Saturday, August 31, 2019

Postmodernism &Marketing

Due to its profound effect on individualistic side of consumer and consumption, it is inevitable hat marketing is also affected deeply by postmodernism. Hence, those who would like to make a long run and satisfying profit have to develop at least a basic understanding of the terms â€Å"postmodern† and â€Å"postmodern marketing†. It would be more convenient to give some basic knowledge about postmodernism before explaining its huge effect on the discipline of marketing.According to Encyclopedia Britannica postmodernism is defined as a â€Å"late 20th-century movement characterized by broad skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism; a general suspicion of reason; and an acute sensitivity to the role of ideology in asserting and maintaining lattice and economic power†. Postmodernism can be viewed as a criticism to 20th century modernism. It is a resistance to modernist ideas such as freedom, progress and liberty. It is much more about destruction of old theories, cr iticizing the modern and its values rather than proposing a solution to give order or something new.As First, Sherry and Venerates argue postmodernist looks for a universally accepted or agreed upon principle; that of tolerance and acceptance of difference. To sum up, while modernism has designed the grand projects to prevent failure, postmodernism as recognized such projects as failures themselves. After a brief explanation about postmodernism, it would be reasonable to give a marketing oriented definition of postmodernism before starting to discuss its huge influence on the discipline of marketing.According to Gerri & Van Iraqi (1998) postmodernism can be defined as † a cultural episode, characterized by a pluralism of styles (of consumption) and ideologies, a need for hyperthermia and self-expression through consumption†. After contemplating on this brief definition, it would not be hard to conclude that postmodernism has had a profound effect on the consumption tatte rs of individuals. Therefore, companies have been forced to take individualistic differences into account and develop strategies based on their own target customer group.However, the influence of postmodernism on marketing and businesses is not limited to the change in consumer preferences or the change in consumption patterns. The structure of an organization, and the organization's relationship with its employees are also affected by the birth and extensive usage of the term postmodernism. To begin with the effect of the term â€Å"postmodernism† on the customer side, it can be argued that it has brought a new phenomenon of postmodern marketing. In the modern marketing, a company generally makes some standardization in terms of what a customer needs, wants or desires by evaluating the society as a whole.In the evaluation process, a majority of them focus on the shared characteristics or personalities of customers and begin to make production and even customization according to a common, shared perspective. Naturally, they have a tendency to ignore customers who have a very different worldview, personality, preference or choice. Thus, those who make production do not have to worry about the diversity of customers in terms of attitudes, perception, personality etc. Since they produce goods and services in massive amounts and then advertise these goods and services to masses.Then, they expect their products to be consumed without any challenge by different consumer demands. This situation is partly a result of homogeneity and masculinity concepts of modernism. However, with postmodernism all these approaches have been affected. Unless having an understanding about the diversity of consumer behavior, a firm might not be able to hose its target customer group correctly, which is a situation that makes its production meaningless, since in the end the product or service might end up with appealing to no one.Also, in today's world companies have to give much importance to different groups such as gays, lesbians, gypsies etc. Since they have become to constitute a portion of the society that is not negligible. In fact those who took a quicker action than others to offer production or services appealing totally to such groups have made enormous profit. Moreover, the masculine culture has been placed by a more feminine culture in many areas of business due to the change in consumption patterns. For example, during ass Marlboro was using fancy letters. Then, it turned out that Marlboro was started being cited as women's cigarette.With this unintended impression, Marlboro immediately changed its letter type and started to use its famous masculine cowboy commercials. If this situation occurred in postmodernist era, most probably a majority of people would criticize Marlboro and stop buying, since Marlboro implicitly suggests that it does not give much value to its women customers. When considering all these, it can be clearly defended that du e to the profound influence of postmodernism on marketing, a vast amount of companies have shifted from forbids, mass consumption based approaches to post-forbids, individualistic based approaches.To continue with the structure of organizations, it might be asserted that before the birth of the term â€Å"postmodernist' most of the companies had adopted the principles of forbids. Believing the quality of stability, homogeneity and control and they followed the rules of a masculine culture. Their organization structures were strictly hierarchical. Hence, there was a significant rower distance among different levels of management. However, after postmodernism came to scene, the effectiveness of the bureaucratic organization culture during turbulent, unpredictable or complex times has been questioned.Many new beneficial concepts such as employee empowerment, flat organization structure have been created and emphasized. Afterwards, organizational design becomes more flat, since it is w idely believed that one of the most significant factors carrying a company to success is the active participation of employees. As the organization becomes more flat, the communication link among different levels of management gets stronger which contributes to the creation of new innovative ideas. Moreover, companies' culture has been changed dramatically with postmodernism.During the ass, ass company environment was homogeneous, outer directed, and factory based, since at those times a majority of firms believed the strength of stability. On the other hand with the postmodernism, company environment has been shifted to heterogeneous, self centered and participatory business culture. The motivation behind this situation is that companies have become to experience that creation of unique ideas in terms of production of goods or services is very much elated with the diversity of employees. Within an organization where everybody has a different personality, preference, perception etc. T would be more likely to make production that fits customers well. Therefore, in today's world those who can manage disorder and variety more effectively have a better chance to serve well and make sufficient profit. To conclude, with the rise of postmodernist ideas, as Stephen (1992) put forward that firms have been forced to prefer disorder to order, surface to depth, past to present, present to future, heterogeneity to homogeneity, plurality to nonsense, differences to similarities, complexity to simplification, rhetoric to logic and individuality to universality.All in all, the term â€Å"postmodern† has profoundly affected the discipline of marketing as it has a deep influence on almost all social and intellectual endeavors such as sociology, philosophy, politics, history, economics etc. With the rise of postmodern marketing, companies have started to give careful consideration not only to the customer differences but also to their own organizational and cultural struc ture. While constructing a more friendly and participatory organizational environment, impasses have started to offer a variety of solutions and answers to the demand of different customer groups.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Once upon a time Essay

These ‘mechanical birds’ are books, with many ‘wings’, meaning pages. The body shrieking without pain is laughter and the eyes melting are the reader’s tears. â€Å"Model T is a room with the lock inside – A key is turned to free the world For movement, so quick there is a film To watch for anything missed†. These seventh and eighth stanzas are talking about a car. This is simple as Raine refers to â€Å"Model T†, a well-known car. Raine says it is a room because you go inside of the car and you are away from the outside world. You need a key to turn the car on and off and to lock the car. As you read on, you can see some of the poet’s influences for his writing. Raine is participating in a very ancient poetic ancient tradition. If you look at the poem as a series of riddles to be deciphered by the reader, then that takes us back centuries to the riddle poems in Anglo Saxon literature. In stanzas 10-13, the following lines are- â€Å"In homes, a haunted apparatus sleeps, That snores when you pick it up. If the ghost cries, they carry it To their lips and soothe it to sleep with sounds. And yet they wake it up deliberately, by tickling it with a finger†. This is a reference to a phone, a ‘haunted apparatus†. If it cries- ‘rings’, we pick it up to our lips and ‘soothe it to sleep with sounds’, meaning we speak into it. If we tickle it with a finger, we dial into it. The following lines have possibly the most bizarre descriptions of the whole poem- â€Å"Only the young are allowed to suffer Openly. Adults go to a punishment room With water but nothing to eat. They lock the door and suffer the noises Alone. No one is exempt And everyone’s pain has a different smell†. These are probably the hardest stanzas in the poem, but with some hard thinking, the lines all make sense- A â€Å"punishment room with just water† is a bathroom. When Raine writes, â€Å"only the young are allowed to suffer openly† he is talking about a baby getting their nappies changed in the open. Yet, us adults have to go to the bathroom and suffer our pain alone. Raine has written three exceptional stanzas, nobody really thinks about their own or other people’s daily use of the toilet. It is generally unspoken about and could almost be seen as a taboo subject, not to be raised in public. The last two stanzas end on a peaceful note- â€Å"At night when all the colours die, They hide in pairs And read about themselves – In colour, with their eyelids shut†. This is a normal full day seen in the Martian’s eyes. It has now come to an end, reading about yourself in colour with your eyes shut, is quite obviously understood as dreaming. These two poems both share one very significant subject which links them together overall, but it is important to state first the similarities and differences between each person’s work. Gabriel Okara seems to feel strongly about the idea of such falseness in our mannerisms and ways of speaking in everyday western life, as it is not like the hospitable place his homeland was. Gabriel Okara seems to be speaking from his own mind, about how he feels about this environment. Craig Raine has been born and bred in England, and doesn’t talk about a strange westernised country like Gabriel Okara, but about life on this planet in general. Craig Raine does not seem to be annoyed at our everyday customs (or if he is, he hides it in his wording very well), merely humoured at how humans generally structure their lives. With Gabriel Okara’s style of writing, there are no riddles to unveil and his poem is structured very differently in contrast to Craig Raine’s. Okara simply starts with â€Å"Once upon a time, son†, which is straightforward enough, rather than â€Å"Caxton’s are mechanical birds with wings†, which can baffle most readers. Gabriel Okara is quite dark about the ‘cold’ place he has come to, not at all like his native Nigeria. He certainly did not intend to humour the readers. I think that Raine wrote this poem to give his mind a rest from the real world. Perhaps he wrote it for pleasure and humor. I think this would be an enjoyable type of poem to write. Raine wanted his readers to be humored, to see life through somebody else’s eyes, who has never seen life on Earth before. Also, the Martian seems merely bemused by human life and our everyday rituals. Mysteriously, the Martian never discusses what life on his planet was like, unlike Gabriel Okara whom describes the warmth he used to experience before. However, despite these many differences, the poets come together on one extremely important subject. It is, the way we take our lives for granted while others, unsuspectingly wander around feeling confused at all the social and physical complexities of the strange and alien world around them. The poets both write about separate characters commenting on their experience in another place, and not feeling at ease with it as the other members of the population are. It is true that one poem is quite dark and the other is lighthearted, the stanzas and couplets are differently placed, the wording is different etc, but overall, the characters in question are both feeling out of place and confused about all the common perplexities. They comment on life on this Earth we experience every day and take for granted. We hardly notice how a car may sound to an outsider or how â€Å"It was nice having you here today with us† could hurt a guest or client who knows you didn’t mean what you said. We are all so accustomed to our lives; we do not think much of how it may seem to anybody else who has never been in that state of environment.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Analysis Of Creative And Innovative Management

