The Scarlet Ibis Research Paper Example

The Scarlet Ibis Paper â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis† Mr. P English II Living in a Normal World If you had a family member that had a physical disability, would you treat them the same with precautions or would you treat them differently? People may think life would be easier for a life as a disabled person but truly it is extremely hard. They have to deal with looks from people they don’t know, and from their family treating them differently. In The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst, Doodle, is a handicapped little boy. Everyone says that he will not be able to do most things that kids without disabilities can do but Doodle’s brother never gives up on trying. Families that have a handicapped must treat that person with the utmost respect. One part of respecting a person is to have appropriate expectations for them. â€Å"I wanted a brother. But Mama, crying, told me that even if William Armstrong lived, he would never do these things with me. He might not, she sobbed, even be ‘all there’† (90). Although Doodle was born with disabilities, he has two eyes, two legs, two ears and he is just like everyone else. Doodle was born with a health condition that did make him different from other kids his own age, but that does not mean he is not allowed to live his life as others live theirs. We will write a custom essay sample on The Scarlet Ibis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Scarlet Ibis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Scarlet Ibis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer From birth Doodle was told he would not be able to do the things that others have because he has a heart condition. Yet, Doodle is still a person and no matter what happens in life he should be treated the way others want to be treated. All Doodle wants to do is live life to the fullest and that is how it shall be. Families with handicapped members have to set forward for all of the positive outcomes of life, other than have a bunch of negatives. If you lead a handicapped with only negative expectations, as like Doodle, he will never have the full amount of respect for you, as well as your other family members. As people know, people with handicaps have a difficult time. Many people that have a handicap have a hard enough time getting people to accept who they are. It might be difficult for the family to finally understand to the full extent that the handicapped member should be treated the same as other members but with a little caution. From the start of Doodle’s life, his family failed to treat him the same as everyone else. â€Å"The doctor had said that he mustn’t get too excited, too hot, too cold, or too tired and that he must always be treated gently. A long list of don’ts went with him, all of which I ignored once we got out of the house† (91). Doodle might have had disabilities but that does not mean that he should not be treated any different than anyone else. He tries so hard to be normal because his family makes him feel like he does not belong in their family. Especially his parents, they had a very pessimistic outlook on Doodle. No matter what the disability might be, everyone deserves to be treated in the same way. While people grow up, they learn right from wrong. They learn how to treat a person as well as how they want to be treated. As Doodle is growing older, all he ever wants is to be treated normally. He would not be able to fulfill his life as everyone else, so he wanted to make the most out of it now. His family did not believe that he would live for long. This came to be because his father commissioned the building of a casket. Doodle’s real name was William Armstrong. The narrator describes the name as, â€Å"Which was like tying a big tail on a small kite, such a name sounds good only on a tombstone† (90). It is obvious that Doodle’s parents had a very pessimistic outlook for their son. They seemed to be more concerned with his potential death than the possibility of him having a full life. Doodle kept trying day after day to gain respect from them. Families that have handicapped members should focus on the possible positive outcomes of life rather than the negatives because the pessimistic point of view only leads to the lowering of expectations and disrespect towards the family members. If you had a disabled family member that was disabled or handicapped, would you treat them the same or differently? Where ever you may go in life you will always run into a handicapped person, whether theyre just an elder, or they are physically handicapped. You should treat them differently than you would usually treat others without handicaps because they are fragile, and incapable of some things that others might be able to do. Many people that have disabilities struggle throughout life. Doodle should be treated differently than others because he is fragile and the doctors said that anything might cause his little heart to stop. He has not developed to the point where all the other kids his age are. Handicaps need more help because they are not able to do the things that people can do. If you have a family member with disabilities you should have more precautions around them. Many people with handicaps have been told that they have a limited amour of time to live or that they won’t be able to do the things that other people their age are able to do. They fight each day to achieve something that that might help them accomplish things in life no matter how hard it might be for them.

