a relationship. Why? I don't know, but it seemed to make sense at the time. So, dear reader, my evolving attitude suggested the presence of a few more variables in the relationship equation; at least two things to think about. First, had Kay and I met six months earlier, would the results have been the same? Would we have even looked twice at each other? (No, I don't buy into that we-were-made-for-each-other BS.) Second, when I was ready for a commitment and found a girl who accepted (or would put up with) me, what would have happened if it had been a different lady? I may have jumped into a serious relationship with practically anyone! The result could have been disastrous. (Yes, I am a believer or random disorder and chaos.) Maybe this willy-nilly selection process (in part anyway) explains the high divorce rate in society. Me? I got lucky; dumb luck. The cause-and-effect process was completely random like winning the lottery or being struck by lightning or going down in an airplane. Pure chance. No "soul mate"; no "meant" for each other; no one-and-only. Nothing but chance, a random event; a product of chaos in the universe. Fortunately for me it worked out. This whole business had been floating around and incubating in the back of my gourd for years, simply a curiosity, a wonderment, but I never cared enough to really devote any gray matter to thought and analysis. I mean, what's the point? I got mine! When a fortunate event happens, we don't evaluate it too much. We figure we deserve it. Good karma and all that... So for years I went along on cruise control and rather clueless (my normal mode). That is, until I saw a program on the Discovery Channel about clones. A clone is an exact genetic duplicate of the original, and therefore, has the same attributes, prejudices, likes, dislikes, methods, approaches, habits, and on-and-on. Again, they are exact duplicates; genetic equals. The particular clones on which the program focused were what we refer to as identical twin human beings. The program also included a small amount of time on fraternal twins that while not clones still exhibit many of the same eerie traits; however, their similarities were chalked up to environment not genetics. Anyway, we've all had discussions with twins and heard them spit out the same words simultaneously, and finish each other's thoughts and sentences. I've always found that amazing and spooky; weird and wonderful. Some twins dislike separation to the point of being traumatized. An example is basketball identical twins Tom and Dick Van Arsdale. After All-American years at Indiana University, Tom played most of his professional career in New York, and Dick in Phoenix. Late in their careers, Tom was traded to Phoenix. They related in a magazine article about how joyous their reunion was, and how lonely each had been for the other. They went on to describe how one would become ill thousands of miles away, and the other would know immediately and maybe become sympathetically ill as well. Weird and wonderful. In professional tennis, the mirror image identical Bryan twins are probably the best doubles team ever. Announcers opine that the attribute that seems to set them apart is their uncanny unspoken communication on the court. They seem to think an act as one. As I write this they just won their ninth Grand Slam event, the US Open. Naresh and Ramesh Kar are identical twins from India. Almost everyone in the Kar family is a physician. Not the twins. They do have doctorates, but theirs' are in material science. They built a duplex so they could live in close proximity, married about the same time, and are in sync when it comes to family affairs. Within their family they are slightly off-center going their own direction, and perhaps even more unusual; here are two Indian scientists that have their own rock band that tours up-and-down the California coast. They operate their own testing laboratory in Orange County, California. The Discovery Channel presented case-after-case of similar goings-on among scores of identical sets of twins, at which point I was yawning a big "so what". We've all heard the same "twin" stories time and again. Ho-hum. It was what was presented next that made me sit up and take notice; and awakened my incubating on-board computer about the partners we choose. There are only seventy-something cases on the books about identical twins being separated at birth and united later in life. The program highlighted forty-three of those cases. Most reunions took place well into adulthood; many after age forty. For each case, the separated twins were reared under totally different economical, geographical, social, and religious conditions. Yet (and here's where it gets eerie), they had the same mannerisms, speech patterns, preferences in food and mode of dress, personal habits, and so on. For all intents and purposes these people were virtually the same--what you would expect of clones. Still I was somewhat surprised. Well, they weren't EXACTLY the same. There was one HUGE exception. Their choice of mates! In this area they weren't even close, not even one teeny-weeny bit. Some relationships were successful; some were utter failures. So there! Elegantly makes my point, don't you think? I'll conclude my rant in a final article in this series. Look for it soon. Copyright by Gene Myers 2010. Read more Gene Myers adventures in AFTER HOURS: ADVENTURES OF AN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSMAN, AEG Publishing Group, New York, NY (2009); www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/AfterHours.html and www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com and www.borders.com NEW from Gene Myers! SONGS FROM LATTYS GROVE, PublishAmerica, Baltimore, MD (2010)
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