Genetic Engineering

Recently, as in today, I had the chance to participate in a baby blessing for my cousin Michael Benich. We had to travel down to Lehi to go to church and then attended sacrament meeting with them. I had the chance to bond with one of my cousins Conner and later on one of his cousins Cody. Conner and I had the chance to talk about a whole bunch of things before church actually started. He told me that his teacher this year is going to be a boy and he was excited about that. He also told me about the books he is reading, mostly about pirates these days but usually non-fiction. Remember to keep in mind that Conner is ten years of age.

Conner and I contined to discuss life and then I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up. He promtly told me that he wanted to create a crocodile that could walk on two feet. He then told me that he would have to mix a crocodile with a human to get that result. So I asked him if he wanted to be a genetic engineer and he said yes without skipping a beat. I was quite impressed, mostly because I haven't been around children who could even understand that word if I used it in a complete sentence. I thought maybe talking to Conner was just a fluke but then I talked to his second cousin Cody who is eleven and wants to be a sports announcer. I thought that was pretty cool and we had an hour long conversation about our futures and mostly how his is more planned out than my own. These American kids continue to impress me with their mastery of the English language. I heard my other seven old-year cousin use the word individual correct and almost dropped my jaw. I guess living in Taiwan has lowered my expectations for the raising generation. But then Taiwanese kids can speak Chinese and English without a hesitation. So the moral of the story is Taiwanese kids ages five to six can translate simple Chinese phrases into English for you but ten and eleven American kids can talk about genetic engineering and presidential politics. You take your pick.