How America Should React To Homosexuals Essays - Gender, Free Essays

How America Should React To Homosexuals Essays - Gender, Free Essays How America Should React To Homosexuals How America should react to homosexuals Many experts agree that homosexuality has existed as long as human beings themselves, although the attitude towards them has undergone dramatic changes in some countries. Accepted by many societies during Greek and Roman era, most of the time homosexuals were considered to be sinners against nature and even criminals. In Medieval and modern periods homosexuals were prosecuted. Enlightenment brought some liberation, substituting death penalty by imprisonment. In Nazi Germany so-called doctors tried to cure gays by the ways of castration and extreme intimidation. Until 1973 attempts to find a cure against homosexuality, what by majority was viewed as a disease, were continued. Today, when research on twins suggests that sexual orientation is not a choice, but our genetic predisposition, homosexual acts are still considered to be immoral and even illegal in majority of countries and in the eyes of most religious groups homosexuals, probably, always will be the subjects of anathema. As m uch as the future may look gloomy for many gays and lesbians all over the world, there are remarkable changes in public opinion and officials attitudes toward homosexuals in some countries. For example, in 1989 Denmark was the first to allow the same-sex marriage. In the United States the subject of homosexuality remains controversial. For example, In Hawaii three homosexual couples asked the court to recognize their right to get married and the court did. However, the state government refused to legalize this marriage. Consequently, a new amendment was introduced to the state Constitution. At the same time, majority of the states are not even considering this option and homosexuality itself is still illegal there. Still, not only authorities try to determine the position they should take towards homosexuals, many common Americans also have no clear understanding of how to react to homosexuality. Why should we bother to find the answer to the questions: who are the homosexuals and where do they belong in our society? First of all, it is important to realize that homosexuals are an integral part of our society. Your neighbor, your co-worker, your hairdresser, your child and even your spouse can be one of them. According to Richard D. Mohr [t]wo out of five men one passes on the street have had orgasmic sex with men. Every second family in the country has a member who is essentially homosexual and many more people regularly have homosexual experiences(186). Should we avoid them, ignore, express our anger and disgust? Unfortunately, many people feel that way because they have a remote idea about people of different sexual orientation. For them homosexuality is perversion, abnormality or decease. The ignorance may foster fear, which in its turn leads to hostility. Homophobia is dangerous, because it affects all groups of people heterosexuals and homosexuals, grown-ups and childre n, men and women. It may lead to violence and even death. There are numerous cases when people were actually killed because of homophobia. To name few of them Matthew Shepard(homosexual), John Braun (heterosexual), Steve Kennedy (homosexual) and the list can be continued. As Jeffrey Nickel puts it, [p]rejudice against homosexuality sharply limits how all men and women may acceptably behave, among themselves and with each other( 529). It is obvious that we can no longer pretend that the homosexual issue is none of our concern. In attempt to evaluate our attitude towards people of different sexual orientation we will be able to understand them better. What is more important, we may overcome our prejudice, which often results in discrimination of one group against another. To acknowledge that there are people who are different and learn to tolerate them means to live in a safer world. The next question is: Do we have the right to discriminate against homosexuals? Until recently homosexuals were invisible minority. Therefore, many Americans were unaware that gays and lesbians were discriminated against. But homosexuals were and still are treated unfairly on the basis that they undermine our morality, that they present danger to our children and that they are transmitters of AIDs far more than heterosexuals. Today many gays and lesbians come out of the closet and demand the same rights that heterosexual take for granted. We have to admit

