Response Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Response Question - Essay Example a writing style which means that Sima Qian wrote as a group. Sima Qian observed the whole picture of the events in China, and wrote it from the standpoint of the group’s view. On the other hand Herodotus wrote it mostly from his view point, adding up details which he thought were necessary for the readers to read. What did the group think of what happened? What did the group think was important to write down? Why did they think it was important? These are questions that we should answer. The most amazing thing about these authors is that they never once met each other in person. Yet, for people who never met each other, never enjoyed each other’s company and never had a cup of coffee or tea over the dinner table together, their recollections and styles are vastly similar. The similarities become eminent to the readers by the different accounts of the writers that they give, and the brilliant ways in which they speak. Herodotus’ brilliant account of politics was f ascinating to me, as was Qian’s ability to go off on random mythical journeys. Many would say this was separate, but it is also identical as both writers could go off onto one stretch of writing style and stay there. Regardless of the similarities that the two writers share their writing styles are vastly different. However the fact remains that Sima Qian and Herodotus are great writers and perhaps some of the best writers in history. Their writing style shall be forever analyzed and young students and emerging writers will always try and strive for their great style. A major difference that the two authors have is the manner in which each writer presents his personal interpretation. As mentioned above Herodotus tends to go off on political tangents while Sima Qian tends to keep the political thoughts to a barely noticeable minimum. However Qian has no problem in exploring the mystical world of China, something Herodotus virtually leaves untouched. Qian wrote from what is kno wn as the group standpoint. He wanted everyone to receive his entire message, to see his whole picture, so to speak. It is a contrast to be sure from Herodotus, who wrote from his standpoint and more about what he thought, and wasn’t as worried about making sure that the entire group got the picture. However this does not means that readers of the text will not find Herodotus’ work compelling. The first thing I noticed about both authors, as I was reading their work, was how stunningly easy the work was to read. Many history books are dry and full of only factual writing. However in my opinion this time the writing from the history book seemed to come to life. Although I liked Herodotus’ approach slightly better because I am more of a political person than a mystical person, yet Qian’s work was also equally engaging. However I did think that Herodotus’ work was more intellectually stimulating perhaps because it had a more historical and more fact-b ased approach. Many books, especially books about this time period in history, are quite boring although I was glad to see that this one was very interesting. I found Herodotus’ work to be more enlightening than Qian’s, perhaps because I was able to relate to the style of writing that he used and it was slightly better than Qian’s. Sometimes it was hard to know who actually wrote what document as the book did not always specifically mention it, thus making an absolute and fair analysis and comparison challenging, to say the least. I personally could not have done all the research and

Apple Price Cut Essay Example for Free

Apple Price Cut Essay To what extent the iPhone pricing strategy is similar to the iPod pricing strategy? How do you explain that the iPod price cut did not lead to such a level of customers’ protest? Answer: Both iPhone and iPod have experienced a large amount of price cut in their product lifecycle. In this document, we can find that iPod was launched in October 2001. Tough relatively high priced for an MP3 player, it was hugely demanded and remains popular till date though there was a price slash in 2005. Similar to the price cut of the iPod, two months after the launch of the iPhone, Apple lowered the price by 200 USD. However, regarding the price strategy, a big difference between two products is the timing of price cut. iPod adjusted its price after experiencing a 4-year success from its launch in 2001, whereas iPhone drop in price in only 2 month, which is the main explanation of why the iPod price cut did not lead to such a serious level of customers’ protest. Although both price adjustments were designed for the aim to further expand in the mass market and improve the sales, we can find that the main reason for price cut of iPod is to sell more products in its declining period of product lifecycle. By contrast, the objective of price cut of iPhone is to rapidly monopoly the smart phone market in its growing period of product lifecycle, which resulted a part of Apple fans’ profits since they bought the product in a high price. 2. â€Å"Market analysts pointed out that Apple had created a strong brand and customer loyalty which it capitalized on by adopting a skimming strategy in pricing. They also felt that customers accept its highly priced products with equanimity. To go a step further, they consciously expect it to be so. What does this tell you about the value of iPhone own-price elasticity, cross-price elasticity and income elasticity? Answer: The practice of ‘price skimming’ involves charging a relatively high price for a short time where a new, innovative, or much-improved product is launched onto a market. Obviously, due to the reason that Apple had created a strong brand image by its innovation of technology and creativity of design, and loyalty of customers, particularly those Apple crazy fans, the price skimming strategy was able to work extremely well when iPhone was launched onto the market. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone entered the highly volatile cell phone market combining telephony, MP3, Web surfing and video watching, which completely revolutionized the tech-savvy market and was most awaited by both the technology enthusiasts and mainstream media. Therefore, the success of this strategy was largely dependent on those first adopters’ inelasticity of demand for the product either by the market as a whole. However, in the cell phone industry, where the product lifecycle is relatively short and the market is highly competitive. Before some other competing products or substitutes emerging on the market, iPhone could enjoy its high price and benefit from its â€Å"monopoly profits† in a short term where demand is relatively inelastic. Whereas in the cell phone industry, the demand from mass market is price elastic, which is the main reason that Apple needs to drop its price to increase its sales according to its mass-market strategy. In terms of cross-price elasticity, we can think about this question from two aspects: complements and substitutes. Firstly, due the reason that the demand of iPhone is price elastic in mass market, price of iPhone decrease, quantity demanded of components increases, which leads Apple to get a lower price of components from its supplier and further guarantee its gross margin of iPhone. In addition, the increase of sales also means the increase number of customer buying and renting apps from Apple’s online store. Secondly, considering substitutes, price of iPhone decrease, and quantity of competing products demanded decrease. Since the demand is price elastic, the lower production cost and increase revenue from Apple softer ware are able to recuperate the loss from cost cut. We can make the conclusion that regarding to the income elasticity, a decrease of price of iPhone has a positive impact on its total revenue. 3. Based on the information provided in the case would you say that the market for smartphone is closer to monopoly or to monopolistic competition? Justify. Answer: Yes, base on the information provided in the case, I regard the smartphone industry as a monopolistic competition. Monopolistic competition  is a form of imperfect competition  where many competing producers sell products that are  differentiated  from one another. Smartphone industry has following characteristics: * There are several producers like Apple, Blackberry, Nokia, Motorola etc. , and many consumers in the market, but no company can total control over the market price. * Consumers perceive that there are non-price differences among the competitors products. * There are few barriers to entry and exit. Producers have a degree of control over price. 4. Is the price cut decided by Apple two months after iPhone initial launch consistent with the smartphone market structure described above? Answer: Yes, the performance of iPhone is consistent with the smartphone market structure. Firstly, the MC firms sell products that have real or perceived non-price differences. However, the differences are not so great as to eliminate other goods as substitutes. Technically, the cross price el asticity of demand between goods in such a market is positive. In this case, iPhone perform the same basic functions but have differences in qualities such as design, style, reputation and appearance. Secondly, independent decision-making is another characteristic of monopolistic competition. The firm gives no consideration to what effect its decision may have on competitors. In other words each firm feels free to set prices as if it were a monopoly. Lastly, Apple has some degree of market power. Market power means that the firm has control over the terms and conditions of exchange. An MC firm can raise it prices without losing all its customers. The firm can also lower prices without triggering a potentially ruinous price war with competitors, which is the reason why iPhone was able to largely cut its price in two months. 5. Knowing the price cut affected negatively Apple reputation, do you believe Apple adopted an opportunistic pricing strategy initially selling the iPhone at a high price to take advantage of holiday season high spending habits and then dropping the price to stimulate market growth? Is this consistent with Apple pricing strategy in its other product lines like computers and iPod? Answer: I don’t entirely believe that iPhone lunched at a high price was due to it attempted to take the advantage of â€Å"holiday season high spending habits†. From my point of view, there are two main reasons why iPhone priced high at the beginning: Firstly, the core consumer groups of iPhone are enthusiastic fans of high-tech gadgets; and some of them are loyalty customers of Apple. These parts of people are not sensitive for iPhone’s price. What attract them are its quality, design and innovation. The first adopters’ inelasticity of demand is a good opportunity for using the price skimming strategy. Secondly, high price strategy is an effective method to build a high-end brand image. It’s much easier that a high brand image product cuts its price for promotion than a low brand image one raises it. For the tech-savvy market, the product lifecycle is short. We can often find on the market that a product of Apple or other brands cuts its price when it has been launched for a period of time. But iPhone dropped its price only 2 months after it had been introduced onto the market. This strategy is quite different from other products of Apple. For instance, iPod depreciated 2 years after it came into the market. Seeing the price of iPhone must be in line with iPod Touch, this strategy is â€Å"special† for Apple, comparing with other products. 6. â€Å"According to Apple executives the move had been planned long ago and felt that the pricing strategy was conceived in part to keep the iPhone’s pricing in line with its new iPod touch. † Explain to what extent a high-priced iPhone could be an obstacle to the success of the new iPod Touch. Based on what you know about Apple late development do you find that explanation convincing? Answer: In terms of the features of these two types of products, iPod Touch is like a simplified version of iPhone, without the function of a â€Å"phone†. This determines that the prices of these two types of products must be â€Å"in a line†, which means, for a reasonable consideration, the price of iPod Touch must be lower than iPhone but not too far away. If iPhone had not cut its price, iPod Touch must have had been priced at a higher level than the realistic one. We assume that, if iPhone 4 GB continued being sold at 499USD, iPod Touch may be sold at 400 or 450USD. As an mp3 player, it would be much more expensive than its competing brands. On the contrary, if iPhone had kept a high price level but iPod Touch had been set at a low one, the customers would have had been confused for â€Å"why a simplified version of iPhone is so much ‘cheaper’ than iPhone? † That would have had a negative impacts on the sales of both iPhone and iPod Touch, even would have had impaired Apple’s brand image. Combining with what I know about the late development of these two types of products, I found although the price cutting had a temporary harm on customer’s trust, iPhone and iPod Touch both performed well on the market. It proved the importance of keeping the price of iPhone and iPod Touch in a line. 7. â€Å"But the sharp price cut suggested that even Apple, which has long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers, is not immune from the brutal pressures of the cellular phone business. † Does this statement mean that the personal computers market is different from the cellular phone business in other words, the cellular phone market is more competitive than the personal computer market? Why? Do you share this view? Justify. Answer: From this statement, I can’t make the conclusion that the cell phone market is more competitive than the personal computer market. Apple is one of the earliest personal computer manufacturers in the world. Its personal computer products are behalf of the most advanced PC technology of the world. Especially its graphics processing technology and operating system have high reputation. Thus, Apple’s PC products long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers. That means Apple has definitely strong market power on PC market. Its high price doesn’t mean there is less competition. Furthermore, the technical innovation, appearance design, and function combination of cell phone products are updating so fast. So the lifecycle of a handset product is shorter than a computer. The price cutting often occurs when a mobile phone has come onto market for a period of time. The objective usually is for making price room for a new generation of product, which isn’t caused by competing activities. In conclusion, I don’t share this view. 8. â€Å"Keeping in mind Apple’s range of high priced products which gives it an â€Å"aura† of exclusivity, was Jobs decision to reduce the price a right one? With a 50% gross margin, Apple is setting itself up for aggressive price declines going forward†. Do you believe that Apple move is a sign that it is ready to enter a price war? Would this mean that Apple is leaving the niche market position it held for decades to go after mass market? What would be the pros and cons of that strategy? Do you believe it? Answer: The characteristics of Apple’s products are novel design, fashionable appearance and the combination of music, game, music, web surfing and other functions. It determines the positioning of iPhone must be high, and the main target consumer group is high income, music ; digital amateurs. This segment of consumer has low sensitive for price. Pure price war will not yield more market shares for iPhone. So, the price cutting strategy doesn’t mean Apple is ready for the price war. The product’s features determine Apple’s niche market strategy. But a cell phone product innovates relatively faster than other cargos. When a product successfully attracted some first adopters, how to sell them to more followers should be the core problem. Cutting the price and going in to the mass market is a universal method. Apple also adopted this strategy on iPhone. Pros of going to mass market: * iPhone can attract more followers. Some of them are sensitive to the price, their demands are elastic. Before the price cutting and entry of the mass market, some of the non-owners didn’t buy it just because of the high price. * iPhone can expand its market share quicker, and establish the competitive barriers. Its market power will be stronger. * The expanded customers would have had bought more online products, which would have had a big growth of income. By this strategy, iPhone can consolidate their customer-friendly brand image, and increase the loyalty of the customers. * The cooperation with AT;T can get a synergy between these two brands, and can receive a sum of bonus revenue from the carrier. Cons of going to mass market: * It made the brand image be lower than before. * Decreased the gross margin of iPhone. * Hurt some die-hards’ loyalty. * Increased the degree of monopoly, made the competition imperfect, and harmed the balance of the benign competition with its rivals. But a cellular phone product such as iPhone goes into the mass market is usually a temporary strategy when the product comes into the mature or declining period in its lifecycle, or when the company wants to make some price room for a new product. Apple cut iPhone’s price was just for keeping the iPhone’s price being in a line with iPod Touch’s. It didn’t mean Apple changed its main branding strategy to go into the mass market. For that time, I assume that it was a reasonable strategy for Apple to cut iPhone’s price.

