History project- religious development in India during medieval ages Essay

With the coming of the Mughals in India and the Turkish rule, there were many developments and changes in the Indian culture and religion. The Sultans of Delhi and Mughal tolerated different religions, especially Hinduism, though they were followers of Islam. This lead to the beggining of indo-islamic culture. Since dawn of history, India has been the cradle of religious developments. In the early medival period, two parrelel movements in Hinduism and Islam representing the Bhakti and Sufi movements emerged in India. The Indo-Islamic strands have been woven into the texture of India by intertwining Bhakti and Sufi traditions. Bhakti movement The Bhakti movement is a Hindu religious movement in which the main spiritual practice is loving devotion towards Shiva or Vishnu. Bhakti movement is also closely related to Sufism of Islam which rose in the same time period and both advocated ‘love of God’ as the easiest way to attain God. The Bhakti movement originated in ancient Tamil Nadu. The Nayanmars and the Alvars played a major role in the Bhakti movement. The Bhakti movement co-existed peacefully with the other movements in Hinduism. It was initially considered unorthodox, as it rebelled against caste distinctions and disregarded Brahmanic rituals, which according to Bhakti saints were not necessary for salvation. In the course of time, however, owing to its immense popularity among the masses it became ‘orthodox’ and continues to be one of the most important modes of religious expression in modern India. The world ‘Bhakti’ means devotion to God. The Bhakti movement had its origin in the Bhagavadgita and the Upanishads. The Bhaktas of God did not believe in any sort of caste distinctions. They advocated love and devotion to God and discarded all sorts of rituals and ceremonies. They preached oneness of God and â€Å"that all religions were but roads leading to the same goal†. Chief Principles of Bhakti Movement: The chief principles of the Bhakti movement were as follows: 1. It is Bhakti or devotion to God alone that can help man attain salvation. 2. It is important to follow a true guru for realizing God. 3. All men are equal and no one is superior or inferior. 4. Caste distinctions, rituals, fasts, etc. , are useless and lead to nowhere. 5. All men should be tolerant. Effects of the Bhakti Movement: The Bhakti movement had far-reaching effects on the people. Firstly, it helped a lot in removing the existing bitterness between the Hindus and the Muslims. Both became more tolerant towards each other. Secondly, the Bhaktas exposed the hollowness of empty rituals and ceremonies and taught the people to give up evils like belief in superstitions etc. This movement delta a blow to the superiority of the Brahmins, for it propagated the equality of all men. This also helped in checking conversions. Thirdly, the Bhakti reformers preached in the common language of the people, which gave rise to the vernacular languages such as Bengali in the east, Gujarati and Marathi in the west and Punjabi in the north. Important Bhakti Reformers Ramanuja : Ramanuja was one of the earliest reformers. His teachings were based on the Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita. he had taught in the language of the common man. Soon a large number of people became his followers. Ramananda was his disciple. Ramananda : Ramananda was the first reformer to preach in Hindi, the main language spoken by the people of the North. He was educated at Benaras. He preached that there is nothing high or low. He was an ardent worshipper of Rama. He considered God as a loving father. He lived in the 14th century A. D. Kabir : Kabir was an ardent disciple of Ramananda. He wanted unity between the Hindus and the Muslims. He preached that both the Hindus and the Muslims are the children of a single God. He had no faith in idol worship, religious rituals and ceremonies. The devotees of Kabir were known as Kabir Panthis. Chaitanya : Chaitanya, a great devotee of Lord Krishna, was a saint from Bengal. From his very childhood, he had showed great interest in education and studied Sanskrit. He married the daughter of a Saintly person. Later at the age of 24, he renounced the worldly life and became a sanyasin. His followers regarded him as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He helped the old and the needy. He was opposed to the inequalities of the caste system. He emphasised the need for tolerance, humanity and love. He spread the message of Bhakti in Bengal. He popularised ‘Sankritan’or public singing of God’s name. He was addressed `Mahaprabhu’ by his followers. Meera Bai : Meerabai was a Rajput princess. She married the Rana of Mewar. She was a pious devotee of Lord Krishna. Her songs or hymns are even today sung all over India. Her palace was kept open to people of all castes to join her Bhajans of Lord Krishna. She had lived for the most part of her life in Mathura, the birth place of Krishna and Vrindaban. There is a temple dedicated to Meerabai in Chittor, the capital of Mewar. Sufi movement Sufism was a reform movement within Islam which applies greater stress on free thinking, liberal ideas and toleration. The Sufis believed in the equality of all human beings and brotherhood mankind. The Sufi movement started in Persia. Some of the Sufi saints also came to India. They began to preach their liberal ideas and to remove the gulf between the Hindus and the Muslims and join them together. The word Sufi has been taken from the Arabic word ‘Suf’ which means wool. The movement may have been given the name Sufism because of the course wool garments they wore as a mark of their rejection of worldly things. Sufis have traditionally taken vows of poverty and celibacy. Sufism developed religious practices focusing on strict self-control that enable both psychological and mystical insights as well as a loss of self, with the ultimate goal of mystical union with God. The Sufi movement consists of fraternal orders in which leaders train and assist disciples in the mastery of Sufism’s philosophical principles and ritual practices. Such rituals and practices include writing and reciting poetry and hymns; some of the most famous and beautiful literature of the Islamic world has been written by Sufis. Sufis engage in a variety of ritual practices intended to help them realize union with God, such as distinct forms of ritual prayer including the recitation of God’s names, as well as bodily rituals such as those practices by the so-called â€Å"Whirling Dervishes,† a Turkish Sufi order that practices meditation and contemplation of God through spinning. Teaching of Sufism: 1. There is one God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none else exists save He. 2. There is only one Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads his followers towards the light. 3. There is one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature: the only scripture, which can enlighten the reader. 4. There is one Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfills the life’s purpose of every soul. 5. There is one Law, the Law of reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice. 6. There is one Brotherhood, the human brotherhood, which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the fatherhood of God. 7. There is one Moral Principle, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence. 8. There is one Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the Unseen. 9. There is one Truth, the true knowledge of our being within and without, which is the essence of all wisdom. 10. There is one Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality and in which resides all perfection. The Sufi Movement there is no priesthood in the ordinary sense, the priesthood is only to conduct the service and to answer the need of a priest which always exists in our everyday life. Those ordained in the Sufi Movement are called Sirajs and Cherags. There is no distinction between women and men. The worthy soul is ordained; this gives an example to the world that in all places – in the church, in the school, in parliament, in court – it is woman and man together who make evolution complete. But at the same time every Sufi is a priest, a preacher, a teacher, and a pupil of every soul that he meets in the world. The Sufi prayers such as Saum and Salat are not man-made prayers. They have descended from above, just as in every period of spiritual reconstruction prayers were given. And there is every power and blessing in them, especially for those who believe. Sikhism Guru Nanak is the founder of the religion of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated world-wide on Kartik Puranmashi, the full-moon day which falls on different dates each year in the month of Katak, October-November. Guru Nanak travelled to places far and wide teaching people the message of one God who dwells in every one of God’s creations and constitutes the eternal Truth. He setup a unique spiritual, social, and political platform based on equality, fraternity love, goodness, and virtue. Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now celebrated as Guru Nanak Gurpurab. Today, his birthplace is marked by Gurdwara Janam Asthan. His parents were Kalyan Chand Das Bedi and Mata Tripta. His father was a patwari (accountant) for crop revenue in the village of Talwandi, employed by a Muslim landlord of that area, Rai Bular Bhatti. He had one sister, Bibi Nanaki, who was five years older than him and became a spiritual figure in her own right. Nanak also found work with Daulat Khan, when he was around 16 years old. On 24 September 1487 Nanak married Mata Sulakkhani, daughter of Mul Chand and Chando Ra? i, in the town of Batala. The couple had two sons, Sri Chand and Lakhmi Chand. Inspite of his married life, he spent most of his time in the company of holy men. At the age of 29, he left his home to spread the message of faith far and wide. Sikh teaching emphasizes the principle of equality of all humans and rejects discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, and gender. Sikh principles encourage living life as a householder Sikh Religion and Worship: 1)A Sikh believes in, and worships only one God. 2)A Sikh regards the succession of ten gurus, and the written word of the Guru Granth, a channel through which divine light manifests as salvation. 3)Sikhs worship in the gurdwara, congregating with spiritual companions, and communing with God, by singing divine hymns selected from the Guru Granth. 4)Sikhs perform ardas, a formal prayer, and read from Guru Granth before embarking on important endeavors. 5)The uniqueness of Sikhism is upheld without any derogatory attitude towards others, or belittling of others faith. . A brief of the next 9 Gurus: http://www. sarabsanjhigurbani. com/ten-guru. asp

