A Christmast Surprise for Gramma

A Christmas Surprise for Grandma by Gloria J. Shuttleworth Grandma lived on Sugar Creek Mountain all alone. It was a beautiful mountain, with tall cedar trees all over the mountain top. In the middle of the mountain was a crystal clear lake. The water in the lake was the prettiest blue you've ever seen. When the water was calm, you could see the fish swimming around in the lake. I loved sitting by the lake when I was a little girl. Grandma would pack us a lunch, and we would sit at the lake for hours on end. Hour after hour, grandma would tell me stories about her life on the mountain. I remember the day that grandpa drowned in the lake.My parents had tried to talk grandma into moving into town, but she wouldn't hear of it. My parents knew not to argue with her, because they knew that grandma was set in her ways. â€Å"I've been on this mountain for so long that I've forgotten which is the oldest, me or the mountain,† grandma had said, with a twinkle in her eyes. I knew my par ents worried about her being alone, because grandma was the only person who lived on Sugar Cliff Mountain. Today I was going to visit grandma, and the excitement grew inside me at the thought of spending time on the mountain once more. After all, it had been ten years since I had seen grandma.It's hard to believe that my career had kept me away for so long. As I approached the top of the mountain, I could see grandma staring out the window of her little log cabin home. Grandma greeted me at the door with a big hug. â€Å"I am so happy that you could come to visit with me,† said grandma. This Christmas is going to be so wonderful! I have a special surprise for you dear. Little did grandma know that I had a very special surprise for her as well. â€Å"Well, we can't stand around here all day,† said grandma. There's a lot of work to get done. I have invited the people from the village to come to my Christmas party on Saturday evening.After I had freshened up a bit, we spe nt the day baking all sorts of cookies and candies. Grandma had a story to tell as we baked the goodies for the party. She told me about how she used to bake apple pies for grandpa. â€Å"He loved apple pies,† said grandma. Those were his favorite. She said that after the pies would cool off, that grandpa would send her into the living room, under the pretense that he would clean up the kitchen. Grandma knew what he was really up to, but she never let on that she knew. Grandma would go into the living room and sit in her rocking chair. She would sing some of the songs that she knew grandpa loved.About an hour later, grandma would wander back into the kitchen. â€Å"Why Henry! † she said kitchen, grandma retired for the evening. I made myself a cup of tea and sat down in front of the fireplace. Sitting alone in the quiet house, I pondered my childhood memories of my grandparents. They had always been such a fun loving and happy couple. Shortly after they were married, g randpa built the log cabin home for his â€Å"Little ole Emmy†, as he called her. Just before Christmas, almost twelve years ago, grandpa was outside gathering firewood, when grandma heard a horrible scream and a terrible noise.She ran outside to find that an area of the ice on the lake had fallen through. She yelled for grandpa over and over but no reply ever came. They searched the lake for over a week, but no trace of grandpa could be found. Finally, they called off the search. One of the men who had helped in the search said they'd probably never find grandpa now. Just then, as my thoughts were still racing around in my head, my grandmother brought me back to reality. â€Å"We have to be up very early in the morning dear, so off to bed now,† she said. I slowly walked to my grandmother's room, and kissed her goodnight.Morning came early at grandma's house. As I entered the kitchen I could smell the homemade biscuits and gravy cooking on the stove. â€Å"What's on o ur list of things to do today? † I asked. â€Å"The men are coming from the village this morning to put the lights on the trees, and we have lots of presents to wrap for the children,† she said. Just then, there was a knock at the door. It was the men from the village ready to start putting up the lights. Grandma was so excited as she stepped back to watch them. â€Å"Let's wrap those presents now Laura,† said grandma.As I watched grandma wrap the presents and tie the ribbons, I knew that so much more was being placed around them. With each piece of wrapping paper grandma was also wrapping them with love. After the last present was wrapped, we realized that we'd been wrapping presents all day! It was now getting dark outside and grandma wanted to go outside to view the lights. As we stepped out onto the porch, we gasped. The sight that met our eyes was so beautiful to behold! The snow was glittering and the reflection of the lights on the snow was beyond words! I t was breathtaking! That night I went to bed with a heart full of love for my grandmother.I knew that someday I wanted to be just like her, full of love for others. Saturday evening the village people started arriving just after dark. Grandma always waited until evening to have her Christmas party, because she loved the lights. All the guests gathered around in the front yard and began to sing Christmas carols. Oh, how grandma loved that! Ole Ben was a jolly fellow who worked at the village store, and he was chosen to help Santa hand out the presents. The children shouted with glee, as they unwrapped their gifts. Grandma said, â€Å"Laura, come here dear, I have a surprise for you. As she handed me the present, I could see the love and pride in her eyes. â€Å"I love it grandma†, I said, as I bent down to kiss her cheek, â€Å"I will cherish it forever. † Grandma had made a quilt out of some of my dresses that I had worn as a little girl. â€Å"Grandma, if you could have just one special gift for Christmas, what would it be? † I asked her. Without even stopping to think, she replied, â€Å"I would like to see your grandfather just one more time, so I could feed him the apple pie that the horses quit snatching when he left us. † Just then grandma's face lit up like the lights on the Christmas tree!Everyone turned to see what grandma was looking at. Walking slowly toward her, with an apple pie in his hand, was grandpa! There was two slices missing from the pie that he was holding. The village people were speechless, as they thought they were seeing a ghost. Grandpa chuckled, as he yelled out, â€Å"Emmy, those darn horses snatched the pie and got away with two pieces. Difference to me, but slowly my memory started to return. I remember now going out to gather firewood. There was a nice piece of wood on the lake. I thought the lake was frozen over so I stepped out on the lake to get the piece of wood.I remember hearing the lake crack le and that's the last I remember about the accident. â€Å"Laura, how can I ever thank you for bringing grandpa home to me? † asked grandma. Laura replied, â€Å"Seeing the happiness and the love you have for each other is all the thanks I need. † As Laura retired to bed that night, she couldn't help but think about the surprise that she had given to grandma for Christmas. She knew in her heart that it was the best surprise present that grandma would ever get. What a warm and wonderful feeling came over Laura as she fell asleep, thinking of her grandparents.