Identity Crisis in Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee

Identity Crisis in Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee ABSTRACT: Immigrants have envisioned tales that exhibit experiences of independent and emerging countries. Cultures have taken up new form in the contemporary times, where the issues of Diaspora, globalization, consumerism, transnationalism cultural hyberidity and identity crisis have become new motif in the postcolonial literatures. The new issues give rise to identity crisis that evokes feelings of an individual that portrays socio-cultural setup that shows the blend of tradition and modernity. The new identity creates problems for Tara in Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee, where she is alienated, languishing in the angst and ennui of the diasporic experience, yet to carve out a niche for herself. In the novel, Bharati Mukherjee has struck a balance between tradition and modernity by representing past and present which is achieved through the female protagonist -Tara, who severed her links with tradition but remains tied to her native country. Tara is influenced by ancient customs and traditions, but is rooted to modern customs. She is conscious of her existential predicament which is mirrored in the epigraph: No one behind, no one ahead the path the ancients cleared has closed. And the other path everyones pathà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ goes nowhere, I am alone and find my way. Tara is alienated from the society as she oscillated between the nostalgic fascinations of a traditional past and the romantic and adventurous allurements of the present. The diasporic qualities exhibited by Tara establish the merging of the East and West which shows the clash. The Identity of the protagonist is highly assimilative, can adopt and accommodate herself both to her traditional Indian way of life and to her newly adopted American ethos. She tries to move away from the constrained identity and vacillates between two lives: maybe I really was between two lives.(251) Taras reconstruction of identity is rooted in her nostalgic and romantic recollection of her past. It is based on the flux of her thoughts about the past coming to her mind in the present but in fragments, and not whole. She tried to reconstruct her identity through her diasporic experience. She was attempting to redefine the importance of her cultures through space and time. Loneliness had made Tara a little wanton and wantonness had made her very lonely. In these five years she had changed beyond recognition, but other character Bish had not changed at all.Bish is also an upholder of tradition. He prefers the values of an imagined past than those of contemporaneity. The concept of home and migration is very much embedded in the narratology that Bharati Mukherjee presents in Desirable Daughters. It is the sense of migration which brings about a change to the identity of Padma, who has finally made New York her home, her land of choice. But her inalienable attachment to her home makes her the sustainer and preserver of Bengali tradition in America. The alien culture thus fails to subvert her traditional identity. On the other hand it only remaps nad reconstructs her cultural identity. Hence migration plays a crucial role in restricting individual identifies and cultural attitudes and perceptions. The novel is woven brilliantly which depicts the thoughts and feelings of three Calcutta, India-born Brahmin upper-class sisters, renowned for their beauty, brains, wealth, and privileged position in society. Mukherjee narrates their lives as they leave their conservative, sheltered childhood home, where they are inundated with culture, tradition, and values and inculcated with education by the Catholic nuns in their convent structured school and college. Two of them emigrate to America and the other relocates to Bombay, India. The three sisters, Padma, Parvati, and Tara, are born exactly three years apart from each other and share the same birthday.They are named after the goddessess name,hoping that they will survive and prosper in whatever they do. We are sisters three/as alike as three blossoms on one flowering tree. (But we are not), says Tara, the protagonist, quoting a poem. Desirable Daughters is the novel that takes a long time to lift itself from the surface and once it releases its themes and characters, it seems to get liberated from the trapped situation. Engrossed in Indian culture old and new, it keeps strucking down in tight little circles of detail that create an atmosphere of cramped inwardness, even suffocation. Bharati Mukherjee, like in her previous four novels and short stories, tries to portray the repression that enables the women of her culture nailed down in subservience to male desires. The feelings and emotions are discovered after exploring traditional Indian society. The novel is based on three strikingly-beautiful sisters from a privileged Bengali Brahmin family in Calcutta feel the tug between tradition and freedom as they try to meet expectations that are often wildly contradictory. The youngest, Tara Chatterjee, seems to have flown farthest from the nest. Tara is divorced from Bishwapriya (a Silicon Valley multimillionaire hand-picked for her by her father), shes raising a sensitive teenaged son on her own. The depressing part is that, she works as a lowly teacher, a choice which would be unthinkable in the culture of her birth. The story is narrated by Tara from her adopted San Francisco home, where she lives with Andy Karolyi, a strange sort of Hungarian Zen carpenter who earthquake-proofs houses. The lifestyle of the protagonist implies, a sort of free and easy hippie lifestyle, but nothing could be farther from the truth. In the novel the rebellion-gestures are merely trappings, or reactions against the gagging restrictions of Taras girlhood. Tara initiates her tale of repression in a curious way, with a legend about her namesake Tara Lata, also known as the Tree Bride a remarkable figure who became prominent in the fight for Indian freedom. After going in for more than twenty pages, Tara then delves into telling story of her own, which seems to be dislocating in nature. She recalls the utter lack of romanticism in her marriage, in which her father told her, There is a boy and we have found him suitable. Here is his picture. The marriage will be in three weeks. Tara, not knowing any other way, submitted: I married a man I had never met, whose picture and biography and bloodlines I approved of, because my father told me it was time to get married and this was the best husband on the market. Mukherjee dwells on every detail of this highly traditional occurrence. The father of the child bride is a traditionalist even though he is a lawyer educated in English and English law. The groom dies of snakebite and his family blames the bride as unlucky. Greedily the father of the groom demands the dowry. But the brides father takes his daughter into the forest where he marries her to a tree. She becomes a woman noted for her courage and generosity. Her American granddaughter visits her home. She has the same name, Tara Lata, as the old woman and like her she has two sisters. The contemporary woman is a divorced woman. Her ex-husband was the traditionally pre-selected bridegroom like his former wife a resident in America and now she lives with her lover, an American, in San Francisco. Her son introduces a young man who claims kinship as the son of her oldest sister, Padma. This is a kind of impossibility. An impossibility since her sister never had a child and a possibility since the familial relationships are so convolutedly secretive as to make the existence of the young man as her nephew plausible. It seems likely that the young mans claim is true and that Padma, Taras sister, did bear an illegitimate child. This is a momentous event for Tara. As the pampered child of wealthy Calcutta parents, she was sheltered from the poverty of the city and from all but the most severe political crises. She suffers the stress now of an immigrant with a child that belongs wholly to her new country. The discovery of Padmas child brings into focus all her inner disqu iet and the need to find valid connections. In the novel, Taras relationship with her two elder sisters is complicated, the flow of affection blocked by a certain formality and adherence to preset roles. Middle sister Parvati married a rich man and stayed in India, but by some miracle was able to select the suitable match for her. Parvati in her own way had established her identity, because of which it was said:Parvati, the pliable middle daughter had done the unthinkable: shed made a love match. He was certainly not what brains-and-beauty Parvati Bhattacharjee could have commanded on the Calcutta marriage market. Even though Paravati was given right to select her right match but after that she is depicted as one who is a meek follower and gets diminished by losing her real.She writes to Tara: I hope you arent doing bad things to yourself like taking Prozac and having cosmetic surgery. Please, please dont become that Americanized. The third, and the eldest sister of Tara, Didi, is married to a Mehta (an illustrious family which includes the conductor Zubin) and moved to New Jersey to pursue a career in television. But again, all is not as it seems. Her lifestyle is a thin veneer laid over the dense, pressed-down bedrock of tradition. She is considered to be most glamorous of all the three sisters. The other character Chris Dey, is represented as crisis in the novel. He is a young man who represents himself to Tara as Didis illegitimate son, conceived through an affair with a prominent businessman named Ronald Dey. This exposes an ugly under layer of culture to Tara, not the India of doting grandparents, not the India of comfort and privilege, but the backyard of family, the compost heap. The characters in the novel are not portrayed in the liberated form, they are trapped into different set of emotions trying to carve out a new identity for themselves. Tara is projected as a character who more of a status conscious tries to uphold the values of traditional society despite falling for different allurements in the present. Her elder sister, Didi pretends hard to be a pure character but falters when gives birth to her son, which represents misalliance.Chris Dey isnt really who he says he is, and in fact he feels like a device, something dropped into the story to keep things moving forward. In the end, the novel, tries to come back from where it started, where and the legend of Tara Lata the Tree Bride, but this device doesnt quite work either. The denouement somehow goes slack and does not yield a satisfying end to the story. The novel seems to be a family saga which could not bring out the desirable characteristics in the characters of the novel, that portrays them as a dominant in any sphere. The end is quite suspenseful and complex where the description of homeland may be magical but symbolic intention was lost. Bharati Mukherjee depicts a liquid society in her novels, ie a society in flux. It is a society of constant flow, the flow of migrants, the flow of machines, flow of criminals, flow of power structures, flow of people and commodities.  Amidst all the confusions the message was brought out clearly and it is represented as a fascinating beautifully written work of art that exhibits vulnerability that cannot be missed out.