John Downe

John Downe In John Downe’s letter to his wife, he strategically establishes and develops ethos as well as pathos to convince her to join him in the United States with their children. Throughout the letter, Downe develops his credibility through his use of ethos which includes the repetition of â€Å"I. † â€Å"I have got a situation,† â€Å"I dined with him,† â€Å"I went into the market yesterday,† all progress towards the establishment of his plausibility in his wife’s eyes. He provides his wife with examples of the many positive situations he, himself has endured while being in the country of America.Downe hopes that his persuading words will convince her to emigrate with their children to America. â€Å"I know you will like America† is Downe’s primary hope and purpose for writing this persuasive letter. By describing all the things that he has been able to do in this country, â€Å"I can go into a store, and have as much br andy as I like to drink for three half-pence and all other spirits are in proportion,† Downe hopes that these credential words will be approved by his wife.His elaborations on the things he has managed to do in America are essentially used to provoke his wife’s interest in this country. These descriptions are used as reassurance for his wife to know of the great opportunities he has found in America but not back home in England. Downe believes this will strike his wife as another reason why she will enjoy her new life in America and compares their troublesome life in England to the great possibilities that can be accomplished in this new country.He explains, â€Å"this is a country where a man can stand as a man, and where he can enjoy the fruits of his own exertions, with rational liberty to its fullest extent†, hoping that his comparisons to the life in England and the life in America will evoke in his wife a sense of longing for this kind of living. Downe†™s convincing words showing all of the achievements he has experienced in America lead his wife to want this same kind of exposure.Downe continues to expand on the things he has accomplished in America with his development of pathos through long, periodic sentences. He mentions that on the table there was â€Å"pudding, pyes, and fruit of all kind that was in season†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"they do not think of locking the doors in this country† to assure his wife of the safety and prosperity of this country. He then goes on to acknowledge, with emotional appeal, that all he â€Å"wants now is to see you, and the dear children here, and then I shall be happy, and not before†.This is Downe’s development of pathos for the purpose of persuading and influencing his wife to make her decision much easier about emigrating to America with the children. He hopes to influence her decision by explaining how much better off they would be as a family, together in one count ry. Although he announces that he will only be happy if his family comes to America to live with him, Downe concludes that he does not â€Å"repent of coming† and he â€Å"would rather cross the Atlantic ten times than hear my children cry†.By his mentioning that he does not regret one bit coming to America, Downe hopes to display for his wife how great of a country America is. The pathos are purposefully placed there by Downe to show to his wife that although he has left his family, he would do it all over again just to live in the convenient country of America- hoping this will stir some kind of desire in his wife’s mind.Through his emotional words, Downe demonstrates that the travel to America is nothing compared to what this country holds in store for their family. Although he explains to his wife there will be â€Å"a few inconveniences in crossing the Atlantic†, in the end she will enjoy the United States of America. In the midst of his pathos, it i s possible to conclude that Downe’s reason for leaving his family behind is to find opportunity for a new life, which America provides.Through his use of repetition and periodic sentences, John Downe develops credibility and emotional appeal. Through his repetition of â€Å"I†, he is able to bestow upon his wife a feeling of longing for the same freedom and prosperity he has gained when coming to America by showing her all of the things he has accomplished while living in this country. With Downe’s strategic pathos, he manages to convince his wife that all he wants for their family is wealth, health, and land- all of which can be found in America.

Transformational Leadership Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Transformational Leadership - Research Paper Example Leaders have the responsibility of identifying the causes of slow and adopt a transformational leadership strategy to limit the adversities associated with slow death. One of the elements of transformational leadership is individualized consideration. A transformative leader attends to the needs of his followers in the organization. Through adopting a transformative leadership, leaders in the institution will give empathy and support, keep communication open and place beneficial challenges before the followers. During the process of extensive communication, institutional leaders will have the opportunity to identify possible evidences of slow and death counteract them before they mature (Verlage, Rowold & Schilling, 2012). Additionally, transformative leaders have a will and aspirations for self development in addition to intrinsic motivation towards their work. Chances of transformative leaders experiencing slow death are minimal because they have the intellectual stimulation to adopt innovation and creativity when approaching organizational problems. According to Shields (2011), deep change is a function of discipline, courage and motivation. Leaders can achieve inspirational motivation if they are transformative leaders. Leaders with inspirational motivation are usually challenged to leave abandon their comfort zones, convince themselves about optimism concerning future goals, and provide meaning for task at hand. This motivation can also be translated into junior employees to develop a strong sense of purpose for work. Inspirational motivation prevents possible victimization, psychological death and even active exit because it does not allow postponement of responsibilities (Verlage, Rowold & Schilling, 2012). Situational leadership model also focuses on self-motivation as critical element of proper leadership. The proponents of

Asbestos exposure from the World Trade Center disaster Research Paper

Asbestos exposure from the World Trade Center disaster - Research Paper Example f the World Trade Towers (WTC) following the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, which was one of the most catastrophic kind of political, economic, and the social disaster to have ever occurred in America. Working as a consultant at the Acme Industrial Consultants, the task involved was to conducting air samples to find out on the toxins found on the air after this attack. Since 2001, many people exposed to this debris and the dust from the events of the collapse of towers are still suffering from various health complications, ranging from the difficulty in breathing and extending into different forms of cancer. In response to these effects, our research team sampled asbestos products that are responsible for causing deadly toxins, including mercury and barium (Landrigan et al., 2004). The events of the 9-11 attack caused the building and debris to burn for nearly four months, leading to the release of carcinogens into the air that made it inevitable for the citizens who ended up getting infections with the deadly diseases like mesothelioma and lung cancer. Meosthelioma, even though a rare disease, occurs through the exposure to asbestos (Herdt-Losavio et al., 2008). This prompted the Acme Industrial Hygiene Consultants into studying the air samples from the World Trade Centre that have been subject to expose to the burning of asbestos. In order to sample results of the study, we chose to use the World Trade Centre data, instead of using an AIHA Statistical Spreadsheet for assessing health risk of asbestos in the air samples obtained from the World Trade Centre. The sampling was subject to accomplish through modeling, characterization and communication. The test then enhanced EPA asbestos health risk assessment by the aid of non-linear and asbestos fiber type specific protocols. The study was to follow by evaluating on the epidemiological data as to be forming the basis of risk assessment model. The following are results from using the World Trade Centre

Logistics and operations management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Logistics and operations management - Essay Example The fundamental elements of logistics are the inventory management, capacity management and scheduling of deliveries, such that the consumers will have the desired products in their rightful quantities at the time they need to have them (Brandimarte & Zotteri, 2007:47). Therefore, on the event that the three fundamental components do not work in sync, chances are high that there will be inconveniencies caused to the intended consumers of the commodities, while at the same time there will be losses incurred by the suppliers of the consumption commodities. The whole chain of the logistic process starting with inventory management, through to capacity management and then to the delivery of the products to consumers must be systematically interconnected. The three components must remain in balance, since the success of one component determines the success of the subsequent process and ultimately the overall success of the logistical supply chain (Zavoral, 2010:5). Thus, on the event that the three components are not in balance, detrimental effects will occur both on the supplier and the consumers in terms of high costs, quality issues and market loss. High cost of commodities is a major consequence that might result out of an imbalance in the fundamental logistic components. Both oversupply and undersupply of commodities comes with associated costs (Christopher, 2010:36). Inventory management, as the first stage of logistics, is involved in the planning of inventory such that the there is balancing of the costs of maintaining additional inventory with the risks of not having the commodities when the consumers need them (Wu, 2008:16). Therefore, the inventory maintained by a logistical system must be capable of meeting the known and the unanticipated demands of the consumers, while ensuring that the costs involved are minimized to the lowest level possible. This can only be possible if the capacity management

California Dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

California Dream - Essay Example The history of the notion traces its roots in late 19th century, when California was considered to be the golden state of America, as it literally had huge golden resources, which led to the California Gold Rash of 1848-1855 (Brands 103).Hence, bunches of immigrants flew to California, hoping to gain easy wealth and live happily ever after. Since then the name of California became closely related to the image of smooth happy life with wealth and prosperity. California Dream initially meant the life that Americans strived to achieve, because they believed that moving to California would mean constant luck and prosperity. One of the important reasons why California was considered to be a heaven on earth is because California is a state rich for resources, pleasant climate, and multiple job opportunities. In some time the original term was slightly changed and transformed in people’s minds. As far as California was rapidly growing, multiple industries have appeared in the state. They include film production of Hollywood, the Silicon Valley with its enormous technological development, California wine industry etc. The brand new industries created new job places and vast career opportunities. The image of California that used to be engaged with golden resources turned into the image of California as a state of the most ambitious and wealthy industries possible. Hence, California has preserved its image of America’s golden state, as it is still a pleasant region for many people who believe that living in California makes people more successful and happier. Although people are not coming to California looking for placer gold mines, working in such industries as filmmaking and Silicon Valley’s progressive technological area for most people means a constant resource of pleasure, glory, and money. This is the reason why the concept of California dream has become so popular in American mass culture, as

Controvirsal of Cancun Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Controvirsal of Cancun - Essay Example Cancun is however popular around the world and Mexicans take pride of the beautiful sand beaches and resorts found in the area. The beauty and fun experienced in the place has as a result attracted significant numbers of high school graduates from the U.S to make trips to Cancun after graduating more of a sign of a gift from their parents. It is however important to note that some of the students may source for their own funds and pay for the trips on their behalf. The issue has led to controversy over a period of years mostly relating to legalization of alcohol sales to people aged below twenty years. It is however important to note that since Cancun is outside the U.S, the federal states laws relating to sale of alcohol or any other issue are not observed in Cancun. The media is creating controversy about Cancun arguing that parents need to avoid giving high school graduate students free tickets to visit Cancun as alcohol is legally available for people below the age of twenty year s. It is noble for parents to present gifts as recognition of their efforts and achievements upon graduating from high school or any other level. The form of gift given to a majority of high school graduates in the U.S occurs in the form of free tickets for a one week visit to Cancun where students visit with their peers and enjoy the fun experienced in the result. Every year, controversy arises regarding these high school graduate students trips relating to what happens over at Cancun (Nim 213). Despite the feeling from many parents that a trip to Cancun is a good gift to their children upon graduating from high school, there is need to focus on some issues. Although the idea and action is good, observers believe that it is for no healthy reason that the free trip should include fellow graduates as well as friends for a whole week to enjoy and have pure fun and pleasure. The reason behind the