Diet Coke Brand

An increase in awareness on health has led to the development of a health drinks segment that most organisations in the soft drink and food sectors are trying to harness. The potential presented by the health drinks sector is unlimited considering the effect that fashion and educational attainment have on it. Moreover, an increase in awareness on the effects of sugar and the number of diabetic cases makes health food and drink some of the most profitable segments in modern business.Soft drinks and Coca Cola are synonymous as the company has a rich history of success in the soft drinks industry that will play a large role in determining the levels of success that can be attained by Diet Coke in developing a reputation that though dependent on Coca Cola will be able to distinctively establish it as a unique brand. With the aid of primary and secondary research it has been established that fashion, reputation and sociological factors are critical in development of a marketing approach t o Diet Coke in the different markets it harnesses.Diet Coke must be able to establish itself as a leading brand name in both the soft and health drink segments which will require consideration on societies being targeted and development of approaches that display conformance to Coca Cola's and others based on the nature of Diet Coke. Dependence on the reputation developed by Coca Cola may not be enough to develop a reputation but with the inclusion of measures that are largely aimed at increasing the presence of Diet Coke in interaction between people and in issues revolving around healthy living, Diet coke can be made one of the leading Coca Cola products.Success may be beckoning but it will take appreciation of the laxity by health drinks manufacturers to harness the power that is in fashion, innovation, research and generally strategic marketing to be able to attain every brand's dream of being a leading product or brand name. Introduction to Brand Coca Cola which started out in the late 19th century has grown to be one of the leading brand names in the present generation (Smith, 2006 p. 19).The company has over the year succeeded in churning out different brands that captured the tastes and preferences of different user groups; this innovation and relevance to the needs of the markets are cited as some of the key strengths of the soft drink manufacturing giant. A notable brand that first came out of its bottling franchise to consumers on Independence Day in 1982 is Diet Coke (Ries & Trout, 2009). The fact that the product came out of a Coca Cola's bottling plant leaves no doubt on its being a soft drink. The key difference between Diet Coke and other brands under the belt of Coca Cola is the fact that it is sugar free.Another feature is the fact that the product uses different brand names and is often referred to as Coca Cola Light, Cola, Cola Light and Coke Dià ¨te in France (Ries & Trout, 2009). There is however no question on the market segment that th e product seeks for it is clearly made for all those who are aware of risk that sugar has on their health. An increase in awareness on health issues is considered a key inspiration to the development of products which can even be used by diabetics (Anderson, Freeman,Williams & Shoesmith, 2007).Furthermore, health and fashion appear to be largely intertwined in that there are seasons within which it is largely fashionable to eat healthy; this should not be mistaken for the need to live healthy. The current generation and those that are largely affected by the global trends especially within their early mid life are the key target group for Diet Coke. A recent increase in awareness on the relationship between weights which is largely affected by levels of sugar intake and health risk places Diet Coke as one of the Coca Cola products that has infinite potential for expansion.Factors Influencing Consumer behaviour At its point of entry into the soft drinks market Diet Coke has come out as a drink that seeks to address the health risks that sugar places on the market segment. The ‘Diet' in the brand name seeks to bring out a consciousness on the health aspect of the drink; the same can be said of ‘light' (Anderson, Freeman,Williams & Shoesmith, 2007). The market penetration of the drink is thus largely affected by the levels of awareness that a segment has on issues that affect their health and how ready they are to address their dependence on sugar.This is one of the factors that have played a critical role in the levels of success that the brand has attained in developed nations relative to developing nations. Level of educational attainment play an important part in determining the levels of success that Diet Coke can attain as a health or soft drink. It is worth noting that awareness on issues that affect individual health is largely affected by levels of awareness that the society has on issues that affect their general health.Furthermore, the gene ral belief and the values that define a society are likely to affect the levels of market penetration that Diet Coke can attain (Ries & Trout, 2009 p. 93). In America, the levels of penetration of Diet Coke among Whites are far larger than in African Americans. Research shows that this is mainly due to the perception of health consciousness being an uptown issue among African Americans who mostly dwell in inner city neighbourhoods (Smith, 2006).It is however clear that culture and educational attainment are largely correlated with respect to tastes in that learned African American have a larger propensity for using diet coke than those with low levels of educational attainment. In UK there is a large correlation between the levels of appreciation of Coke Light and educational attainment across different races (Anderson, Freeman, Williams & Shoesmith, 2007 p. 53). The role played by fashion and health in determining what people let into their bodies cannot be ignored by marketing exp erts.Having developed its market profile as a drink that is free of sugar, Coke Diet is largely dependent on awareness on health risks associated with high sugar use. Information availability and fashion influence play an important role in defining the perception of the society with regard to use of health drinks. An increase in obesity and diabetes and development of awareness programs also play an important part in developing a large market potential for Diet Coke. In general fashion and health are the key factors that any marketing manager would consider is seeking a market segment for Diet Coke.The levels of success that can be attained in such an endeavour are largely affected by the levels of information awareness that the society has and appreciation of health issues. Fashion has developed as one of the most important variables in determining the trends is consumption and this will play an important role in defining the strategies that have to be employed to harness opportuni ties presented by any society. Analysis of the Behaviour Models Behaviour has for a long time been an area of key interest in management sciences.Understanding the behaviour of the market and therefore having a clear definition of the trends that affect their expectation and needs is a position that every organisation seeks in its operations. It is important to note that organisation are in place to address the unmet needs of the society or the market and without a proper understanding of the theories all operations would be in vain (Schiffman, Hansen & Kanuk, 2008 p, 62). In general, the theories developed are not complete and just seek to develop an understanding or in some instances develop a framework for understanding the behaviour of a given market segment.Sociological theories of consumer behaviour are based on experiences that one has in interaction with the environment that he is in (Sandhusen, 2008 p. 11). In fact the behaviours of an individual under this basis is largely affected by the people he interact with and therefore the same effect will be reflected in the perception that he has on ideas, events and even products. The theory is largely reliant on the effect that the society has on an individuals and trends within the society which are definitive of perception that individuals within the said society have of a product or a service.Psychological theories are based on human cognition which is largely affected by experiences, motivation and personal expectation. Under psychological theories of consumer behaviour, the decision to choose a product is largely based on individual perception of the value that the product will add and his perception of value with respect to its costs and needs that he has (Wilson & Gilligan, 2005). Personal theories or model of consumer behaviour are based on the cognitive aspect of individual being which include the lifestyle, occupation, economic circumstance, personality and conception that one has developed of hi mself.These are the major theories that have been developed to try and create an understanding of the factors that affect the behaviour of consumers by affecting the perception that the consumer has of his needs and expectations. Though not conclusive, the theories play an important part in defining the variables that have to be considered in developing an understanding of factors that affect the nature of the market segment. Sociological theories appear to be well suited for marketing of Diet Coke due to its definition as a soft drink that seeks to market itself as a health drink.Soft drinks are consumed as extras and rarely stocked as main meals; in most cases soft drinks are consumed in social meeting and gatherings (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2007 p. 74). Simply, the society is largely involved in use of soft drinks and is therefore influential in the perception that will be developed of a drink. On the other hand, the sociological theory appears to canvas all other theories. Human pe rception is largely affected by people one interacts with and the fashion code that one identifies with is largely affected by the one to one interaction between people or interaction through information system interfaces.In either case, interaction plays an important part in defining the behaviour and perception of individuals and is a critical factor that every theory appreciates (Sandhusen, 2008). Health in the society is taken as an issue of social concern. Consideration of health institutions as social entities is largely informed on social aspects of health. Issues relating to health are generally address at a social level thus the entry of Diet Coke into any segment should be appreciative of this fact by employing a sociological approach to marketing.Under a sociological approach to analysing a market segment issues relating to class, culture, educational attainment, and resource ability are analysed to determine their relevance to the need and expectations of individuals. Fa shion which though considered a personal issue is largely affected by the society should be analysed and its relevance in defining expectation and needs of the society determined. Recommendations a) Primary Research There appear to be a close correlation between awareness on the effects of sugar and health risk.Most health drink manufacturers have harnessed this relationship to develop awareness on issues that affect health to increase their product penetration. However, the role of fashion in developing awareness on health drinks is yet to be harnessed though it has widely been adopted by soft drinks manufacturers. By using the well developed brand name of Coke and the reputation that has been developed by Coca Cola to soar Diet Coke as a soft drink, fashion can be used in developing awareness and appreciation of Diet Coke as a health drink. b) ObjectiveTo determine the efficiency that will be attained in using fashion in marketing Diet Coke as a health drink. c) Research Questions The following questions will aid the attainment of the research objectives: i. Are health drink manufacturers using fashion as a tool to develop awareness on their products? ii. Is the reputation of Coca Cola and Diet Coke capable of sustaining it as a soft drink? d) Methodology The main approach used in the research is questionnaires that are used in collection of data that is analysed with the aid of graphs.A sampling approach is taken in data collection and analysis where twenty marketing experts are randomly selected and administered with questionnaires that seek to address the key research question. The questionnaires which have closed question make it easy to analyse their response and quantify the findings. The results are inferred to the population which is the perception of experts on the position of Diet Coke in the different segments it operates in. e) Results Question Results Yes No Are health drink manufacturers using fashion as a tool to develop awareness on their pro ducts?3 17 Is the reputation of Coca Cola and Diet Coke capable of sustaining it as a soft drink? 14 6 f) Analysis From the primary research it is evident that the reputation Diet Coke has as a soft drink from Coca Cola is enough to soar it above the rather competitive soft drink industry. It is worth noting that Coca Cola is the leading soft drink brand in all areas that it operates in except the Middle East. Furthermore, the research findings show that health drinks are generally not appreciative of the role played by fashion in marketing their products.This presents an opportunity for Diet Coke to strongly establish itself as a health drink while using the reputation that Coca Cola has established in the over 100 years that it has been operational in developing awareness on its being a soft drink. The experience that Coca Cola has had in using fashion as a marketing tool will play an important part in gaining advantage over the rather inexperienced health drink manufacturers in m arketing Diet Coke. Diet Coke has established itself as a health drink and a soft drink thus both segments have to be equally addressed.From research on consumer behaviour, it is evident that the sociological approaches are more relevant to understanding the behaviour of the market segment Diet Coke harnesses. Awareness on trends in health, disease conditions, educational attainment and events which include sports and fashion galas can be used in spreading awareness and appreciation of Diet Coke. Different approaches depending on the values and beliefs that define the community in question; emphasis on research; community participation and awareness on issues that affect societal health would all play an important part in increasing awareness on the presence of Diet Coke.The interaction between individuals is central to development of awareness and Diet coke strategies should ensure that its brand is developed in any area that involves interaction. Celebrities, public forums and spo rts personalities should all be used in ensuring that Diet Coke soars within the waves of a ‘fun drink' that is definitive of Coca Cola product while developing a different approach with regards to its being a health drink.These strategies have been developed in consideration of the need to continually renovate to develop systems that are largely robust and build on past success. Diet Coke has a strong basis as a Coca Cola product and the potential of the market with regards to educational and health awareness is unlimited. This knowledge is important in developing a comprehensive marketing strategy that will help Diet Coke develop as one of the most important name of the greatest success story in corporate history: Coca Cola.

Investment Banking - Exit Strategy or a Living Will Dissertation

Investment Banking - Exit Strategy or a Living Will - Dissertation Example Financial and banking institutions play a fundamental role in determining economic growth and development globally. Given their importance to the public and other arms of the government, financial institutions are strongly regulated and controlled. The central government through its legal bodies establishes sound financial legislations aimed at monitoring, controlling, and regulating financial institutions and the banking sector. Financial experts following the Asian global meltdown of 1997 later criticized the Asian miracle that was embraced for its success in Asian. This financial crisis spilt over to other parts of the world leading to global financial failures. In less than a decade after such financial disaster, the world experience one of the worst financial crises whose magnitude is estimated to that of the great depression of the 1930s. This research paper seeks to discuss the chronological events of the Asian and global financial crisis, bankruptcy legislations, the moral ha zard, insolvency, resolutions, and institutional frameworks designed by the legal team to restore sanity in the global financial sector. In addition, this paper evaluates the exit strategy adopted by the investment financial institutions. ... conomic prospects of creditors in a debt bound firm 18 2.5 Case law and obligations owed to creditors 19 CHAPTER THREE 21 3.0 Corporate laws and economics 22 3.1 Regulatory styles 27 3.2 Moral hazards and great failures 27 CHAPTER FOUR 4.0 The TURNER/ VICKERS PROPOSAL 30 4.1 Policy objectives 30 4.2 Defaults of the report 31 4.3 Legal and economic thoughts 33 4.4 The cost of ring-fencing 34 4.5.0. Defects of ICB report on corporate and retail banking 39 4.5.1. Competition in retail banking 39 4.6.0. Non-ring fenced residuals 40 4.6.1. Banking outside the EEA 40 4.6.2. The concept of separation 42 4.6.3. Cost of investment banking in the UK 43 4.7 The rationale of the dimensions in banking 44 4.8 Alternative approach to banking 45 CHAPTER FIVE 5.0. Analysis and discussions 45 5.1.0. THE LIVING WILL IN INVESTMENT BANKING 46 5.1.1. Concepts and descriptions 46 5.1.2. The Funeral plan of the US 46 5.2 Effects of the living will 48 5.3 The mild and strong variants 49 5.4 The EU framework for crisis management in the financial sector 53 5.5 Economic performance in Europe 54 CHAPTER SIX 6.0 CONCLUSION AND RECCOMENDATION 56 BIBLIOGRAPPHY 58 APPENDIX AND CASE TABLES 69 CHAPTER 1 1.0. Introduction Banking systems are shaped by financial stability arrangements. As the European Union ponders reforms towards its financial arrangements, it is in the course of determining which type of financial system it will have in the future. The financial crisis has brought the long-building tension between progressively more transitional financial institutions and national financial stability arrangements to a breaking point. The European Union now needs to select how to eliminate that tension that will eventually shape its economic and financial future. 1.1. The Crisis The European financial

South And East Asia - Environment And Society Essay

South And East Asia - Environment And Society - Essay Example The people belonging to the Austronesian family who originated from the southern part of China and Taiwan began to move into the islands of South and East Asia around four thousand years ago. The original inhabitants were either displaced or absorbed by the wave of migrations. Nearly all the languages that are being spoken in the insular South and East Asia belong to the Austronesian family group. Cultural variations began to affect the regions as a result of increased influences from the expansion of the South by the Chinese controlled regions leading to the colonization of Vietnam. The Buddhism and Taoism arrived in the region of Vietnam from China resulting in a remarkable cultural influence. The expansion of trade across the Bay of Bengal resulted in increasing Indian influences that were well represented in large populations where the people were deeply involved in rice growing activities that were being supported by irrigation. These were seen in regions such as Vietnam, Cambod ia, Myanmar, and Java. The aspects of local societies were linked up with the various forms of Buddhism and Hinduism to form part of the laws that government leadership and court systems. The variations in the environmental conditions greatly affected the political structures of the region. In cases where the people were mainly nomadic or semi-nomadic, it was a major challenge to be able to come up with a proper means of governance that were to be marked by reliable tax systems as well as stable bureaucratic approaches.

