Fake Analysis of Bridge to Terabithia Essay Example for Free

Fake Analysis of Bridge to Terabithia Essay In â€Å"Bridge To Terabithia,† written by Katherine Paterson, great friendships blossom from impertinent first impressions. Great friendship such as Leslie’s brings new experiences. Great friendships may come from unpromising first encounters and lead to new experiences. Leslie’s friendship came with the promise of a new beginning; reword this sentence Leslie opens a new world up to Jess full of creativity and imagination which â€Å"Leslie name[s] their secret land â€Å"’Terabithia†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢(50). Don’t end with a quote! Jess and Leslie create this secret world to escape the harsh reality of adolescence. The reason Jess and Leslie create this secret world is it allows them to escape the harsh reality of adolescence. Jess and Leslie agree to create a whole new imaginary country, eliminate that that â€Å"’We need a place’†¦ ‘It might be a whole secret country’†¦ ‘and you and I would be the rulers of it. ’†(50). Reword theres something off about this; Because Jess craves the attention of his hardworking father he in particular needs the escape that Terabithia provides. Jess in particular needs the escape since he craves the attention of his hardworking father â€Å"maybe’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢he’d forget all about how tired he was from the long drive back and forth to Washington and the digging and hauling all day†(5). Make the quote relevant to him what is this quote supposed to say? Don’t end with a quote! Great friendships may come from unpromising first encounters and lead to new experiences. Change around, It is an idea that relates to life today since everyone has a friend and everyone must be open to new experiences they bring in a friendship. For example, you can never judge a book by its cover or by when you meet someone for the first time. Doesn’t make sense Another illustration is, to take the new experiences a new friendship has to offer and enjoying them. The human condition affects us still today because people take having a friend for granted until they are gone. What I have learned for reading â€Å"Bridge To Terabithia† is take out that that to open myself up to new friendships and take out new new experiences. I learned to enjoy the memories mad with the friends I have because at any given moment something could happen. Also, to enjoy the moments I have with my friends because you never know when something could happen at a moments notice. My viewpoint has been deeply enriched by this book because of then realistic human condition.