Group and organizational behavior Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Group and organizational behavior - Assignment Example are explicitly indicated as â€Å"simultaneously improving individual internally focused satisfaction and reducing work-unit absenteeism is the most promising approach to reducing individual absenteeism† (Diestel, Wegge, & Schmidt, 2014, p. 353). 5. The implications of these conclusions are: management should design factors in the job setting that would assist in reducing absenteeism; as an integration of both internally focused satisfaction (job conditions) and externally focused satisfaction factors (work unit). Future research could focus on increasing sample sizes or extending applications to other organizations from different cultural settings to validate consistency of the results. 4. The main conclusions of this article are: â€Å"perceived deep-level dissimilarity evokes perceived relationship conflict, which produces lower evaluations of subordinate performance, which, in turn, lead to higher levels of abusive supervision† (Tepper, Moss, & Duffy, 2011, p. 288). 5. The implications of these conclusions are the noted need to conduct further research on the subject in other organizational settings, particularly in health care organizations, to validate consistency of results. In addition, perceived levels of dissimilarity could not be structured as constant due to the personality differences of both, supervisors and subordinates, in different work settings. As such, future studies should rule out limitations, noted therein. Diestel, S., Wegge, J., & Schmidt, K. (2014). The Impact of Social Context on the Relationship Between Individual Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism: The Roles of Different Foci of Job Satisfaction and Work-Unit Absenteeism. Academy of Management Journal, 353-382. Tepper, B., Moss, S., & Duffy, M. (2011). Predictors of abusive supervision: Supervisor perceptions of deep-level dissimilarity, relationship conflict, and subordinate performance. Academy of Management Journal,

Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Education - Essay Example Student activism is observed as the crucial force for social change especially in times of political turmoil (â€Å"Student Activism,† 2002). The history is replete with many examples such as China’s May Fourth Movement which happened in 1919 and the Youth Pledge in Indonesia which occurred in 1928. These events have shown the immense sympathy of the youth population toward their respective country. The May Fourth Movement in China had gathered more or less three thousand Chinese students in Tianasquare to protest against its government’s weak response to imperialism and feudalism (Tse-tung, as cited in â€Å"Selected Works,† 2004). On the other hand, the Youth Pledge in Indonesia had helped the Indonesian youths to voice out their concerns with regard to colonialism. The pledge actually provided that the youths of Indonesia will â€Å"build a new and independent nation which was later on achieved in 1945† (McTique, 2009). In other cases, student de monstrations â€Å"have toppled powerful dictatorship, military juntas† and even ended wars (â€Å"Student Activism,† 2002). Truly, student movements have the capacity to effect political change by gathering support from the rest of the community. It serves as the conscience of nations (â€Å"Student Activism,† 2002). Moreover, it reminds the people â€Å"of the founding ideals of their countries† and the aim for dignity, justice and equality in times of political turmoil (â€Å"Student Activism,† 2002). Nonetheless, despite the aforementioned historical accounts on the significance of student activists in a society, there are those who vehemently oppose it. One of which is the government. It is a contention that governments are generally against any activist movements especially those from the youth sector. This is plausible since a government must always protect and defend its honor before its constituents. It looks forward to prevent any f orm of