God's Existence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

God's Existence - Essay Example In a similar manner, we could actually prove the existence of God without resorting to highly scientific analysis which sometimes could confuse people more than explain things to them. In proving the existence of air, the movement of the leaves on the trees or the feel of the breeze on one’s face are evidences that there is air even though one could not actually hold or see it. Likewise, one could only prove the existence of God through the existence of tangible things. When a person looks around, he could notice order in so many things. Common sense tells us that there must be someone who has caused all the things around us to be in order. For example, if children leave the house topsy-turvy and they arrive to a well-organized home; they would know that somebody placed all things in order. In contrast to the Big Bang theory, common sense and science show that things do not simply arrange themselves in a perfectly organized and functional manner. There must be someone who orga nized the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars and that someone must be

COM100 Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

COM100 - Movie Review Example 1. Primary Identity - is the identity that we cultivate from our childhood based upon social norms and expectations. For Joey, this meant that his primary identity was that of a strong man who can handle any problems that his life may based upon his gender training and confidence in himself. 2. Secondary Identity- is the identity that one needs to cultivate based upon his situation in life. In the case of Joey, he had to get in touch with his feminine side and accept a job that was traditionally assigned to a woman due to his financial needs. Being a â€Å"manny† thus became his secondary identity in life. These reasons combined to force him to redefine himself a man and a member of society who is still more of his primary identity rather than his secondary identity. 3. Characteristics of Identity - Joey is the perfect example of a man who is highly confident of both his primary and secondary identities because he displays both a fixed and dynamic level of identity depending upon which particular identity he is portraying at the time. His secondary identity of cultivated by his interaction within the family circle of his employer and his willingness to perform the secondary identity tasks such as cooking, cleaning, ironing, grocery shopping, handyman jobs, etc. It is because of Joeys unique character on the show that â€Å"Melissa and Joey† makes for an interesting episode based show study of the ways and methods by which individual identities are created and

Should Defendants with Traumatic Brain Injuries Be Held Accountable for Their Actions Essay Example for Free

Should Defendants with Traumatic Brain Injuries Be Held Accountable for Their Actions Essay â€Å"Six weeks after getting his driver’s license, Christopher Tiegreen was in a car collision near his home in Gainesville, Ga. Tiegreen’s Isuzu Trooper flipped several times, causing severe head injuries. A month later, Tiegreen emerged from a coma a different person. The impact of the crash caused damage to the frontal lobe of his brain and sheared his brain stem. During his recovery and rehabilitation, the usually gentle Tiegreen became violent toward his mother, as well as with other family members and rehab staff. On Sept. 1, 2009, Tiegreen walked out of a duplex apartment where he was supposed to be under 24-hour supervision. In a yard nearby he attacked a young woman holding her 20-month-old son. He was charged with aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit a felony, false imprisonment, battery, sexual battery and cruelty to a child in the third degree. † (Davis, 2012). Is Christopher Tiegreen a different person now, with a severely impaired mental capacity, because of his traumatic brain injury, or is he just an angry, violent person who has simply committed his first crime? More succinctly; do Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) cause violent behavior in previously â€Å"normal† people, or is the TBI personality change simply a smoke screen being used to defend people with dangerous personality traits who happen to have a brain injury? To begin with, a definition of Traumatic Brain Injury, especially as opposed to a head injury, as most people do confuse the two. The Mayo Clinic defines Traumatic Brain Injury as â€Å"Traumatic brain injury occurs when an external mechanical force causes brain dysfunction. The Mayo Clinic, 2012). Traumatic brain injury usually results from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body. An object penetrating the skull, such as a bullet or shattered piece of skull, also can cause traumatic brain injury. â€Å"(The Mayo Clinic, 2012). A Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is not a â€Å"head injury†, it is not a concussion nor an injury to the skull or spine; it is exclusively an injury the brain (and/or brain stem). With the definition clear, we see that the statistics regarding TBIs are shocking; Dr. William Winslade provides the following information from 2003, â€Å"Traumatic brain injury for decades has been, and continues to be, a major public health problem in the United States. Car crashes, gunshot wounds, falls and sports injuries account for two million brain injuries a year, nearly 400,000 hospital admissions, and at least 60,000 deaths. Approximately 90,000 people suffer a severe brain injury and survive but require extended, expensive rehabilitation. Some 2,000 people a year lapse into permanent unconsciousness lasting for months or years before they die. † (Winslade, 2003). Some survivors of traumatic brain injury fully recover, but many others experience a multitude of cognitive, emotional and behavioral disabilities. † (Winslade, 2003). As a survivor of a traumatic Brain Injury, the patient faces a myriad of recovery issues, not simply medical issues such as headaches, lethargy, pain in the distal limbs, speech issues, attention deficit and memory loss may affect cognitive functioning. Per Dr. William Winslade, an expert on Traumatic Brain Injuries; the changes in an individual with a TBI are profound and noticeable â€Å"Personality changes are common. Those who were calm and controlled may become quick-tempered and impulsive. In some people anger erupts into aggressive attacks on others. Many with severe brain injuries lack the ability to control their thoughts, emotions, impulses and their conduct. They may become uninhibited, promiscuous, anxious, paranoid or violent. † (Winslade, 2003). It is precisely these personality changes that makes Traumatic Brain Injuries so different from â€Å"head injuries† such as concussions, which do not present any marked changes is personality. Courts in the United States have increasingly been faced with the question as to whether or not the profound changes that are associated with TBIs should be considered a mitigating factor in trying defendants with the injury, or in determining what their sentences should be and where they should serve their time, if any; in a prison or in a mental health facility. â€Å"According to Duke University researcher Nita Farahany, the number of cases in which judges have mentioned neuroscience evidence in their opinion increased from 112 in 2007 to more than 1,500 in 2011. † (Koebler, 2012). The use of neuroscience in the courtroom is definitely increasing, Nita Farahany has been tracking criminal cases in which â€Å"lawyers have introduced neuroscientific evidence since 2004. By combing legal opinions, she’s found about 2,000 examples, with 600 of those cases in 2011 alone. † (Davis, 2012). â€Å"While attorneys have tried to win cases based on the lack of control over impulses based on the defendant having a TBI, † The biggest way in which neuroscience is being used in the courtroom is to mitigate punishment in one way or another, Farahany says, adding that its almost exclusively used in death penalty cases. They say they have a history of brain injury and trauma to say I have a different brain than the average person. Because of that difference, I have less control over myself. (Koebler, 2012). While medical scan, such as CAT scans and MRIs can show a difference in the appearance of the brain itself, there is scant evidence that these damaged brains are actually the cause of crimes committed by defendants suffering from a personality change brought on by a Traumatic Brain Injury. The science behind these brain scans is still in its infancy, but neuroscientists point to anecdotal evidence that traumatic brain injury or brain abnormalities can cause criminal behavior. † (Koebler, 2012). There is a case that many legal professionals point to when arguing the point for special consideration when trying or sentencing a defendant with a TBI. â€Å"In 2002, a 40-year-old Virginia teacher was caught viewing child pornography and making advances on his stepdaughter. He was convicted of child molestation, but the night before he went to jail, he went to the doctor with a crippling headache and confessed he might commit rape. Doctors found something they didnt expect: A brain tumor. The cancerous tumor was putting pressure on his orbifrontal cortex, which controls impulse and judgment. The tumor was removed, and the man no longer exhibited pedophilic tendencies. † (Koebler, 2012). The fact that is most persuasive with this case is the fact that once the tumor, and the pressure it was exerting on the orbifrontal cortex, were removed the patient no longer exhibited any pedophilic tendencies. Could this be the answer to whether or not TBIs do so adversely affect individuals that the personality changes they exhibit should not be held against them in the legal forum? Not necessarily. â€Å"Daniel Martell, a forensic neuropsychologist who examined Weinstein and testified for the prosecution, says the brain images were nothing more than fancy pictures meant to stir a jury. â€Å"It was the Christmas tree effect,† Martell says. â€Å"Lots of people ooh and aah at the pictures. It doesn’t tell you anything about a person’s behavior. † (Davis, 2012). Martell makes the point that many attorneys take when faced with opposing counsel who is presenting the TBI defense, stating that the profound changes in persons with TBIs should be a mitigating factor in trials and during sentencing. That hasn’t stopped defense attorneys from trying to introduce evidence of damaged brains into the courtroom, including brain scans. One such case, frequently cited in law and neuroscience journals, is that of New York advertising executive Herbert Weinstein, 65, who was arrested on charges that he strangled his second wife, Barbara, and t hrew her out the window of their 12th-floor Manhattan apartment in 1991 during an argument about their children. Weinstein never denied killing his wife. His lawyer, Diarmuid White, argued that Weinstein was not himself due to an arachnoid cyst on his brain. White contended that the cyst caused pressure on part of Weinstein’s temporal lobe, compromising his self-control and emotional regulation. Zachary Weiss, the New York City district attorney who prosecuted the case, thought it was simply a matter of a man getting angry at his wife and killing her. That was until White sent him the brain scan during discovery. â€Å"I got this picture in the mail and thought you’ve got to be joking,† Weiss recalls. It got complicated. I called this the rich man’s defense. † Whether Weinstein’s brain made him do it or not, Weiss believes the case was important. â€Å"It opened up a debate academically about responsibility and free will, and how we evaluate scientific evidence,† says Weiss, twenty years after the case; Martell still believes brain scans don’t explain specific behaviors. â€Å"The problem is that the science has not come along to support what the scan means,† says Martell, now a Newport Beach, Calif. based consultant for criminal as well as civil cases. â€Å"Since the ’90s, we’ve been much better at generating the cool pictures than we are at explaining what they mean. † (Davis, 2012). The opinion that Martell expresses about TBIs is not rare; many in the legal profession see the whole TBI debate as another â€Å"smoke and mirror† defense on par with the famous â€Å"Twinkie† defense; interesting and impressive in the courtroom, but lacking in any real legal merit. There is a group of individuals whose TBIs are taken into special onsideration; combat veterans. â€Å"Am ong the growing number of cases involving neuroscientific evidence are those that involve combat veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq as defendants. † (Davis, 2012). â€Å"Dr. Chrisanne Gordon, a Columbus, Ohio, rehabilitation medicine specialist who works with brain-injured vets, is one of three authors who wrote a chapter about traumatic brain injury. â€Å"They’re not insane, they’re not retarded, but they frequently have issues with impulse control and fall through the cracks of the legal system,† she says. (Davis, 2012). Combat veterans pose a desperate problem for the court systems judging them as defendants; because their injuries are usually combat related most people view them with a particular amount of sympathy because they received their injury in a â€Å"heroic† manner; serving the country. Agreeing that veteran’s legal situations are difficult to handle, at best, it has been suggested that courts need to view veteran’s with an air of compassion. There are courts who are taking definitive steps when dealing with combat veteran’s with TBIs who have ended up as defendants. â€Å"One of veterans’ biggest allies in Ohio is state Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton, who plans to work full time with veterans’ justice issues after she retires later this year. She supports the development of more veterans’ treatment courts and hopes to change sentencing guidelines to ensure judges in all courts look at a defendant’s military service record. We want them to look at war experience as mitigation,† she says. â€Å"And we want them at least to look at the causes of what happened. † (Davis, 2012). Traumatic Brain Injuries are not simple to define and apply to a law principle; they allow that a defendant can be found not guilty of a crime because of their mental health issues, saying, in essence, that the defendant is not responsible for their crime because they had no real understanding of their actions or the consequences thereof. It will take many more years of research, to produce empirical evidence to supplement the anecdotal evidence that does exist, to determine if the dramatic personality changes that patients with Traumatic Brain Injuries exhibit, has the brain been so physically damaged that the victims of TBIs are no longer able to control themselves, or is the Traumatic Brain Injury defense simply a criminal defense â€Å"flavor of the week. †