The Motivation And Rewards Management Essay

The Motivation And Rewards Management Essay Motivation and rewards has been chosen as our topic for this assignment. Motivation and rewards is very important for any organization or even any industry. Motivation is a behavior that cannot be created but can be influence while rewards are something that the employees gained from doing a good job in their work (Thomas, 2009). AirAsia was the company that chosen for this assignment. AirAsia do implement the motivation and rewards in their company successfully. AirAsia is a low-cost airline business which had become more and more popular around the world. AirAsia was established on year 1993 and started its business in year 1996 (McNamara Troftgruben, n.d). Government owned corporation is the found of this company. AirAsia is the largest company that introducing pioneer of low-cost travel and largest low-fare and in Asia and they have their slogan which known as Now Everyone Can Fly. AirAsia is a successful example for other airline companies. It has been transformed as an unthinkable concept to be successful in airline industry. This success can be proved from a money-losing task to profitable. Although AirAsia introducing no-frills service to their customer and using second hand aircraft, but it would still be a threat for other Asia airline companies (Michael Swathe, 2011). AirAsia have a very good performance in consumer mind by offering low fares, majority on-time record for flights and maintaining staff with high productivity and work ethic. Based on the information in Indonesia Straits Times, it is stated that in August 2011, Malaysian Airline form an alliance with Air Asia but the agreement of both airlines were voided because the alliance was struck down by the Malaysian government. (Leslie Lopez, 2011) AirAsia now is a successful airline company which expand from 2 planes to 80 planes and from 200 000 passengers to over 75 million passengers in 7 years time. It is a visible success that we can see year by year. (McNamara, 2012) Content Motivation In management, motivation defined as a power to force someone to work in certain way so that it able to reach certain desired goal. As what people always said, motivated people always work harder as compare with those unmotivated people. According to Lavinsky (2012), a company should make the employees feel doing something meaningful. As a result of a survey done by BNET show that majority agrees doing something meaningful were the most motivating things about work. According to Lavinsky (2012), motivation is internal and external factors that inspire employee interest, in which they need to, listen, focus and understand employee needs and wants through an effective communication. A company manager should change the question from Whom to How. An example given by Lavinsky (2012), say How we can improved this process? rather than, Who screwed up this up? This action might able to motivate the employees so that they will be more careful for their work so that wont disappoint their company. To have motivated workers, a manager must treat workers as individual, empower employees, redesigning jobs, and provide a comfortable and flexible workplace. Below are the meaning of the effective management practices (Griffin, 2006) :- Effective management practices Description Empowering employees Empowering employees means that giving the individual in an organization authority, autonomy, trust and encouragement to complete their tasks. Redesigning jobs Redesigning jobs is one of the best motivations in the workplace. Usually individuals go to work every day doing the same routine. This makes the workers become less motivated. Something actually can be done by the managers to improve the condition before the employees become de-motivated and bored. The way that manager can use is job redesign. Concern and knowledge are required for managers and have them bring it with them to the organization and then apply motivational theories into their work to improve the productivity and satisfaction of the employees. Creating flexibility World nowadays is all about flexibility. People nowadays have too much things to take care of but they do not have enough time to do it. Employees value more about personal time. Due to the family needs, a traditional nine-to-five working hours every day except Sunday may not work for many people. Therefore, flexibility which let employees to control and set their own working hours is the best. In AirAsia point of view, they believe that their entire staff act as contributor for the company, therefore, they always been treated as a big family and equally. This is an example of empowering employees. The company will have constantly talked with their employee in order to understand their needs and wants. They will organized a monthly staff forum and create some fun programs to help them release their working stress. In the event, they also give employees an opportunity to speak out their point of view towards their working place (McNamara, 2012). According to Zhu (2010), even though the salaries gave to employees were low, but all employees were giving broad range of incentives. Such as, share offers stock options, productivity and performance-based bonus. Those motivations may give employees sense of ownership and it able to improve in effective and focused workforce. Despite that, Airasia employees are able to perform in multiple roles in flat organizational structure because the airline has implemented a flexible work rules (Zhu, 2010). This can be an example of creating flexibility. Flight attendants also can be work at check-in counter. They can change to different department after they work for one month. By doing this, the employees wont be bored to working in the same area. Flexibility will motivate the employees to work harder because they are happy with all the flexible rules given and thus, they can gain more experiences in that industry. Even though AirAsia always try to minimize their expenses cost, but they are very determined on employee work ethic. Therefore, AirAsia always provided their employees the best training and ensure that they are happy in their working place. (Foo, 2012) This can be called as redesigning jobs. As a result, AirAsia gets to establish a numbers of quality and excellence employees because the employees are sa tisfied with their jobs that are always fresh to them. Reward A reward is a scheme to support desirable behavior. Rewards can be in terms of financial and non-financial. Example of financial reward is bonus pay and example of non-financial reward is degree of achievement, opportunity to growth or even praise from the top management or manager for doing a good job. Reward is different from motivation. Reward is something