Super Size Me Analysis Essay Example for Free

Super Size Me Analysis Essay To some, eating solely off the McDonald’s menu for thirty days to see what the effects may be is looked down at as an attack on unhealthy and fast food corporations, but to many, Super Size Me is an incredible documentary that helps shine a light on the horrendous effects that fast food has on our society. Morgan Spurlock’s rules are simple: only food off of McDonald’s menu may be eaten, he must consume three meals a day, if asked to super size he must, and everything on the menu must be eaten at least once. On day one he goes and gets baseline measurements of his body from numerous health and medical experts to be able to gauge himself as the month progresses, and from there on out, it’s chow time. Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me digs beyond the obvious correlation between fast food and poor health. Spurlock exposes the flaws in our society’s choice of food, makes the point that personal responsibility is essential, and openly criticizes corporate and government deniability. By using an extremely personal setting, a plethora of unforgettable visuals, interesting dialogues, a steady change in tone, and incorporation of children, Spurlock effectively delivers his message that fast food is a fast way to deteriorate your state of health. Morgan Spurlock, unlike many other documentary producers, creates an extremely personal point of view. He does so by allowing the viewer to see over his own shoulder, and not a random test subject, to watch his month long McDonald’s binge. Spurlock immediately, and at times humorously, opens up completely to the audience. Before the viewer knows it, Spurlock is half naked at the doctor’s, throwing up on camera, and being torn apart by his wife about his in ability to perform in the bed. By having this more personal and open point of view, Spurlock is able to earn more of the audience’s trust making it easier for him to get his message across. Second to the personal setting, the visual effects utilized by Spurlock make the message of the documentary hard to forget. Without fail, every two to five minutes a McDonald’s â€Å"Golden Arches† appear somewhere on the screen, making it hard for the audience not to pair a negative denotation with it by the end of the film. Aside from all of the McDonald’s signs, the camera consistently zooms in, as close as one would ever want to be, to Spurlock’s super sized french fries and extra greasy Big Mac. Watching the repetitiveness of close ups on processed, fried, and poorly made food is enough for any viewer to not want to east fast food for quite sometime. Spurlock also uses simple charts, such as the ones to display his portrait as days pass, to allow the viewer to easily see the trend of negative health increasing directly with the amount of time spent on his McDonald’s diet. Another interesting visual Spurlock uses is the satanic drawings of what appears to be Ronald McDonald. The pictures are demonic and are supposed to depict Ronald as a ruthless clown and not someone a little kid would like to be around. And if all of these visuals weren’t enough, Spurlock goes even further when he shows a common body weight reduction surgery in action. The viewer first sees probes with cameras and tools inserted into the patient’s repulsively large belly, and then ends up inside the patient’s fat filled stomach watching the surgeons nip and tuck away. Spurlock makes it very hard for the viewer to forget what his message is with all of these images that stick in the back of your mind. From the head of McDonald’s to a middle school kid buying lunch, Spurlock carries out an assortment of dialogues throughout the documentary. Although many are significant, the most memorable and effective would have to be the conversations Spurlock has while visiting Madison Junior High School. He first confronts a girl with only cookies and french fries on her plate and asks her if she’s going to eat anything else. The girl simply says no. Spurlock moves on to the lunch line and asks a girl if she was going to get anything else other than french fries on her plate and she responds, â€Å"Well I’m getting milk†¦ its my calcium and my vegetables. † If you weren’t disgusted with the kid’s food choices alone, Spurlock moves on to the lunch ladies to get their two cents on the food being served at their school. The lunch ladies were content with the saying â€Å"ignorance is bliss. They serve the kids french fries, swiss rolls, and high sugar drinks, assuming that they had brought their own sandwich from home, but none of them ever checked to see. They all claim that they are setting up the kids to make the right choices yet most of the kids aren’t. All of these dialogues Spurlock has at the Junior High School in Illinois were very eye opening, and made the viewer feel obligated to see more of what is going on behind the scenes at their own local schools. Further on in the film, Spurlock calls McDonald’s  Headquarters trying to set up an appointment with someone high up in the corporation. Nearly every phone call he made he is promised either a message be delivered, a return phone call, or a good time to call back. Following close to twenty phone calls later, Spurlock gives up trying to schedule an appointment with the head of McDonald’s. After seeing Spurlock get shot down time and time again, it makes the viewer wonder if McDonald’s is trying to dodge a question that could damage their reputation, as well as contemplate how unprofessional their business is run. Another key strategy Spurlock uses throughout his month long McDonald’s stint is the gradual change in tone. From the beginning, Spurlock is very excited to kick off his McDonald’s exclusive diet and has a cheerful tone and positive attitude. After a couple of days turn into a couple of weeks, Spurlock’s tone changes drastically. Instead of optimistic and cheery, like from the beginning of the month, Spurlock now has a rather negative and dire one. Phone calls between him and his girlfriend that once were normal, turn in to him seriously questioning his will to continue with his experiment. Spurlock’s tone and attitude are easily noted as having a negative correlation with days spent on the McDonald’s diet. By showing this trend, Spurlock is able to emphasize the emotional, rather than just the physical, effects of his diet to the viewers. Throughout the documentary, Spurlock continuously incorporates children to capture the viewer’s attention and to show that the obesity problems start at a young age. â€Å"A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a Pizza Hut. McDonald’s, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a Pizza Hut† is sang by young children, some being obese, right at the start of the film. If this doesn’t raise a red flag in one’s head that children are being taught how to sing America’s most unhealthy fast food restaurants in school, I’m not sure what will. Spurlock also spends a decent portion of his documentary in schools. He examines the food choices available to the kids, asks them about what they eat, and observes their physical education class. The most effective use of incorporating children is the interviews he conducts by holding up pictures of famous Americans and famous fast food icons, then asking the children who they are and what they were. Some of the children could identify George Washington and what he did, but as soon as Spurlock showed them a picture of Jesus all were stumped, one boy even guessed he was George W. Bush. Then the pictures of Wendy and Ronald McDonald were shown, and to no surprise every kid there knew exactly who Ronald was and that he is associated with McDonald’s. By putting this emphasis on young children being led down the wrong path at an early age, makes the viewers compelled to believe that our society is going wrong with teaching healthy food choices. Whether it was the personal touch, visuals, dialogues, change in tone, real footage, or incorporation of children, Morgan Spurlock does an impeccable job provoking Americans to question their choice in food and influencing them to take action. When the final results of Spurlock’s experiment are posted (13% weight increase, cholesterol level of 230, and dysfunctional liver) it’s going to be very hard for me to walk into a McDonald’s. So, next time I’m faced with the choice of eating at fast food or taking a little time of my day to cook myself a meal, I definitely know which one I’ll be doing, but the real question is will everyone else?