Analysis Of Creative And Innovative Management The good organizations become best by adopting innovation. It is more than an invention as it also includes an attitude that encourage new concepts and risk attach with that new concepts. Excessive investments are not needed if a company has awareness about innovation and can use it to create products with unique features. So they create a friendly behaviour for new concepts, ideas, risk, change and even failure (Fortune, March 3, 1997). Managerial innovations are those adjustments in the process of management that gives ideas of products and services and than help in their production and delivery to the customers. It is not essential that effectiveness and efficiencies of product or services get effects from innovations by management (http://tumipc.info). Product versus Process Innovations: Innovations in processes and products are very significant classifications of technical innovations. Product innovations either generate entirely new products with distinct features or may help in increasing the performance and physical features of old products and services. Process innovations are changes in the way products or services are manufactured, created, or distributed. Whereas managerial innovations generally affect the broader context of development, process innovations directly affect manufacturing (http://tumipc.info), the implementation of robotics. Thus product innovations are particularly important during these beginning phases. Later, as an innovation enters the phases of growth, maturity, and decline, Vodafone’s ability to develop process innovations, such as fine-tuning manufacturing, increasing product quality, and improving product distribution, becomes important to maintaining economic return (http://tumipc.info). Explain how management in your selected organization would lead staff to accept and implement innovation The Human Energy of Innovation Innovation is difficult. It’s hard not to be constrained by organisational history, politi cs and budgets. It’s even harder to think of innovation as a human energy and not a process (www.10again.co.uk). Lead the Way to Successful Innovation in Vodafone The collaboration necessary, general cultural differences that can influence the process and the importance that organizational culture has on creating an environment that supports innovation, after these presentation keynotes, I often get a few people who approach me with their stories about innovation in their organizations. They tell me how great the information was and wished they could apply it into their own organizations, but they know that it would never be supported (www.bia.ca). It seems that while individuals are given the necessary time in their jobs to generate ideas, they are not given the time that is really required to explore them through a proper process for innovation. This therefore makes it difficult, if not impossible, for true innovation to happen. Now I realize that those who asked me the que stion may not necessarily be in positions to change their organization’s cultures but maybe they could start to create change within their own spheres of influence, such as a department, plant, location, store, etc. Sometimes Vodafone need to think on a smaller scale and then demonstrate to the organization the value of what they are doing, demonstrated success will help greatly to sell the idea.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Final Exams Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final Exams Paper - Essay Example Troy is portrayed as a hard worker. He is aware of his position as the head of the family and all the responsibilities that result with it. He thinks that certain professions do not ensure a proper income and that should be kept in mind when choosing which line of work to get a job in. He takes his role as the breadwinner quite seriously and tries to instill the same work ethics in his children as well. His father had not done so during his childhood – he had been â€Å"an unloving and quick-tempered sharecropper† – so he had been determined to be otherwise with his family (Bogumil 34 - 35). He could have followed in his father’s footsteps but he was brave and determined enough to choose another path for himself so that his children would live a better life than he did. There is an argument that takes place between the father and son in the play in which Cory calls Troy out on his dislike of him. To this, Cory does not get a direct reply except an insinuat ion when Troy says â€Å"Don’t you eat everyday...Got a roof over your head...Clothes on your back...Why you think that is† (Wilson 1. 3. 1665). ... He had been a war soldier who had been sent back home with some cash due to an injury on the battlefield. Troy had used the money to purchase a house in which Gabriel did not even reside at. Instead of being grateful, Troy acts in an indifferent manner around him because he cannot manage his emotions properly leading to Gabriel thinking that his older brother was angry with him. The play shows that even though Troy loves his wife Rose, he has a tendency of making foolish mistakes. He has a son called Lyon who he had with his first wife. He has another son Cory with Rose. He also has an affair during his marriage with a woman called Alberta who ends up conceiving his child. The woman dies during childbirth and Rose agrees to look after the child who is named Raynell even though the husband and wife have separated. The way Troy treats Rose shows the flaws of his character. He was not satisfied with his time with Rose so he went behind her back and had relations with another woman witho ut even thinking twice about all the vows that he was breaking as well as the heart of the woman whom he loved. He is described as â€Å"an egocentric, tyrannical husband† and them having a â€Å"unilateral relationship† (Shannon 183). The reader may also notice â€Å"Troy’s sexism towards his wife Rose† (Shannon 184). He treats Rose as if she is below him just because she is a woman and that she cannot compare to his – or other men’s – greatness. There is a part in the play in which Troy and his friend are lounging around in the porch having a chat. When Rose passes by, he questions him about what she was making for dinner as if all that her life revolved around was the kitchen, her sole purpose being feeding the family. Once she

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Worldview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Worldview - Essay Example A worldview is the opinion that every individual holds toward the existence or purpose of something. In this case, the naturalist worldview is that there is no God that maintains or sustains all life in the universe. Theism is the belief that at least one god exists. However, the liberal view held by most is that it is not our task to prove that there is no God, rather; the task of a believer to prove that a god does exist. This paper will examine the naturalist worldview about the existence of God, and the impact such a view has on the lives of naturalists. The worldview on God is that He is a Supernatural Being that individuals and believers pray to in order to find a higher purpose with/in their lives. It is the naturalist’s view that there is no presence of such a Supernatural Being that sustains life in the universe. Naturalism brings forth the understanding that nature is the ultimate reality, and that no deity is involved in its maintenance. It is this view that brings focus to the thought that nothing, beyond nature itself, has any effect upon the world individuals dwell or exist. Some of the characteristics of God are that He tends to be jealous when individuals pay homage to anything apart from Him (Adams, 1993). This is evident in the texts that exist that describe Him as a jealous God. The Holy Book includes commandments that He gave to mankind so that they could live in harmony with Him, and fellow mankind (Adams, 1993). Another characteristic is that He is omnipresent. This means that He was there from the beginning, and will be there till the end. From a naturalist’s point of view, it may be next to impossible for the existence of life for such a long time. There is the beginning of life, but then, there is also the end of life. Human beings came about as a result of evolution. The beginning of mankind is a cause, and was as a result of a cause. It is the naturalist worldview that we are caused creatures, and that all factors involv ed give man the power and control over all that surrounds them. By comprehending the fact that mankind is materially based, it is only fair that this point of view connects man to the physical world, hence; enabling man to be at home in the physical state of the world (Adams, 1993). After death, there is the biological aspect of nature, which is summarized as decomposition. There are no souls that continue on after death because man is purely physical in nature. It is this worldview that mankind gives back to the physical state of the universe. It is considered nature’s way of sustaining existing life, and giving rise to new beings. The nature of the universe is self-sustenance. It is only through evolution, not supernatural or religious understanding, that the universe is brought together. This is under a common objective of sustaining all life on earth. Naturalism focuses the attention of mankind on what works, increasing an individual’s efficiency toward the natural environment. Mankind is, therefore; better placed to create social policies that aim at increasing the togetherness of the social, political, and environmental scene (Carrier, 2010). Through the creation of different factors, for example; compassion and empathy, the universe assists mankind to reduce the chances of self-righteousness, superiority with regards to morality, guilt, and ultimately shame. It is through these factors that individuals know what they know. Through the introduction and advancement in science, individuals are engaging in thoughts about the nature and characteristics of life. Just as Christian believers choose to believe the existence of a Supreme Being,

Monday, August 26, 2019

The social determinants of healthcare delivery service Essay

The social determinants of healthcare delivery service - Essay Example Social determinants of health can be regulated to improve the health conditions of countries. Through the adequate distribution of resources, the government can ensure that people have awareness about their health and have access to health care whenever they require it. Effective management and distribution of health care resources not only entails the treatment of a disease, but also its prevention. Preventing the occurrence of a disease can save a lot of resources not only financially, but also in terms of the staff, hospital resources and time that are spent on treating it. Obesity is becoming a serious health condition in the US and is starting to be referred to as an epidemic (Mechanic 112). Obesity is a global problem and more than 1.6 billion people all over the world are overweight. Of these figures, 300 million people are considered to be clinically obese, with a large proportion of overweight and obese people living in developed countries (Oxford Business Group 187). The obesity epidemic is at its very worst in the in the US (Plunkett). In the US, one person dies due to a health condition associated with obesity (Ayres). The US government spends $2 trillion annually on healthcare; about 76% of this sum is spent on the treatment and management of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and strokes. All of these diseases are linked to obesity. In an article published by Why, an organization working for the elimination of hunger and poverty in the US, it was reported that two-thirds of the Americans are overweight, and one-third are obese (Ayres). The annual health care costs of obesity have doubled in the past ten years in the country. A recen t research conducted by the government documented that the costs of obesity are as much as $147 billion a year (Ayres). Moreover, it has been reported that the number of obese children have increased very rapidly and this has had profound impacts on their health. In fact, according