that the worker or employees gain from putting effort in their jobs while motivation is something that they need to have in order to put more effort in their jobs. Intrinsic and extrinsic are the two types of rewards that can motivate employees. (Mcrill, n.d ). Types of rewards Description Intrinsic rewards Intrinsic rewards are self-administrated. An intrinsic reward refers to the motivation that comes from inside of an individual rather than from any outside rewards such as bonus, gifts and so on. It is an outcome that gives an individual personal satisfaction such as an experience after completing a job, professional growth and sense of pleasure. The individual will feel good because he or she have the feeling of learning and achieving something which can be also called as personal development. Besides that, the individual will also have the feeling of competency and self-control over her work. The motivational stimulus in intrinsic do not depends on the actions of other people. People always trust that the most powerful rewards come from a persons inside. Extrinsic rewards Extrinsic rewards are externally administrated. Extrinsic rewards are usually can be seen like financial in nature. For example, an increase in wages, special assignments or incentives for reaching some quota. In addition, extrinsic rewards can be also as simple as getting a verbal compliments, public recognition, and awards for achieving something, promotions and some other extra responsibility. The motivational stimulus in extrinsic depends on the actions of other people which is also opposite from the intrinsic rewards because it originates outside the individual. All those rewards are very important for most of the workers therefore the rewards can be motivating. They will feel they are valued or been appreciated. In every management, intrinsic reward is a must to be given to the employees. While in AirAsia, they have a very good relationship with their employees. Employees reward given by AirAsia is very worthy. Every year, some of the employees will be chosen to get free flights to different destinations if they do well in their jobs. They also provided up to 90% of discount for their employees on concession travel. This encourages employees to put more effort on their responsibility in order to get the rewards. Besides that, AirAsia awarding bonuses based upon each employees contribution to the company productivity, and expects to increase loyalty through its ESOS (Employee share awarding scheme) which will be available to all employees and it also may help employee to improve their performance. The groups management encourages open communication which creates a dynamic. AirAsia also awarding long service awards for their employees who work more than 10 years. Motivation and Rewards Although its mention above that reward is different from motivation, under some circumstances, reward able to build in motivation. In social psychological terms, it also referred as the hidden cost of rewards. According to Frey (n.d), he has using an economic concept to define this theory, which is bonus against effort. A purely price effect shown increase in bonus also can increase employee effort towards their work. In other word, motivation always link with reward. AirAsia do apply this in their management. Not only AirAsia, even other companies will do. Before they serve the customer, they do find many ways to satisfy the employees such as giving motivation and rewards. When the employees are satisfied and happy with the job, they will be more enjoying and run their tasks better. Thus, AirAsia customers will be treated in a better quality of service. Lastly, as what have discussed above, a financial or non-financial rewards might given by the company to their employee in order to motivate them to be more responsible towards their job. Example, AirAsia award bonuses to their employees based on their performance, so it is a kind of motivation that able motivate their employees to work harder in order to achieve the desired goal, which is to get the bonus. Findings Multiple roles performance of AirAsia in a flat organizational structure has the possibility as mentioned by Zhu (2010) which is to compromise the AirAsias production in the future as it evolves. The efficiency and the effectiveness on task maybe lowered when multiple tasks assign to the employee. This is because employee will feel de-motivated when the job scope assign to them is too wide for them to focus on the job. Besides that, too wide of job scope and multiple task assign to employee can lead to confusion on the job in the organization. Hence, this could possibly result in a low efficient state for the AirAsia as the organization trying to expand for a better growth and affecting the airlines productivity indirectly because the ability to perform is a short-term worthwhile competitive advantage due to over dependence on the employees (Zhu, 2010). http://business-strategy-competition.knoji.com/strengths-and-weaknesses-of-airasia/ Moreover, Air Asia receives a lot complaint from customers on their service (Solano, 2012). There are several complaints has been made from the Air Asia customers. Flight delays, unnecessary charge payment being conduct and not able to change the flight or get a refund when the customers could not make it on the booking date were some of the complaints that the customers made. There are also complaints like bad services from the staff that are in charge on the particular shift. Besides that, as what stated by Solano (2012), Air Asia did not have their own maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility. Therefore, if Air Asia continually received the same complaints and did not make any improvements on the spot, this would result the loss of customers and also the productivity of the company. As confidence and satisfaction levels of customers drop, it affects Air Asia profitability. http://prezi.com/w-ee64ceukic/airasia/ In addition, Air Asia has fast track promotion as what mentioned by the Malaysia Airline Families. Fast track promotion actually means that it is the fastest and most direct route to achievement. Malaysia Airline Families says that if an employee worked for Air Asia since 1997, his or her salary will still remained based on the last drawn salary as of year 1997. Last drawn salary is the last drawn monthly essential salaries which also includes the pension allowance. When the payment of salaries are below their expectations and no increment that is being awarded from year to year, this could lead employees to be de-motivated from working in the organizations. Despite that, they might plan to shift to the other company that provides them with increment that they think they should have it. (Malaysiairlinefamilies, 