From Baseball to Gymnastics :: Personal Narrative Sports Athletics Essays

From Baseball to Gymnastics Have you ever played baseball before? Is it just another sport to you? Well I have, and in the beginning it was just a sport to me. I remember as a young boy playing ball in the fields with only a few friends. Pretty much all we needed to play the game was a pitcher, a batter, and a fielder. The other players were mainly my brother Keith and a few neighbors around the block. Of course I was the youngest and the smallest, but this didn’t seem to bother them. We also played many other sports but baseball was my field of expertise. One summer, when I was eight years old, my mother came to me and asked how I felt about playing organized ball. At first I was unsure because I was used to my way of only three or more players, but not nine, on each team. Well the small amount of players we had was beginning to decrease. This was because the older guys were getting jobs and more importantly girlfriends. There wasn’t much else to do, so I decided to go for it, and joi n the league. This is what I wanted and I was going to be a pro someday. A few days later I went to register with my mom. She was so cool, because she did all the talking for me. I just hid behind her rear and listened, only peeking around timidly to see what I was up against. I wasn’t used to that many kids and was not about to talk to anyone, even though they were kids like me. I was shy that day but soon after began to open up. That was it, sign up was complete, and practice was just around the corner. My team the Toronto Blue Jays, had two weeks before our first game. During this time we had a chance to meet the coach and all the members of the team. We also had the opportunity of making fun of ourselves as we fumbled the ball around in a disorganized manner. Once again I had my doubts, but before long I gained friendships and a greater interest for organized Little League. I started off in the league as a Mustang, which was classified by age group.

Extracurricular Activities in a Student’s Life Essay

Extracurricular activities can empower students to make their own decisions and help them gain vital experience and skills to lead them on the path to their future. The Facts According to the Montana State University Extension Service, students involved in extracurricular activities are more likely to become leaders, more willing to complete tasks, more willing to voice opinions, and more likely to graduate from high school and have annual incomes of more than $50,000. Extracurricular activities are also a good way to explore social, political, and career interests. Gain Experience through Extracurricular Activities Extracurricular activities help students gain experience in a variety of areas that will enhance their future. Through participation in sports, students learn cooperation, teamwork and time management. By serving as an officer in an organization, students learn responsibility, problem solving and communication. Extracurricular activities can also help students discover hidden talents, meet people they might otherwise not encounter, and learn about things outside their own environment. How to Choose an Activity But which activities should a student choose? Should they choose activities that use talents they already possess and meet people with similar talents, or should they choose something new and different and meet people who possess different opinions and skills? Some students are comfortable with growth while others will feel more comfortable with familiarity. If a student enjoys outdoor activities, he or she may want to look into archery clubs, horseback riding or other sports. If a student enjoys reading he or she may also enjoy literary clubs, writing clubs or journalism activities. Extracurricular activities are also a good way to learn appreciation for new and different activities. A student who would ordinarily choose football or baseball might think about exposing themselves to archery or bird watching. Choosing something outside a student’s comfort zone widens horizons and expands knowledge. Being open to new avenues by joining the newspaper staff, the computer club or the decorative painter’s club will expose students to new people and new ideas. What Activities Are Available? Activities can be found by checking with school counselors, reading the club section of the local newspaper, calling the Chamber of Commerce, asking other students what activities they are involved in and checking with area churches. Information on volunteer activities can often be obtained from community service organizations or teachers. Teachers can be a wealth of information concerning work-study programs, internships and summer jobs; all of which help students build their resume and gain valuable experience in their career field. If a student has already chosen a career path, extracurricular activities can help pave the way. If he or she is interested in teaching science, being an officer in the science club or entering the local science fair can show commitment. Community service at a nearby pharmacy or volunteering at a lab at a nearby hospital or plant can also give experience in the chosen field and can be included on a resume. Ask Questions It’s important to inquire about the organization. Is there a cost involved? Will participants be asked to raise money? How often does the organization meet? Are evenings and weekends involved? Are outside activities required? How many hours will the organization’s activities entail? Checking school and work schedules should also be done before joining any organization. Extracurricular activities are important, but they shouldn’t take up all of a student’s time outside the school day. There should still be time for homework, chores, relaxing, and spending time with friends and family. A combination of all these are an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Extracurricular activities should complement a student’s life, not complicate it. When students are involved in too many activities or in an activity that takes up too much time, students will become stressed and grades and family relationships begin to suffer. Students should be careful not to overextend themselves by taking on too many activities or volunteering for too many jobs or committees in an organization. Serving as an Officer of an Organization Serving as an officer of an organization can also teach a variety of skills. Leadership and management responsibilities can be gained through serving as President. Recorders or Secretaries gain experience in writing and journalism. Treasurers gain bookkeeping and money handling experience. Each office holds valuable skills that can be used in the future. Many students who ran for Student Body President of their school have gone on to become Chief Executive Officer of an organization or President of their own company. Running for office also gives students experience in campaign management, advertisement and people skills. Some students may choose to get to know an organization better before becoming an officer. They will still have opportunities to serve on committees or volunteer for projects throughout the year. Teamwork, communication and organization skills are all gained by serving on a committee or working on a club project. Commitment Learning to stick with an activity from start to finish is another important lesson of extracurricular activities. Once a commitment to a club, activity or committee is made, students should hang in there even if the activity isn’t quite what they expected. By learning to see activities through to the end, students learn valuable lessons they will use later in life. They will be less likely to drop out of school, less likely to quit a job and less likely to walk away from a relationship prematurely. Gain Vital Experience and Skills for the Future Experience gained from extracurricular activities will follow students throughout their lives. It is surprising to note that when the top two candidates in the running for a job are closely matched, something like â€Å"Eagle Scout† listed on their resume can help decide the tie. Prestigious honors like National Honor Society, English Honor Society or Gamma Beta Phi are noticed by potential employers. They look for competent workers that are go-getters and are willing to get involved and go the extra mile. Even something like Scouting or 4-H tells employers about the person behind the resume. Taking the time to get involved in extracurricular activities will benefit students in a variety of ways. Time away from the school day through participation in extracurricular activities can also serve as an outlet for stress and a way to build confidence and self-esteem. Students need encouragement to pursue their dreams. Not only will it empower them to make their own decisions, they will also be given a chance to gain vital experience and skills that will lead them on the path to their future.

Free Essays on Regz

Stress is a huge problem for me in my time of life. Stress occurs when we adapt or adjust to the environment, mentally or physically. Every day there’s something new that’s stressful. My car will break, tests coming up, all at once of course. All of a sudden they’ll be a problem between me and one of my girl friends. Then to top it off, and it’s not even anything hard or so aggravating, my mom would ask me to do something for her after my hard day and school and work, and then I just flip out. There’s many ways to release stress though. We’ve learned in class about taking the yoga breaths and relaxing exercises. They probably work even though I’ve yet to really try them, or at least I haven’t tried to do it on purpose. Stress can be easily dealt with though by planning ahead so when the problem arrives, you won’t have a million to deal with at once. Everyone has stress, you experience every day. The best way to cope is to just relax once in a while and try to not think of all the worries in your life. What’s the point of living if your not actually living because your worried about everything.... Free Essays on Regz Free Essays on Regz Stress is a huge problem for me in my time of life. Stress occurs when we adapt or adjust to the environment, mentally or physically. Every day there’s something new that’s stressful. My car will break, tests coming up, all at once of course. All of a sudden they’ll be a problem between me and one of my girl friends. Then to top it off, and it’s not even anything hard or so aggravating, my mom would ask me to do something for her after my hard day and school and work, and then I just flip out. There’s many ways to release stress though. We’ve learned in class about taking the yoga breaths and relaxing exercises. They probably work even though I’ve yet to really try them, or at least I haven’t tried to do it on purpose. Stress can be easily dealt with though by planning ahead so when the problem arrives, you won’t have a million to deal with at once. Everyone has stress, you experience every day. The best way to cope is to just relax once in a while and try to not think of all the worries in your life. What’s the point of living if your not actually living because your worried about everything....