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Globalization - Essay Example Globalization is at times controversial with the amount of criticisms being almost at par with its merits. However, supporters of each side of the argument have valid reasons to justify their stand (Held et al. 2005). The following discussion analyses the key aspects of the sceptics approach and the reformist approach to globalization. The sceptics approach The sceptics approach is in opposition to making general claims concerning the totalizing effect of globalization. Held and McGrew (2003) argue that current global market is more regionalized. Sceptics argue that the height of globalization took place in the nineteenth century and current developments confirm a considerable level of regionalization. It can be noted that the degree of trade as a fraction of national earnings was higher before the World War I than it is currently (Hirst and Thomson 1999). Sceptics claim that international trade and FDI operations are mostly practised in Europe, North America and Asia. Therefore, wha t is referred to as globalization is actually regionalization (Murray 2006). The emerging economies are becoming increasingly marginalized as they are not drawn in the world economy (Jones 2010). Other perspectives put emphasis on the growth of global capitalism. However, the sceptics view international capitalism as a falsehood. Multinationals are important components of globalization but their benefits are mainly reaped by their countries and hence do not profit the regions in which they operate. The idea of growth of global governance is questionable and sceptics argue that it is only a hidden neo-liberal ploy to benefit the West (Oxfam, 2002). Most of the assumptions by the reformist approach have been rejected by the sceptics who claim that globalization is a disguise of regionalization in the world. They state that the global economy is divided into three regional alliances in which national governments remain dominant (Held and McGrew 2002). Sceptics support their arguments b y conducting experimental testing of the strong globalization theory. This is achieved by applying two methodological models. The primary approach is founded on constructing conceptual models of the global economy and culture and identifying the extent to which trends in the contemporary world match the ideal standards. Hirst and Thomson (1999) used the same method of analysing the theory and formulated two ideal forms which are authentically global economy and international economy whereby there exists a thin line between them. Sceptics argue that globalization should represent the expansion of fresh economic organizations not just theoretical developments towards increased global trade and investments (Hirst and Thomson 1999). Sceptics continue to argue that globalization has lost its meaning. This is due to the fact that most countries are left out of global progression which applies to the Middle East, Africa, parts of Asia and Latin America. This further expounds on the claim t hat what exists today is simply regionalization. The other important approach compares the trends in the past with current trends. By comparing the modern trends and those in the past, sceptics have reached a conclusion that the point of the current internalization is not traditionally unmatched (Hirst and Thomson 1999). This can be attributed to migration in the nineteenth century. The ratios of trade liberalization have increases over time and though the total

Orthodox Judaism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Orthodox Judaism - Research Paper Example An article published on patheos.com (2008-2011) established that Orthodox Judaism was originated through innovations in the Jewish practice introduced by the Reform movement in the mid 19th century in Central Europe. According to this said source, religious observances of Orthodox Jews include; daily worship, traditional prayers, the study of the Torah, dietary laws and gender segregation in the synagogue. In addition, the Hebrew language is essential in the Orthodox religious practices and they are very strict when observing the Sabbath. A number of Orthodox sects have risen from Orthodox Judaism over the years. One primary distinction within the Orthodox happens to be social engagement. Particular sects of Orthodox Judaism believe that; as people of God, they should live isolated from Gentiles whilst other sects believe that they can keep the Torah and live in a secular world at the same time. Basic Principles/Tenets of Orthodox Judaism Despite the multitude of Orthodox sects in Ju daism, all Jews share basic beliefs and principles which act as guidelines or rules which influences their actions or thoughts. These principles are grouped together as the Rambam’s â€Å"13 principles of faith†. ...Believe with perfect faith that God is one and there is no unity that is in anyway like his. Believe with perfect faith that God doesn’t have a body-physical concept don’t apply to him. Believe with perfect faith that God is first and last. Believe with perfect faith that it is only right to pray to God and no one else. Believe with perfect faith that the words of the prophets are true. Believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses is absolutely true-he is the chief of all prophets both before and after him. Believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that we now have is what was given to Moses. Believe with perfect faith that the Torah we now have will not be changed and there’ll never be another one given by God. Believe with perfect faith that God knows all of man’s deeds and thoughts. Believe with perfect faith that God rewards who keeps His commandments and punishes those who transgress Him. Believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. Believe with perfect faith that God will resurrect the dead†. Beliefs on Life and Death The Jewish laws acknowledge that the human soul exists long before it is born. But ‘life’ begins at the time of birth when the child is more than halfway emerged from the mother’s body. (Tracy R Rich, 1995-2011) Naturally, anything that has a beginning has an end-so when does ‘life’ end according to the Orthodox Judaism religion? Another article published by Tracy R Rich dictated that traditional Jews believe that death is not the end of the human existence.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Leadership Profile Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leadership Profile - Research Paper Example Other factors that determine the strength of a leader include personal traits such as personality, ability to take members along, motivate them, guide them, instruct them and help them wherever need be. The nature of work is relevant to the sales management. Sales management is such an area where leadership is of immense importance and it pays direct dividends to the overall management process. Leader has a special role in this domain in order to maintain good relationship between the customers and the employees employed to monitor the performance of customer care and sales processes. Leader has a multi faceted role, they are not only to ensure that they perform their roles properly, rather they should also ensure that the members and employees directly underneath him should perform the roles in desired manner. Strengths include total participation, cooperation, full time availability and sharing of knowledge on regular basis. Imparting what is best suited to the situation and also what is best suited to the employees work is strength of a good leader. The style adopted for leadership is that of authoritative, where authority is vested in self. This authority is used to the best interests of the organization and members, along with the consideration of the best interests of the customers, by ensuring to provide them with the best services that may be possible. Areas of improvement include more participation, a little more flexibility and perhaps addition of one or more styles of leadership, for example; a participative form of leadership as well as stick and carrot approach may help yielding further improved outputs from the overall sales management sector. Participatory and appreciative form of leadership is the most desired, since each of them brings the right kind of fruit. Appreciative methods of leadership enables the employees working and thinking out of the box and as a result more chances of innovation, which not only helps the

Friday, August 23, 2019

Final Exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Final Exam - Assignment Example A very good example of technological advancement is mobile phone. The type of mobile phone which we had in earlier times no longer exists now. There is a change in the demand of mobile phone users. This has resulted in the advancement of mobile phone technologies. The users of mobile phones demand functionality and simplicity. This has forced the manufacturers of mobile phone to develop smart phones which are computer minded, easily usable, having more functionality as compared to the mobile phones of past. Further, technological advancements have helped organizations and businesses to save cost of production and time which is an advantage to small business and have managed to use these advancements for gaining competitive advantage. A very good example is 3G/ 4G broadband. The advantage of this super fast internet has been taken by small business to reach the target market with lower cost of operation. However, there has been both positive and negative effect of technological advanc ement. ... Further, it has also increased the health risks as the technological users do less exercise. In the perspective of education, students are more dependent on computers and calculators for solving simple equations. They cannot train their brains for solving a simple task for which they become lame in class. A few technological advancements have changed the human lives in the following manner: Technological advancement has contributed a lot in health care and medicine. This has helped to save the lives of many innocent people. Further, it has improved health sciences and human medicine. The medical students and doctors use medical technological tools for carrying out extensive research on the challenges and problems related to human health. This extensive research has led to the development of treatments and new drugs which help to cure the challenging human diseases and saving the lives of many people and prolonging the lifespan of human being. For example: a smart phone ultrasound whi ch was provided by Microsoft can be used for integrating a USB based ultrasound probe with a Smart phone. This can be used to create a ultrasound device which is simple hand sized for enabling the doctors to image the bladder, liver, veins, eyes, arteries and kidney of a patient in remote areas which can detect any infection easily. This device can be used in many developing countries for saving the life of people. This mobile ultra sound can be used by the doctors without boundaries for helping the patients in remote areas. Certain other technologies in health care include use of nano-composite contact lenses for treating diabetes patients. Neuro-prosthetic chips are used for controlling artificial

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Impact of Gay Marriage on Children Essay Example for Free