2013) http://airasiafamilies.wordpress.com/category/experiencing-bad-services-with-airasia/ However, Air Asias employees were not unionized as been stated by Zhu (2010).Air Asia policy was mainly focused on maximizing efficiency and productivity of the company. Besides that, Air Asia also tends to keep their staff costs at a consistent level with low-cost carrier industry standards. This means that the Air Asia employees were provided with a wide range of incentives. Even though salaries offered to the employees were lower than the salaries of their rivals, at least Air Asia still offer their employees with a wide range of incentives. This shows that Air Asia still give their employees some benefits. The awards being given to the employees are the performance-based bonuses (PBB), share offers, and stock options (Zhu, 2010). http://business-strategy-competition.knoji.com/strategic-actions-adopted-by-airasia/ Other than that, pilots in Air Asia were provided with some rewards or benefits to improve the flight operation. Air Asia adopted a sector pay policy. They can both keep flight and minimum their operating time. Besides that, flight sectors can be covered as many as possible within a day. Therefore, Air Asia adopted a sector pay rather than an hourly pay scale for their pilots. Moreover, Air Asia gets to cut down the number of cabin crew or can be said by saving on employees cost is because of the absence of the in-flight services (Zhu, 2010). This can be said as a method of minimizing organizational expenses. It is a trend in the global airline industry nowadays especially in the Air Asia. http://business-strategy-competition.knoji.com/strategic-actions-adopted-by-airasia/ Recommendation We highly recommend that the management of AirAsia should reconsider their training course for their employees and provide re-training if possible. According to Adams (1998), management training courses fail because they: (i) are too generalized; (ii) fail to meet the specific needs of trainees; and (iii) fail to take into personal characteristics such as age, educational back-ground, previous work experience and willingness to participate in training. Besides that, Analoui (1997) mentioned that considering the perceptions, personal interests, objectives and preferences of trainees could result in greater understanding of training objectives. Hence, employees will have a clearer view of the roles in performing a certain task and carry it out more effectively. Role perception is one of the MARS model component which affects employees voluntary behaviour and performance. The management can kill two birds with one stone by implementing it because it will increase the effectiveness and e fficiency of the management. For example, every actions performed by the employees is in the best interest of the company and not otherwise. Besides that, AirAsias management should also further improve on their organizational (affective) commitment in the workplace. Affective commitment is the employees emotion attachment to, identification with and involvement in a particular organization. In another word, affective commitment is a persons feeling of loyalty to the place where he or she works. First and foremost, organizational commitment can be boosted via organizational comprehension. This refers to the overall comprehension of the organization, including its strategic direction, social dynamics and physical layout. For instance, giving staff information and opportunities to keep up to date about organizational events, communicate with co-workers, discover what circulating in different parts of the organization and study about organizations history and future plans. Besides that, trust is the key to unlock employees loyalty. This refers to the positive expectations that one person has towards another person or group in situation involving risk. AirAsia should increase employees job security to enhance trust that employees have in the management and the employment relationship. Last but not least, Four-drive theory can be practically applied to the management of AirAsia. The theory explains the innate drivers to acquire, bond, learn and defend and that incorporates both emotions and rationality. Besides that, emotions play a central role in employee motivation. These drives create emotions, which represent the prime mover or source of effort of individual behaviour. The first recommendation is that the management of AirAsia should create a best workplace that helps employees to fulfil all four drives. Therefore, the management should provide sufficient rewards, learning opportunities, social interaction and so forth for all employees. The second recommendation is that fulfilment of the four drives must be kept in balance; that is, AirAsia should avoid too much or too little opportunity to fulfil each drive because the four drives counterbalance each other. For example, change and novelty in the workplace will ease the drive to comprehend but too much of it will initiate the drive to defend to such extent that employees become territorial and resistant to change. Thus, it is vital for the management to provide balanced opportunity to fully utilize it. Conclusion Air Asia as known by everyone that a successful and well established airline company not only in our country Malaysia but also in the world. There have many way to define the successful of this airline company, one of it is using the correct way to manage the company, and the way is motivation and rewards towards the company, all of that we had mentioned above. Everyone knows that human capital is important for a company, and the human capital of a company means is employee of one company. A motivated and rewarded employee can be a productive employee. A productive employee can be a very profitable employee. While employees that are de-motivated, they will become less productive, less creative, and this may cause less of an asset towards the company. Now more than ever, company needs motivated employees. When the employees become more productive, the company will also become more productive, while productivity of a company increase, the profit of a company will also increase. With th is the company will stay in the competitive business and ready to go conquer the world. In this assignment, we have learned much of things, one of it is motivation and rewards are a good corporate culture that will direct a company to a successful way. Furthermore although Air Asia is a successful and well established airline company, it also may have some weaknesses that we mentioned in the findings part, but that is not a problem. We just need to find out the way to solve the problem. By this a company just can continue leading in the industry and unscathed in this kind of we call it competitive and cruel business world.