Scholarship Committee Essay

Scholarship Committee Essay Scholarship Committee Essay Austin Runkle To the members of the Scholarship Committee, I feel the need to request any available scholarships to assist me in furthering my education. I live with only my mother who has helped to put my three older sisters through college. She did the best she could to help out financially, however, they still needed to take out significant loans. I know my mother feels obligated to help me with my college expenses even though she is running our home on her own. Any scholarships that I would receive would not only be of a great assistance to me, but also to my mother knowing that I can work hard to achieve my dream without having to worry about having enough money to ensure my being able to continue my education. I feel that I have been an asset to Reading High School for these past four years. I have participated in swimming and water polo all four years. I have been a member of the Arxalma staff since 10th grade and the Editor in Chief my junior and senior years. This will be my third year participating in the school show. I have also participated in Knight Life since my sophomore year when I became a student at RHS. My mother has always encouraged me to become involved in activities and to make the best out of every experience. This is what I plan on doing as I leave Reading High for the next chapter in my life. As I make this commitment to my next home, which is most likely Penn State University, I plan to be as active as possible and as

The Mechanism Behind a Questionnaire Design Essays

The Mechanism Behind a Questionnaire Design Essays The Mechanism Behind a Questionnaire Design Essay The Mechanism Behind a Questionnaire Design Essay The mechanism behind questionnaire design The questionnaire has been designed to determine if a satisfactory level of customer service is being achieved within the Devonshire spa hair salon booking and reception areas. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative questioning techniques the questionnaire hopes to gain varied feedback from the clientele as Sherman and Webb (1988) as cited in Blaxter et al (2001, p. 64) state; â€Å"Qualitative implies a direct concern with experience as it is ‘lived’ or ‘felt’ or ‘undergone’. In contrast, ‘quantitative’ research, often taken to be the opposite idea, is indirect and abstracts and treats experiences as similar, adding or multiplying them together, or ‘quantifying’ them. ) Quantitative questions, also known as closed questions, 1, 2, 4-12, and 14 are in the format of tick box or multiple choice questions and are included to gain numerical and precise data required as Walsh (2001, p. 7) suggests â€Å"A quantitative study seeks numerical data† Walsh (2001) goes on to say that when the data has been collected statistical techniques are used to gain patterns. This suggests that it is in the quantitative questions in the questionnaire that this numerical data will be found. Qualitative questions also known as open questions 3-6, 13 and 14 are in the style of a written answer and are included to extract more information from the clientele as Holliday (2007) remarks that qualitative questions do not conjure the same type of precision required by quantitative research as it is intent on expanding rather than controlling the answer given. The importance of piloting a questionnaire is great as according to Davies (2007) piloting is crucial because you yourself may not notice something that has more than one possible meaning. During the pilot stage of the questionnaire legible errors were pointed out, also the lack of qualitative questions was highlighted. Using this new information the questionnaire was amended accordingly as agreeing with Davies (2007), Hucker (2001, P. 105) suggests â€Å"When you have been working closely on something it is often difficult to see the errors, mistakes or the confusion you have created. Quantitative data taken from the questionnaire will be presented in a bar chart format taken from the findings produced in the tally chart made as Denscombe (2007) implies that bar charts are an effective way of presenting reoccurring data, and they are often used in small scale research, however, Yang (2007) disagrees and suggests that it is an unnecessary action to compile a bar chart out of few pie ces of information. Qualitative data taken from the questionnaire will be presented as a written discussion as Walsh (2001, p. 0) says â€Å"Qualitative data isn’t so straightforward, and requires a more word based style of presentation† This suggests that more quotations may be used also looking at similarities and differences may be beneficial as to gain a form of qualitative data from qualitative questions as Walsh (2001) goes on to say that when identifying patterns, you need to describe them and converting qualitative data into quantitative data may produce further details to discuss.

Cause-and-effects Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cause-and-effects - Essay Example When heated air from these surfaces begin to rise, it becomes absorbed by the clouds, which then condenses and turns into thunderclouds (Abbott 263). As the hot air rises, cooler air fills in the spaces that are left. The Earth, spinning on its axis, causes the air to spiral upwards, which causes the winds to rotate even faster. A hurricane has then been created, bringing with it strong winds that can reach up to two hundred miles per hour. A tornado is caused by a condition known as wind shear, which is when the speed or direction of wind changes with altitude. This can separate the updraft and downdraft of a thunderstorm, and if the wind shear is strong enough, it can cause horizontal vorticity (Abbott 239). Horizontal vorticity can be turned vertical by the updraft of the storm, which causes rotation. This rotation causes a tornado funnel to form, and thus a tornado. Tornadoes can produce winds up to three hundred and eighteen miles per hours, and they can cover group exceeding a mile at a time. These two weather conditions are capable of producing winds that can rip trees from the ground, toss vehicles, and tear homes from their foundations. They are both categorized based on size, wind speed, and level of destruction; while many people and buildings are able to survive Category One hurricanes or F2 tornadoes, the chances drastically decrease during a Category Five hurricane or an F5 tornado.

Interview with Dr. Michael Winters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Interview with Dr. Michael Winters - Essay Example As a licensed practitioner of and a firm believer in the merits of logotherapy, the search for and discovery of meaning plays a significant role in Dr. Winters' professional, clinical, teaching, and research activities.The search for meaning has had a strong basis in Dr. Winters' background, as reflected by his two choices for a college major: Theater or Psychology. Broadway's loss was psychology's gain, as he found the search for meaning more lucrative and challenging than, in a sense, its interpretation. After undergraduate and Masteral studies at Purdue, he went to Tennessee for his doctorate at the University of Memphis in 1991.However, it was not until two years ago (in 2005) that he embraced logotherapy, which is based on Frankl's insights on the beneficial psychological effects of the search for and discovery of meaning in human experience (Frankl, 1984/19871998). Frankl has had a substantial impact on Dr. Winters' life and profession, and logotherapy research has become a hug e part of his academic and clinical practice. As a counseling strategy, he uses logotherapy, which fits with the question that he asks every time he faces any of his clients: "how do I help this person to help him/herself move forward" (Winters, 2007)Dr. Winters' extensive experience, however, does not limit his counseling strategy to logotherapy. ... Among college students, though, Dr. Winters addresses more faith-based issues in search of solutions. Dr. Winters is also an expert on clinical depression, and a considerable amount of time was spent during the interview discussing this topic. We started by discussing the symptoms, which are primarily anxiety, pessimism, and lethargy. When asked what the causes of depression are, he paused for several seconds before answering: "anything". Depression is a chemical reaction that affects the mind, and this can be triggered by anxieties over relationships (romantic or otherwise), emotional or physical or psychological trauma. Among young people, common triggers of depression are issues with parents, relationships, or friends, or the search for and development of individual identity. If there is what he could call a master variable that helps one to avoid depression, it is the value of social networking. He noted from his clinical and professional experience that people who know how to get the most out of their social relationships with family, friends, and a special other are farthest away from depression. I guess that an important consideration here is the sense of security that a person feels, allowing him/her to maintain their identity in social relationships, free of false expectations and desires to be what they are not. As Dr. Winters shares with his clients, if they are not happy and truly getting their needs in their relationships, then they should either end it or fix it, working on the issues unless there is violence. He encourages his clients in a depression to move beyond a definition of love that is based on what they could get out of a relationship to one

Historical Report on race Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Historical Report on race - Research Paper Example Today, you hear people speaking Spanish in very street you walk through in the cities of the United States of America. Hispanic Americans or Latinos originated in the Latin America and Spain. Hispanic American refers to the people of Spanish-speaking ancestry, while Latino refers to the people of Latin American origin. The history of Hispanic Americans in the US dates back to 16th century when Spanish ships sailing through Pacific Coast to Oregon. Hispanic Americans were the first racial group to reach the Mississippi River, the Appalachian Mountains and Great Plains. Spaniards created the first local settlement in continental America at St. Augustine in Florida in 1565 while other settlements in Virginia, Plymouth Colony, San Antonio, San Diego and Los Angeles followed later in the century (Jim, 2011). During the American Revolutionary war, Spain aided America since Spain held about half of the continental America territory. Through treaties, diplomacy and the Mexican-American War, United States increased its territory at the expense of Spain and most Hispanic Americans were pushed to the Southwestern States (Jim, 2011). Hispanic Americans account for about 17 percent of the total US population which translates to over 50 million people. Hispanic Americans is the fastest growing racial group with a population growth rate of 28.6 % which is about four times the national average of 7.2 % according to 2010 statistics. Majority of Hispanic Americans live in Puerto Rico, East Los Angeles, Texas, Miami, California and Colorado. Hispanic Americans form the second largest are the second largest racial group in the US after the White Native Americans. Hispanic Americans are still a minority group. Most Hispanic Americans originated from Latin American countries like Salvador, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Dominica (Jim,

Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business Plan - Essay Example He considered today’s emerging potential for retail business and the customer orientation towards buying a product after seeing, touching and try them. The firm has found potential huge for its product to sell. The main advantage is the down town city location that could fetch good customers for its product Buster initially has an objective to expand its business operations by starting one more new store after duly considering the cost of expansion, available labour, customers etc and to own a chain of 10-15 stores in downtown office building. It is planned to increase the sales by minimum 15 percent against the present sales of $1, 50,000 to $3, 00,000 and revenue by 20-25 percent. He has a plan of delivery of products at home points after three years of its operation in the new location to boost the sales and build the client base further. The expansion programme requires the new investment amounting to $20200. He is investing only $3000 out of his savings and rest of the investment is mobilized in the form of bank (long and short term credit), sundry creditors and finance creditors. The new store needs more inventories, computer, printer, Fax, and a Phone to make it more efficient and profitable. Jones employs two workers considering their professional outlook in managing retail stores, their qualification and their attitude for adjusting to the changing environment. Though there are big retail shops offering varied products in the location, but there is no threat for customers visiting Busters. There are few such small retail stores offering similar products in the vicinity posing competition. But he did not consider it seriously as competition since there is growth of retail business at a rapid pace. However this competition can be managed adapting to value based customer service and ensuring customer delight. Jone’s vast experience in doing this

