Fat genes, thin genes, red genes, blue genes.

They’re always finding a new gene for something. A fella would think everything was determined by genes these days.

Advances in genetics are cool, but let’s not lose sight of the little things that make us who and what we are. Like the environment.

If you’ll remember, genes make proteins (mostly). They give an organism the hardware it needs to deal with its environment in an effective manner. “Effective” refers to Darwinian fitness, anything that succeeds at reproducing a new generation of genes to be carried into the future.

But genes aren’t the be-all end-all of what makes people what they are.

Your genes determine your hair color, but if you don’t like it, or you are feeling a bit saucy, you can alter it. This is an example of the environment (hair dye + scalp massaging behavior) changing your characteristics, and if it makes you look better to someone, your Darwinian fitness may improve too. The same goes for fat and thin genes.

It is doubtful that your girth is determined by any one factor. In most cases there are multiple genes involved in the making of human traits, all interacting not only with each other but with the environment too. It’s absolute chaos.

Genes set certain limits for us. If you have fat genes, you may never be a pencil thin model, and if you have thin genes, sumo-wrestling probably isn’t the career for you.

But if you exercise and eat rationally, you can overcome your fat genes to an extent, and if you regularly gorge on pork rinds, don’t gamble on your thin genes helping you.

People should not use their genes as an excuse for an unsatisfactory appearance.

“I can’t help it that I’m a fat-ass, I have bad genes.”

Yeah, but you also probably eat junk food all day and think exercise is lifting a cool 40-ounce canister of Mickey’s.

Your Darwinian fitness is your responsibility. It’s your choice whether to make a swan dive or a belly flop into the gene pool.