The Milgram Experiment of Obedience :: essays research papers

Milgram’s experiment of obedience was done in 1961 soon after WW2 and the trials for war crimes against the Nazi’s were being done. An ad was placed in the newspaper for a Memory and Learning Experiment at $4.50 an hour, but the experiment was ultimately on Obedience. The experiment was conducted on behalf of Adolph Eichmann who was convicted of war crimes, and crimes against humanity, but he was only following orders. Eichmann filled out death warrants but never carried out the killings. The objective of the experiment was to find out if people would obey higher authority even though what they were doing was morally wrong. There would be the experimenter who recorded the teacher’s reactions and answered questions of the teacher. The learner, an actor not actually harmed, was supposedly shocked every time he had given a wrong answer and each time he was wrong he would be shocked with more voltage than the one before. The teacher administered questions to the lear ner along with the shocks for the wrong answer. What the teacher thought he was doing was giving a painful shock, not deadly shock to the learner to test of punishment leads to better memory. During the experiment very few actually went against authority, even though all shocked the learner at 300W and on. Over 50% went to the full amount of electricity. In fact a prediction from other psychologist suggested that not even 1% of the subjects would follow up to the last switch on the generator. During the experiment, teachers, the actual subjects, became nervous. The teachers began questioning the experimenter, who told them to go on and that he was the one talking all the responsibility of the teachers’ actions. This persuaded many teachers to go on feeling obligated to follow authority even though the teachers knew they were doing something morally wrong. The teachers fidgeted a lot, moved the hands, pulled out cigarettes and looking around, talking fast, etc. which are all signs of nervousness. Despite their nervousness and morality they listened to authority to continue long after the learner was not responding.

Analysis Of Amy Lowells Poem A Decade :: essays research papers fc

Analysis of Amy Lowell’s Poem “A Decade';   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In “A Decade,'; a poem by Amy Lowell, the reader is shown how a lover’s attitude can go from infatuation at first to just predictability and love. In this poem Lowell uses imagery and similes to elaborate on the feelings of the speaker towards his/her lover. In the beginning of the relationship the speaker is infatuated with the lover, and Lowell expresses this infatuation through the use of a simile in line one when comparing the lover to “red wine and honey';. As the relationship goes on deeper into the decade a comparison between the lover and “morning bread'; is made in line three, showing the reader that instead of being like “red wine and honey'; in the beginning, which burnt the speaker’s mouth with sweetness, now the lover is perceived as being “smooth and pleasant';.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The speaker of the poem could either be male or female, who is in love with someone and has been with that person for a decade. The speaker is telling the one that he/she loves how the feelings have gone from just being infatuated with them to being “nourished'; by them. The tone of the poem is hard to describe; it is actually the “lovey dovey'; feeling that should come to the reader while reading this poem. The poem has no set rhyme scheme, and is six lines long in one stanza.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Following, is my paraphrase of the poem. When we first met you were sharp and sweet And when we kissed it burnt my mouth because I wanted you so. Now that it has been a few years you are still pleasant and smooth. I really don’t pay attention to how you taste, now I know you too well. You complete me. Thorne 3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the poem “A Decade'; by Amy Lowell, she tells the reader how feelings go from being wild and crazy to being second nature to the speaker.