Impact of Gay Marriage on Children Essay Take a look at the picture of a gay and a lesbian couple (see Figure 1). Long ago people would have raised their eyebrows and glared at such obvious display of affection between two men and two women. They would have scurried away and cursed them who engaged in activities that compromise morality. They would have felt anger to know that a man would even think of marrying another man or a woman to another woman. But years later, this picture has become normal. Wherever people go, they see gay and lesbian couples. They are everywhere. And the government has also come to accept this phenomenon, although there are still debates whether gay marriage, or same-sex marriage, should be legalized and accepted. Gay marriage has been one of the critical issues still not resolved and still plagued lots of people today. There are debates and protests whether this should be legalized or accepted in the society. Many are strongly against gay marriage because of their various beliefs about marriage itself. On the other hand, many are also for gay marriage because they think that marriage is all about equality and freedom to choose and decide. However, we must look at what gay marriage does to the children, because they are also adversely affected by this. This paper will show that gay marriage (the term will be used interchangeably with same-sex marriage in this paper), has a negative impact on children. In 1989, Denmark granted â€Å"registered partnership† to same-sex couples; Norway, in 1993; Sweden, in 1994; and Iceland, in 1996. Other countries in Europe, such as France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium also did the same (Lee Badgett 2). Meezan and Rauch reported that gay marriage (or same-sex marriage) is a reality in the United States and other parts of the world. They added that for the advocates of same-sex marriage, it is a civil rights issue. For the opponents, it is a matter of morality. Both sides are correct, but most importantly, it is a family-policy issue which has not been regarded with the right amount of attention in the American scene (97). The most important question to be considered is: How will same-sex marriage affect the well-being of children? The statistics showed significant trends. In 2007, Craft reported that in 1976 alone, there were about 300,000 to 500,000 gay and lesbian parents. In Bahamas alone, the number of homosexuals is increasing. Many of these, who keep their homosexuality secret, have positions in companies and in governments. The Rainbow Alliance of The Bahamas showed that gay individuals makes up five percent while bisexuals make up 29 percent of The Bahamas population (see Chart 1). Additionally, there are about eight to 10 million children living in gay and lesbian households. It is estimated that the number of gay and lesbian people who are interested to adopt children is nearly two million. The highest concentration of adopted children living with homosexual parents could be found in California. These children tend to be younger. Gates, Lee Badgett, Chambers and Macomber estimated that there were about 65,000 adopted children living in a gay or lesbian household. Moreover, out of the estimated 3. 1 million gay and lesbian households in U. S. , 1. 6 percent includes an adopted child under the age of 18 (7) (see Table 1). In the Frequently Asked Questions article by The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) marriage is all about love, commitment, sharing and compromise. It should not be denied to couples just because of their sex; marriage is a personal choice. However, many believed that the purpose of marriage is procreation; producing children is the natural end of marriage (Cline). Since gay marriage is unnatural (it can’t produce children), Cline said that it would violate this very idea. It would undermine marriage because it is a moral institution for promoting and protecting procreation. Although this paper posits that gay marriage has positive impact on children, it is still important to look at both views about the same-sex marriage in order to make light of the things which are significant for the welfare of the children. Impact on Children Why should the children be considered when it comes to same-sex marriage? Children are helpless, according to Kurts. They rely upon adults. They need the society to provide them with institutions that keep them safe from chaos. Additionally, they cannot articulate their needs and cannot even vote. But, they are society. They are the future of the world. These are just some of the reasons why children’s well-being must be supported and encouraged. Baskerville is right in saying that the impact of gay marriage on children wasn’t paid much attention because the focus was on the debate over gay marriage. It is important to recognize the needs of the children because they deserve to grow in an environment where they have two legally recognized parents (Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health). Their relationship with their parents, the Committee furthered, must be stable and recognized. This must apply to all, whether the parents are of the opposite or of same sex. For those who advocate gay marriage, they said that gay marriage will have positive impact on the children. In an article by Sara Miles, she argued that banning gay marriage will deny children justice since marriage is good for kids. It is true that marriage is good for kids. Most of the literature about marriage would indicate that marriage brings positive outcomes for the children as it provides them with warm, close relationships with their parents. Advocates of gay marriage believe that these reasons must be taken into consideration and let someone marry whoever he wants to marry. Cline reported that those who oppose gay marriage will do anything to keep it from being legalized. However, there will come a time when gay marriage will be legal and recognized. In fact, there were actions taken in other countries to make this possible. With the rise of the issue of gay marriage in America, other areas were also considered, such as adoption of children. Baskerville quoted what Democratic state Sen. Therese Murphy. She believed that almost half of all adopted children in Massachusetts live in households with homosexually-behaving adults. Baskerville added that allowing gay couples to â€Å"have† children, or to give them the right to adopt, is nearly the same as granting them the right to claim the children of a couple. The question here is whether the biological parents will agree to be separated from their children. This is made easy by the government’s initiative to give other people’s children to gay or lesbian couples. The government also has the power to take back the children from their biological parents even though the parents did not do something that would make the government take back the children. This is because the government now had the incentive and the means to take children from their parents with no due process. Baskerville reported that the 1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) gives financial incentives to the states to remove children from their original parents. As a result, CAPTA became instrumental in tearing children away from their parents. Additionally, the federal funds went to the foster-care providers. Even now, there are still children removed from their families despite the fact that foster homes were more abusive than the children’s original families. This problem existed for a long time until the government thought of another program. The government provided another program to solve the problem created by CAPTA, which is the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act. It provided more financial assistance to transfer children from foster care to adoption. This expanded the client base of stakeholders who had vested financial interest in available children. Gay marriage, it seemed, made this even worse. Baskerville reported that through having kids adopted by gay couples, the government officials can take advantage of the adoption. These government officials can very well benefit through the funds that are set for the Act. Rekers provided three reasons on why Arkansas has prohibited homosexually-behaving adults from being given license to be foster parents. First: The inherent nature and structure of households with a homosexually-behaving adult uniquely endangers foster children by exposing them to a substantial level of harmful stresses that are over and above usual stress levels in heterosexual foster homes. (Rekers 2) This means that those children entering foster care usually have high incidence of psychological disorder. Rekers explained that if homosexual parents adopted those children, they (the children) are likely to be at risk of psychological harm and maladjustment. This happens when the children are exposed in greater stress brought upon them by the mere presence of a homosexual in a foster home. Moreover, Rekers believed that the children are affected in such a way that they are at risk of depression or psychological disorders (2). Second, Rekers reasoned out the relationships between homosexually-behaving adults tend to be less stable and short-lived, unlike the relationship between a married man and woman. Therefore, this would not be appropriate for children because they will be easily influenced. Furthermore, Rekers believed that suicidal attempt, substance abuse, psychological disorders and breakups happen most often with homosexual partners. Thus, they are incapable of providing a secure and stable home that foster children needed. And if children are to be adopted by these homosexually-behaving adults, it would mean that children will be removed and transfer to another home. Sometimes the transition is traumatic for these children. Third, the household structure of foster-parents consisting of one or more homosexually-behaving members denies children their needs for adjustment that can be found in heterosexual foster homes. Rekers backed this third reason by explaining that unlike heterosexual households, a household with homosexually-behaving adults lack the concrete role of a mother and a father, which is necessary for the growth and development of children. Additionally, homosexual households lack the role of a mother and a father in raising children. Also, the children have no chance to witness a husband/wife relationship, which the society thinks is socially stable and healthier for the children. Rekers said that the children who live with a married man and woman are better adjusted compared to those who live in households with homosexually-behaving adults. Children in foster care must be placed with heterosexual married couple because this will provide them with their needed benefits and leads to better child adjustment. A study presented by Jacobs in her article showed that nearly all 50 studies done on the children of gay and lesbian couples (between six and 14 million in the United States) showed no significant difference between children raised by heterosexual or homosexual couples. However, those who oppose gay marriage argued that most of the studies done were small, there were methodological flaws, and mostly were politically biased. Jacobs reported a study which showed that there’s no significant difference whether a child is raised by a gay or lesbian parents. In short, a child with gay or lesbian parents does not necessarily make him different from his peers. However, Jacobs presented some interesting findings from other researches regarding these differences. She mentioned that in 2001, Judith Stacey, a sociologist, and her colleague, Timothy Biblarz, found out that there are, in fact, some differences. They said that although gay and lesbian parenting is not harmful for children, those who have gay parents differ in some ways from those who have heterosexual parents. For instance, a study headed by Susan Golombok concluded that having homosexual parents does not encourage their children to become homosexuals. However, the daughters of lesbians were more open to the idea of being attracted to the same gender than the daughters of heterosexual mothers. Another finding was that out of the 25 children of lesbians, six of them had had relationship with someone of the same gender. The 21 children of heterosexual mothers did not have a relationship with the same gender. Kurts countered that gays have special case because the difficulties and challenges they experience are not from â€Å"discrimination† of marriage. The challenges and difficulties are due to the problem of sexual difference. He added that marriage is just a consolation for the challenges that are usual in situations faced by gays. Although gays are much tolerated in the United States, using marriage for the wrong purpose will not change the situations of gays. Instead, it will be the end of marriage, and the protection it provides for the children who are helpless. Gay marriage will also have an effect on heterosexual marriage. Supporting gay marriage, according to Gallagher (qtd. in Darby), would mean that the courts will not fully support the views of those who advocate heterosexual marriage. Moreover, if heterosexual marriage is confirmed as a special institution that must be protected and upheld, the number of fatherless children will decrease. Heterosexual marriage will prevent the incidences of children born outside marriage. Kotulski (qtd. in Darby) contradicted this by saying that there will still be fatherless children. There will be factors that would continue to break families, such as poverty and violence. Other Effects Pawelski et. al have noted some other effects of same-sex marriage to children. These effects, as noted, were experienced at different levels. In the psychosocial level, gay and lesbian individuals usually undergo peer rejection, harassment, depression or isolation. In fact, Pawelski et. al reported that almost half (47%) of gay and lesbian teens have thought about committing suicide while 36% actually attempted. Oftentimes, these individuals experience rejection from their loved ones, maltreatment in schools, homelessness, and violence. As adults, they experience discrimination, marginalization and violence. Various debates over the issue of same-sex marriage intensified the unstable environment for the homosexuals in the society. Lack of support and acceptance for them and their children will have effects on their physical and psychosocial health and safety. The children of gay or lesbian couples may, in the same way, experience marginalization and discrimination by those who do not approve of gay or lesbian parenting. More often, these children do not know how or where to find support. Even alliances in schools that admit straight gays can make the situation worse. Pawelski et. al reported that children are brought into long-term partnerships with gay and lesbian parents through surrogacy, adoption and alternative insemination. Their study also delved into the attitudes and behavior, personality and adjustment of parents when it comes to parenting. The authors found out that there were only few differences recorded regarding the comparison between lesbian and heterosexual mothers’ psychological adjustment, self-esteem and attitudes about child rearing. Lesbian mothers, the study showed, passed the psychological assessments and interviews. Furthermore, the study showed that the attitudes of lesbian mothers did not differ much from those of heterosexual mothers. In the same way, gay fathers did not differ much from nongay fathers. In fact, there are more similarities than differences. However, there is concern over the effect of the parent’s sexual orientation on the children because this might lead to embarrassment and thus keep the children from interacting with their peers. It was found out that the children of divorced lesbian mothers experienced more teasing from peers during childhood than the children of divorced heterosexual mothers. It is of interest that Pawelski et. al mentioned that the children who grew up with gay or lesbian parents were more tolerant of diversity and more nurturing than those children with heterosexual parents. Pawelski et. al mentioned another study which showed that children of heterosexual parents considered themselves more aggressive. Their parents and teachers regarded them as more domineering, bossy and negative. On the other hand, the children of lesbian parents considered themselves as more lovable. Their parents and teachers regarded them as more responsive, affectionate and protective of other younger children. Another study showed that the self-esteem, aggressiveness and sociability of children with lesbian parents and those with heterosexual parents have similarities. There were also studies conducted which showed that children of lesbian parents who were satisfied with their relationships have fewer behavioral problems and were better adjusted. There was also a study by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health wherein the population consisted of 12105 adolescents in the United States. The authors found out that 44 adolescents, ranging from 12 to 18 years old, who were living with two women, were similar to others who have heterosexual parents when it comes to measures of anxiety, depression, self-esteem and school success. There were also similarities regarding family relationships, care from others, neighborhood integration, regardless of whether the children come from opposite-gender or same-gender families (Pawelski et. al). Since the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts back in 2004, researches today showed that it may have positive impact in strengthening the ties between couples, their children and extended families. It is interesting to note, however, that a large number of young people in America seemed to support gay and lesbian issues. Olander, Kirby and Schmitt mentioned a survey done by the Council for Excellence in Government (CEG) and CIRCLE which asked young people from 15 to 25 years old their perspective about the rights of homosexuals. The survey found out that youths supported gay and lesbian issues such as protection in housing, employment and hate crime, legal partnerships or civic unions and the ability to adopt children (2). There are others who view gay marriage on a positive note. Carpenter believed that gay marriage helps children. He said that gay parenting nowadays is very common in the United States, and that there are children in every gay and lesbian household. He did not seem to agree that children are better raised by a married man and woman. He furthered that gay marriage will not take away children from their biological parents. Although there is no reported shortage of children, the number of married couples is not enough to raise these children. And this is the reason why singles and unmarried couples are allowed sub-optimal parenting. Carpenter thought that this arrangement is better than foster care where the effects on children are unfavorable. Brinkmann countered Carpenter’s views. She believed that if a child is exposed to both sexes in a household, it will have positive effects on his developmental needs. She explained that this aids them in forming their sexual identity. Since the breakdown of marriage in the country had negative effects especially on children, it must be considered that a heterosexual marriage will provide the children stability with regards to family relationships. Brinkmann furthered that without heterosexual marriage, the society will disintegrate. Times have changed and more changes will manifest in the future. Amidst these changes, the welfare of children who are affected by gay marriage must be the utmost consideration. This means that supporting heterosexual marriage will be beneficial for these children. The government and families must make sure that every step of the way, these children will be encouraged and supported. Their needs must be met in order for them to grow as responsible citizens in our society.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Adopting Agile Project Management Methodology Management Essay