Windows Server Deployment Proposal Rubric Paper Research - 1

Windows Server Deployment Rubric Paper - Research Proposal Example It is imperative to understand that successful deployment often starts with good planning, and it is often never too early to begin planning changes in the IT environment. Therefore, throughout the infrastructure, Windows Server 2012 will be used, the enterprise edition on the other hand will be leveraged on all the other serves, this is because of its capability of having 4 virtual licenses per Operating system. In order to increase reliability as well as the security the Server Core will be on all the servers. All servers as well as operating systems will be installed using image files that will be retrieved from a master computer through the Windows Deployment services (WDS) (Tulloch, 2012). The installation of the operating systems from the Windows Deployment services will help dramatically increase the time taken for installation. All the server roles will be distributed in an equal way and it will help take advantage of fault tolerance, availability, security as well as allocation. The foundation of these placing workstations as well as servers, this will help in the deploying of operating system image files which could be completed in a day wit h one or two with system administrators. In the deployment of the Windows server, a hybrid DHCP infrastructure will be used with different relay agents. This will help save on the expenditure as well as the administrators time. Further, there will be also the maintenance of the main as well as backup DHCP at the office as well as several relay agents at the branch office. This will undoubtedly free traffic from the WAN link that exists between them. In order to further prevent the excessive network traffic at each site, there is a need to implement an automatic allocation of IP addresses. There often exists a solid network layout that often has large subnets which allows each department to grow exponentially (Stanek, 2012). The fault tolerance that will be used for the

Modern Dance Figure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Modern Dance Figure - Essay Example Among those who started such changes was Isadora Duncan who looked towards Greek culture as an inspiration to different movement forms and later danced with bare feet and simple garbs (van Rensburg) to make her feel more freely and control her movements that express the resistance and yielding of one’s self to gravity. Chopin and Liszt were dictated her choreography. Ruth St. Denis, a contemporary of Duncan on the other hand, sought ethnic and Asian dance style and later shared her talent and discoveries in Denishawn, a dance company she established with her husband. She taught and choreographed dance movements which were immortalized by the joint efforts of Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus who continued to work on her style. Another contemporary in the person of Mary Wigman, looked to African and Orient culture where she widely made us of masks (van Rensburg). Towards the middle of the twentieth century, the second wave of modern dancers flourished in New York and were repre sented by Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman who danced with Denishawn and another dancer from the Wigman company. However, unlike their teachers who looked for external inspirations, they turned to basic human movements like walking, running, breathing, sitting among others and transformed them to aesthetic movements expressed in dances. Graham concentrated in the breathing process and improved her movements from there, using them as she indulged in the narrative structure. Humphrey on the other hand used the natural dynamic of human footfall expressing fall and recovery (van Rensburg). Twyla Tharp who came later, combined the styles of the aforementioned early dancers and choreographers with that of the ballet and social dances which is now largely reflected in the ‘modern’ modern dance. P. Diddy, one of the modern dancers nowadays, expresses the combination of the aforementioned dance styles in his dance movements. He is a living legacy of those who ca me before him who valued dance movements to express their thoughts and emotions. Diddy’s dance is under the genre of hip-hop and break dance, which reflects his expressions in his songs. Sometimes, Diddy just seems to be walking, a reflection of the second wave of modern dance perception who incorporated natural human phenomena in their dance steps. Most of Diddy’s steps are simple and basic so that he is criticized as one who cannot really dance or does not know how to dance. His skills in other ventures like business probably affected his patronage in the entertainment industry, coupled by his being linked to modern famous personalities like Jennifer Lopez. His dramatic and controversial lifestyle probably influenced his fame in the industry which is also basically reflected in his music and his dance. This made him a figure who young people could relate with, reflecting the life of a bad boy who freely expresses himself the way he wants to, going beyond the freedom one should have in doing anything he pleases, unmindful of what norms and people suggest. P. Diddy is able to reach out to the adolescents, strengthened by the effects of media and other entertainment figures, to express one’s freedom in whatever means one can have. The simplicity of Diddy’s dance is also an encouragement to those who are not skilled in dancing, or it

Euthanasia Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Euthanasia - Term Paper Example There are a plethora of perspectives which must be considered and this paper will shed light upon the most important perspectives. No religion in the world would vouch for assisted suicides as it is a huge sin to bring your life to an end and it is an even bigger sin to help someone die but in the case of terminally ill people it is a different story. There are several NGOs that have been established to help terminally ill people; Dying with dignity is one such NGO which is located in Canada. The members of the NGO have been trying hard to help terminally ill people, the NGO supports assisted suicide but at the same time they have been trying to ensure that the terminally ill patients die without any pain and they die with dignity. In some countries it is against the law to assist terminally ill patients to commit suicide. Final exit network is another NGO which helps terminally ill patients in assisted suicides. This NGO is known for accepting patients who are suffering from fatal diseases like cancer, heart failure, Parkinson’s disease and so on. Usually it is very difficult for such patients to be adopted by an NGO but Final exit is an exception and it accepts almost everyone. The near and dear ones of the terminally ill die each day, they suffer from physical and emotional trauma isn’t assisted suicide better than dying each day? It may not be the best option but when emotional pain and suffering supersedes everything, one is left with a handful of options.

Hip Hop vs Country & Western Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hip Hop vs Country & Western - Essay Example Out of these modernized creations, hip hop and country and western were born. Hip hop and country and western music, both of which have become increasingly popular in the past few decades, are two very distinct genres. Reaching out to different crowds, each genre contains unique messages and remarkable ways of representing them. Despite their differences, the two distinguishable genres also have their similarities. Hip hop and country and western touch upon various aspects of life, ranging from love to death and everything in between. While both genres can show the negative and heartbreaking characteristics of love, hip hop might take a harsher perspective while country and western tends to take a more uplifting, positive point of view. Some music critics, including the musicians themselves, argue that hip hop shows the reality of life situations and country and western music reveals what people wish would take place instead in those situations (Palmer, 2005). Hip hop might explain w hat went wrong in a failed relationship, yet country and western will explain the good that might come of the relationship ending. This concept is due to the fact that it is believed that those that listen to hip hop are more seasoned to the hardships of life and those that listen to country and western are more optimistic for things to improve in the future (Palmer). Though each genre has their own unique way of expressing these life events, they both focus on sharing similar stories. Whether it involves a hip hop artist growing up in a tough city or a country and western singer being brought up in a rural area, the songs of these artists reveal what life was like having to deal with social or economic situations, growing up in their varying neighborhoods, love and death, and just simply getting through life in one piece. The sole purpose of the music that these musicians put out is to share with others what life was like for them, and how life continues to be. Similarly, the artis ts of both hip hop and country and western vary with the point of view of their songs. In some songs, the singer may be narrating their own stories, putting themselves at the center of a tale that happened to them or else placing themselves in a scenario that happened to someone that they knew. Yet in other songs, the singers are narrating stories that involved other people in their lives, or even putting into song an event that they obtained from the news. A common occurrence in regard to point of view in both of the genres is the narration of fictional events that happened to fictional characters, which serves the purpose of most fiction stories - to teach a life lesson to the listeners or to reveal something about life to the audience. No matter the story that is being told, how it is being told, or the genre that the story is being told in, hip hop and country and western exist to share these compelling stories and make them known to their audience. Another likeness between hip hop and country and western is that the singers usually have damaged personas (Rausch, 2011; Cusic, 2008). A hip hop artist and a country and western star may have come from completely different backgrounds, but they both could have faced identical issues with violent family members or personal drug and alcohol abuse. Oftentimes, these characteristics are why the musicians chose music as their expressive outlet to begin with, which is usually the basis for many of their songs. Since these musicians, regardless of their genre, sing about events that they struggled through in life, connections are going to be found between the two genres. Hip hop and country

Effective Approach to Deal with Unwanted Employee Behavior Term Paper

Effective Approach to Deal with Unwanted Employee Behavior - Term Paper Example According to Javitch (1), the first step involves an intervention; whereby, there is a need to take action in response to the negative behavior portrayed by the employees. In fact, if the problem is not addressed in a timely manner there are high chances of escalation. On the other hand, as a manager, it is wise to understand that an employee may have no idea that their behaviors are causing problems such as a negative reaction from others. In this case, these employees consider the negative reaction to being a form of frustration in their working place. In addition, there is a need to speak up in case there is a problem, and the manager has the responsibility of taking the necessary action to solve the problem. This involves taking responsibility for changing predicament by addressing an issue in the situation when there is no feedback projection. Moreover, this step requires the gathering of information from the employees for the discerning extent of the issue through a personal ev aluation of employee reaction towards different conditions. The next step involves a personal research on the problem, whereby a manager should gather relevant information through an interview in the conference rooms or offices. When information is gathered through a research, a manager can be able to address the issue effectively. At this stage, the manager seeks to understand whether the employees are fully aware of the problems, and through this way, a manager can determine whether the employees are aware of their unwanted behaviors. Moreover, in case the employee is not aware of their unacceptable behaviors, the manager gets the chance to describe the problem caused by the employee behavior to them. However, this step may involve disagreements, interruptions as the employees try to deny the issue; thus, the manager should use good examples to describe the unwanted behavior.

