December 2, 2003
The Razor's Edge... Let's take five with Moira Gunn. This is "Five Minutes."
While history reports all manner of human behavior, most of us believe our particular lineage is pretty boring. We assume our ancestors led unremarkable lives and somehow came together and produced one successive generation after another, until we finally appeared on the scene.
The truth is: We don't know the truth. Who these people were, what they did, their good points and bad, their triumphs and their treachery, are all buried in the mists of time, and much, I would bet, was buried by choice. Of course, what's buried can also be dug up, and that's where subsequent generations can have a real problem on their hands - especially now in the days of the Internet, global databases and DNA testing.
The most recent case in point revolves around the offspring of Charles Lindbergh, the famous twentieth century hero aviator. DNA tests now prove that in addition to his American children, three German adults are also his biological children, sired in a relationship he had later in life and only recently revealed. To further stir up the waters is the prospect of two more German offspring, who would not only be half-brothers to the rest, but also first cousins to the German siblings themselves.
A hornet's nest, if ever there was one.
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While I was pondering all this, I realized that no less than four people I personally know learned as adults that they had grown brothers and sisters. Several discovered the truth at their father's funeral, while others came upon it by accident.
What I have learned from these people is this: As unsettling as it may be to rewrite human history when science reveals new facts, it's even more unnerving to have to re-write your own. And as painful as the revelations are, no one seeks to put the genie back in the bottle. In the cold light of day, truth - while emotionally devastating - certainly beats the alternative.
That's the deal with science in general and DNA, in particular. It's about the truth - the unsparing, unblinking, raw truth. It doesn't water it down or frame it in more palatable terms for human consumption. There is no such thing as a scientific "white lie."
So if you're hiding a family or just about anything, the most you can hope for is that enough time will pass so that no one will care, or that you'll be lucky and no one will look. But realize it's beyond your control. Centuries can go by, and some questions just burn to be answered - ask the descendants of Thomas Jefferson.
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It's still somewhat puzzling that the 1999 Pulitzer Prize could be awarded to A. Scott Berg for what was thought to be the definitive biography of Lindbergh. For heaven's sake, how could he miss it? But we all know we have our public selves and our private selves, and some of us are more motivated than others.
What's clear is that secrets will always be with us, a part of human nature, a desire as much as to avoid as to protect. And why not? How many mothers, raped as young women, find it essential to share it with their children? How many people voluntarily reveal their weaknesses or indiscretions?
The razor's edge of DNA testing - and all the science and technology of the modern era - is that what is buried, may not remain so. Our only choice is to steel ourselves for truths that were never expected to surface.
I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.