Writting health care paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Writting health care paper - Essay Example Looking at the financial statement and the type of assets the MCMPC owns gives an impression is MCMPC is in need of further strengthening its finances in order to take on the competitors. The key features are; Strengths †¢ No long-term debt, that implies company can better exercise its options in expansion and diversification. †¢ MCMPC used its financial resources to open a new department, used one million to set up the cardiology department †¢ Over the last 20 years MCMPC has seen consistent growth and its revenues reached $22 million in 2007 with good profit margins. Weaknesses †¢ Despite operating for the last 20 years, the organization is not yet large enough, and has its presence at limited locations only. †¢ Company scores poorly on the management of HR. For quite some time, company is not able to recruit specialists and subspecialist because while some are associated with competitor company Innovative hospital or there are some who are not impressed by the leadership skills of Dr. Balko. †¢ Since the year 2008, the balance sheet of the company is in red, with projections for 2010 also pointing towards a loss. †¢ MCMPC had to use cash to setup cardiology department, which in turn resulted in poor showing on financial figures and ratios. The current ratio was the only part of the statement that was above standard Not having enough cash for short term debts or emergencies is a gross management shortcoming 2. Competencies: It indicates the skills that the employees or physicians of MCMPC offer. Strengths The healthcare company is able to provide urgent primary and specialty services in areas of its presence. Caring and accommodating staff An excellent physician in the form of Dr Balko Weaknesses Company lacks specialists and subspecialist necessary to ensure uninterrupted services to its customers. Company not having strategic tie ups with other companies like its competitor/s Lack of discipline amongst staff. For example, no prescribed uniform for the staff, no regular staff meetings, lack of any formal management structure for decision taking, questionable decisions being taken by the Director of Operations who happened to be Dr. Balko's secretary in the past Office premises appears sloppy at times 3. Capabilities: Having the resources and the competencies to create a strategic plan that can allow the organization to see what they are able to do with what they have. Strengths Open long hours and keeping good relationship with patients. Dr. Balko stays late to care for his patients. Staff attitude quite accommodative, caring and responsive towards

Organizational Behavior Factors Affecting the Criminal Justice Essay

Organizational Behavior Factors Affecting the Criminal Justice - Essay Example When the upper management makes good decisions they ensure that the community has an effective justice system and also the lower managements are able to imitate their business behaviors, but a corrupt upper management system will negatively affect the lower management and the community. Culture may also be one of the biggest factors that affect the criminal justice system in the police department whereby diversity in the department reveals that there is less likelihood of disagreements between both the officers and the suspect or victims when there is a language barrier. Diversity in the police department has an advantage since individuals who may be witnesses or victims may feel more obliged to give information to the police officer. Law goes hand in hand with the criminal justice work place since the officers are expected to uphold the law at all times. However, there are officers who think that since they are the law enforcers they are above the law which is an issue, but in accor dance to the law when the officer commits an offence he or she should be treated in the same way as an individual who broke the law and was not an enforcement agent of the law. Stakeholders play an important role too as they determine how the internal and external relations of the system function. The influence of this factor in the criminal justice workplace mainly leadership creates a working pattern which ensures the accomplishment of the departments goals and objectives. There are three influential stakeholders’ namely political bodies, community groups and employees who affect the criminal justice system in the work place. Political bodies, who are external stakeholders, have more of a negative influence on the police department since they use it mostly to practice illegal acts unlike community groups, which may work with the police department to fight crime though community policing. They help combat crime by giving police lads to offenders, and this increases the effic iency of the criminal justice system in combating crime. Employees who may be officers are very influential stakeholders in the criminal justice system since when they adequately give information to their bosses on various issue in the organization and are accountable for the daily operations, and this implies that they increase the chances of finding solutions rather rapidly by working together to find the most viable solutions to existing problems. The system factor in the criminal justice work place is usually created by the management, which in regards to the police department determines whether the police force will be effective or not. A good and effective system will ensure that justice is served to all who need it since officers will do what   the system requires of them and also officers employed in the system will find it more comfortable working in the department. The structure in the police department determines each and every role played by an officer and their effect iveness in the department.

Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business Plan - Essay Example He considered today’s emerging potential for retail business and the customer orientation towards buying a product after seeing, touching and try them. The firm has found potential huge for its product to sell. The main advantage is the down town city location that could fetch good customers for its product Buster initially has an objective to expand its business operations by starting one more new store after duly considering the cost of expansion, available labour, customers etc and to own a chain of 10-15 stores in downtown office building. It is planned to increase the sales by minimum 15 percent against the present sales of $1, 50,000 to $3, 00,000 and revenue by 20-25 percent. He has a plan of delivery of products at home points after three years of its operation in the new location to boost the sales and build the client base further. The expansion programme requires the new investment amounting to $20200. He is investing only $3000 out of his savings and rest of the investment is mobilized in the form of bank (long and short term credit), sundry creditors and finance creditors. The new store needs more inventories, computer, printer, Fax, and a Phone to make it more efficient and profitable. Jones employs two workers considering their professional outlook in managing retail stores, their qualification and their attitude for adjusting to the changing environment. Though there are big retail shops offering varied products in the location, but there is no threat for customers visiting Busters. There are few such small retail stores offering similar products in the vicinity posing competition. But he did not consider it seriously as competition since there is growth of retail business at a rapid pace. However this competition can be managed adapting to value based customer service and ensuring customer delight. Jone’s vast experience in doing this

Organizational Behavior Factors Affecting the Criminal Justice Essay

Organizational Behavior Factors Affecting the Criminal Justice - Essay Example When the upper management makes good decisions they ensure that the community has an effective justice system and also the lower managements are able to imitate their business behaviors, but a corrupt upper management system will negatively affect the lower management and the community. Culture may also be one of the biggest factors that affect the criminal justice system in the police department whereby diversity in the department reveals that there is less likelihood of disagreements between both the officers and the suspect or victims when there is a language barrier. Diversity in the police department has an advantage since individuals who may be witnesses or victims may feel more obliged to give information to the police officer. Law goes hand in hand with the criminal justice work place since the officers are expected to uphold the law at all times. However, there are officers who think that since they are the law enforcers they are above the law which is an issue, but in accor dance to the law when the officer commits an offence he or she should be treated in the same way as an individual who broke the law and was not an enforcement agent of the law. Stakeholders play an important role too as they determine how the internal and external relations of the system function. The influence of this factor in the criminal justice workplace mainly leadership creates a working pattern which ensures the accomplishment of the departments goals and objectives. There are three influential stakeholders’ namely political bodies, community groups and employees who affect the criminal justice system in the work place. Political bodies, who are external stakeholders, have more of a negative influence on the police department since they use it mostly to practice illegal acts unlike community groups, which may work with the police department to fight crime though community policing. They help combat crime by giving police lads to offenders, and this increases the effic iency of the criminal justice system in combating crime. Employees who may be officers are very influential stakeholders in the criminal justice system since when they adequately give information to their bosses on various issue in the organization and are accountable for the daily operations, and this implies that they increase the chances of finding solutions rather rapidly by working together to find the most viable solutions to existing problems. The system factor in the criminal justice work place is usually created by the management, which in regards to the police department determines whether the police force will be effective or not. A good and effective system will ensure that justice is served to all who need it since officers will do what   the system requires of them and also officers employed in the system will find it more comfortable working in the department. The structure in the police department determines each and every role played by an officer and their effect iveness in the department.

Ethical Issues in Research Essay Example for Free

Ethical Issues in Research Essay Ethical issues are essential factors that must be given due and proper consideration in research. This becomes even more applicable when researchers deal with studies that involve human beings and animals. Numerous experiments are being made to achieve progress in various fields of discipline, including psychology. In doing so, human beings and animals must be protected, especially since using them in these experiments involves their well-being. For this reason, ethical standards are established. Ethical standards serve as the guidelines that govern the proper and improper participation and utilization of these life forms in research (University of Alberta, 2008). These standards ensure that studies which involve human beings and animals are subjected to limitations so that they would not be taken advantage of. According to the British Psychological Society (BPS) (2008), ethical guidelines give importance to respecting an individual as the researchers should not express any sign of prejudice toward the participants due to differences in racial descent, sexuality, language, and such. The privacy of the participants should also be respected. Thus, researchers must only acquire the personal information necessary for the study, and this information must be kept confidential. The researchers should also obtain the consent of the individuals who will participate in the study. During the study itself, participants should also be protected from any kind of harm, may it be psychological (e. g. , stress and anxiety) or physical. Moreover, the researchers also have to respect the participant’s right to leave an experiment any time that he or she wishes to. In another perspective, ethics tend to limit the advancement of psychological science. Since there are many guidelines and rules that have to be followed, researchers do not have full control over their participants. This sometimes hinders and impedes the experimentation process. Furthermore, obtaining the necessary license for this kind of research could be time-consuming, which can be used for the study itself (BPS, 2008). Scientists should accept and follow the limitations brought about by ethical guidelines because these guidelines only give due importance to the life of the participants. The main justification for these research studies is that the findings obtained from these would contribute to the knowledge and information on various fields of discipline and help improve the lives of individuals. This gives such studies an objective that is morally good (National Academy of Sciences, 2006). Hence, scientists should value the lives of the people they claim to help. Lastly, the one responsible in identifying the parameters of the participants’ protection are competent organizations that are familiar with the field of study being researched. In the case of the United States, the American Psychological Association (APA) (2008) is an organization that represents the psychologists in the U. S. APA (2008) implements an ethics code that every member of the organization must adhere to. References American Psychological Association. (2008). APA Ethics Office. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www. apa. org/ethics/.British Psychological Society. (2008). Ethics. Scienceaid. co. uk. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://scienceaid. co. uk/psychology/approaches/ethics. html. National Academy of Sciences. (2006). Scientific and ethical justification for using animals in research. Online Ethics Center for Engineering. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www. onlineethics. org/cms/16216. aspx. University of Alberta. (2008). Human Ethics, Biohazards, and Animal Welfare. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www. rso. ualberta. ca/certification. cfm.