Famous people, such as politicians and film stars Essay

Famous people, such as politicians and film stars - Essay Example Full time follow up of politicians and film stars by the media not only ruins the personal and social life of such famous people, but also speaks bad of the role of media in the society. The fight news of famous Bollywood couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan is one potential example of the disregard of ethics by media as the news could have destroyed their personal life. It was reported by the media that Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan had had exchange of harsh words at the recently held IIFA awards function. Media reported that Abhishek Bachchan was trying to convince Aishwarya Rai not to speak too loud and indecently at the awards, while Aishwarya Rai was not listening to him. Later, Mr. Bachchan asked the security to lock his wife up in a room. Now Aishwarya Rai happens to be the former Miss World (Yousaf). Public expects her to behave decently. However, the news offered a serious blow to her public image, though no body was really sure whether it was Aishwarya Raiâ€⠄¢s loud tone that started all the melodrama at the outset. Media’s portrayal of Mrs. Bachchan as an inconsiderate and disrespectful wife was by no means, rational. What reporters do to film stars is done by the journalists to politicians. This may also be one potential cause of the underrated performance of such politicians and celebrities. Every human being requires freedom, which is subdued by camera.

A View from the Bridge Essay Example for Free

A View from the Bridge Essay Marco is married and has got two children whilst Rodolfo is still single. When, both Catherine and Rodolfo see each other, it is almost like love at first site. Catherine uses flirtatious procedures to convey to the audience that she feels somewhat of him. When she starts using these actions, High heels Eddie does not like this and so sends her back to the room to get changed, Do me a favour, will you? Go ahead. This makes Catherine undergo embarrassment as Rodolfo was at the scene. I would want the audience to observe that both Catherine and Rodolfo have got feelings for each other and that Eddie is in the surroundings being jealous. Due to the relationship between Eddie and Catherine, Beatrices relationship is suffering as he is paying attention more towards Catherine then Beatrice. Another crucial scene/turning point in this play is when both, Rodolfo and Catherine are left unaccompanied in the apartment. Whilst in the room, Catherine questions Rodolfo about his motives, in which he is traumatized and was wondering if Eddie thought that too. This is because Eddie warns Catherine that he is after an American citizenship. She asks him, Would you still want to do it if it turned out we had to go live in Italy His reaction was, No; I will not marry you in Italy. I want to be a citizen. At this instant I would want the audience to become conscious that Rodolfo wants to marry Catherine just to be an American Citizen and that they could change their minds later on. Catherine replies to this and says that she does not want to leave Eddie after what he has done for her (Eddie has treated her as a daughter and paid for her to go to extra classes of her interest after leaving high school. ) She makes it sound that Eddie was an ex-lover or ex-husband of her, You thinks its so easy to turn around and say to a man hes noting to you no more? As a director I would want the audience to realize that Catherine is aware that she needs to grow up as she gets advice from Beatrice saying, Beatrice says to be a woman. At this point Catherine gets aggravated as she makes it sound as if she has to choose between Rodolfo and Eddie, I know him and now Im supposed to turn around and make a stranger out of him. She takes in mind what Beatrice suggested to her about being a woman which leads to her having sex with Rodolfo. This is a turning point to the audience and to Catherine. At this turning point I would want the audience to reconsider their views on Rodolfo about wanting to be an American citizen. No one would sleep with a woman and not have feelings for her. The light rises on Eddie. He enters the flat drunk and sees a glimpse of Catherine adjusting her dress and coming from the bedroom. At this particular moment, Eddie senses what the two have been up to. Rodolfo appears in the bedroom doorway. Eddie sees him and his arm jerks slightly in shock. He does this action as he wants to hit Rodolfo as he knows what they have been up to and that he is jealous and cannot bear it. He can not handle that Catherine is taking responsible of her own life. When a pause appears, as a director I would want to create tension in the audience as the characters are all hiked up. Shortly after the build up of tension, Eddie switches his actions and tells Rodolfo to Pack it up and Get out of here. Eddie gets dominant over Catherine by grabbing her and stopping her from following Rodolfo to her bedroom. She frees her arm, which indicates her rebelling against him and her wanting his approval. Eddie, at his point is jealous following what Rodolfo and Catherine have been up to and knows that he cannot have her. Soon after there is a sudden breakthrough of Eddies feelings as he, reaches out suddenly, draws her to him and as she strives to free himself he kisses her on the mouth. He kisses her to provoke Rodolfo and to see how she and he react. This all leads to violence in which, Rodolfo flies at him in attack. At this point Eddie kisses Rodolfo to show Catherine he is gay and to show her that Rodolfo did not prevent this from happening. The last crucial scene in this play is the last scene where Eddie gets killed. This consequence was created when Eddie did a very unintelligent thing of phoning the immigration bureau to report the two illegal immigrants, Rodolfo and Marco. He then regrets phoning the bureau up and tells them to move as they moved with more illegal immigrants which had a very violent family. This way Rodolfo and Marco would not get caught and would remain safe whereas the other illegal immigrants wouldnt. Soon after they decided, they did not have enough time to move, as the officers came to pick Rodolfo and Marco up. Eddie had begged Beatrice to tell them to move and soon after, she had realized what Eddie had done. She turned against Eddie and used harsh language against him, Hes a rat. At this time I would want my audience to turn against Eddie. This then lead to more violence of Eddie getting killed by Marco as he has suffered from his family being without food and money. I would want my audience to feel more sympathy for Marco rather than Rodolfo. The culture of this play is all in relation to a child who grassed his uncle to the immigration bureau seeing that he was an illegal immigrant. The kid was completely beaten up by his family and no-one wanted to know him after what he did. In an Italian family, the families need to be loyal to each other and if something goes wrong outside the family, the Sicilian community requires the law to be taken in hand and that justice should be done. I would want the audience to relate back to this during the last scene and keep this in mind as this is a sort of thing that Eddie had done but the consequences were much worse. If I was directing A View from the Bridge I would want my audience to see that there is a mixed relationship portrayed in this play. This is because of the actions, dialogue and motives used between the two characters. Throughout the play, I would want the audience to change their views on what they thought of the character of Eddie as he did some good quality things however he also did horrific things. The relationship between Eddie and Catherine would have never been further than an uncle and niece. Two relationships between, Eddie and Beatrice and Catherine and Rodolfo both got disturbed due to the actions undertaken by Eddie which affected the characters. I would want my audience to keep on re-evaluating their views on the relationship between Eddie and Catherine as this would make the play more interesting. Coming to the end of the play, the audience would have found out that Eddie did have feelings for Beatrice as his last words were My lovely B. BY JULAN SHAH Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Cadbury The Worlds Second Largest Confectionery Company Marketing Essay