Adopting Agile Project Management Methodology Management Essay Agile project management is considered as one of the flexible and interactive project management approach. Agile methodology, as its meaning would suggest, is adopted for rapid development projects. It is very much different than the traditional project management technique which is considered to be more structured and disciplined. Deliberate planning and designing various control methods is inherent part of the traditional style. Normally all the tasks are completed in a predefined sequence to ensure the success which requires lot of planning to be done up front. Evolution: As the business processes became more and more complex they also became more interdependent than ever before. Along with the processes the organizational structure of business also changed in order to support complex communities, comprised of alliances with strategic suppliers, outsourcing vendors and partnerships and ever increasing competitors. With time-to-market compression and rapidly changing technologies fast track development has become the order of the day for most of the business. This increased importance of agile project management methodologies. Agile management is derived from the agile software development and hence it is a variant of iterative life cycle process.   In agile methodology, the evaluation of the project requirements and the end product/solution is a collaborative effort between self-organized, cross-functional teams across the organization or may be from different organizations. Comparison with Traditional Approach Agile project management methodology differs from traditional project management methodology which gives more attention to making software development a better process and hence it gives importance to contract negotiation (managing scope), comprehensive documentation, maintaining and following a project plan with the help of various processes and tools. In contrast, Agile methodology gives stress upon working software and responding to constant changes and there by gaining customer satisfaction. Having frequent client interactions is one of the most important attribute to the success of this approach. Challenges Associated with Agile Methodology Many companies, such as IBM, have adopted agile development because of its underlying benefits of being flexible, simple and fast. The customer centric approach of this methodology makes it very popular amongst the customers and also the possibility of project being self supporting even in the initial stages lures businessmen towards it. Because of these and many other advantages the some of the inherent problems such scope management, risk management issues are overlooked. Normally these issues arise due to lack of planning and documentation for the project, which goes against the agile methodology. This also raises the possibility of indentifying problems/dependencies in the later part of the projects. The complete development becomes person dependant rather than process dependant and team dynamics and HR strategies in the company becomes key ingredients in the success of project. It should be noted that as such process also adds an additional variable in the form customers. Customers get an influential seat at the table to shape the value proposition of the project as it unfolds. They are actively involved in the development process to establish, prioritize, and verify requirements at each and every stage. The ability of agile methodology to adapt to changing customer priorities and requirements keep the project current and relevant. But with such frequent changes in the requirements and scope of the project, strong commitment to the business milestones, which is one of the features of agile methodology, becomes difficult if the project is not managed properly. Because of the high dependency on team dynamics it is often difficult to apply agile methodologies to large project teams and large scale projects, where better planning is required. But it suits the company having culture of innovation as the focus is never shifted from exploratory development to planning and controlling. Research Objective As seen above there are positives and negatives of both the project management methodologies. According a survey taken by one of the leading companies, about 50% of business correspondents claim that agile methods had been successful in about 95% of their projects, where are remaining say that such methods are still too premature and require extensive academic proof/research. I am hoping that through this research paper I am able to explore the challenges faced by such business correspondents while implementing agile project management methodology. I will try to find if adopting agile methodology guaranties success. This paper will also focus on handling change management, risk management, HR issues and Team management issues. Research will stress on various ways of tackling these problems to increase the probability of success. The research will also touch upon adopting the traditional project management activities such as project plan, earned value analysis, balance sheets into the agile project management. The Common practices followed in different types of methodologies for agile project management such as SCRUM, XP, CRYSTAL, EVO will also be discussed in this paper. Sources: Project Management the Agile Way: Making It Work in the Enterprise   By John C. Goodpasture The Blending of Traditional and Agile Management By Kathleen B. Hass, Published in PM World Today May 2007 (Vol. IX, Issue V) Agile Project Management Methods for IT Projects By Glen B. Alleman Wikipedia

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Social Criticism Contained In Fahrenheit English Literature Essay