Values Practice Issues Within Mental Health Nursing Practice

Values Practice Issues Within Mental Health Nursing Practice Using the values identified in the attached book (empathy and importance of self expression) review prepare a 2000 word discussion and analysis of values practice issues within mental health nursing practice. Introduction This essay aims to explore some issues around values and practice in mental health nursing. The essay builds upon a previous piece of work undertaken as a formative assignment, a review of a book read by the author, which raised some key points which may be important in mental health nursing practice. The process of uncovering these issues, in response to reviewing and reading a work of fiction, was one which led to a connection of ideas, from what the book presented, and from the author’s personal experience, life experience, and clinical experience and learning to date. The identified issues are to do with compassion, empathy and the importance of self-expression. These are all issues which the author believes are very much taken for granted in everyday life, but which become very significant for users of mental health services, and for mental health service providers, because they affect many areas of the person, their experience, and the therapeutic relationship. This essay will explore these issues in the light of some of the published theory and debate on these topics, and the author’s own point of view and experiences. Discussion It would seem that within mental health nursing, the relationship between the mental health nurse and the client is very important, but this relationship is based on certain values which must underpin nursing care (Eagger et al, 2005), and certain needs or requirements that the client might feel in relation to the nurse. Nurses working within a framework of values is no new thing, and values (and ethics) have always underpinned medicine and healthcare (Eagger et al, 2005). According to Svedberg et al (2003), â€Å"Mental health is created by the interwoven process of one’s relationship to oneself and to others†, which would suggest that the relationships the client forms with anyone involved in supporting mental health are doubly important. The client may find self-expression important for themselves, but also they will require compassion from the mental health nurse. The nurse, in turn, may be challenged by the client’s self-expression, and may find it hard to feel compassion or to empathise with the client at times. One of the challenges of providing compassionate care and even for the mental health nurse to experience compassion is the supposed relationship which some authors have found between perceived suffering and caregiver compassion. Schulz et al (2007) suggest that there are links between perceived suffering and the level of caregiver compassion. If this is the case, then it could be argued that some mental health nurses who do not feel or display compassion are doing so because on some level they do not perceive or believe the client to be truly suffering, or to be worthy of compassion. This would raise an ethical issue, because all the patient’s needs should be met, no matter what the ‘personal’ response to the client. However, this could be a lack of perception on the part of the mental health nurse. Akerjordet and Severinsson (2004) discuss the issue of emotional intelligence in nursing, a concept which affects the nurse-patient relationship, particularly within mental health nursing. Salovey and Mayer (1990) define emotional intelligence as â€Å"the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions† (p 185). In their qualitative study, Akerjordet and Severinsson (2004) found four dominant themes about emotional intelligence in mental health nursing â€Å"relationship with the patient; the substance of supervision; motivation; and responsibility.† This would suggest that emotional intelligence on the part of the nurse is important within mental health nursing. Akerjordet and Severinsson (2004) suggest that emotional intelligence â€Å"stimulates the search for a deeper understanding of a professional mental health nursing identity† and that â€Å"emotional learning and maturation processes are central to professional competence, that is, personal growth and development.† (p 164). Therefore, the mental health nurse would need to develop the emotional intelligence to understand why they are finding it hard to feel compassion for the client, and to take action to remedy this, and to act in a sensitive and supportive way towards the client, even if they do not truly feel compassionate towards them. Shattell et al (2007) carried out research on the therapeutic relationship within mental health services, and found that clients expressed experiences of the therapeutic relationship under the following themes: relate to me, know me as a person, and get to the solution. â€Å"A therapeutic relationship for persons with mental illness requires in-depth personal knowledge, which is acquired only with time, understanding, and skill. Knowing the whole person, rather than knowing the person only as a service recipient.† (Shattell et al, 2007 p 274). This would suggest that the mental health nurse should be motivated to develop an empathy with the client through this knowledge, and should actively engage in seeking out ways to know and to understand the client. This may relate back to the issue of emotional intelligence, because the mental health nurse needs to know themselves very well, and to understand themselves and their professional persona (Akerjordet and Severinsson, 2004) b efore they can then go on to get to know and understand, and empathise with, the client. Hamilton and Roper (2007) discuss the concept of insight, looking at its theoretical underpinnings, and the fact that it is problematic in mental health nursing because it can be difficult to have insight into patient’s experiences of mental illness. Insight is seen as part of the process of getting to know and understand the client, and from this, developing a knowledge of their mental illness, including diagnosing their particular mental illness (Hamilton and Roper, 2007). However, developing this insight is made difficult by problems such as the perceived difference in power between caregiver and client, and the expectations of ‘patient behaviours’ (Hamilton and Roper, 2007). This would suggest that the mental health nurse needs to see each patient as an individual, as unique, and to take the time to truly get to know the person and their experience of mental illness. Definitions of mental illness, and labels, can make this harder, for the nurse, and for the cl ient as well, who fears being reduced to his or her disease rather than being seen as a person who is ill (Hamilton and Roper, 2007; Shattell et al, 2007). Research by Shatell et al (2006) emphasises this point. In their study, clients raised a number of issues around being understood by mental health caregivers, and it was this concept of being understood which seemed most important in developing an effective therapeutic relationship. Some of these concepts include: feeling important; establishing connections, and being on the same level (Shatell et al, 2006). Research by Svedberg et al (2003) found similar results, and in their study â€Å"the patients described how the feeling of mutuality in the relationship with the nurse was important for the promotion of health processes. Mutuality was achieved by doing things together and by having a dialogue with each other.† (p 451). This author feels that these ideals can be properly achieved by mental health nurses who take time to get to know the client and who develop empathy with the client through focusing attention on them. The patients wanted to feel understood in Shatell et alà ¢â‚¬â„¢s (2006) study. â€Å" Feeling important was a major consequence of being understood. Being understood made patients feel like human beings rather than being treated like a number or being treated like in a factory. Participants wanted to be treated like human beings, not as sick, mentally ill persons; like persons, not a set of diagnoses â€Å" (Shatell et al, 2006 p 237). This could be viewed as a consequence of the compassion and self-awareness of the nurse as a professional, and of their ability to see the client as an individual, to not be prejudiced by anything about them, especially not their illness. This is very important. This author believes that compassion and empathy develop through getting to know the client properly, and that these all enhance the therapeutic relationship. Shatell et al (2006) also suggest that clients feel important when they know the nurse has been thinking of them at times other than face to face contact, and this is something to think of for practice, particularly in relation to the conversations that nurses have with patients. It is also important that mental health nurses develop proper listening skills, which would also allow them to develop compassionate understanding, and support the client in expressing themselves (Freshwater, 2006). Encouraging self-expression is an important part of nurses getting to know their patients, it would seem, but self-expression is not easy for many people. People with mental illness are often negotiating a range of different sense of what constitutes their ‘self’ (Meehan and Machlachlan, 2008). â€Å" For example, a professional woman becomes a mother and wife or ‘homemaker’ when she leaves the office for home. In changing from one self to another type, her multiple self voices renegotiate their hierarchy and positions and create a coherent self story consistent with the role of mother and wife.† (Meehan and Machlachlan, 2008). These negotiations can be problematic for the person with mental illness, and this just provides one example of how complex understanding the self can be, which makes self-expression similarly challenging. Yet it would be worthwhile to develop activities and actions which would sup port this. It may be that there are ways that mental health nurses can encourage or support self-expression and the development of caregiver understanding of the client. For example, Raingruber (2004) discusses the use of poetry in child and adolescent mental health, as a means of self-expression, arguing that poetry has the power to allow clients to develop self awareness and to express their feelings. Raingruber (2004) suggests that â€Å"The complexity, power, and beauty of language within poetry allow the expression of intense human experiences† (p 14). While there are drawbacks and limitations to the therapeutic use of poetry, it might be that this offers one kind of opportunity for self-expression, on the part of the client, and empathy, on the part of the mental health nurse. â€Å" When an appropriate moment arises, poetry should be used to help clinicians, nursing students, and clients become more aware of and open to possibilities.† (Raingruber, 2004 p 16). However, this author believes that the mental health nurse would need some skills in this area, or to be someone who is perhaps comfortable with using or writing poetry themselves, if they were to use it to any great extent with clients. Feen-Calligan et al (2008) make similar assertions about using visual art in supporting mental health users who are substance misusers. Feen Calligan et al (2008) found that â€Å"As the women learned to verbalize their feelings and reflect on their situations through interpretative interactions with visual art, they gained insight into their feelings and issues they faced in their recovery from chemical dependency.† (p 287). This research seems to show that using visual art and image processing allowed the women to fully express their feelings in ways they had not been able to before (Feen-Calligan et al, 2008). Again, some kind of knowledge or skill on the part of the nurse would be necessary. Both of these examples are of arts-related activities, and relate strongly back to the formative assessment and book review. It might be that there is great scope within mental health nursing to encourage self-knowledge, self-expression and mutuality through the use of creative arts an d fiction. Certainly this would provide a way for nurses to relate to clients more readily, to be on their level, and to talk in terms and metaphors that they are familiar with. Conclusion It would seem that underpinning mental health nursing are a number of core values which need to be more explicit in the discourses around the profession and in the practices of those within it. Svedberg et al (2003) state: â€Å"The most important goal of nursing care is to promote the subjective experience of health. The health promoting efforts of mental health care nurses must be aimed at creating encounters where the patient will be confirmed both existentially and as an individual worthy of dignity.† (p 448). The core values of mental health nursing should orientate towards this kind of confirmation of worth on the part of the healthcare provider for the client. Eagger et al (2005) state: â€Å"Organisations, too, would benefit from a clear, values-based statement that staff at all levels can identify with. Institutions encouraging a culture of care can contribute significantly towards creating a healing environment for staff as well as patients.† ( p 28). This would be particularly relevant for mental health nursing and mental health services, and might signify and important area for future practice development. Undertaking this exploration has shown to the author the need for self-awareness and emotional intelligence on the part of mental health nurses, as a prerequisite for developing true compassion and empathy. Fostering self-expression amongst mental health services users, providing opportunities for this, and supporting them by paying attention and understanding them, is also important. While some experiences so far might suggest that in certain contexts and situations, this might be difficult to achieve, it should be the goal that we all strive for, and these are core values which should underpin all of our practice. References 214727 Akerjordet, K. and Severinsson, E. (2004) Emotional intelligence in mental health nurses talking about practice International Journal of Mental Health Nursing 13 (3) 164-170 Benner, P. 2000. The wisdom of our practice: thoughts on the art and intangibility of caring practice. American Journal of Nursing. 100(10):99-105 Busfield, J. 2000 Rethinking the Sociology of Mental Health, Blackwell, London Castledine, G. 2005. Recognizing care and compassion in nursing. British Journal of Nursing. 14(18):1001 Eagger, S., Desser, A. and Brown, C. (2005) Learning values in healthcare? Journal of Holistic Healthcare 2 (3) Feen-Calligan, H., Washington, O. and Moxley, D.P. (2008) Use of artwork as a visual processing modality in group treatment of chemically dependent minority women. The Arts in Psychotherapy 25 287-295. Freshwater, D. (2006) The art of listening in the therapeutic relationship. Mental Health Practice 9 (5). Hamilton, B. and Roper, C. (2006) Troubling ‘insight’: power and possibilities in mental health care. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 13 416-422. Meehan, T. and MacLachlan, M. (2008) Self construction in schizophrenia: a discourse analysis. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory Research and Practice 81 131-142. Pilgrim, A. Rogers, D. 2005 Sociology of mental health and illness 3rd edition. OUP, Buckingham Salovey, P. Mayer, J.D. (1990) Emotional intelligence Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 9, 185-211 Schulz, R., Hebert, R.S. and Dew, M.A. (2007) Patient Suffering and Caregiver Compassion: New Opportunities for Research, Practice, and Policy. Gerontologist, v47 n1 p4-13 2007 Raingruber, B. (2004) Using poetry to discover and share significant meanings in child and adolescent mental health nursing. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing 17 (1) 13-20. Shattell, M., Starr, S. and Thomas, S.P. (2007) Take my hand, help me out: Mental health service recipients experience of the therapeutic relationship. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 16(4):274-284. Shattell, M., McAllister,S., Hogan, B. and Thomas, S.P. (2006) â€Å"She took the time to make sure she understood.† Mental Health Patients’ Experiences of Being Understood. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 20 (5) 234-241. Svedberg, P., Jormfeldt, H. and Arvidsson, B. (2003) Patient’s conceptions of how health processes are promoted in mental health nursing. A qualitative study. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 10 448-456.