Cadbury The Worlds Second Largest Confectionery Company Marketing Essay Cadbury, which is the worlds second largest confectionery company, the second largest chewing gum company, the third largest soft drinks company, is also the only company that has a chocolate, candy and gum products, is a leading a large, growing, brand-led industry. It has a great market shares and has many honest consumers, but it has also a numerous of competitors such as Altria Group, Nestle, Hershey, Ferrero, Unilever, and so on. Cadbury Company produces markets and distributes confectionery (chocolate, sugar, sweets, chewing gum, etc.) and beverage products. To the competitors, Philippe Morris that is the worlds largest packaged food companies. Nestle is the worlds largest food manufacturer, and Nestle is famous for producing instant coffee and chocolate bars. Currently has for the local market and culture-rich products, such as Chocolate and candy, bottled water, beverages and dried milk. Hershey is the largest chocolate and candy manufacturer in the North America. Ferrero Gro up is the worlds fourth largest chocolate manufacturer. Unilever Group is the worlds second-largest consumer products maker. Unilever operates the following two major product areas: food and household and personal care products. So, besides Cadbury, Philippe Morris, Nestle, Hershey, Ferrero also produce candy and chocolate and some companies scale is larger than Cadbury. That it is a great threaten to Cadbury and they are the direct competitors to Cadbury as well. And all global candy and chocolate enterprise play a great role in the market battle in contend for markets. Competing features and competitive advantages Enterprises participating in market competition is founded by virtue of capital and its competitive characteristics of the enterprise (Piccolo, 2008). Companies must create a difference between competitors in order to survive in an invincible position in the market of fierce competition (Regan, 2008). However, any one of the characteristics or conditions is not forever. So, we must continue to develop innovative competitive features. In todays society, competition has following major characteristics: First, the expansion of the scope of competition, mainly including: 1) the diversification of the main competition. With the economic globalization, it will further promote the social division of labor, leading to the diversification pattern of competition. 2) The globalization of local competition. Economic integration and trade liberalization has reduced the country or regional limits of globalization towards the direction of promoting competition. 3) Competition content diversity. Modern competition not only stay in the competition for the market and customers, and further extended to technology, information, personnel and even strategic partners such as multi-level competition. Second, changes in competition mode, mainly: 1) the aim of competing has changed from the market share to compete for customer loyalty. With increased competition intensity, market share is difficult to sustain customer loyalty as competition goals; 2) the focus features of competition shifts from competition to process competition, part of the development of competition into the system from the competition; 3) the way of competing changes from competitively price non-price competition. The traditional way of price competition is difficult to adapt to these changes. Information technology reduces customer search and transaction costs, reduced services, economic globalization, national differences in the prices of the effectiveness of price competition; 4) the relationship is becoming cooperating and fights against each other. Only by establishing strategic alliances with competitors to form both the interaction between competition and cooperation, pursue win-win competitive effects, can only better meet customer needs, effective response to the competitive environment, competitive objectives of enterprises. Third the innovation of competition means. 1) Conversion from visible to invisible. With the technology and facilities improving, the competitiveness of enterprises shifts to the use of modern information technology, integration, functional reorganization, driving to improve efficiency of operation with information technology. 2) Competition shifted from a single competition to compound competition. The international logistics market, competition, the unique way of competition means is difficult both to obtain and maintain competitive advantage and meet customer demands for diversity in complex, showing a variety of sales promotion and use, services, price and promotion mix of the compound variety of competition means competition situation;3) Reliance from on the internal strength to both the internal strengths and external resources. But in the face all kinds of trade barriers and market access restrictions, companies simply is difficult to compete effectively with virtue of its own resources, only an integrated use of economic, psychological, political and public relations among other factors, with the government, associations, the media and the public, etc. the formation of internal strengths and external forces work together to beat the market and fierce competition to win. Under the new era of competitive characteristics, Cadbury also has its own competitive features that is powerful combination, and along with Kraft to create a market. Kraft and Cadbury combining has become the worlds largest confectionery company. Through the merger, it reflects the complementary advantages both of them. First, Cadbury could help Kraft make up for disadvantaged in chocolate and chewing gum products; Second, in some Kraft, there has not yet reached the emerging markets, Cadbury has established a relatively strong distribution system. Kraft launched Cadbury now choosing the timing of the acquisition can also be said about right. From the perspective of the development to Cadbury, its current operating conditions very good, but limited by company size, development bottlenecks encountered. So by merging, Cadbury will have a brighter future. A new kind of product and its target market After uniting with KFT, a new kind of product will be exploited, this is walnut candy. First, the main raw material of walnut is nut, which is a nut fruit. It has many effects. For example, Walnut nutritious are rich in protein, fat, minerals and vitamins, fat containing linoleum acid and more nutritional value, as well as vitamins B and E, which could prevent cell aging, enhance memory and release aging. Walnuts also contain special vitamin ingredients, not only did not increase cholesterol, but also reduce the intestinal absorption of cholesterol for atherosclerosis, hypertension and coronary heart disease human consumption. Walnuts contain linolenic acid and calcium, phosphorus, iron, the bodys skin beauty ideal agent, regular consumption of a profit the skin, hair Ukraine, and have prematurely white hair, and loss prevention functions. Walnuts also contain many trace elements needed by the body, which are important proprietary accessories. When you feel tired, chew more walnut, w ith ease fatigue and stress. So, if through a special process, nuts can be made the walnut sugar, that it not only can play the role of health care products, but also a broad market. This is the walnut candy birth. Because walnut candy is a new product to a lot of people, in order to better promote their products, to find greater and more extensive market, determine the target market is particularly important. Target market is the fundamental starting point of regional marketing. Analysis and grasp the regional marketing system, subsystem from its target market began to take marketing or target marketing positioning of thinking. Determining the target market must be looking for both demand in the market and consistent with its resources and advantages of the target market segments. Customers need is to be able to respond to customer requirements, and meet the customers desires and needs, and can see farther than the customers, to find and meet with customers and the request, so the key is to meet the needs of the customer better than competitors; integrated marketing is that the company will have to serve customers in all sectors interests, all sectors must be coordinated departure from the Cus tomer Perspective; earnings capability refers to enterprises depend on more than competitors to better meet customer need to make a profit. The first principle of selecting target market is that the market should demand, if there is no real market demand or potential demand, it can not be selected as the target market. Not for the company to decide what conditions should it do, but according to the social needs of the market to decide what to do. Second important principle of selecting the target market is that: to use their own existing resources, avoid weaknesses, looking for their strengths target market. Many enterprises focuses only on market demand, regardless of their condition diversification, it is very dangerous. Third principle of selecting target market is to pay attention to find the edge of target markets. In general, each company has its own possession of the technology, resources and operating conditions and it play a different role in marketing system. So the enterprise should treat market opportunity as a key factor in the marketing selection. But to the external enterprise, it is difficult to find such chances. Even as fierce competition among peers, so that market opportunities in certain sectors lost or diminished opportunities for efficiency, we can not blindly go outside the industry to find the target market. Therefore, the boundary between the industry and trade office, there will be a vacuum, usually called the edge of market opportunities. Edge of market opportunities on the one hand some companies can still play advantage, on the other hand, because it is covert, difficult to be found in most businesses, easy access to opportunities for efficiency. If companies need to look outside the target market in the industry, major efforts should be made to find market opportunities, and select edge of the target market. The fourth principle is to select the ideal target market, but also consider the different degree of difficulty into retirement. According to industry profit point of view, the most attractive target market should be high barriers to entry low barriers to exit. The fifth principle is to be good at identifying potential target markets and future target markets. Opportunities in the market some demand is evident, while another is hidden behind the existing market demand for some kind of demand, which we call the potential market opportunities, corresponding to, then there is a potential target market. Review of Prices Price objective Price target is the enterprise business goals. Through the pricing system, the enterprise is to make a proper price level to achieve its price objective(Steinberg, 2005). Because companies set their own price before the first target audience, the target group of their income determines their acceptable price. Then companies need to capture the market first, or first create profits as much as possible. If it is to capture the market, it should take penetration pricing, if the first to create profits as much as possible, we should use skimming pricing. It is why should have a price objective. While prices should also consider cost of production, circulation costs, profits and taxes. Walnut candy is one of the main components of walnut, and walnuts are distributed all over the world. Therefore, the production of raw materials is very convenient, relatively low freight costs and raw materials are more abundant. So a medium and reasonable price level should be positioned in Walnut candy. Price competition The so-called price competition points to that an enterprise considers the cost of enterprises and products based on market and enterprises has established a competitive price relative to competitors, thus price advantage attracts consumers, realizing the purpose of profit(Orzen, 2008; Kondo, 2004). It should say that, in the current market, price is still an important factor to affect the consumers to make in consumer choice, so the use of price competition means businesses to seize the market price reduction approach is still very effective. Price competition is an inherent phenomenon of market economy which is dominated by the law of market economy, and only follows the law of competition in commodity prices and other economic laws, economic activities, to achieve greater economic efficiency. Competition makes the consumer sensitive to very price; price competition has a strong effect. At the same time, price competitions can often significantly lowering prices and expanding market in growth companies. Therefore, the outbreak of a price war is to re-divide the market resources to expand production scale and the weak competitiveness of small businesses out. This realization of the effective allocation of resources, market price competition has certain inevitability. Walnut candy is a fresh product for most people, because of its abundant and wide variety of sources of raw materials, so it has a big price advantage. Meanwhile, Cadbury and Kraft as a joint, for the walnut candy sales offers a wide range of channels. Therefore, walnut candy as a new product is very competitive and has a broad space for development. Pricing strategies Pricing strategy is that through the assessment of the demand and cost analysis the business chooses one strategy to attract customers and achieve marketing mix of pricing strategies (Grà ¶ÃƒÅ¸ler, 2008; Farmer, 2002). The low elasticity of demand (elasticity coefficient is less than 1, demand inelastic) of goods, should be taken to high pricing strategy. Sales influenced by the prices of its small, prices low after the sales drop, while the total income increase. Elasticity of demand for high (greater than 1, demand elasticity) of the commodity, low-cost pricing strategy should be adopted. Because prices will rapidly decline sales, resulting in sales revenue. Demand elasticity for a single (equal to 1) of the commodity, the price change will not lead to sales revenue, and should refer to other standard pricing. To Walnut candy should have a low-cost pricing strategy. For the walnut candy sales process, you can use Customer Value Innovation Strategy, which is a corporate strategic thinking. Such strategic thinking is orientated by the clients as a strategic orientation, it is based on the satisfying value to improve customers satisfaction and retain customers as loyal to the changing market environment, achieving sustainable development of enterprises. Meanwhile, to the enterprise, it could improve its core competitive capability to go ahead of the competitors under the Customer Value Innovation Strategy. The dynamic development of core capabilities associates to the changes customer value. If the enhancement of core capabilities can not meet the changed needs of customers, then upgraded the core competencies and is not to generate new competitive advantages. At this point, the development of core competencies should be modified of track and direction. Only when the upgraded the core competence could give customers greater satisfaction, the upgrad e can be as effective to enhance this. Thus, enhancement of core competence direction and goals should be founded under Customer Value Innovation Strategy. Key factors influence the price decisions and strategies The fundamental factors affecting the price are socially necessary labor time value. Value determines the price. In the commodity economy, commodity prices mainly determined by market supply and demand affect prices, but can not decide the price. Price decision, the main factors affecting the price: 1) raw materials, if raw material prices have gone up, prices go up. 2) Supply and demand, short supply of natural prices, sluggish sales will be lower prices; 3) consumer psychology; product design is reasonable, they are quite attractive to consumers, or it could be not. There are major environmental factors, such as the financial crisis, inflation and so on. Financial crisis and inflation will affect the purchasing power of consumers. In determining the price, it should be taken into account various factors.

Should Juvenile Offenders Be Treated Like Adults?