Job Satisfaction And Quality Of Work Life Psychology Essay

Job Satisfaction And Quality Of Work Life Psychology Essay Job satisfaction and quality of work life go hand in hand when talked about real satisfaction since one is the outcome of other .The present paper attempts to examine the impact of job satisfaction and its attribute on quality of work life of employees working in management colleges in Faridabad region The basic objective of the study was to determine the difference in job satisfaction based on gender and its relation with quality of wok life between male and female workers. Also attempt is made to measure the level of quality of work life among the employees. Also the paper focuses on role of different demographic variables on job satisfaction and quality of work life with respect to male and female employees. .Data was collected using questionnaire. Data was analyzed using tools like t-test, chi-square, ANOVA, and regression analysis to test the hypothesis and reliability of the collected data. From the findings it is clear that there exists a positive relationship between job sati sfaction and quality of work life. Also it is seen that as the feeling of quality of work life increases satisfaction from job also gets enhanced. The results indicate that academic industry which demands high quality people in term of intellect and knowledge and are considered to be the turners in economy of any country require a qualitative work life first in order to be satisfied and give their best. Thus focus on measures like job monotony, unclarity in goals, employee attrition, and role stress need to be properly handled. Key words- Job satisfaction, Job stress Quality of work life, Academics JEL Classification INTRODUCTION India has been witnessing an upsurge in the departure of technical expertise in virtually all sectors over the last five years (Stilwell, 2003). This has resulted in qualified personnel seeking greener pastures abroad. Movement of people from developing countries towards the developed world especially Europe and the Americas has been conspicuous. Anecdotes show that during the 1990s, total migration of professionals towards Western Europe and North America accounted for 30% of the flows registered throughout the world (ILO, 1996). It is estimated that in 2000 approximately 175 million people, or 2.9% of the worlds population, were living outside their country of birth, compared to 100 million, or 1.8% of the total population, in 1995 (Stilwell, 2003). Assistant Professor, Lingayas University, Department of Business Administration, Faridabad *Assistant Professor, Lingayas University Whilst a number of factors such as the inimical macro-economic environment could explain the loss of human resources in the country, job satisfaction and quality of work life is often identified as one of the factors that influence the decision to quit. Various studies (Onu et al., 2005; Sur et al., 2004; Tutuncu and Kozak, 2006; Knowles, 1978, Salmond, 2006; Wiedmar, 1998; DeVaney and Chen, 2003; Greenberg, 1986) have identified factors that influence job satisfaction and quality of work life. These include inter-personal relationships, conditions of service, type of social insurance possessed, supervision, promotion, job design, organizational environment, age, gender, equal treatment by management, income and attitude. Much of the discussion on job satisfaction and work quality has been done in the context of the developed countries with few studies in the developing countries. The broad objective of this study is to ascertain the association between job satisfaction and quality o f work life among academic professionals teaching in management colleges in Faridabad region. The job satisfaction of an employee is a topic that has received considerable attention by researchers and managers alike. The quality of work life is concerned with type of work environment and its resulting impact on overall effectiveness of organization and equally on individuals as employees. This includes all such dimensions and parameter which are having an impact on employees decision to remain in organization and level of performance. There are several measures and means by which organization attempts to augment their performance like participative leadership style, job autonomy, clarity in career graph, equity based decision, good physical conditions, merit based promotion etc. The present study attempts to find role of different job satisfaction attributes like- Stressful nature of work, unclarity in direction and overall satisfaction from job that also affects quality of work life with respect QWL factors like- Compensation structure, policies of organization, role of trade union, security benefits, facilities, growth opportunities, Work load ,reward structure, type of supervision ,participation, recognition and reward and whether is relevance of these factors in making employees satisfied, making work life more qualitative. REVIEW OF LITERATURE According to study conducted by DeVaney and Chen (2003) on impact of different demographic variables as leading factors of job satisfaction affecting employees and its impact on quality of work life. They found that with respect to demographic factors like age, gender and education job satisfaction and feeling towards quality of work life varied. The findings of their study inferred that with increase in age employees satisfaction towards job also increased and similar such result were seen with education where highly educated workforce felt more satisfied than less qualified employees. Male workers were found to be more satisfied than female workers. Thus it could be inferred from the study that demographic factors affect to large extent the job satisfaction leading to a highly satisfied quality of work life. It was also found that certain attributes related to work like relations with management, job security (permanent or contract jobs), higher pay, a sense of control over ones wo rk were identified as main attributes of quality of work life and made employees more productive and satisfied with their jobs when these attributes as a tool for improving quality of work life were worked upon. Bharati T; Nagarathnamma B; Viswanatha Reddy S(2008) studied the impact of selected variables causing job satisfaction like retention ,higher performance, support, team work and task characteristics on job satisfaction and resulting quality of work life on 266 Israeli prison guards. It was found that extra organizational factors, especially clarity in direction, low stress level, low burnout, clear communication, timely feedback, career advancement were found to be strong predictors of job satisfaction and led to strong satisfied feeling towards quality of work life. It could be inferred from this study that job satisfying factors largely affects feeling of quality of work life. Thus job satisfying factors should be properly worked upon so that a better quality of work life can be felt by employees. Tett, R. Meyer, J. (1993) in their study on impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life with reference to faculty members found that management style in form of leadership, 2-way feedback,informal climate setting, participation in organization decision making to large extent caused greater satisfaction towards job and employees perceived a better quality of work life when these attributes were worked upon by management to enhance quality of work life amongst employees. Management leadership was found to be major factor leading satisfaction towards job and improving quality of work life. Cooper and Marshal (1976) also in their study on impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life found that certain variables like work overload, role ambiguity, role conflict and poor working conditions associated with a particular job which reduces job satisfaction and affects low feeling towards quality of work life as well In their study majority of employees agreed that with less satisfying job, employees performance and initiative taking ability also reduces to a large extent. Thus management should focus on factors that lead to job satisfaction sine it also affects feeling towards quality of work life to large extent. Theoretically Lawler (1982) also identified QWL in terms of job characteristics and work conditions. He highlighted that the core dimension of the entire QWL in the organization is to improve employees well-being, satisfaction and productivity. An employee with high job satisfaction enjoys a qualitative work life in comparison of employees who are dissatisfied with job. Thus job satisfaction to a large extent is a strong predictor of quality of work life. Pelsma et al(1989).and Hart(1989) in their study on impact of selected QWL attributes found that psychological distress and morale contributed equally to teachers QWL. A balanced workload level, regular feedback, opportunities for training and improvement along with provision of suitable financial and non financial motivators largely enhanced employees satisfaction towards their job as well as improved employees quality of work life. These factors largely improved functional outcomes like improved productivity, better retention and initiative taking ability of employees. This also helped in improving occupational role and performance of employees. Winter et al(2000) in their study on impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life with reference to academicians studied the role of selected variables like role stress, job characteristics, and role of supervision job characteristics, feedback, compensation structure, participation of employees and work environment as factors affecting job satisfaction and affecting quality of work life as well. They viewed QWL for academicians as an attitudinal response to the prevailing work environment and posited five factors that affected job satisfaction including role stress, job characteristics, type of supervision, structural characteristics that directly and indirectly shaped academicians experiences, attitudes and behaviour and resulting positive feeling of quality of work life. Rice (1985) tried to focus on relationship between work satisfaction and Quality of peoples lives. His study also focused and found a strong relationship between certain job related factors like work experience and work outcomes that affect persons general Quality of life. He also found that certain factors like family interactions, leisure activities and levels of health and energy also to a large extent affect employees satisfaction towards job and quality of work life that employees view and perceive and feel towards their job Thus this study emphasized the role of work related characteristic and employees experience as major determinant of job satisfaction and resulting quality of work life. Bhatia and Valecha (1981) studied the absenteeism rates of textile factory and recommended that closer attention should be paid to improve the Quality of Work Life since due to low feeling of work quality due to high stress, unclarity in direction, low participation workers derived low satisfaction from job and that affected efficiency. It is thus clear from this study that work related factors like high stress, unclarity in direction, low participation of workers caused low feeling of satisfaction towards their job and they perceived low quality of work life towards their core task..Thus studies like these focus on role of emphasizing job satisfying factors on quality of work life to make employees more productive, involved and committed towards work at large. In a study, Sirota (1973) in their study on impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life found that underutilization of workers skill and abilities either due to lack of interaction or lack of instruction in performing job causes perception of low Quality of Work Life and suggested job enrichment program to correct the problems of workers skill and abilities to make them feel highly satisfied towards job. This study also emphasizes the role job satisfaction plays significantly in improving quality of work life. Thus studies like these focus on role of job satisfaction and feeling towards work life quality on employees satisfaction at large. Smith and Bourke (1992), also in their study on factors causing stress in teachers in academic institutes found that there were four major sources of stress and these work related factors created feeling of low work quality namely unclear instructions and work environment , time pressures and low opportunities for rewards and recognitions. These factors not only reduced satisfaction towards job but also caused dissatisfying feeling towards quality of work life. In a similar study determining impact of work related factors causing job satisfaction and its impact on quality of work life Kenneth, R. (1977),reported that unclarity of roles creates difficulty and was negatively associated with job satisfaction which makes satisfaction generated from qualitative work life quite low , especially among women. Thus impact of unclear directions, feedback, blocked communication channels and job misfit affected satisfaction towards job and quality of work life also. In another study conducted by Fraser, Draper and Taylor (1998) on factors affecting job satisfaction and its resulting impact on quality of work life among school teachers it was found that female teachers felt less satisfied with their influences over school policies which they considered as a major factor affecting quality of work life compared to male teachers. They also reported significant differences in work satisfaction based on work experience it was found that teachers who stayed longer at the job consistently had greater ratings of dissatisfaction. Thus this study gives a clear indication that work related and demographic factors like work experience and employees involvement to a larger extent affects employees satisfaction towards their job and resulting feeling towards work life quality. In a similar study conducted in Malaysia by Che Rose et al (2006) further concluded that the most important predictor of QWL is organizational climate, followed by career achievement, career satisfaction and career balance which all lead to job satisfaction. This study also focused on role of job satisfying factors on employees feeling towards his work life quality. Thus, management of organization should focus on identifying important job satisfaction causing variables and design policies, procedures and management style in such a way so that employees feel high and positive about quality of wok life. OUTCOMES OF LITERATURE REVIEW- The above selected studies focus on role of job satisfaction on quality of work life. Most of the studies irrespective of different work related variables helped in determining impact of job satisfaction on quality of work life. It can be concluded from these studies that when employees feel highly satisfied from their jobs their feeling towards quality of work life also becomes high which results into better productivity, performance , commitment , involvement and initiative taking ability of employees. It was found in most of the studies that when employees feel less or dissatisfied with their jobs either due to organization related, work related or individual factors the quality of work life also gets negatively affected. Thus irrespective of the sector management should strive harder to make jobs more enriching thus employees getting higher satisfaction and resulting into highly satisfying feeling towards quality of work life as well. OBJECTIVES OF STUDY To assess the level of quality of work life among men and women To determine the association between job satisfying factors and attributes of quality of work life(Nature of work, level of participation, working condition, work schedule, Grievance procedure. To identify the impact of different demographic factors on quality of work life and job satisfaction. