Think of it this way

Think of it this way: Say your parents are a pantry of ingredients. They contain milk, eggs, flour, baking soda, and if they're Russian like mine are, there's some dill in there, too. But they only pass some of those ingredients down to you. And whether you end up as quiche, pancakes, or an inedible goo depends on which ingredients you inherited and how those ingredients interact with your environment.

— from Who Is Flying (Self, Nature & Nurture)

In the book

You did not choose your temperament, your raw aptitudes, the particular wiring of your moods. Think of your parents as a pantry of ingredients you were cooked from: you got what was on the shelves, not what you would have ordered. The first act of wisdom is simply to learn that airframe honestly — to discover your own nature, and contend with it, before you can ever make peace with yourself. […] Evolution did not stop with your birth; it continues in you and through you, and your possibilities for becoming are almost beyond reckoning. The hand you were dealt — your nature, your family, the pantry you were cooked from — you did not choose, and there is no use raging at it. But what you make of it is almost entirely yours, because a human being is not handed his meaning; he has to create it himself. — Who Is Flying (Self, Nature & Nurture)

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