Should Juvenile Offenders Be Treated Like Adults? This paper is intended to inform readers on the history behind the juvenile justice system, the severity of the juvenile offender problem, the pros and cons of trying juveniles as adults, and views on the death penalty concerning juveniles. This paper will also provide professional views as to why juveniles should not be tried as adults. Studies have shown that trying juveniles as adults is not only detrimental to their well being but can cause irreparable damage to them psychologically and physically. Statistics have been provided that state that a juvenile that enters an adult prison will be sexually or physically abused during the first week. For most of the twentieth century, the criminal process of juveniles has been separate from adults and intended to be informal and confidential. However, the reality was that in return for these benefits, juveniles would receive few legal rights and protections. In the 1960s, when constitutional due process rights were revised for adults, the issue of procedural due process for juvenile offenders became more prominent. As the juvenile crime rate has increased, there has been a vocal response to prosecute juveniles accused of serious crimes as adults. With the number of juvenile offenders growing so has the severity of their crimes. Regardless of their age, the public expresses that those guilty of serious crimes should receive a serious punishment. This paper will show that juveniles should not be tried as adults because of lack of maturity, exposure to negative home environments, improper adult supervision, and opportunities to rehabilitate. Evidence will demonstrate that there are multiple philosophies and measures being set into motion to help deter crime involving juveniles, first and foremost, and treatments, methods and psychological personnel put into place to help rehabilitate juveniles from committing offenses. The pros and cons of trying juveniles as adults will also be discussed, showing that the cons outweigh the pros drastically. When creating the outline of our countrys justice system, our founding fathers probably did not think about the consequences of crimes committed by juveniles. At that time, children were considered their parents property. When they committed a crime, their punishment was given at the discretion of their parents. It is realistic to say that our founding fathers would have never considered severe punishments for young people. They believed that children were vulnerable, fragile, innocent and in need of protection and understanding. Juvenile procedures in the United States have become more adult like for all offenders. The justice system has adopted more compelling guidelines for juveniles, such as, mandatory or decisive sentences and more frequent transfers of juvenile offenders to adult courts. The twenty-first century has brought more significant changes in the utilization of the United States Juvenile Justice Policy. Changes that are being referred to as the obvious increase in juvenile offenders being prosecuted and sentenced as if they were adults. From the start of the Juvenile Justice System, an important boundary has been set separating juveniles from criminal court. This boundary comes in the form of a justification that there are important psychological differences between juveniles and adults and these differences are incited by the normal process of mental development, age-relation, and legal relevance. Nevertheless, this boundary is only infringed in serious cases of disregard and when the juveniles age approaches the limit of the juvenile courts jurisdiction. Every state in the United States allows juveniles to be tried as adults in criminal court under certain conditions. There are three general components that are used to achieve these conditions; first, there is the Judicial Waiver, where a juvenile court judge may transfer the case to criminal court based on a variety of conditions, including the seriousness of the offense, the maturity of the juvenile, and the likeliness that the juvenile will be rehabilitated. This foundation exists in most states with minimal differences in respect to the age limit for transfers. In other states, a presumptive waiver process is followed, whereas, it is assumed appropriate to transfer a juvenile to criminal court unless the juvenile can prove that they have the ability to be rehabilitated. The final decision still is up to the judge but the burden of proof is on the juvenile. Second, there is Direct File often referred to as Prosecutorial Discretion. A prosecutor at his discretion can file charges in either juvenile or criminal court. Finally, there is the Statutory Exclusion, sometimes called Legislative Exclusion, Mandatory Transfer, or Automatic Transfer. In jurisdictions where this is recognized, certain categories of juveniles are automatically sent to criminal court. Age of the juvenile and the type of offense is the determination of these categories. Some states do allow what is called a reverse waiver, where a criminal court judge can transfer a case back to juvenile court based on characteristics of the offender and the offense. Similar to the cases of presumptive waiver within the juvenile court, the burden of proof in reverse waiver cases lies with the offender. The juvenile justice system in the United States has taken on a type of adjustment during the last several decades following the claim that juvenile offenders have received the same equal rights as adult offenders. In every jurisdiction of the United States, juvenile justice reforms have unevenly progressed with some jurisdictions being hesitant to change their juvenile codes and legal structures. Private interests have increasingly influenced the juvenile justice system. They are raising interest particularly in the correctional area. While this interest has shown to be helpful, provide constructive criticism, and also provide economical alternatives to public detention of juveniles, their interest has further made an already complicated juvenile justice system worse. Parens patriae has been described by some authors as the bedrock foundation of justifying the juvenile courts (Watkins, 1987). The juvenile justice system has proceeded largely according to the doctrine, parens patriae, as intervention in the lives of children violating certain statutory laws. Several interventions have gradually been done away with when trying to meet the real needs of children and helping toward criminal prosecutions. These include the intervention of due process, greater prosecutorial presence in juvenile court proceedings, and the courts functions that all together make the juvenile courts more criminalized. Cast in the context of parens patriae as the family model of juvenile justice, which is found to have promised more that it can deliver. Watkins (1987) observes that the original child savers failed to foresee the inevitable conflict between the rehabilitative dogmas of parens patriae and the social, political, and economic forces of todays culture that promo te just deserts. Thus, Watkins (1987) notes, juvenile laws and the authority of juvenile courts have not only failed, but have been, in turn, undermined by and then allied with political, social, and economic forces at war with the rehabilitative ideal characteristic of early juvenile jurisprudence. Despite the fact that juvenile court has for the most part been traditionally a civil proceeding, various types of court reforms, sentencing changes, evidentiary standards, and modifications of juvenile rights are moving it into a more criminal format. Proposals are being offered by different professionals to unite the United States Court Systems and combine juvenile and criminal actions into one process. Those that disagree with court unification argue that the juvenile justice system should be held in tact even though they too favor certain reforms. Often these reforms emphasize greater accountability for ones actions, regardless of age. The just deserts philosophy is well known in many juvenile courts. The rehabilitative treatment centered philosophy, that has dominated the criminal justice system for part of the twentieth century, has gradually given way to the justice philosophy. The justice philosophy is associated with harsher punishments and handing down penalties for offenders according to the seriousness of their crimes. While a broader range of rights are being given to juveniles in juvenile courts, repetitive and serious juveniles are being moved to adult courts by the way of transfers and waiver. Measures that are being used today within the juvenile justice system to crack down on juveniles include greater use of detention and the greater use of waivers to criminal courts. Overcrowding in juvenile detention centers should be a consideration even though it is expected and inevitable. The use of probation and parole is considered to be the first and last solution to this problem. Placing limits on population in detention facilities sets precedence in system adjustments and responses that impact in various ways the juvenile justice system as a whole. In all jurisdictions, pre-adjudication detention of juveniles is legally recognized. Those juveniles transferred to criminal courts are in an unpleasant position of being placed in jails, prisons, or detention centers with adults, where the risk of sexual assault is great and the exposure to criminal activity, even in a prison setting, is severe. In several jurisdictions, the changing of laws requires instant transfers of juveniles to adult criminal courts. One example is the Juvenile Offender Law of New York passed in 1978. This law provides instant transfers of juveniles to criminal court, when specific serious offenses are alleged. This law has also been passed in Illinois. Assessments of these instant transfer laws suggest that juveniles are held for longer periods of time while awaiting trial and that the services usually available to them in juvenile courts are nonexistent in adult proceedings. The loss of valuable services and the greater detention time while awaiting trail ca n be detrimental to juveniles and also show that the cost of transferring juveniles to adult courts far outweighs the potential financial and social benefits. Critics state that juvenile courts express that many current administrative expectations and operations are almost non-existent from those in adult criminal courts. Also, procedural screenings available in juvenile courts are less than satisfactory than those given to alleged adult offenders in criminal courts. Unquestionably, juveniles are considered to have the worst of both worlds. In most United States jurisdictions, there are currently many dispositional options available to juvenile judges. Several of these options include unofficial probation, referral to specific community agencies, warnings or case dismissals, waivers, detention hearings, and conditional punishments, such as community service and restitution. In Columbia County, Georgia, peer juries exist as an essential element of diversion programs, the program is design to hear charges against youths and adjudicate them according to the evidence presented. The peer juries consist of five jurors under the age of seventeen, who are trained by juvenile court staff. Jury selections are made available through a list of these eligible youths. These peer juries have been proven to be capable of giving appropriate punishments in both non-serious and serious cases. In past decades, a gradual disapproval with the criminal justice system has occurred. Citizens have received a strong degree of distrust with law enforcement, the courts, and corrections, and their abilities to process, punish, and manage offenders. The United States Supreme Court has required law enforcement officers to adhere to firmer standards in effectively making arrests of suspected criminals, as well as, in their procedures pertaining to seizing necessary evidence against these suspects. Ninety percent of all criminal convictions are obtained through plea bargains instead of going to trial and the use of probation as a sentence alternative is as high as seventy percent in several jurisdictions, also most offenders who are incarcerated serve only a portion of their sentences and are conditionally released on parole to relieve overcrowding. The public has voiced a concern of how lax our criminal justice system has become towards offenders, and also how ubiquitous the entire sys tem is. One reaction to this laxity has been the arrival of the get tough movement, brought about by modifications made to sentences imposed on adults convicted of serious crimes. These sentences may include longer prison terms, heavier fines and other monetary penalties. There has been a noticeable spillover of this movement into the juvenile justice system. Despite trends and estimates of juvenile offense patterns and inconsistencies and inconclusive statistics, juvenile court reform has been exasperated and continued into the 1990s. It also shows few signs of decreasing. Although the get tough policy toward juveniles is supported by most jurisdictions, greater detention times and incarceration of youths has not proven to be a remedy for rehabilitating them or reducing their regression. Because of inconsistencies in study findings and familiar outcomes of detention programs, such as, therapeutic juvenile interventions, many states are currently reexamining their detention policies for minors and reducing their reliance on detention as a form