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY For the present study 15 different management colleges were selected in and around Faridabad region. Employees including lecturer, Assistant Professor and Professor between age group 25-55 were selected for the study. The data was collected through structured questionnaire which was personally administered by researcher. The reliability of the questionnaire was found to be 0.76 which is good enough for study. The questionnaire consisted of close ended question (Likert scale) to gauge the reaction of employees. A pilot study was conducted with 25 respondents (faculty members) to check the reliability of questionnaire. Total 250 questionnaire were distributed out of which 238 were returned and usable questionnaire were 220 in total .So sample of 220 is considered for present study. Details about Questionnaire The scale used for measuring attitude of employees for present study is LEA (Long employee attitude scale) developed by Dr.H.C Ganguli which is a 26 item job satisfaction scale. The items of LEA were earlier standardized on Indian employees on Nepalese female subject working as Bank officers, college teachers and Nepal government officers. The areas covered are Nature of work 2 items Income 5 items Security 1 item Organization aspect 5 items Personal aspect 1 items Colleagues /co-workers 2 items Promotion and training opportunities 3 items Welfare facilities, health and canteen facilities 2 items Union management relation 1 item Company policy and practices 4 items Scoring of responses The present scale is scored according to Likert scale of summated rating .The total score of a subject is an addition of score value of respondent from the alternative choosen.25 items of LEA scale has 5 response alternative( 1,2,3,4,5) and 1 item has 3 alternatives (2,3,4) higher is the score greater is the satisfaction. The subject has to answer all the 26 items and no omission is allowed. If there is any omission then a score of 3 has to be provided as the middle value Validity Reliability of scale used About the scale Dr. H.C Gangulis job attitude scale which helps in assessing job satisfaction of employees at different level has test retest reliability of r = 0.90 and odd even reliability after Spearman -Brown correction was r = 0.81 and has proved validity. The validity of this scale was checked through internal consistency method, by way of item analysis which requires low correlation between items and high correlation between item scores and total scale scores TOOLS USED In order to analyze the collected data SPSS 16.0 was used. In order to determine significant relation between satisfaction with QWL attributes) between male and female t-test was used. .Further, Chi-square test was used to determine the association between level of job satisfactions (job characteristic factors) and quality of work life dimensions. Also regression analysis was used to determine impact of different variables like overall job satisfaction, unclarity in direction and job stress on quality of work life. Further, to determine significant difference between demographic factor and job satisfaction (job characteristic) t-test ANOVA and Levens test for equality of variance was used. Hypothesis formulated Null hypothesis 1 -There is no significant difference between male and female with respect to feeling towards quality of work life in academic industry Null hypothesis 2 There is no association between job characteristic /satisfying factors and QWL Null Hypothesis -3 There is significant impact of demographic variables like age and nature of work on feeling towards quality of work life Null hypothesis 3.1 Employees of higher age groups expect more qualitative work life Null Hypothesis 3.2 Employees with stressful nature of work require high quality of work life Null hypothesis 3.3 Employees with long tenure needs more quality of work life ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION Null hypothesis 1 -There is no significant difference between male and female with respect to feeling towards quality of work life in academic industry. As clear in Table -1 t-test was used to determine the significant difference between genders with regard to feeling towards dimension of QWL feeling. Table-1 t-test showing significant difference between gender with regard to feeling towards dimension of QWL feeling QWL dimension Male Female t- value P value Mean S.D Mean S.D Satisfaction from job 31.25 3.65 29.34 4.23 2.04 0.035* Unclarity in direction 44.65 5.84 42.45 5.35 2.76 0.002** Job Stress 20.45 2.98 18.67 2.65 2.68 0.004** Overall QWL feeling 96.53 10.87 91.46 11.12 3.24 0.001** ** denotes significance at 1% level * denotes significance at 5% level It is clear from the table-1 that since the value of P is less than 0.01 with respect to unclarity in direction, level of stress in job and overall feeling of QWl thus null hypothesis is rejected and it can be inferred that there is a significant difference between feeling towards QWL dimensions between male and female workers. Also since the value of P is less than 0.05 with respect to feeling of job satisfaction it is clear that null hypothesis is rejected. Female workers are more affected by feeling of lack of satisfaction, unclarity in direction and job stress than male workers. It is due to the fact that female workers need to create a balance between a good professional as well as a good homemaker so the burden is more on them to manage. This is the reason they expect and require more quality in work life that will result into effective performance. Thus, if organization provides them with certain provisions like flexi timing, suitable arrangement of crà ¨ches and safe work environment with less stress the feeling of qualitative work life will definitely enhance. Null hypothesis 2 There is no association between job characteristic /satisfying factors and QWL From Table -2 it is clear that value of P is less than 0.01 thus rejecting the null hypothesis at 1% level, thus there is a significant association between job satisfying dimension and quality of work life. Table-2 Chi-square showing association between job characteristic and quality of work life Level of job characteristics Level of QWL Row total Chi-square value P value Low Average High 91.503 0.000** Low 39 12 6 57 Average 10 74 40 104 High 13 17 29 59 Column Total 62 103 55 220 It is clear from the table that as the level of quality of work life increases job satisfaction among employees also gets increased .Thus it becomes imperative that if the organization works for introducing innovative ways to make work life more qualitative then job satisfaction will also increase which will result into improvement in performance and in development of a desired behaviour in individuals. Further to confirm the relation between job characteristic and quality of work life multiple regression model was applied. From Table -3 it is clear that in this model quality of work life is taken as dependent variable and job satisfaction(X1), unclarity in direction(X2), job stress(X3) are taken as independent variable and predictor variables .The calculated value of multiple R was found to be -0.342 ,R squared value was -0.124.The calculated F -value was -10.120 and P value was -0.000**.. The estimate of model coefficient is 109.136 for ao, for a1 is 0.821, a2 is -0.182 and for a3 is -0.258.So the estimated model becomes 109.136 = 0.821 (X1) 0.182 (X2) 0.258 (X3) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (I Table-3 Multiple regression table Variable Unstandardized coefficient Standardized coefficient t-value P-value B Std. error of B Beta X1 0.821 0.165 0.311 3.284 0.000** X2 -0.182 -0.132 0.102 1.213 0.161 X3 -0.258 0.281 -0.062 -0.812 0.342 Constant 109.136 5.525 14.304 0.000 The R squared value of 12.4% indicates that predictor variable explains 12.4 % variance in QWL. From the ANOVA table (Table -4) it is quite clear that F-value 10.120 and P value 0.000 is highly significant less than 0.01. Table-4 ANOVA Table Sum of Squares d.f Mean square F Sig. Regression 4163.414 3 1326.162 10.120 .000** Residual 31257.612 216 138.420 Total 35421.026 219 It can be interpreted from this that the estimated model line is not equal to zero indicating linear relationship between the predictor variable and QWL. It is also clear that Beta value for job satisfaction is highest (0.311) followed by unclarity in direction (0.102).The Beta value of job stress has made least contribution in this (-0.062). The value of p is less than 0.01, so the independent variable job satisfaction is highly significant for the stated model. The rest of independent variables are not significant at 95% confidence level. Thus it can be concluded that as quality of work life will increases job satisfaction will also increase whereas with unclarity in direction and job stress it will reduce. Null Hypothesis -3 There is significant impact of demographic variables like age and nature of work and tenure on feeling towards quality of work life Null hypothesis 3.1 Employees of higher age groups require more quality in work life Null Hypothesis 3.2 Employees with stressful nature of work require high quality of work life Null hypothesis 3.3 Employees with long tenure needs more quality in work life In order to determine impact of demographic variables on quality of work life t-test ANOVA and Levens test for equality of variance was applied .This was applied to see whether there is any impact of demographic variable on response of employees towards quality of work life . From table 5, 6 and 7 it is quite clear that demographic variable except gender did not have a significant influence on quality of work life. The significant value for age which is 0.854 reveals that all age groups exhibited similar kind of behaviour with respect to quality of work life. This clears that irrespective of age each employees looks for better quality of work life which definitely increases job satisfaction. Table-5 Independent sample test for determination influence of age on quality of work life Levens test for equality of variance t- value Sig(2-tailed) Mean difference Standard error of difference F Sig. -.180 .854 -..0302 .15076 QWL Equal variance not assumed .002 .956 Equal variance not assumed -.180 .854 -.0302 .15071 The significant value of nature of work which is 0.972 and its influence on quality of work life indicates that nature of duty and work do not influence quality of work, this further indicates that whatever may be the nature of work in academic industry with respect to different position, qualitative work life is most required. Table -6 Independent sample test for determination influence of nature of work on quality of work life Levens test for equality of variance t- value Sig. (2-tailed) Mean difference Standard error of difference F Sig. .032 .972 .0047 .15792 QWL Equal variance not assumed .113 .735 Equal variance not assumed .032 .972 .0047 .15765 With regard to tenure of employees it is again seen that the significant value is 0.842 whether the tenure is long or whether the employee is a newcomer. Thus demographic factors (age, tenure, nature of work) do not influence quality of work life particularly with any higher age, long tenure or with stressful work. Table-7 Independent Sample test for determining influence of tenure on quality of work life Levens test for equality of variance t- value Sig.(2-tailed) Mean difference Standard error of difference F Sig. .178 .842 .0220 .11701 QWL Equal variance not assumed .206 .638 Equal variance not assumed .175 .844 .0220 .11746 FINDINGS OF STUDY Based on the objectives and hypothesis formulated for the study the following findings were observed With respect to gender male and female differed significantly towards feeling of quality of work life and job satisfaction. Male employees were found to be more satisfied and feeling towards quality of work life was higher in comparison to female counterparts ,it may due to the fact that women folk has to perform dual responsibilities and with increase in work pressures and expectations from organization it is quite obvious that they feel less satisfied in terms of unclarity in direction, communication gap, flexibility, timings and different facilities provided by the organization which is not too satisfactory and leads to comparably low feeling of quality of work life. On the basis of regression analysis and Chi-square which was used to assess association between job satisfying factors and quality of work life, it was found that among different selected factors of job related aspects level of job satisfaction consisting of different attributes like compensation structure, reward structure, a administrative policies, flexibility, participation of employees, challenging work assignment were considered to be affecting job satisfaction and resulting quality of work life much more than factors like unclarity in direction, job stress etc. Maximum variance was explained by job satisfying factors towards quality of work life, establishing that job satisfaction contributes utmost towards making work life more qualitative. Further the impact of different demographic factors like age, tenure, and nature of work on quality of work life was also studied. After analysis it was found that except gender there was no significant difference between feeling and significance of quality of work life among employees. Thus, irrespective of the age group, nature of work and tenure each empl

