50% Bananas

One of the big things going on out in the new world today is people are having their DNA tested to find out what their ethnic makeup actually is. It has become part of a search that many people conduct to try and figure out who they are, like they don’t know already. I shake my head at the guy in one of these commercials where he thought he was German and wore lederhosen only to find out he was Scottish and bought a kilt. If people trust DNA that much for their self-identity, let me share two other scientific DNA facts with you that might help you in this process and possibly save you 100 bucks on testing.

I have heard it said that the difference between primates and human beings is only about 3% genetic material, meaning we share 97% of our DNA with primates. If you think that that is an interesting statistic, this one will really blow your mind:

We human beings share 50% of our DNA with a banana. That means that every last one of us is at least 50% bananas. Well, that explains a lot and certainly takes the pressure off! Let’s flesh this idea out a little bit more.
We spend so much of our time trying to differentiate ourselves from others. More times than not, we contrast things based on differences rather than compare commonalities. The aforementioned statistic, however, tells us in no uncertain terms that we are all made up of the same stuff, and as such, are cousins to all things. We do not find out who we are by identifying our differences; we find out who we are by embracing our commonalities with everyone and everything.

The best part of being 50% bananas is that everybody is 50% bananas. This is DNA that we all share. It is the common bond that holds us and binds us together. If we are all 50% bananas, we need to lower our expectations of people and what they do from where we have them now. We are all just another piece of fruit in God’s cargo hold traveling to our destination. Most important, let us never forget that it is not our DNA, but our actions borne of choice this very day, that will define just how bananas we are.

Thank you
Jim

James A. Francetich is a freelance writer and author. The opinions expressed are solely of the author and do not represent any community based recovery programs, private or public entities or any governmental agencies.