Social Criticism Contained In Fahrenheit English Literature Essay I was walking and talking with a writer friend [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦], when a police car pulled up and an officer stepped out to ask what we were doing. Putting one foot in front of the other, I said [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]. That was the wrong answer. The policeman repeated his question. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] I replied, Breathing the air, talking, conversing, walking [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦], its illogical, youre stopping us. If we had wanted to [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] rob a shop, we would have driven up in a car [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]. As you see, we have only our feet. Walking, eh?, said the officer [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] dont do it again! (Bradbury 1993, p.57) This encounter was the inspiration for a young Bradbury, who earned his living selling short stories, to write his novella The Fireman. But due to the tense political situation in America he had problems to make this story public. Nevertheless, an avant-garde publisher was delighted by the story and wanted to print it, upon condition that its author expanded it to a novel. At first, Bradbury doubted whether he could fulfill that, but finally, in 1953, he completed the novel Fahrenheit 451  [1]  with great enthusiasm for he stated that I did not write Fahrenheit 451 it wrote me (Bradbury 1993, p.58). However, as Bradbury criticizes the political climate in the U.S., difficulties emerged again to find a publisher, who would print portions of Fahrenheit. Fortunately, a Chicago editor bought his manuscript to release it in three issues of his new magazine. It turned out that the young editor was Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy. This troublesome publication history of Fahrenheit markedly reflects the content of the novel because it is set in a world, where critical or dissident individuals are oppressed. Analogously, political resistance caused difficulties for Bradbury to level criticism against American society in his novel. On these grounds, this paper examines in which respects the topics of Fahrenheit contain criticism of society and how the fictional story refers to the sociopolitical circumstances of the 1950s in America. 2. Criticism of society in Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451 Within the main motives of the novel, Bradbury incorporated criticism of society. So, in the following, the socio-critical implications of the topics entertainment, technology, censorship and book burning will be carved out. 2.1 Entertainment Entertainment plays an important role in Fahrenheit since it is employed to manipulate society. It is ubiquitous in any situation so that everyday life of the citizens is characterized by steady diversion. For instance, tiny Seashell Radio receivers are conceived as electronic equipment to fob minor news and toneless music off on the population. Mildred the protagonists wife and a generic representative of society even wears the Seashells while sleeping so she is completely captivated by the governments propaganda. Moreover, in every living room, huge walls are installed which resemble a standard TV but span over several walls and broadcast three-dimensional footage. People watching these programs consider the actors to be familiar persons as they are able to interact with them. Mildred is strongly influenced by this entertainment medium since she is looking forward to reading out some missing lines in a scene, which have been mailed to her for participating in the program. Thus, s he feels satisfied as all look at [her] out of the three walls and [she] say[s] the lines (Bradbury 1953, p.23). As the two statements I think thats fine and I sure do (ibid) are the lines she has to read, Mildred subconsciously indicate[s] her agreement with what is being said (Booker, p.88). Furthermore, omnipresent advertisements like two-hundred-foot-long billboards in the streets or the train radio prevent people from thinking by directing their attention toward repetitious slogans. In order to visit his confederate Faber, Montag goes by subway where he suddenly starts to scream Shut up, shut up, shut up (Bradbury 1953, p.73) when hearing a dentifrice advertisement, whereas the other passengers are tapping their feet to the rhythm of Denhams Dentifrice, Denhams Dandy Dental Detergent, [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] faintly twitching the words Dentifrice Dentifrice Dentifrice (ibid). Other devices that illustrate the biasing impact of entertainment in the novel are joke-boxes that repeat the same jokes most of the time (Bradbury 1953, p.32) and music walls in cafes on which colored patters [are] running up and down (ibid). Through the perpetual influence of the media, emotions and own thoughts are debarred from the public and also intellectualism and curiosity are repressed. Hence, the propaganda spread in the media maliciously deceives the citizens so that they are under the illusion [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦of] hav[ing] a part in determining that ideology (Booker, p. 88), although it is obvious that the opportunity for creativity is dulled (ibid) severely by the government. Even though the citizens are not compelled to adapt their selves to the state dogma, they do not revolt because they are manipulated by the anti-intellectualism spread in the media. Booker refers to this as a brainwash [of the] audience into conformist behavior (ibid). This attitude of the figures in Fahrenheit might be traced back to Bradburys biographical background because, during the Cold-War era, the dominance of mass media and entertainment increased immensely. On that score, American officials were convinced that if people could be persuaded that what they were getting was what they wanted increasingly simple and sensational entertainment, information reduced to headlines [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] then they could be controlled (Charles, p. 13). Such control is also exercised at school since the educational system described in Fahrenheit heavily relies on mass media and sports to prevent critical discussions. For instance, Clarisse reports Montag on her school life in which she has to attend sports lessons like basketball or running as well as TV-classes, where they just run the answers at you, bing, bing, bing (Bradbury 1953, p.31). Correspondingly, Zipes argues that, in Fahrenheit, schooling serves to exhaust the young so that they are tame, but the frustration felt by the young is then expressed in their fun outside school, which always turns into violence (p.7). The literary conception of media consumption habits in Fahrenheit reflects Bradburys critical opinion concerning the role of television in society. Since the early days of television in the 1950s, new media has been crowding out traditional reading as a popular form of entertainment. Thus, in the face of the pupils declining reading ability, schools abandoned text-based teaching methods and increasingly used television in classrooms. This development is seized in Montags America, where entertainment, especially television, stupef[ies] the populace by saturating their minds with useless information (Booker, p.88). Consequently, the educational system in Fahrenheit tends to cram [the pupils] so full of non-combustible data, chock them so full of facts they feel stuffed, but absolutely brilliant with information [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]. Dont give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with (Bradbury 1953, p. 57f.). Bradbury wants to show the repercussions of excessive entertainment by describing a world in which people lose personal contacts and nearly bear no relation to reality so that the government can manipulate the populace without any restraint. In this regard, the problem of alienation and loneliness caused by the permanent distraction of the media is not really with the system, but with the people (Booker, p.89) who are forced into line subconsciously because of the propaganda broadcasted all the time. Accordingly, Beatty states that any man who can take a TV wall apart and put it back together again [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] is happier than any man who tries to [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] equate the universe, which just wont be [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] equated without making man feel bestial and lonely (Bradbury 1953, p. 58). 2.2 Technology Media does not form the only highly developed issue in Fahrenheit. Besides, the topic of technology is of importance. Although technology closely relates to entertainment in some respect, it must be considered a separate aspect that stands out due to several futuristic elements. Science in general is on a high level in Fahrenheit since houses are built out of a fireproof material, subways run under the city and banks are open all night due to robot tellers in attendance. Besides that, sundry science-fiction inventions prevail in Bradburys novel, such as the Mechanical Hound. It is an electronic animal that injects morphine into someones leg and is employed to seek out a person who is wanted by firemen. What distinguishes it is that Montag wonders whether it is alive or not. Correspondingly, the Mechanical Hound is referred to as the dead beast, the living beast (Bradbury 1953, p.26). Montag flees the Mechanical Hound after his house has been burnt and he has killed Beatty. The pursuit is broadcasted on TV and as Montag can escape, the footage shows the death of another person, who is pretended as him. By that, the propaganda aims to prove society that rebels have no chance to protest and get killed in case they take flight. According to Zipes, the Mechanical Hound represents all the imaginative technological skills of American society transformed into a ruthless monster and [is] used to obliterate dissenting humanity (p.9). As Bradburys novel can be seen as a reflection of the 1950s in America, the Mechanical Hound takes up the fear of robots during this time. In the 1940s, the first robots were built after the invention of the computer by Zuse in 1941. Subsequently, they became a popular concept during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when automated machines were first used to support factory operators. Nevertheless, many Americans feared the nature of robots and were afraid that they might take control over human beings. Referring to this anxiety, Bradbury arouses criticism on the fast pace in which technologies have developed so that people lose control about the way their lives are determined by new electronic equipment. In Fahrenheit, a computer system [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] keep[s] track of each and every citizen (Zipes, p.8) to ensure that everybody behaves in a politically correct way and does not develop an own opinion. In Bradburys novel, technology [is also à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] used in the field of medicine to deaden the senses while keeping people alive as machines (Zipes, p.6). For example, Mildred is treated by two men with two machines after taking an overdose of sleeping pills. One machine slides into her stomach like a black cobra down an echoing well (Bradbury 1953, p.18) and pulls out all the content. The second machine pump[s] all of the blood from the body and replace[s] it with fresh blood and serum (ibid). As this process of revival is very versed, Montag asks the operators how often they use these machines. It turns out that every night they are employed for at least nine times. Carrying someone elses blood is an extraordinary perception for Montag so he is shocked at hearing that so many people take an overdose and must be rescued by blood transfusion. Another way of using technology can be spotted in the communication between Montag and his mentor Faber, who has built a bullet that enables a permanent contact between them. It is a tiny device that cannot be observed since it is placed in the ear and resembles a Seashell Radio. Due to this invention, Faber can counsel Montag on his reactions and answers in every precarious situation that is brought by the fact that Montag owns books. So here technology is employed to [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] emancipatory and humanistic interests (Zipes, p.7). Throughout the entire novel, war is omnipresent. Radio broadcasts wrong information about current attacks or force-levels and warns that war can erupt at any moment even though jet bombers are flying above the city several times a day. The populace in Fahrenheit started and won two atomic wars (Bradbury 1953, p. 68) and a third one destroys the city at the end of the novel. By that, Bradbury wants to criticize the rapid nuclear arms race during the Cold War (Zipes, p.7), after seeing the consequences of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The Cold-War era lasted from 1947 until 1991 and was characterized by a constant political tension between the Soviet Union and the Western world (Greiner). This tense situation was attributable to the strong dichotomy of political ideologies and the fear that this conflict could escalate and lead into a nuclear war was very widespread, particularly in the United States. A historical event that affected Bradbury in this context was the K orean War from 1950 until 1953. It was a proxy war between the Eastern and the Western Block in which the U.N supported the Republic of Korea, whereas the Peoples Republic of Korea achieved assistance by the Soviet Union (Hickey). 