Strong Versus Weak Characters in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness :: Conrad Heart Darkness

Strong Versus Weak Characters in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness One of the central tragedies of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is the insanity of Mr. Kurtz. How could a man who seemed so good, so stable, suddenly become so mentally lacking? Through the deterioration of Kurtz’s personality and Marlow’s response to his breakdown, Conrad explores the elements of strong versus weak characters. Conrad introduces Kurtz as the archetypal European. French mother, English father, educated all over the continent- he’s strikingly average. By making him so normal Kurtz can serve as a model for all mankind- if it happened to this guy, who’s to say it couldn’t happen to anyone? At first Kurtz runs the inner station with common sense and justice (or what was considered justice during colonization), but before too long his character begins to spiral inward. Because of his over bearing personality, the Africans begin to look to Kurtz as a sort of god, and he begins to work with the idea. Had this occurred in society, he would have been checked: â€Å"Kurtz, stop being so silly.† But! In the jungle no one is there to keep him within societal boundaries- and the immense power he has begins to take hold of him. Kurtz is folding further and further into himself. The perfect example of this is the pamphlet Kurtz wrote. It seems that, though his actions say differently, when he is in the act of writing- something he learned in the civilized world- he can still function. He can still perform the, what is considered a solely human, trait of consciously thinking about and considering his own actions. Even when he talks about the pamphlet- he knows he wrote something and that it was good and important. Finally however, he writes at the bottom, â€Å"exterminate the brutes,† and the old Kurtz is gone. The once normal Kurtz has become a megalomaniac. Consider the shrunken heads put up around his house. It is feasible to think that perhaps a savage would do something like that as a warning to anyone who might stop by. Even in the horror- there is logic to it. But- Kurtz has them facing toward his house. This has no reasonable explanation, except that Kurtz has lost his mind. Conrad describes the scene almost as though Kurtz has them set up out there to look at, to talk to from time to time. His unchecked power of the natives takes away his human ability to reason and leaves an empty Kurtz-shaped hull.

Ernest Hemingway Essay -- essays research papers fc

Ernest Hemingway   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ernest Hemingway was a great American author. He was a giant of modern literature. Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899. He was the first son of Clarence and Grace Hall Hemingway and the second of their six children. Hemingway’s gather was a doctor and his mother was a music teacher. Hemingway’s parents owned a cabin in northern Michigan where he spent most of his summers hunting and fishing, being separated from the rest of middle-class society. Hemiongway’s mother was a strict person and tried to impose a moral order her children. This caused hostility between mother and son. A major dispute arose between the two when Hemingway returned home from the war and went to the family cabin to get through the physical and psychologically rough experience he had. His mother complained about his slow pace re-adjustment to normal, civilian life. Ultimately, Hemingway left his secluded cabin and went to Paris in the 1920s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hemingway’s father was having a rough time during this portion of Hemingway’s life. His father was suffereing from diabetes. He also had some financial misfortune and chronic depression. This all ended in 1928 when a self-inflicted pistol shot ended his life. This is when Hemingway was just starting to see the material rewards of his developing literary career. Hemingway did not have a very good childhood. Although his youth was bad, and unhappy, Hemingway viewed it as an essential artistic and personal resource for the development of an individual ‘heroic code.’   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  About the time that Hemingway graduated from high school, the Untied States was entering World War I. He tried to enlist in the army, but was not accepted due to a vision problem. When he heard that the Red Cross was taking volunteers to be ambulance drivers in the war, he took the opportunity and made it to the war. Hemingway was assigned to the front lines in Italy. After he had only been at the front for a few days, and a few days before his nineteenth birthday, Hemingway was wounded. A mortar fire at Fossalta di Pivi sent shrapenel into his legs. While Hemingway was injured, he met a nurse and fell in love with her. He proposed marriage, but like Granny Weatherall, he was jilted and his nurse married and Italian officer. Hemingway... ...sh them as â€Å"the best rules I ever learned for the business of writing.† This writing ethic was used by Hemingway and reinforced to him through lessons he learned from the works and advice of T. S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. Hemingway had a very modernist approach to writing. Part of this was he left out all extraneous verbiage and authorial intrusion. Instead he presented sharply focused images that stood out on their own. Hemingway also developed a writing discipline. He would write one thousand words a day and refine the copy back to around three hundred words. He did not want to bore the reader with a bunch of nonsense and rambling on.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ernest Hemingway was a great American author. His stories were written about and through personal experiences. His stories directly reflected on his personal experiences and indirectly reflected on his unhappy childhood and his misfortune with the ladies. He had his own style and own ways of keeping that style up. He was a great man. Works Cited All Hemingway. http://www.allhemingway.com/criticism/essays.php?essay+Hemingway’s=style Hemingway, Ernest.â€Å"The Big Two Hearted River.† 1953

It is Time to Legalize Marijuana Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Top