of punishment. Among the critical factors that have contributed to these inconsistencies and distinctive juvenile offense trends, there has been a disappointment with conventional juvenile treatments such as diversion, probation, short-term detention and parole, an apparent psychological collateral of juvenile violence that rests beyond the boundaries of conventional treatment methods, and a assortment of descriptive and reporting methods and the changing of laws within jurisdictions as consistent means of documenting deviating juveniles. Compared to adult courts, juvenile courts are somewhat limited to the types of sanctions they may impose for even the most violent juvenile offenders. Criminal courts in a majority of jurisdictions may impose the death penalty on adult offenders convicted of capital crimes. No United States Juvenile Court has this type of jurisdiction and sanctioning option available. Even detention sanctions that may be applied by juvenile judges have certain structural limitations. Once juveniles reach a certain age, eighteen in some states and twenty-one in others, they are no longer within the parameters of juvenile courts and in most instances leave the juvenile system. They also now have clean records as adults. Their juvenile records are not necessarily dismissed, but for all pragmatic purposes they begin their adult life with no criminal record. When decisions made by juvenile judges are examined, to determine the nature and types of punishments reviewed when juvenile offenders are adjudicated as a delinquent, these decisions often show a pattern of leniency. These leniencies may come from reluctance to contribute to labeling juvenile offenders as delinquent. However, it is often traced to additional factors such as prison overcrowding, excessive probation officer caseloads, the lack of adequate juvenile monitoring programs and methods to keep track of increasing numbers of youthful offenders. It also may be a simple matter of not being able to afford the imposition of costly punishments whenever they are demanded. The difficulty of these situations puts judges in a complicated position and they are left to have to deal with juveniles leniently, even the violent ones. Many of the same views are shared and raised concerning when juveniles are sent into adult courts and the differences about distinguishing their ages and that it may leave them inadequate to defend themselves in those courts. Current discussions about transfer policies are commonly not about the offenders attributes but about the gravity of the act and the juveniles harmfulness. These factors are based on the age or maturity of the offender. As the juvenile justice policy, which mainly focused on offenders has recently shifted to an offense based focus. Several issues have arisen as part of the transfer argument. These include moral, legal, political, and practical issues. It should also be stated and not forgotten that the fact that some crimes are committed by individuals are not developmentally mature. There should be a boundary between adults and adolescents when it comes to punishment. From a developmental psychology perspective, a fair punishment for an adult may not be fair when given to a juvenile who does not understand the consequences of their actions, severity of their crime or who was unable to gain control over their behavior. The ways that people interpret and apply laws should lawfully differ when the case involves a defendant who has limited understanding of the law because of intellectual immaturity or who has impaired judgment because of emotional immaturity. When the offender is of a young age, the presumptions and outcomes of administering a harsh punishment vary differently when the juvenile is an adult. Opinions of people may differ, but age should be considered in decisions concerning transfer, adjudication, and sentencing. This is to say that if one is willing to acknowledge that the age of the offender does matter, an un-biased developmental perspective is needed to make informed decisions about age should be taken into account (Steinberg, 2000). More emphasis should be placed on the age a juvenile should be before transferring to adult court. Juveniles younger than thirteen should remain in juvenile court regardless of the crime. It is a belief that regardless of the nature of their offense, individuals under the age of thirteen should be viewed as juveniles due to mental capacity and maturity. Also, it is appropriate to conclude that the majority of juveniles older than sixteen are not that much different from adults in ways that would prohibit fair adjudication within the criminal justice system. The difference among juveniles between the ages of thirteen and sixteen requires that some sort of individualized assessment be completed of the offender to determine competence to stand trial, blameworthiness, and admittance to treatment be made before reaching a transfer decision. If the justice system does not consider age as a factor, then boundaries are drawn. Research completed on juvenile developments strongly stands agains t transfer policies that are based on the offense rather than the offender and argues that policies based on the offender allows the justice system to exercise judgment about a juvenile offenders maturity level and eligibility for transfer. It is considered a bad policy legislatively from a developmental perspective to transfer cases based solely on the offense. Unfortunately, this undesirable policy is becoming increasingly common. The contradiction of utilizing a developmental perspective in the analysis of transfer policies is that the exercise makes known the characteristic inadequacies of the policies that draw obvious distinctions between adolescence and adulthood. An analysis of the developmental literature definitely shows that a difference among adolescents of a given chronological age is the rule rather than the exception. Steinberg (2000) calls for a fair transfer policy to accommodate such variability as recommendations from developmental perspectives. One way to do this is to make sure that judges, juries, and law personnel have solid and complete background information about a juvenile and their adolescent development and the flexibility of utilizing this information when making decisions about a juveniles fate that may have lifelong consequences. As for the flexibility, one can only rely on the wisdom of policymakers. Sitting next to a juvenile on trial in an adult courtroom provides numerous reminders that, regardless of what that juvenile has been involved in, they are still a child. Defendants are supposed to elect whether they want a jury or a judge trial, a serious decision that requires weighing many factors (Nakaya, 2005). Even though, defendants are generally required to assist with their defense and advised their attorneys in different aspects of their cases, a juvenile will probably decide on a jury member because of their dress color or because they may look like someone they know. The juvenile justice system is supposed to concentrate on reforming youth offenders not letting them rot behind bars (Nakaya, 2005). Rehabilitation is the key when it comes to juveniles. They do not have the maturity level, knowledge or self-control that we would see in an adult offender. It can be said that juveniles do not understand the consequences of their actions. When juveniles are sent to adult court, the background of why they may have committed these dramatic or dangerous acts needs to be evaluated to understand why they committed their crime. Often there are extenuating circumstances from a juveniles past that has contributed to the why. Juveniles are not adults by any means and trying them in a court of law does not make them one. When juveniles are tried in adult criminal court, it does not give them the privileges of voting or drinking. They are still minors. They are developmentally less mature and responsible, more impulsive, erratic and vulnerable to negative peer pressure. As human beings, they are still active works in progress. Across the country, the responses of lawmakers, in regards to the rise in violent juvenile crimes, have been to create stricter laws. Many states have passed laws making it easier to try and convict a juvenile as an adult and have also toughen penalties for juveniles with guns. Some states have also developed training prisons for young offenders and a new federal crime bill tries to deter juvenile crime by making it a federal crime for anyone under age eighteen to purchase, possess, or use a gun. Supporters of these laws voice that the punishment fit the crime, even if the crime is committed by a juvenile. On June 16th, 1944, South Carolina executed George Stinney. He was fourteen years old, the youngest person ever executed in the United States. Stinney, who was black, was convicted of murdering two white girls, Betty Binnicker, and Mary Emma Thames, with a railroad spike. His trial lasted only three hours, and the all white jury deliberated for only ten minutes before sentencing him to death by electric chair. At Stinneys execution, the prison guards had a difficult time strapping him into the chair. During the electrocution process, the electric jolt shook the mask off his head. Is this really the way juveniles should be treated. The death penalty is not an option when trying juveniles for serious crimes. It is not only immoral but also inhuman. When it comes to death penalty issues, scientists views are that a juveniles brain changes dramatically and this may be accountable for hasty and often irrational behavior of some juveniles demonstrating that adolescents are less liable than adults. This is strongly countered by victim advocacy groups claiming that it is just an effort by the community that opposes the death penalty to use science in debating their positions. Most juveniles who commit murder realize that their actions were fallacious because they often try to hide or destroy evidence in order to avoid getting caught. Additionally, most family members of murder victims do not think a persons age, at the time of the crime, should result in a lighter sentence. Focusing on the heinousness of the crime, many people have no regards to how old the offender is. Problems that occur within the family setting of juveniles that have an impact of crimes they commit include: divorce or separation, working single parents, single parent families, lack of adult supervision, parental rejection of the juvenile, juvenile rejection of the parent, and the different views between parents and teens increases the risk that the teen may try to distance themselves from the parents in order to establish their own self. Other problems that may occur and cause juveniles to become delinquent are: children spending more time with their friends than family, gangs or peer acceptance, drugs and weapons use have increased among juveniles as a way to solve their problems, illicit and explicit sexuality and violence in the media, and also the impact the media has influenced with the introduction of computers and violent video games. Who should be held liable for the negligent behavior a juvenile commits, the parents or society? It is believed that parents, who knowingly or recklessly allow their children to commit crimes of violent natures, should be held legally liable. Today without special educational programs in child development and parenting groups many of our future parents will contribute to juvenile delinquency by merely not knowing how to be parents. In order to take a stand on the subject, the pros and cons of the argument on whether juveniles should be punished the same way as adults are judicious and worth reviewing. Developmental research should be heard and considered even though policies on juvenile justice have become tougher against juvenile offenders. On the other hand, people pushing for tougher punishments on juveniles have already succeeded for the most part with most states in the United States adopting a more disciplinary response to juvenile offenders and their offenses. Studies have shown that harsher penalties and punishments for juveniles do not necessarily result in lower crime rates when the juveniles complete their sentences and are released back into the world. Trying juveniles as adults may be doing more harm than good. This research paper, on one hand, appreciates the progressive responses of the juvenile law on offenders despite the get tough policy that gathers resistance and argument. While many have argue that it is right for a juvenile to be punished as an adult, this author disagrees that the United States laws on juvenile justice has not provided an equal response to the growing concern of juvenile offenders. It is unconstitutional to include juveniles as adults in adult courts because children lack cognizance of the crimes in which they have committed. The population should be considerate and offender-focused at certain times about this juvenile justice argument. The author also found reasonable argument of recommending a uniform juvenile justice policy by specifying age limits for juvenile transfers. This is for the reason that there is an apparent unspecified offenders age homogeneous to all jurisdictions on this matter. Through specification of a juveniles age, the boundary that was once posted between juveniles and adults will be somehow redefined. In this way, we are taking stances from both sides of the argument with an aim of suggesting a better solution to this critical contemporary issue of juvenile offending.