Stephen King :: essays research papers

The relief Stephen King's Constant Readers feel at seeing the first full-length novel from the horrormeister since his accident most likely overshadows the weaknesses they might find in an effort that, while not King's best, is neither his worst. Set partially in the Derry, Maine, of It and Insomnia, and with shades of Tommyknockers in its subject matter, Dreamcatcher hearkens back to It and that novel's theme of the lifelong endurance of childhood friendships -- especially when something unspeakable bound those long-ago children to one another. Four men meet for their annual deer hunting party deep in the Maine woods in a cabin full of happy memories. Though they've inevitably grown apart, their childhood ties are still strong. In the cabin's great room hangs a Native American dreamcatcher, strings woven about sticks said to have the power to protect slumbering humans from night terrors. This year, though, that hanging talisman will prove scant protection against an unearthly horror that will require sacrifices of the highest order from the knot of friends. The animals are fleeing the surrounding forest, for they sense the unwelcome visitors whose precursors were the spate of recent strange lights in the New England sky. For Pete, Beaver, Henry and Jonesy, the nightmare begins when a disoriented hunter named McCarthy stumbles into their camp. The situation quickly degenerates. McCarthy unwittingly plays host to a deadly parasitic creature and brings a rapidly multiplying fungal growth into the midst of the group. While the childhood friends battle an inexplicable and implacable enemy, a government covert operations team seals off the area. Their plan: to destroy all evidence of a threatening alien invasion like nothing the pulp sci-fi purveyors has prepared the world for. Led by a man who is quite possibly insane, the black ops unit will stop at nothing to contain the menace -- including the slaughter of the bewildered hunters they've herded from the surrounding forest. Even so, the government's answer is insufficient to the problem. The combined will of the four men, and their reunion with the dying boy-man whose uniqueness bound them all together so wondrously those years ago, is the only hope against the unrelenting usurper from the heavens. The very best part of Dreamcatcher is undoubtedly the magic of the boys' relationship in the flashbacks to an earlier Derry. The easy way their small circle assimilates a specially-gifted Down's Syndrome child breaks your heart with its glimpse of humanity's potential actualized.

The Harlem Renaissance Essay -- essays research papers

Marcus Garvey and his organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), represent the largest mass movement in African-American history. Proclaiming a black nationalist "Back to Africa" message, Garvey and the UNIA established 700 branches in thirty-eight states by the early 1920s. While chapters existed in the larger urban areas such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, Garvey's message also reached into small towns across the country. His philosophy and organization had a rich religious component that he blended with the political and economic aspects. Garvey was born in 1887 in St. Anne's Bay, Jamaica. Due to the economic hardship of his family, he left school at age fourteen and learned the printing and newspaper business. He became interested in politics and soon got involved in projects aimed at helping those on the bottom of society. Unsatisfied with his work, he traveled to London in 1912 and stayed in England for two years. While in London, he read Booker T. Washington's autobiography Up From Slavery. Washington believed African Americans needed to improve themselves first, showing whites in America that they deserved equal rights. Although politically involved behind the scenes, Washington repeatedly claimed that African Americans would not benefit from political activism and started an industrial training school in Alabama that embodied his own philosophy of self-help. Garvey embraced Washington's ideas and returned to Jamaica to found...