  Ã‚   The long-standing prohibition against recreational use of cannabis in the United States should be repealed. In addition, the penalties for possession and trafficking of cannabis should be abolished, and cannabis should be taxed and regulated by the federal agency that controls the other recreational, legal, yet addictive and potentially injurious substances tobacco and alcohol (the ATF). Cannabis has been illegal since the Marijuana Tax act of 1934. Yet of a population of 284 million (2000 U.S. Census), 70 million Americans claim to have smoked cannabis at some point in their lives [NORML]. Prohibition of cannabis is therefore apparently ineffective at changing the habits of a population, just as prohibition of alcohol was ineffective in 1919-1933. Making otherwise law-abiding citizens fugitives does nothing more than fill the prisons and alienate the populace from their government. In fact the total cost to taxpayers of solely marijuana-related incarceration (in local, state, and federal prisons and jails) of 15,400 people exceeds $1.2 billion per year. That one billion does not include what it costs to investigate, arrest, and prosecute the "hundreds of thousands of marijuana users arrested every year" [Hall]. Three and a half million people were arrested for marijuana offenses during the 8 years under President Clinton! [NORML] More than double the same period bef ore his presidency. Hall goes on to quote a report by the National Academy of Sciences: "there is little evidence that decriminalization of marijuana use necessarily leads to a substantial increase in marijuana use." So while it is argued that the corruption, guerrilla violence, and terrorism carried out by the black market drug traders would infiltrate ma... ...ause compared to alcohol and cigarettes, there really isn't any reason for it not to be.    WORKS CITED 1. Illegal Drugs and Alcohol-America's Anguish. 1997. Information Plus, Wylie, TX. 2. http://www.lectlaw.com/files/drg17.htm The State Of The Art In Horticulture. A Crime Punishable By Life Behind Bars, By Michael Pollan, From New York Times Magazine, 19 February, 1995. 3. http://www.fas.org/drugs/issue7.htm The FAS Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin, Issue 7, June 1999. "Appraisals of the Adverse Health Effects of Cannabis Use: Ideology and Evidence" by Wayne Hall 4. http://www.usemb.gov.do/IRC/drugs/threats.htm ONDCP Chief Releases Report on Drug Threats Across United States, 2 December 2000. 5. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n1521.a05.html Thornton, Jacqui "Cannabis Can Kill You" U.S. Census data can be found at www.census.gov.

Supply Chain Risk Management

Supply Chain Risk Management is the concept of trying to foresee disruptions to timely supply of goods or services required by the organisation and creating systems to mitigate these at the lowest possible cost to the organisation and by so doing ensure that there will be continuity in the normal operations of the business. Supply chain risks have the potential to cripple a business’ operations and can have long and short term effects which may be difficult to recover from.A delay along a route is a short term problem whereas the presence of a monopoly supplier in the chain holding up stocks to force an increase in prices or shutting down for whatever reason is long term. Certain types of disruptions are both difficult to anticipate and rare, but very damaging when they occur; for example, natural disasters such as earthquakes are difficult to predict but have the potential to ruin entire factories and road networks wreaking havoc to the entire supply chain.Disruptions to supp ly can be anticipated and countered by building inventory or by having multiple redundant suppliers since it is highly unlikely to encounter a scenario where multiple suppliers are simultaneously disrupted. Both of these processes can be described as building supply chain reserves. Concept of Risk Risk can be perceived from various angles; one of its basic definitions being the probability of threat of quantifiable damage, injury, liability, loss or any other negative occurrence that is caused by external or internal vulnerabilities and that may be avoided through pre-emptive action.1 In developing an understanding of risk, it is necessary to incorporate its two fundamental facets; the first being the exposure to the uncertainty and the second being the actual outcomes upon occurrence of the event. 2 Hence, risk can be expressed as the product of probability and consequences of an event. Along with this, one must also be able to know the sources of the identified risk. 2 It is commo n to analyse risk by means of a matrix with 2 dimensions, probability and consequences but such an analysis has the main disadvantage of being reliant on risk perception.Risk perception depends on time, experience, location, attitude, position and possibilities to decide and scale of events. 2 It is also important to realise that risk has no technical value in and of itself, hence in developing a risk management process, the aim is to always do it at a minimum cost. 3 Risk Variety An overview of business risks in general is useful in understanding supply chain risk. Risks can be externally driven (environmental, external factors, competitors, customers, regulations), internally driven and decision driven.3 At times, managing supply chain risk may be difficult because of the interconnection of individual risks and actions that mitigate one risk may end up exacerbating another. For example, nitrogen gas used for bottling in large amounts may displace the local atmosphere and cause asp hyxiation. Increasing local stores may minimise the effects of a shortage of supply but immediately it increases storage costs and the possibility of leaks in a larger vessel.Broadly speaking, risks can be categorized as those that bring about delays in the supply chain and those that disrupt the normal flow. 4 Delays The occurrence of delays in material flows is the result of either of several possible factors such as; Inflexibility of suppliers hence inability to respond to changes in demand Poor output at supplier plants High levels of handling or inspections at border crossings In a scenario where these are frequent, historical trends can be used to create a forecasting tool against which with proper demand planning, these effects can be mitigated.In the local case of SZL, sugar is may be delayed by a day or two at the Limpopo Border post and analysis of past trends has allowed a conclusion to be drawn that a minimum and maximum stock level of 3 days and 1 week cover is sufficie nt to both cover for these drawbacks and at the same time neither be too much of an impedance to the cash flow of the organisation nor create a significant rise in local storage costs. Disruptions Disruptions by nature tend to be infrequent, difficult to predict and forecast but very damaging when they occur.Examples that fall under this category include labour strikes, terror strikes and fires. Some disruptions have effects that transcend over various industries and can even be international such as earthquakes or the tsunami in Japan in recent memory. Disruptions also adversely affect material prices which can pose a significant problem to business operations. These can be countered by building inventories or having multiple redundant suppliers. The decision making process however as to which path of action is governed by the following factors; Cost of inventoryCost of keeping inventory Accuracy of prediction of the disruption and available information Rate of obsolescence of mate rial whilst in inventory Likelihood of disruption For instance, MM juice concentrates are a high cost in storage, requiring refrigeration to maximise on lifespan but the decision is made to keep a significant amount within stock because of the uncertainty of the supply delivery time and the reality that upon the sea, there may be unforeseen disruptions.However, in the case of bottle preforms, not more than a week’s cover is normally kept because of the usual reliability of the suppliers and low likelihood of low supply. A recent incident however has necessitated to review this as an intra-factory incident at Megapak caused a mini-crisis within the organisation. Risk Handling Often, the strategies employed by companies protect against recurrent relatively low impact risks in the supply chain but tend to ignore high impact low likelihood risks.Suppliers with quality problems represent a common recurrent problem (labels with SZL for instance). Top manufacturers will deal with th e range of supply chain risks encountered by holding reserves in the form of excess inventory, excess capacity and redundant suppliers. 4 The key challenge facing management is to intelligently position and sizing of supply-chain reserves with a minimum impact on profits i. e. attain the greatest possible profit regardless of the level of supply chain risk and achieving this in an efficient manner.To development a risk management strategy that will work, it is necessary to first create a shared organization-wide understanding of supply-chain risk and then determine how to adapt general risk-mitigation approaches to local organizational circumstances. 4 This is achieved by stress testing and tailoring. Stress Testing This is a team exercise that aids managers and their organizations to both understand and prioritize supply-chain risk. A what-if scenario analysis can be employed to assist the key players to focus on the supply chain 1-link at a time.It is a brainstorming exercise that helps the company prepare for unforeseen events rather than the platform to debate the likelihood of such events. Such an exercise allows for risk-mitigation priorities to be made for the near, medium and long term. In addition to this, it leaves all involved parties with a clear idea of what risks might have an impact on sales, procurement costs, revenues, prices and possibly even reputation. 4 Tailoring Tailoring is the process of suiting the response to a risk to the organization and continuously monitoring to ensure that procedures and systems in place are suitable for the purposes of the business. Supply Chain Risk Management Supply Chain Risk Management is the concept of trying to foresee disruptions to timely supply of goods or services required by the organisation and creating systems to mitigate these at the lowest possible cost to the organisation and by so doing ensure that there will be continuity in the normal operations of the business. Supply chain risks have the potential to cripple a business’ operations and can have long and short term effects which may be difficult to recover from.A delay along a route is a short term problem whereas the presence of a monopoly supplier in the chain holding up stocks to force an increase in prices or shutting down for whatever reason is long term. Certain types of disruptions are both difficult to anticipate and rare, but very damaging when they occur; for example, natural disasters such as earthquakes are difficult to predict but have the potential to ruin entire factories and road networks wreaking havoc to the entire supply chain.Disruptions to supp ly can be anticipated and countered by building inventory or by having multiple redundant suppliers since it is highly unlikely to encounter a scenario where multiple suppliers are simultaneously disrupted. Both of these processes can be described as building supply chain reserves. Concept of Risk Risk can be perceived from various angles; one of its basic definitions being the probability of threat of quantifiable damage, injury, liability, loss or any other negative occurrence that is caused by external or internal vulnerabilities and that may be avoided through pre-emptive action.In developing an understanding of risk, it is necessary to incorporate its two fundamental facets; the first being the exposure to the uncertainty and the second being the actual outcomes upon occurrence of the event. 2 Hence, risk can be expressed as the product of probability and consequences of an event. Along with this, one must also be able to know the sources of the identified risk. 2 It is common to analyse risk by means of a matrix with 2 dimensions, probability and consequences but such an analysis has the main disadvantage of being reliant on risk perception.Risk perception depends on time, experience, location, attitude, position and possibilities to decide and scale of events. 2 It is also important to realise that risk has no technical value in and of itself, hence in developing a risk management process, the aim is to always do it at a minimum cost. 3 Risk Variety An overview of business risks in general is useful in understanding supply chain risk. Risks can be externally driven (environmental, external factors, competitors, customers, regulations), internally driven and decision driven.At times, managing supply chain risk may be difficult because of the interconnection of individual risks and actions that mitigate one risk may end up exacerbating another. For example, nitrogen gas used for bottling in large amounts may displace the local atmosphere and cause asphyxi ation. Increasing local stores may minimise the effects of a shortage of supply but immediately it increases storage costs and the possibility of leaks in a larger vessel.Broadly speaking, risks can be categorized as those that bring about delays in the supply chain and those that disrupt the normal flow. 4 Delays The occurrence of delays in material flows is the result of either of several possible factors such as; Inflexibility of suppliers hence inability to respond to changes in demand Poor output at supplier plants High levels of handling or inspections at border crossings In a scenario where these are frequent, historical trends can be used to create a forecasting tool against which with proper demand planning, these effects can be mitigated.In the local case of SZL, sugar is may be delayed by a day or two at the Limpopo Border post and analysis of past trends has allowed a conclusion to be drawn that a minimum and maximum stock level of 3 days and 1 week cover is sufficient t o both cover for these drawbacks and at the same time neither be too much of an impedance to the cash flow of the organisation nor create a significant rise in local storage costs. Disruptions Disruptions by nature tend to be infrequent, difficult to predict and forecast but very damaging when they occur.Examples that fall under this category include labour strikes, terror strikes and fires. Some disruptions have effects that transcend over various industries and can even be international such as earthquakes or the tsunami in Japan in recent memory. Disruptions also adversely affect material prices which can pose a significant problem to business operations. These can be countered by building inventories or having multiple redundant suppliers. The decision making process however as to which path of action is governed by the following factors; Cost of inventoryCost of keeping inventory Accuracy of prediction of the disruption and available information Rate of obsolescence of material whilst in inventory Likelihood of disruption For instance, MM juice concentrates are a high cost in storage, requiring refrigeration to maximise on lifespan but the decision is made to keep a significant amount within stock because of the uncertainty of the supply delivery time and the reality that upon the sea, there may be unforeseen disruptions.However, in the case of bottle preforms, not more than a week’s cover is normally kept because of the usual reliability of the suppliers and low likelihood of low supply. A recent incident however has necessitated to review this as an intra-factory incident at Megapak caused a mini-crisis within the organisation. Risk Handling Often, the strategies employed by companies protect against recurrent relatively low impact risks in the supply chain but tend to ignore high impact low likelihood risks.Suppliers with quality problems represent a common recurrent problem (labels with SZL for instance). Top manufacturers will deal with the ra nge of supply chain risks encountered by holding reserves in the form of excess inventory, excess capacity and redundant suppliers. 4 The key challenge facing management is to intelligently position and sizing of supply-chain reserves with a minimum impact on profits i. e. attain the greatest possible profit regardless of the level of supply chain risk and achieving this in an efficient manner.To development a risk management strategy that will work, it is necessary to first create a shared organization-wide understanding of supply-chain risk and then determine how to adapt general risk-mitigation approaches to local organizational circumstances. 4 This is achieved by stress testing and tailoring. Stress Testing This is a team exercise that aids managers and their organizations to both understand and prioritize supply-chain risk. A what-if scenario analysis can be employed to assist the key players to focus on the supply chain 1-link at a time.It is a brainstorming exercise that hel ps the company prepare for unforeseen events rather than the platform to debate the likelihood of such events. Such an exercise allows for risk-mitigation priorities to be made for the near, medium and long term. In addition to this, it leaves all involved parties with a clear idea of what risks might have an impact on sales, procurement costs, revenues, prices and possibly even reputation. 4 Tailoring Tailoring is the process of suiting the response to a risk to the organization and continuously monitoring to ensure that procedures and systems in place are suitable for the purposes of the business.