Essay example --

Thailand Introduction A. Thailand is located in Southeast Asia in the Indochina peninsula. The country makes up around 198,117 square miles and is bordered by Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Some well-known rivers that flow through Thailand are the Chao Phraya River and the Mekong River. The estimated population is approximately 67,448,120 with 75% being Thai, 14% being Chinese, and 11% categorized under â€Å"other†. Thailand is governed under a constitutional monarchy headed by King Rama IX. It joined the United Nations in 1946 after World War II. Thailand’s population has risen 6.2 % since 2010 and is undergoing mild population growth. Demographic Data (a.) Thailand’s birth rate has been steadily decreasing through the years. In 2000 the birth rate stood at 16.86 (births per 1000 population). Today however the birth rate sits at 12.66. (b.) The death rate in Thailand is at 7.47 (deaths per 1000 population). This means since the death rate is lower than the birth rate there are on average twice as more births than deaths in Thailand. (c.) The fertility rate has also been declini...

Comparing Flatland and Little House on the Prairie Essay -- Comparison

Flatland and Little House on the Prairie Simplicity clashes with stress. Living with the bare necessities, the working class families keep themselves happy. The husband works while the wife cooks the meals and takes care of the children. No desire for excessive amounts of m oney exists, just a desire for a strong bond within the family. Upper-class families or families striving for success invite stress into their lives. Too much stress from greedy desires of power creates tension in homes. The higher people c limb up society's ladder, the more likely their families are to fall apart. Flatland, by Edwin Abbott, presents the two dimensional world as a society with mostly working class families. A. Square, the narrator, enlightene d by a three dimensional experience longs to tell of the new knowledge revealed to him. Having no desire to learn of this foreign land called "Spaceland," the citizens of Flatland have A Square locked up. From past experiences, peo ple in Flatland know that new ideas cause turmoil amongs t themselves. Focusing on having the basics for survival and a strong love within the family produces a peaceful and less stressful environment. The lngles family from Little House on the Prairie, a popular television series, demonstrates the working class. Mr. Ingles works while Mrs. Ingles takes care of the household duties. The family displays a genuin e happiness. They have no modern utilities, but they have each other. They have a strong love within their family, and worldly materials serve little importance to them. A typical family today displays tremendous difference s compared to the Ingles family. Jealously and competitiveness play a major part in showing these varia... ...understandable why the people of Flatland do not have an interest in knowing about Spaceland. They want to keep their lives as they have them. Why did society not reject change? This possibly cannot be answered. Flatland citizens intelligently chose the right turn. Growth in knowledge no doubt brings great new opportunities, but the consequences are not worth it. Who knew that by trying to improve a family's status in society would lead to the destruction of a household? Greed starts off ugly and only gets uglier. The problem with society succeeding belongs to the fact that society does not know when to stop. There are some families that have kept love as the center of their household. These families provide a hope that this "cycle" of selfish, self-gaining, individuals will eventually return to the days of Little House on the Prairie.

Free Grendel Essays: Social Commentary :: Grendel Essays

Authors often have to choose between concentrating on either plot or social commentary when writing their novels; in John Gardener's Grendel, the plot becomes is a secondary consideration. Grendel's exploits provide the reader with a clear understanding of the strong opinions the author carries and can be seen clearly as a narrative supporting nihilism in its many forms. The reader easily perceives the blatant religious subtext in the guise of corrupt priests and the foolish faithful. The notion of the old being wise is unacceptable to Gardener along with any notion of hero idolization. Within his novel, Gardner expresses his views concerning religion, wisdom and nature. Religion plays a large role in Grendel. Priests do not want to perform their services without the proper payment, which, in turn, allows the rich the most access to 'religion' and God. The citizens of the village are also confusingly polytheistic and monotheistic. When praying to their king god does not decrease the frequency of Grendel's visits, they retreat to begging any god of which they have known for help. This reveals their faith to be not faith at all but rather faith that will remain faith as long as it can be proven. A proven religious faith is contradictory term, for it can only be placed in a religion that cannot be proven lest it is true faith no longer. Grendel's interludes with the dragon portray, at their onsets, the dragon as a worldly, wise creature with much to share. The dragon haughtily informs Grendel about his vast store of knowledge as he teases him with how much he knows. As Grendel's interests are piqued, the dragon expends the cumulative result of his travails: "Know how much you've got, and beware of strangers†¦My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it" (Gardner page #). Although the dragon serves as a vessel to point out the necessity of Grendel and makes some pointed observations about mankind, all his respectability is lost with those two short sentences. The author is making an observation about materialism and the falsehood of wisdom always accompanying age. After all his years of intense scrutiny, the dragon can only grasp from human- and animalkind alike that possessions are the key to life's existence. Nature against society is also discussed in Grendel. The fact that citizens surrounded with religion and social status could be so easily overtaken by nature (Grendel) gives a sense of irony to the reader.

Hills Like White Elephants

Everyday people make decisions that affect their future lives. Do people make the right decisions? What makes a decision a right one? What may be right to some, may be wrong to others. There are no right or wrong decisions but those that people choose and believe to be right varying from each individual. In Hemingway's realistic story, Hills Like White Elephants, Jig attempts to make a crucial change in her life by making the right decision, but is unable to because of her weak characteristic flaws. Hills Like White Elephants†, by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story published in 1927, which is set at a train station in Spain. In this story the reader eavesdrops on a conversation held by â€Å"the American and the girl with him†. Most of the story is predominately dialogue between the two characters. During this conversation, the reader may determine that the couple is at a critical point in their lives when they must make a life-or-death decision on whether the woman should have an abortion. Jig is indecisive about her decision. Even though she realizes the possibilities, she has difficulties letting go of old habits, has a low self-esteem that leads to her being submissive, and puts up a frail fight by hiding her feelings behind her sarcastic comments. Jig faces an immense decision that will change her future. She must choose between the old and the new lifestyle. It is hard for her to let go of old habits that consists of taking no responsibility and the sole intention of seeking pleasure. She must go from a young worry free rebel to a stable adult taking responsibility. It's a hard process since there are three steps to changing: realization, doing the deed, and committing to the change. She definitely realizes she needs to change, but only goes that far. The climax of the story appears when Jig is agitated by their irritating conversation and their romantic relationship. She begins to question about their uncertain future and his true feelings for her. She seems persuaded by the American when she comments on her willingness to do the operation despite her wants and needs because â€Å"she doesn’t care† about herself. At the same time, Jig begins to realize that life may not turn out the way she had planned. She likes to try new things, like the drink, but is often disappointed in the end. She indicates that it is too late for him to make things better. The American believes that Jig is being reasonable for not wanting to having the â€Å"simple† operation done so they can â€Å"be all right and be happyâ€Å" again. He informs her that he has â€Å"known lots of people that have done it† in order to convince her to have the â€Å"awfully simple† operation. He says that the pregnancy is â€Å"the only thing that bothers us. It's the only thing that's made us unhappy. † He sees the whole issue as â€Å"simple† because he does not understand the real problem that is causing the misery. When he finally leaves Jig to get their bags for the train, he observes that the other people are â€Å"waiting reasonably for their train† because in his mind, Jig is the one to blame their troubles because she is â€Å"unreasonably waiting† for a future that he cannot imagine having with her. Ironically, he is unreasonable one because he is the one causing the problems by wanting the abortion. Jig realizes that their withering relationship is not the result of her pregnancy but the result of their failure to understand each other. She realizes that they are incompatible as a couple to have a family together. Even if she does have the abortion, she can no longer stay with him because he can never give her what she longs for. Hemingway leaves the reader wondering about their final destination. He chooses the setting in the valley of the Ebro to symbolize the couple’s situation and options in life. They are on the sunless and barren side of the mountain where they can only see hills that looks like white elephants. At the end of the story, the American remarks â€Å"I'd better take the bags over to the other side of the station,† the side where there is growth and life. The train is representative of two different directions if life, however is unclear whether this signifies that the man has changed his mind about the abortion, or that Jig has decided to go through with the operation and leave him so they have to live separate lives. Jig has desires to change and to live a different life because she is aware of it. She is ready and willing to experience a different life while her lover is not. If so many women were to take that to heart. You should not have to chose someone else’s happiness over your own. We set our paths and no one should think that they have te right to make your own life decisions. If we make a mistake it is our mistake. Life is to precious to waste. Hills Like White Elephants Everyday people make decisions that affect their future lives. Do people make the right decisions? What makes a decision a right one? What may be right to some, may be wrong to others. There are no right or wrong decisions but those that people choose and believe to be right varying from each individual. In Hemingway's realistic story, Hills Like White Elephants, Jig attempts to make a crucial change in her life by making the right decision, but is unable to because of her weak characteristic flaws. Hills Like White Elephants†, by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story published in 1927, which is set at a train station in Spain. In this story the reader eavesdrops on a conversation held by â€Å"the American and the girl with him†. Most of the story is predominately dialogue between the two characters. During this conversation, the reader may determine that the couple is at a critical point in their lives when they must make a life-or-death decision on whether the woman should have an abortion. Jig is indecisive about her decision. Even though she realizes the possibilities, she has difficulties letting go of old habits, has a low self-esteem that leads to her being submissive, and puts up a frail fight by hiding her feelings behind her sarcastic comments. Jig faces an immense decision that will change her future. She must choose between the old and the new lifestyle. It is hard for her to let go of old habits that consists of taking no responsibility and the sole intention of seeking pleasure. She must go from a young worry free rebel to a stable adult taking responsibility. It's a hard process since there are three steps to changing: realization, doing the deed, and committing to the change. She definitely realizes she needs to change, but only goes that far. The climax of the story appears when Jig is agitated by their irritating conversation and their romantic relationship. She begins to question about their uncertain future and his true feelings for her. She seems persuaded by the American when she comments on her willingness to do the operation despite her wants and needs because â€Å"she doesn’t care† about herself. At the same time, Jig begins to realize that life may not turn out the way she had planned. She likes to try new things, like the drink, but is often disappointed in the end. She indicates that it is too late for him to make things better. The American believes that Jig is being reasonable for not wanting to having the â€Å"simple† operation done so they can â€Å"be all right and be happyâ€Å" again. He informs her that he has â€Å"known lots of people that have done it† in order to convince her to have the â€Å"awfully simple† operation. He says that the pregnancy is â€Å"the only thing that bothers us. It's the only thing that's made us unhappy. † He sees the whole issue as â€Å"simple† because he does not understand the real problem that is causing the misery. When he finally leaves Jig to get their bags for the train, he observes that the other people are â€Å"waiting reasonably for their train† because in his mind, Jig is the one to blame their troubles because she is â€Å"unreasonably waiting† for a future that he cannot imagine having with her. Ironically, he is unreasonable one because he is the one causing the problems by wanting the abortion. Jig realizes that their withering relationship is not the result of her pregnancy but the result of their failure to understand each other. She realizes that they are incompatible as a couple to have a family together. Even if she does have the abortion, she can no longer stay with him because he can never give her what she longs for. Hemingway leaves the reader wondering about their final destination. He chooses the setting in the valley of the Ebro to symbolize the couple’s situation and options in life. They are on the sunless and barren side of the mountain where they can only see hills that looks like white elephants. At the end of the story, the American remarks â€Å"I'd better take the bags over to the other side of the station,† the side where there is growth and life. The train is representative of two different directions if life, however is unclear whether this signifies that the man has changed his mind about the abortion, or that Jig has decided to go through with the operation and leave him so they have to live separate lives. Jig has desires to change and to live a different life because she is aware of it. She is ready and willing to experience a different life while her lover is not. If so many women were to take that to heart. You should not have to chose someone else’s happiness over your own. We set our paths and no one should think that they have te right to make your own life decisions. If we make a mistake it is our mistake. Life is to precious to waste.