2.3 Limitation of fundamental rights Despite the fact that governmental activities are not described in detail, their impact on society and daily life is apparent in regard to manifest restraints: In Fahrenheit, the freedoms of information, expression and press are severely restricted. For instance, the people acting in the novel are not informed about the true situation concerning the atomic war because government deludes them through its censorship. This delusion has far-reaching consequences, namely the destruction of the city by an atomic bomb at the end of the story since propaganda has hindered individuals to foresee their imminent destruction (Bradbury 1953, p.140). Similar to the government in Fahrenheit, the Office of Censorship heavily censored reporting on warfare during the Second World War. At that, information which could be useful for the opponent should not be broadcasted neither on TV nor radio. In this connection, the office was also responsible for concealing the existence of atomic bombs so the American population did not know about them before the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Hanyok). The parallel between history and the fiction in Fahrenheit continues in the 1950s with respect to the delusion about weapons of war. Thereby, the stifling atmosphere delineated in the novel comments on the intellectually oppressive climate in America. Although the Bill of Rights guarantees all Americans the freedoms of speech and press as a constitutional right, censorship was at these times allowed and enforced by the United States government (Bruck, p.10). By means of prior restraint, which was considered a de-facto-censorship, government could injure First Amendment rights and control the publishing of unwelcome ideas (Pfister, p.141 f.). For example, in 1950, the magazine Scientific America was forced to censor an article about a Hydrogen-bomb. The magazines publisher argued that only facts, which have been public before, were part of the article and that only a few lines referred to construction details of the bomb. Moreover, he brought forward the argument that the Americans ne eded this information in order to form an intelligent judgment. Nevertheless, Scientific America was constrained to publish a redacted version of the article and had to destroy the original run of the issue (Swanberg). In addition, further measures of censorship and infringement are briefly worded in the novel. In order to prevent people from communicating, the government eliminated the porches from all houses (Bradbury 1953, p.59) and closed all Liberal Arts Colleges (Bradbury 1953, p.69). Heretofore, this paper analyzed the methods with which the government in Fahrenheit brings the population into line. Hence, the treatment of those, who do not adapt to this enforced conformity, will be examined. On the one hand there are individuals, who do not adapt their selves to the rules, like Clarisse McClellan. She likes asking questions and deliberating about everything. Even her hobbies going hiking in the mountains, bird watching and collecting butterflies (Bradbury 1953, p.25) are very suspicious because it is exceptional that someone is interested in something that has nothing to do with media. Owing to her unadjusted personality, Clarisse has to see a psychiatrist who should investigate why she is rather doing things on her own than participating in car races with her friends (Bradbury 1953, p. 25). Despite her chatty attitude, Clarisse is considered to be antisocial, treated like a stranger and excluded from society. On the other hand, those who offensively defy the system are punished immediately. As soon as the firemen are informed about somebody who owns books, they march out to burn the books together with the persons home. Thereupon, convicted book owners are sent to the asylum (Bradbury 1953, p.34). In order to avoid the menacing exile, critics set up a hidden camp on a deserted riverside (Bradbury 1953, p.130). Viewed in this light, people who deviate from what is normal place themselves outside the protection of society (Charles, p.13). In Fahrenheit, Bradbury depicts an atmosphere of insecurity and lack of faith between the characters. Dissident individuals have to live in constant scare of denunciation and ban. As an example, Mildred betrays Montag to the firemen on account of the fact that he owns books (Bradbury 1953, p. 103). This practice of political condemnation relates to the atmosphere in the United States during the late 40s and early 50s. Several evolutions of the Cold War, such as the detonation of an atomic bomb by the Soviets in 1949, led to an increasing anti-Communist hysteria in America. Reflecting the decreasing faith within society, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) set itself to purify America of any Communistic activities in the course of the Second Red Scare. For example, in 1947, the HUAC inquired whether a group of Hollywood screenwriters called the Hollywood Ten supported Communist propaganda. The accused, mainly directors, radio commentators and actors, were blacklisted and boycotted by their studios. These proceedings led to the social isolation of the artists so that they did not succeed in finding new jobs (Emmons, p.xviii; Georgakas). A further wave of Communist persecution in the U.S. went down in history as McCarthyism. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy delivered a speech in which he asserted that the State Department wittingly employed communists. This speech made McCarthy nationally famous and is considered to be the opening act of a long-lasting period of Communist repression. Americans were able to watch Senate hearings on TV in which McCarthy exposed alleged Communists. These public inquiries created an atmosphere of fear and mistrust that left many Americans unsure, whether to confide in their neighbors, public officials or media figures (Emmons, p.xxi). 2.4 Book burning The hardest sanction of censorship in Fahrenheit is the ban of all books. Owning books is a capital offence that is cursed with burning the books and arresting their readers (Bradbury 1953, p.34). The high relevance of this aspect is already suggested by the title of Bradburys main work: Fahrenheit 451 is the exact temperature at which book paper catches fire. On top of that, it is a striking feature that, in the novel, the firemens job is to burn books instead of slacking a fire (Bradbury 1953, p.9). In Fahrenheit, book burning is propagandistically justified by technology, mass exploitation and minority pressure (Bradbury 1953, p.54). More precisely, captain Beatty reports that book burning started when modern technologies like photography, radio and television were invented and displaced books (Bradbury 1953, p.51). Furthermore, he blames the huge population to be a factor which caused the book burnings. He argues that the bigger a population is, the bigger the minorities are. Consequently, authors had to stop dealing with controversial issues in order not to offend any minority group. Beyond that, an important reason for books to be excluded from society is that they are considered to cause unhappiness. Propaganda declares that people could not deal with literature without being unhappy or feeling lonely (Bradbury 1953, p.57). In his essay Burning Bright, Bradbury points out that he related the motive of book burning in Fahrenheit to historical events, particularly to the book burnings that had been carried out by the Nazis during the 1930s and 1940s (Bradbury 1993, p.58). At that time, books of Jewish and degenerated artists were first blacklisted and then burnt (Lischeid, p.105f.). On May 10, 1933 more than 25,000 books were burnt by German students because the German Student Associations Main Office for Press and Propaganda proclaimed a nationwide Action against the Un-German Spirit (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Especially works by Sigmund Freud, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx, H.G. Wells and Erich Maria Remarque affected (Charles, p14) since they were considered a threat to the state-enforced conformity (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). In this point, the Nazi book burnings resemble the ones in Fahrenheit because, in both cases, the motivation of destroying books is to for cefully maintain an idea of man that is predefined by ideology. Where they burn books, they will end in burning human beings, Heinrich Heine wrote in 1821, one century before the Third Reich. History has proved this to be a true prediction (Charles, p.15): First the Nazis burnt Jewish and degenerate books and later they started to burn Un-German individuals in concentrations camps. In Fahrenheit, a parallel to this development can be perceived. An old book-owning woman is burnt alive for she refuses to leave her house when firemen arrive to set her house on fire (Bradbury 1953, p.38f.). Montag is the only one who exhibits a guilty conscience about burning a woman alive and starts wondering about the books distinctiveness and the reasons why you might die for them. By using the book burning motive Bradbury criticizes the hard means which are applied to control the thoughts of the citizens as well as the locking up individuals who do not adapt to the common rules (Bradbury 1953, p.34). But in the end of the novel, the authors outlook is not solely hopeless. When the city is destroyed, the book lovers are the only ones who survive so it is up to them to rebuild a civilization that neither persecutes intellectuals nor infringes personal freedoms. 3. Conclusion Since Bradburys novel is more than 50 years old today, the question, whether its social criticism is still valid today, emerges. To start with, the futuristic media described in Fahrenheit envisioned the popularity of headset radios, [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] interactive TV and live new broadcasts (Bruck, p.58) that are in style today. But for the main part of his novel, Bradbury intended to put a critical focus on entertainment and the resulting alienation within society. In this context, the currently discussed effects of excessive media consumption are comparable to those described in Fahrenheit. For example, persons who are addicted to computer games give up all their personal contacts. Connected with the media, the novel also addresses the manipulative use of it that persists down to the present day. For instance, advertising still tries to influence people and most of them are not aware of it. Another point of Bradburys media criticism refers to the use of television in classes and the lacking education of adolescents. As most of the young people today rather use modern media in their leisure than spending their time reading books, Bradbury was right in foreseeing that the reading levels will drop. However, concerning the fear of the nuclear arms race during the Cold War, the social criticism in Fahrenheit is not up to date anymore. Cold War ended in 1990 and the U.N. pursues a disarmament policy to reduce the number of high tech weapons. But what is frightening about those weapons today is the question to which extent they would pose a threat to mankind if they fell into the hands of terrorists. In his novel, Bradbury also criticized the infringement of the expression of opinion as he envisioned a world where dissident individuals were punished. Today, such an oppressive climate still prevails in North Korea and other totalitarian regimes that enforce censorship. But in America, everybody is free to say what she is thinking. The book burnings mentioned in the novel represent a strong measure of governmental censorship, whereas in modern-day America, the American Library Association promotes intellectual freedom (American Library Association). But nevertheless, some scandalous books are still banned from schools and public libraries So all in all, the social criticism contained in Fahrenheit is still valid today to a large extent.