Professional Ethics Essay

1. Clearly, Dr. Conrad Hadenuf is not justified in his refusal to attend the substance abuse re-training program. His refusal to participate in the workshops merely because of his self-perceived superiority and achievements shows his negative and unprofessional attitude towards opportunities in improving his practice. His lack of interest and inactive participation during the workshop proper showed a very disturbing sign of the lack of ethical responsibility to clients wherein Hadenuff displayed how averse he is to learn more than the things he thinks he already knows. By dismissing the workshop as something that he does not need, Hadenuff also effectively deprives present and future clients with substance abuse problems with a practitioner who has an updated knowledge and skill in handling substance abuse issues. Indeed, the very reason for the existence of mandated continuing education as a requirement for license renewal is to encourage practitioners to maximize available learning opportunities so they can enhance the quality of service that they provide to clients. 2. I will refer the Chinese client to someone else who is familiar with the Chinese culture as my lack of experience and knowledge of Chinese might affect my ability to provide the client with the assistance and service that she needs. My unfamiliarity with the Chinese culture would clearly limit my ability to provide the client with quality counselling as my judgements and bias may come into conflict with Chinese values and norms. I would also inform the client that the referral is being made with her best interests in mind, and my limitations in understanding her background could impede my ability to assist her in coming up with an adequate and appropriate response to her problems. 3. I think that both Amy and Augustus are being unprofessional in their actions and attitudes. Both clearly had a weakness in establishing the proper boundaries for their relationship which has caused intimate feelings to be developed between them. Amy, as Augustus’ professor and individual supervisor, should not have encouraged Augustus’ attraction by giving him hope that it would end in a positive way. She should have told him right there and then that such a relationship would not only put her in a bad light among her colleagues and the institution she works for, but also violates her sense of professional ethics. If I were Amy’s colleagues, I would advise her not to pursue the relationship as it is imbalanced from the start. The uneven balance of power, wherein Augustus as a student, would tend to regard Amy as his superior by the mere fact that she was his professor and advisor, would clearly have an effect on an intimate relationship they are planning to have. It would not be appropriate for Amy and Augustus to date while the latter is still in the program, as it might have an impact on other students’ perception of Augustus’ status and performance in the program, although it might be acceptable once he has graduated. 4. I would not agree with the administration’s decision to keep my status as a student intern from my clients. It would be highly unethical and unprofessional to be dishonest to clients about the extent of my abilities and current capacities. Clearly, the rationale of the administrators are unacceptable as it violates the clients’ right to full discretion of the nature of service that they are being provided, including the status and the limitations of the counselor sent to them. By keeping the real status of my practice from my clients, I am violating their trust and confidence in my abilities and I could put them at risk for claiming to be a full-pledged counselling practitioner despite the truth. Thus, I would not accept the internship assignment of the community agency if accepting it would mean that I would have to be dishonest and would have to violate my potential clients’ right to full discretion of services which is unethical and unprofessional for counselling practitioners.

Pure High Note Essay

A Pure, High Note of Anguish† by: Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver’s â€Å"A Pure, High Note of Anguish,† expresses her painful grief in seeing innocent people die without having done anything to deserve it. To Americans, Kingsolver says â€Å"There are no worse days, it seems,† referring that 9/11 is the worst thing that’s ever happened in the world. Kingsolver symbolizes the children dancing in the street as the hatred that other countries have against the United States. Kingsolver believes asking, â€Å"Will this happen to me? is the wrong question because almost always people die without having done anything to deserve it. To Kingsolver, people almost always die without having done anything to deserve it. To this I agree. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D. C. , including more than 400 police officers and firefighters (History). As of June 2006, 1577 Louisiana residents had been confirmed as deceased as a result of Katina (Sharkey). Motor vehicle crashes in the United States result in more than 40,000 deaths per year (Hitti). Each year globally, 12. million people learn they have cancer, and 7. 6 million people die from the disease (CDC). As most people would think, every one of these victims are innocent people who do not deserve to die. As seen above, these causes of deaths can be from attacks, natural disasters, accidents, and diseases. Death is something that occurs in nature and it is both inevitable and final (Cole). No one knows when, where or how they will die. The only thing that is certain is no one deserves to die. Kingsolver states â€Å"There are no worst days, it seems,† meaning that this is the worst thing that has ever happened in the world. Maybe it was the worst thing to happen in the world at that time, but for all of history no. On December 26th, 2004, in Southeast Asia an earthquake occurred out at sea in the Indian Ocean, which immediately caused a deadly tsunami to happen. An estimated 230,000 people died (Wikramanayake). Do we Americans believe that is the worst thing to ever happen in the world? Of course not because we think 9/11 is the worst thing to ever happen to us. â€Å"September 11, 2001, stands as the defining event of the 21st century. It was the worst day of my life and the best day. It was the worst day because of the incomprehensible death, destruction and evil. September 11 was also the best day because it put on display the very finest human instincts — compassion, courage, kindness, selflessness† (Giuliani). These are the words of former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, who was the mayor during 9/11. Kingsolver’s child was wondering why there were children dancing in the streets after the news of 9/11. I actually thought the same and remember vividly watching when this occurred on the news. Kingsolver symbolizes these children dancing in the streets as people showing their hatred towards the United States. Everybody knows there has been much anti-Americanism in the Middle East (Tooley). Yet it is undeniable that many Middle Easterners have good reason, from their perspective, to hate the USA (Tooley). In Iraq, for example, it would be amazing indeed if the ferocious death rate among civilians — especially children — since the embargo and the steady number of civilian casualties from our continued bombing had not created feelings of hatred which would give cause for celebration now (Tooley). Kingsolver and others believe that our country needed to learn how to hurt from these attacks. I believe that is true and that we have also overcome the hurt. Al Qaeda’s intentions of these attacks were to break the United States down. But I believe that it only made the United States stronger as a nation and more aware of threats against us. Psychologically, the nation joined together in a unity that had not been seen since the end of World War II (Jensen). When it comes to our national security and our awareness of the threat from Islamic extremists, we are better prepared than we were but not as prepared as we should be. Our intelligence base is better and our airport security is better, for all its frustrations,† (Giuliani). â€Å"Will this happen to me? is the wrong question, I’m sad to say. † The question should really be, when will this happen to me? That question is unknown to everyone. No one can predict the moment of death (Scott). People wake up each day and have no clue what will happen to them.