Examine and comment on Islamic and Hindu beliefs about life after death Essay

Life after death is often a highly charged, debateable topic. Through this essay I will examine the argument that there must be an afterlife to explain morality in this world and refer to The Qur’an for Islam and Bhagavad Gita for Hinduism. This will allow me to conclude that an afterlife can justify morality, as human beings our life’s conduct is dependant on the belief of a good hereafter. Both religions very foundation rely on the fact that there is an after life, as deeds in this life will be accountable within the next. Although Islam and Hinduism both believe in an after life they teach radically different things about what it is. The Islamic belief is based on a linear time line, meaning that each person will live on this earth once and after that be judged by God. â€Å"The good and the bad deeds of every person will be weighed.† (Qur’an 7:8). This view differs with the Hindu belief as their belief is that to attain Mokhsa (release from the cycle of life) â€Å"everyone has to be reborn somewhere or the other to undergo some experience, until the Absolute Being is realised as identical with oneself.† by Swami Krishnananda. The individual must continue to transmigrate between souls to diminish all bad karma in the various lives they had been in to attain complete salvation. Belief in â€Å"al- akhirah† (life after death) is so crucial to the Islamic faith that any doubts about it amounts to the denial of Allah (God). This view is shared by the Muslim minority. According to Islamic belief, we have no means of knowing death as a revisiting experience, but Allah (God) has given humanity answers to every question regarding death. The first rhetorical question the Muslim is faced with in the Qur’an is â€Å"who will give life to the dead bones?† Islam declares that the Lord will. In the Qur’an, Allah deepens man’s way of thinking by asking them to reflect on how the rain revives dead earth. â€Å"It is Allah Who sends fourth the winds, so that they rise up the clouds, and drive to a land that is dead, and revive the earth therewith after its death†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Qur’an 35:9) According to Islam life on this earth is temporary; it is a preparatory stage for the akhirah (life after death) which will be infinite. Life on this earth is meaningless if good actions are not rewarded and bad conduct not punished. In order for an afterlife to exist, there must be some omnipotent being driving this idea forward. I will now be referring to Kant’s idea of the universe being satisfied, wrong has to be punished and good rewarded even if this takes place after death .The moral philosopher, Immanuel Kant argued that morality was the â€Å"categorical imperative†. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ if there is moral law, there must therefore be a law giver.† Modern society in alliance with Islamic and Kantian Views state that â€Å"justice must be served†. An example of this would be if a person commits an offence against humanity he/she has to be imprisoned. We’re then faced with situations where our justice system has failed to act with fairness and impartiality in accordance with what is morally right, this is when the idea of â€Å"justice in the afterlife† in religion comes into place. The current Laws are passed by parliament. The followers of Islam believe the One who determines the rules in this life and delivers the verdict in the after life is the almighty Lord. If we refer back to Kant, that once we die there is an afterlife for the universe to be morally satisfied that good is rewarded and evil is punished, there must be a God who can bring about some sort of Justice. â€Å"He is who controls the heavens and the earth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Holy Qur’an 27:60.) To deny God as the moral law Giver is to deny the only reasonable foundation for the law of morality in both the religions, as in Islam the fundamental belief that the almighty God is the basis of all foundation of all belief within that faith, similarly in the contrasting religion the soul of the individual wishes to have some sort of conclusion in Islam the hereafter and in Hinduism salvation to become one with the creator Brahma. However the factor that differs the two religions is that the concept of the soul, within the religions. In Islam the soul has its own identity of the individual it was given to at the moment of conception it has no relation to its creator other then the fact that the lord was the one who blessed life into it and the soul will be obedient to its creator to the day of judgement. The concept in Hinduism contradicts this idea as it feels the soul is God in itself as it has to go through a process which will enable the spiritual self to become God himself over the process of time. If justice is not done on earth therefore there must be an after life. The concept of free will argues that humanity has been given guidelines by God. It is up to individuals whether they follow them or not. Some may then argue that God does not care about people as He allows suffering to take place. This is where justice in the hereafter is satisfied, and so that is why there is morality in this world. â€Å"For Muslims not to care about life after death is a serious failing†. Muslims are certain that people die. Doubts have been expressed by non Muslims regarding life after death. They question how Allah (God) can raise men and women after death, but Islam teaches that God can make human beings out of nothing so it is not difficult for Him to raise them again. â€Å"O mankind! If you are in any doubt about the resurrection, then verily, we have created you (i.e. Adam).† (Qur’an 22:5) The Qur’an goes on further to say that: â€Å"Does man think that we shall not assemble his bones? Yes, surely we are able to restore the very shape of his fingertips.† (Qur’an 75: 3-4). The Hindu Holy Scriptures such as the Upanishads and the Vedas clearly speak of a God that is associated with classical theism. Although over centuries we have come to know Hinduism as a faith with many gods it primarily has one God. â€Å"By one supreme Ruler is the universe pervaded. Even every world in the whole circle of nature, He is the True God†¦ (- Yajurveda XLI) .Similar ideas are expressed in the Upanishads â€Å"Know Me alone as the creator of all – I am the cause; I am the support of all that exists in the universe. May ye never turn away from me May ye never accept any other God in my place, nor worship Him. â€Å" What we can analyse from these quotes that for God to bring man to his former self is not an impossible task as he has created us he can kill us and restore our very lives. According to Islam when a person dies on earth he/she will not be restored to life until the day of resurrection. From the time a person dies until resurrection, they remain in a suspended state in Arabic known as â€Å"Barzakh†. The dead could be in this state of waiting for thousands of years before being brought back to life. The prophet Mohammed has said â€Å"that death is only the beginning of the resurrection.† 1 Islam states that time only exists for those living on earth. Once a man dies he leaves the time zone and a thousand years becomes the blinking of an eye. Although Islam rejects the notion of the transmigration of souls through various lives like Hinduism, it does state that the soul of each child came into existence ,before the physical birth from the mother’s womb. An example of this is were God made a covenant with Adam and extracted all his descendants from him and God foretold the religion of Islam so that the disbelievers of the faith were left in no doubt that God would resurrect humankind once more on the day of Judgement. 2 Although Muslims are given the day and month of this fateful day they are not however given the year as all the signs leading up to this day must be fulfilled. 3 â€Å"The sun will only be a mile away from the earth therefore mankind will be standing in its own perspiration† according to a companion of the Prophet. This has been taken from the Sahih Bukhari (collections of sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Then the individual will be punished according to how bad the sin was that they committed. The worse the sin, the more severe the punishment will be. 4 On this day accounting of deeds will begin and each and every person will be given a book that will detail all the good and bad they have done in life. Although certain deeds in life will act as a â€Å"backup† to save you from punishment Muslims over the world go to the pilgrimage of Hajj so that their sins can be purged. Hajj is a purification of the soul from sins and a means to gain the Mercy of Allah. â€Å"Keep on doing Hajj and ‘Umrah, for they eliminate poverty and sin just as the bellows eliminate impurities from iron and gold and silver.† (Sahih Bukhari). In Islam, the foundation for a good afterlife is to have faith in the almighty lord and to try to lead a sin free life. Such is the driving force behind the concept in Hinduism be lovingly devoted to whichever Hindu god you are devoted to and similarly be dedicated to various religious ceremonies and rites. There are different aspects of Hinduism that determine how they lead their lives and what actions they do in order to affect their afterlife. There is also the factor of the burial procedure that could affect your outcome in the afterlife. The reasoning behind Hindu cremation is that they believe that the human personality is made up of five elements; four of which belong to the body which comes from this world, fire, earth, air, water. By cremating the body, the elements are returned to their respective area, while the soul continues in the afterlife. After death Muslims are buried, because even after death the soul can still feel pain so disposing of the body in any other means is a sin. When a Hindu devotee dies their soul leaves the body and goes to another world and returns again after spending some time there. Where a person is reborn is determined by their â€Å"karma†, the effects of a person’s actions that determine their destiny in the next incarnation. Hindus try to do virtuous acts of conduct so that they will increase their good karma and be reborn higher up in the caste system. This is done in numerous ways. Their initial aim is to worship Brahman (supreme Lord) by thinking about him and reading his Holy books. The Vedas, Smritis, Ramayan and Bhagavad Gita; Their life should involve praying and making offerings to the various Gods that take form from Brahman originally. There is no specific God that you can worship, whichever you choose is acceptable as it leads to essentially to Brahman. Hinduism believes in the existence of not one hell and heaven but in the existence of many sun filled heavens and many demonic worlds. 5 In the ultimate sense the purpose of these worlds is to neither punish nor reward the souls, but to remind them of the true purpose of their existence to lead an adequate life according to the Hindu Holy scripture The Vedas. The process of being born, to grow, die and be reborn again is known as samsara. It is the aim of every Hindu to be freed from this cycle in order to be in the presence of God, or become one with God. Karma is in itself a system of reward and punishment. The idea of reincarnation is not strictly limited to Hinduism. The idea of reincarnation is also becoming more popular in the West. This concept of reincarnation is summarily described in following verse of the Bhagavad-Gita. â€Å"Just as a man discards worn out clothes and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn out bodies and wears new ones.† (2:22) The Hindu concept of reincarnation directly challenges the Islamic and western notion of one life, one heaven, one hell and the final day of judgement. According to the following quote Islam contradicts the belief of transmigration there is the belief that once our hearts stop beating this is the end of our worldly life but the argument of the non-believers is that bring back our forefathers. â€Å"There is not but our worldly life; we die and live (i.e. some people die and others live, replacing them) and nothing destroys us except time.† (Quran, 45:24-26) Although Islam does primarily reject the notion of reincarnation in the form of another being, there is an exception to this. Islam is split in to 72 various sets and there is one set that does believe in reincarnation, the Druze. The Druze belong to an eleventh century offshoot of Shia Islam, which originated in Egypt. The similarity with this sect and Hinduism is that it also believes in the transmigration of souls, although this sect calls itself Muslims it denies the Day of Resurrection and the idea of heaven and Hell. Similarly they believe the body is to return to the elements and the universe is eternal and always will be. The physical body of the ones departed and the burial procedure for Muslims is just the earth accepting what was already its own â€Å"To Allah we belong and to Him is our return.† (Chapter 2, verses 153-156.) This then leads to the point that they do not belief in the message of the prophets of Islam. The Druze sect is not accepted by other major sects of Islam, they suffer from isolation of followers of the same religion. Although there are exceptions, Islam predominately feels a strong and solid approach to the one Supreme Lord and the Day of Judgement. After examining both religions and their beliefs it seems that both religions have the belief in life after death but a very different approach. There are several cases where Muslims have turned to other religions for the answer to the afterlife.6 Having examined and commented on beliefs on life after death in Islam and Hinduism, thus relating back to the first point of morality, that must exist and be justified in the first place for us human beings to first rationalise that there must be an afterlife. When this is understood then the ideas of different religious views on the afterlife can be understood. Islam’s belief ties in with the western notion of the standard hell and heaven and you are judged according to your deeds in your life that you have committed. You are resurrected but in the form you died in. Muslims are then weighed for deeds, dependant on that you either go to hell or heaven. You are faced with many obstacles on the way and even though you have primarily been good all your life you still will be punished for the sin. There are also many large signs before the fateful day. For majority of Muslims the belief in the afterlife determines the way they lead their lives whilst alive. For Hindus however the belief is that you are reincarnated as something else, either in higher caste or lower depending on the good/bad karma. You go through various lives and cycles to balance this karma until you become god (moksha). â€Å"I am the Self, seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the beginning, the middle and also the end of all beings.† (10.20 Gita) The Hindu’s teachings also lay on the principle of morality as they are to be reunited with Mother Nature. In the Hindu religion, righteousness and to be without sin is of more importance, these are the factors whether one goes to Heaven or Hell. The Hindu’s teach, â€Å"As it does and as it acts, so it becomes: The doer of good becomes good, and the doer of evil becomes evil.† (Upanishad (4,4,5)) This quote explains that Hinduism has a concept of morality. Previously I have touched on the lifestyles of both religions Hinduism and Islam. Although they both believe in different outcomes, already while alive they develop a moral attitude in the back of their minds. This life will determine heaven/hell or higher /lower caste depending on what your religious belief is. What we can examine from this is that reward is something we all strive for, so the idea of a better life in the hereafter encourages good conduct in both faiths. Ultimately no matter what religion you have faith in it seems we rely in a better life in the hereafter. Hindu and Islamic beliefs about life after death seek to explain morality on this Earth. Our actions in this life will determine our post life existence, whether we go to heaven, hell, or are reincarnated. Both religions agree with Kant’s theory that the Universe needs to be satisfied. Worshippers are thus encouraged to strive to maintain their good conduct in this life. Without such explanations Kant explains, morality would be irrelevant. 2932 Notes 1) A story is told in the Qur’an, about a man who doubted Allah’s ability to resurrect a village. Allah caused him to die for a hundred years and when he was resurrected, questioned him as to how long he had â€Å"slept†. He replied â€Å"A day or part of a day†. Then God said â€Å"Look your food has rotted, look at your crops and the dead bones of your animals look how we adjust them and cover them with flesh!† (Qur’an 2:259) 2) â€Å"When your Lord drew forth from the loins of the children of Adam, their descendants and made them testify concerning them. (Saying): ‘Am I not your Lord’ they said, ‘Yes, we testify to it.’ (This) in case you say on the Day of Judgement, ‘We were unaware of this’. Or in case you say, ‘It was our ancestors who made partners (with Allah) and we are only their descendants. Will you then destroy us for what those liars did?†[8] 3) The length of the day of judgement will be equivalent to fifty thousand years of this world and this quote can be found in verses (70: 4) Holy Quran. The Sunni Islamic belief is that: â€Å"On Friday the tenth of Muharram Angel Israfeel will blow a trumpet the sound will be so fearful that the entire universe will self-destruct†. (The day of judgement by the Sunni foundation) 3) â€Å"And verily, Hell is the promised abode for them all. It has seven gates: to each of those gates is a specific class of sinners assigned.† [al Hijr, 15: 43-44] Murderers: â€Å"And whoever kills a believer intentionally – his recompense is Hell to abide therein forever, and the wrath and the curse of Allah is upon him, and He has prepared for him a great punishment.† [an-Nisa, 4: 93] â€Å"Verily, of the inmates of the Fire, the one with the easiest punishment will be one who will have a pair of sandals and straps of fire. His brain will boil from them as a kettle boils. He does not see that anyone is suffering a punishment more severe than him, while he is the one with the easiest punishment.† [Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim] http://www.shariahprogram.ca/articles/hell-devil-description.shtml 4) Then believers and disbelievers will go to the bridge lying over the fire from hell â€Å"the bridge will be of one single hair and be sharp as a sword.† The journey will be of no difficulty to those who lived their life according to Islam. 5) Indralok is the standard heaven to which those who please the Gods through their activities go. The standard hell is Yamalok. 6One example is the 11-month-old Muslim boy from India. He has now been named Balaji, another name for monkey-faced Lord Hanuman. â€Å"He is reported to have a 4in ‘tail’ caused by genetic mutations during the development of the foetus. Iqbal Qureshi, the child’s maternal grandfather, is taking Balaji from temple to temple where people offer money to see the boy. Mr Qureshi says the baby has nine spots on his body like Lord Hanuman and showed them to journalists, reports Indian newspaper The Tribune.† What this quote shows is that there are differences of opinion within a religion as even genetic mutations such as this one have altered the decision in believing in the Day of Judgement for a Muslim man. (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/607381/posts)