Merchant of Venice - Portia was No Feminist :: Merchant Venice Essays

Merchant of Venice: Portia was No Feminist The question has been proposed whether Portia was her own woman, and if after she married Bassanio would she still be the protector of her fortune. I researched for evidence to the theory that Portia was not her own, her fortune was not her own, and she was bound financially to her husband after marriage. There is nothing out of the ordinary about this particular arrangement, and I don't feel that the relationship should continue to be hailed as a progressive, feminist relationship. The best evidence I could find were the words which were spoken out of Portia's own mouth, One half of me is yours, the other half yours-- Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours, And so all yours. III.ii.16-18. There you have it. Portia is Bassanio's. This may be idle lover's talk; however, it does signify the beginning of a possessive relationship in which Bassanio is the possessor! Directly after Portia is "won" by Bassanio's correct choice in caskets she states, Happiest of all, is that her gentle spirit Commits itself to yours to be directed, As from her lord, her governor, her king. Myself, and what is mine, to you and yours Is now converted. . . . I was the lord of this fair mansion, master of my servants, Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now This house, these servants, and this same myself Are yours. . . . III.ii.163-171 I struggle to see how the relationship between Portia and Bassanio is worthy of feminist hurrahs. I believe Portia is a woman worthy of feminist scholarship, but not the relationship to her husband.