Monday, August 19, 2019

The Symbolism of Hester Prynnes Appearance in The Scarlet Letter :: Essays Papers

The Symbolism of Hester Prynnes Appearance in The Scarlet Letter Throughout The Scarlet Letter, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many literal and figurative items to illustrate the significance of various characters or themes. Coupled with the tangible evidence given, the reader can make many miscellaneous assumptions of the importance of these items to directly and indirectly contribute to the issues of the novel. One cryptic item that symbolizes more than it seems to is the appearance of one of the main characters, Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne's appearance and hair signify the levels of will and determination she possesses at the moment. The first example of this implication occurs at the beginning of the novel, during and before the first scaffold scene. Hester's hair is let down, shining and "so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam." This hair compliments an elegant, beautiful woman standing tall and proud. During this time, Hester's emotions, at full integrity, mirroring her appearance. When Hester is being questioned upon the scaffold, her virtue shines through when she refuses to name the partner of her sin. In the next example, Hester's pride and stature both seem to dwindle in accordance to her appearance. Within the next seven years, Hester has gone through a change both physically and emotionally. The book describes the scarlet letter to have absorbed all the rebellious and fiery qualities of Hester, leaving a cold and lonely woman, her tenderness "crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more." At the same time, Hester started "hiding" her beautiful rich hair in a cap, therefore practically eliminating her beauty and femininity. As Hester becomes less passionate internally, she becomes less passionate externally as well. The last example takes place during Hester's talk with Arthur Dimmesdale in the forest. During their emotional conversation, Hester regains her previous composure, and tries to prove to Arthur that the past can be erased. With the literal simple gestures of pulling off her scarlet letter and taking off her cap, she figuratively obliterated all that had happened before she was forced to wear the scarlet letter. Her womanliness and pride came rushing back as her hair fell back to her shoulders, becoming as she was before the scarlet letter took over her life. The Symbolism of Hester Prynnes Appearance in The Scarlet Letter :: Essays Papers The Symbolism of Hester Prynnes Appearance in The Scarlet Letter Throughout The Scarlet Letter, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many literal and figurative items to illustrate the significance of various characters or themes. Coupled with the tangible evidence given, the reader can make many miscellaneous assumptions of the importance of these items to directly and indirectly contribute to the issues of the novel. One cryptic item that symbolizes more than it seems to is the appearance of one of the main characters, Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne's appearance and hair signify the levels of will and determination she possesses at the moment. The first example of this implication occurs at the beginning of the novel, during and before the first scaffold scene. Hester's hair is let down, shining and "so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam." This hair compliments an elegant, beautiful woman standing tall and proud. During this time, Hester's emotions, at full integrity, mirroring her appearance. When Hester is being questioned upon the scaffold, her virtue shines through when she refuses to name the partner of her sin. In the next example, Hester's pride and stature both seem to dwindle in accordance to her appearance. Within the next seven years, Hester has gone through a change both physically and emotionally. The book describes the scarlet letter to have absorbed all the rebellious and fiery qualities of Hester, leaving a cold and lonely woman, her tenderness "crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more." At the same time, Hester started "hiding" her beautiful rich hair in a cap, therefore practically eliminating her beauty and femininity. As Hester becomes less passionate internally, she becomes less passionate externally as well. The last example takes place during Hester's talk with Arthur Dimmesdale in the forest. During their emotional conversation, Hester regains her previous composure, and tries to prove to Arthur that the past can be erased. With the literal simple gestures of pulling off her scarlet letter and taking off her cap, she figuratively obliterated all that had happened before she was forced to wear the scarlet letter. Her womanliness and pride came rushing back as her hair fell back to her shoulders, becoming as she was before the scarlet letter took over her life.

Drug Abuse in Canada :: Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse

Drug Abuse in Canada Introduction Drug use and abuse is as old as mankind itself. Human beings have always had a desire to eat or drink substances that make them feel relaxed, stimulated, or euphoric. Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C. in China. But it was not until the nineteenth century that the active substances in drugs were extracted. There was a time in history when some of these newly discovered substances, such as morphine, laudanum, cocaine, were completely unregulated and prescribed freely by physicians for a wide variety of ailments. Canada’s Drug of Choice: Marijuana   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Contrary to popular belief the rate of illicit drug use is actually on the decline. The most commonly used drug in Canada is Marijuana. According to the 2004 Canadian Addiction Survey, 44.5% of Canadians surveyed said that that used pot at least once in their lifetime.14.1% reported that they have used marijuana in the past twelve months. Those individuals that have used in the past year varies greatly, with 20.8% not having used at all in the past 3 months, while 204.9% claiming that they have used only once in the past 3 months. 16% reported that they used monthly, 20.3% was weekly, with only 18.1% reporting to be using daily. The province with the highest usage is British Columbia with an average that is significantly higher than the national level, at 52.1%. British Columbia also has the highest past year usage compared to the national average at 16.8%.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As with alcohol, men (50.1%) are more likely than their female counterparts (39.2%) to have used marijuana during their life time. The same sample of men (18.2%) and women (10.2%) have used marijuana in the past year. This is up from 5.7% for men and 2.4% for women in 1993, over three times higher for the men and four times for the women. The younger generations, like men, are more likely to use marijuana, with approximately 70% of those between the ages of 18-24 years old having tired it at least once. The youngest age group sampled, 15-17 years old, almost 30% of them used cannabis in the past year, peaking at 47% with the age group18 & 19 year olds. After this point usage within the past year tends to decline with only 10% of the population surveyed claiming they still use marijuana.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Early Childhood Education Diversity Case Study Essay -- Inclusive Earl

Tom is a four year old boy and is attending preschool for the first time. He suffers from a condition called Cerebral palsy. According to Alvarez, (2014), Cerebral palsy (CP) is an abnormality of motor function, the ability to move and control movements and is acquired at an early age, usually less than a year of age. Tom and his parents represent the Rastafarian culture. His parents have long dreadlocks, but his dreadlocks appear to be in the initial growing stage. He is wearing a foot brace that serves as additional support for his body movements. Tom’s parents are eager to have him enrolled in the school, but is faced with a dilemma during the registration process. The teacher clearly demonstrated her lack of experience and the school’s inability to offer an environment that caters to the diverse needs of children. I will be examining the types of discrimination highlighted in the case study and reflect on examples of educational practices that respect and recognize the fundamental rights of children. I have explored numerous readings to validate my statements, perspectives and personal belief. My overall reflection is based on an understanding of the importance in creating an environment that is inclusive and represents diversity. I am deeply saddened that both Tom and his parents first encounter in a learning environment is tarnished by a negative experience. Issues Relating to Discriminatory Practices There are quite a few issues identified in the case study, the focus here emphasizes the importance of recognizing, addressing, and providing acceptable practice. The teacher reveals that the school is a faith school and Tom w... ...ional Research Journal, 27 (1/2), 31-44. Soodak, L. C. (2003). Classroom Management in Inclusive Settings. 42(4), 327-333. Retrieved fromhttp://muse.jhu.edu.library.open.uwi.edu/journals/theory_into_practice/v042/42.4soodak.html Trejack, P. (2010-2011). Highscope in the diverse and inclusive classroom. 29 (2), Retrieved from http://www.highscope.org/file/NewsandInformation/ReSourceReprints/Winter2010-2011/ReSource2010-11Winter_72.pdf Rouse, M. (N.d.). Developing inclusive practices: A role for teachers and teacher education. (16), Retrieved from www.abdn.ac.uk/eitn/uploads/files/issue16/EITN-1-Rouse.pdf‎ Winter, E.D., & O'Raw, P. (2010). Literature review of the principles and practices relating to inclusive education for children with special educational needs. Retrieved from http://www.ncse.ie/uploads/1/ncse_inclusion.pdf Poster Images: Retrieved from: Google

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Descriptive Essay Beautiful Nightmare

The Beautiful Nightmare Back in November last year,as I wokeup to the blistening sun shining through my window, I blinked my eyes to clear the my blurry sight. With the excruciating pain that poked my eyes, I walked to the mirror and was surprised to look at my red eyes. That was not the worst part, as I focused more into my eyes on the mirror, I realised that at the center of my eyeballs, there was a white bulge, round and small.Not even an hour later,my mother and I were already sitting on a comfortable blue sofa ,waiting for my turn to be called at the eye specialist clinic. After a few complicated examinations ,my mother and I had to face a bad news. I had a corneal ulcer on my left eye and it’s quite critical. Even the cold air conditioned room felt so warm when the optician futher explained my condition to my mother and I. At that moment, all I could think of was, What am I to do? SPM is just a week away and my eyes were bandaged and unwrapped only to put the eyedrop eve ry 15 mins.After a whole week full of inconvenience to study and excruciating pain to the extent that I could barely even get my eyes open by a millimetre, the optician decides to unwrap my right eye so that I will be able to do my examinations. I did my best in the examination,with all the knowledge I’ve instilled before that nightmare. Months passed by and I still have sore eyes every once in a while and sometimes I could barely open my eyes and at times I feel that my surrounding seemed too bright for me to even look at, when they’re actually not.There were days I wouldn’t even bother looking at my unattractive face in the mirror, scared that I might be frightened by my own eyes. Never the less, I could not express my feelings in words when I went to my school, SMK Assunta to get my SPM results. Though it may not be the best nor did it reach my expectations, but when I reflect back on the incident and my conditionin which I was doing my examinations, I was mo re than happy with my results and the delectation that was bestowed upon me by the Allah Almighty.Not too long after that, after a few interviews and offers, here I am , at Mara College Seremban, pursuing my studies , doing what I love best, English. Its been more than three months here, there have been many obstacles and challenges, not only from the overload of assignments and responsibilities,but from the social interactions between the students here too. Noone is always satisfied with anyone or anything, theres always a sense of negativity in everyone here, which was never a problem back in Assunta.However, I believe that none of this should bring me down. Those who matters to me wont mind , and those who mind don’t matter to me at all. Yes, my eyes still bother me. Its getting worse actually. There were days I could not open my eyes in class as it seemed too bright to my eyes that I felt really bad when the teacher thought I’m sleepy. There were also moments when I could not complete my assignments at night especially when the lights go off and I need to rely on the study lamp which caused my eyes to hurt even more.However I believe, that Allah Almighty would not let me go through something that I couldn’t go through. He knows me best and he knows I’m strong enough to go through all this. I’ll succeed, even with all these contradicting emotions and conflicts around me,just like I did with my SPM examinations. That unforgettable nightmare may have brought me down once, but it will be at the back of my head, burning the spirit to fight and live my life the way I want to.When the time comes, once I’m done with A-levels, I will be strong enough to go though that scary eye operation. From now on, I’ll look at things one at a time, I know there will be more problems and obstacles for me to overcome, but I also believe that I will be strong enough to cross that bridge when I come to it. As for now, holding tight t o that nightmare, I’m planning to paint my life as beautiful as possible .