Philosophy †Religion Essay

Explain and illustrate two criticisms of the claims that the universe shows design Many philosophers have suggested that world shows design to the extent that there can be no other conclusion other than there is a God who created it. This argument has come to be known as the teleological argument (from the Greek ‘telos’ meaning ‘purpose’). The argument is an inductive one, a posterior (knowledge gained from experience) and is put forward to prove the existence of God. Design can refer to qua regularity and qua purpose. The former focuses on order and regularity in the world and the latter focuses on purpose and beauty but does this hold up to scrutiny? One criticisms was put forward by Hume in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion says that there is no evidence for order in the world. In fact the evidence given seems to suggest an evil creator; the arbitrary destruction in the world that affects everyone included innocents seems to suggest that there is no design or order in the world. Tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes can all be cited in Hume’s attack. This is made even more apparent from the fact that modern physics isn’t as ordered as the predominant supporter of the design argument, William Paley. Paley gave examples such as the planets and seasons and even gives backing from science saying that Newton’s laws govern the very body of nature. However this has been proved to be wrong by Princeton University and their study called ‘The Dome’, the study in itself shows that Newton’s law’s are non-deterministic meaning that a ball can drop from any apex (as did in the experiment) without a cause. This shows that even science isn’t ordered as Paley made out. Another criticism is which is also put forward by Hume is that Paley’s argument (that there is, indeed, design in the world) is that this is a disanalogy. Paley gave the example of watch stating that it had purpose (it could tell us the time), regularity (evident through second, hour and minute hand) and design (the mechanisms) and he claims that this is analogous to the world. However this is a clear disanalogy according to Hume; for we have experience of watches and we know that they have designers and thus know that they must be designed, we can not however say the same for the universe, as we only have one and we are contained within it. If we were transcendent and had access to more than one universe or even if we had witnessed them being designed we may have been able to accept Paley’s claims. Hume also says that it’s not analogous because a watch’s purpose is axiomatic but this is unlike the universe where it is subjective. For a Christian, the purpose of life is to create a relationship with God so that they can be eschatologically reunited and the universe allows this (it’s purpose) however a humanist would say that the universe has no purpose and that we are here to live our lives to the full. Thus Paley’s claims are left redundant. To conclude, these two criticisms have shown that there is question as to whether there is design in the world. Hume has shown that design qua (in relation to) purpose and regularity are merely positions which are nothing more than falsities. Explain and illustrate two claims that God’s existence is incompatible with the existence of evil Evil has come to pose one of the single largest threats to theism, indeed, many such as John Stuart Mill and David Hume concluded that God no longer existed because of the existence and the incompatibility of it. Evil has been defined to be the â€Å"absence of good† by Aristotle but it mainly refers to two types, either natural evil which entails natural disasters such as tsunamis or moral which refers to morally wrong actions and intents taken by humans such as infanticide or examples such as the Holocaust. Some try to reconcile the ideas of evil and God (in what has come to be known as theocies) but it is questionable whether they have succeeded. Hume puts the first criticism forward which is known as the logical problem of evil, a deductive argument, by first reissuing the statements as a theist would accept them; 1. God is omnipotent. Omniscient and omnibenevolent 2. Evil (and thus suffering exist) Hume claims that the one and two are incompatible. For if he loved us then he would stop suffering and thus he can not be omnibenevolent. Hume developed his argument through his ‘inconsistent triad’ which states that God is either unable to stop evil which means they he is not omnipotent; that he does not know about the evil which means he is not omniscient. This leads us to the conclusion that God’s existence is logically incompatible with the existence of evil and Hume to say that one of the sides of triangle (attributes of God, considering that evil objectively exists) and so Hume says that it is the â€Å"death† of classical theism. The answer to this could be that evil exists so that we can allow us to spiritually grow, for it is true that we can not become courageous unless an instance of danger arises, similarly we can not gain compassion without suffering. So the criticism is solved through God wanting us to experience suffering so we can go though a process of soul-making (this marks the basis for Iraneus’ theodicy). However this leads to the second criticism which is predominantly put forward by William Row, Charles Darwin and David Hume says that even if we were to accept that evil should exist and it is compatible, the sheer amount and the distribution of it shows that the existence of God and evil is less probable. This inductive argument cites points in history that show that the distribution doesn’t seem to amount justification for soul-making; it can accept the death of an adult, but what of the Gulag and Holocaust? Rowe also notes that there are evils which do not lead to spiritual growth such as people who never recover such as child who has had his whole family burned. Rowe also gives the example of a fawn who burns in a forest but no one is around to see it, who is growing spiritually, what compassion has been encompassed? This anthropocentric approach (by implication) also fails because it leaves animal suffering unanswered. Thus, the view that evil and God’s existence is compatible is made redundant not only in the face of the incompatibility of God’s very nature and the existence of evil but the sheer amount and distribution of it.