Who comes first, the plants or the people? :: Essays Papers

Who comes first, the plants or the people? What does come first? Should people be asked to give up something or be denied something? Or should people be allowed to develop where they please? Often when people take on an endeavor their first thoughts are about how they can benefit right now, especially in terms of money, and they are not focused on the long-term effects of what they are doing. Although this is not the case in every situation, the incidences in which it is can have a negative impact on the environment, in particular, damage the wetlands. According the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) there was estimated to be over 220 million acres of wetlands in the lower 48 states during the 1600s and in 1997 there were only 105.5 million acres of wetlands remaining (2003). From 1986 to 1997 58,500 acres of wetland were lost each year (EPA 2003). The study during 1986 to 1997 also showed the causes of wetland losses in the United States were due to urban development (30%), agriculture (26%), silviculture (23%), and rural development (21%) (US Fish & Wildlife 2003). Wetlands are found throughout the United States and there are many different types of wetlands and these environmental structures provide a number of valuable functions in the communities in which they reside. There are some protection measures present for these wonderments and measures to help the communities protect them. However, there are still those that question the value of them. The numerous valuable functions of the varying types of wetlands throughout the United States is one group of â€Å"plants† that should be preserved and come before â€Å"people.† What are wetlands? In the United States there is a wide variety of wetlands due to the varying climates, land structure, species occupying the terrain, and other factors, such as human disturbance. The EPA defines wetlands as an area of land that is saturated with water, on or near the surface, and the water amount determines the plants and animals that are found in that community (2003). The Clean Water Act also provides a definition of wetlands as â€Å"those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support †¦ a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions† (EPA 2003). From these definitions wetlands can be grouped into four basic types: marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens.

Of Water and the Spirit by Malidoma Patrice Somé Essay

With Of Water and Spirit Malidoma Patrice Some has written a very interesting, engaging autobiography in which he details his life as a man living between two different lifestyles: the traditional life of his people, the Dagara, who live in rural Burkina Faso, the former French Colony known as the Upper Volta, and the life of a highly educated African man with two PhDs who travels throughout the western nations writing, lecturing, and teaching about his people and their relationship between the normal world and the spirit world. According to Some his first name â€Å"Malidoma† means â€Å"be friends with the stranger/enemy. † The Dagara believe a person’s name has an affect on the his life so they name their children something that will always remind them of their mission in life. Some, then, is â€Å"here in the West to tell the world about my people any way I can, and to take back to my people the knowledge I gain about this world† (Some 1994, 1). Some was named Patrice when he was baptized by Jesuit priests at the insistence of his father who had converted to Catholicism. The attitude of Some and the Dagara people is very interesting. Instead of feeling hatred against the white men who had colonized the country and basically enslaved the people while stealing their land and resources, the Dagara are concerned about all people, including the white people and are â€Å"convinced that the West is as endangered as the indigenous cultures it has decimated in the name of colonialism† (Some 1994, 1). They believe that western cultures abandonment of â€Å"functional spiritual values† has made the West sick with a â€Å"sickness of the soul† (Some 1994, 1). Some was basically kidnapped from his tribe at the age of four when he was taken away to study at the Jesuit school. At the time the Jesuits were trying create a â€Å"native missionary force† to help in converting the people of Upper Volta. Prior to being kidnapped Some had spent much of his childhood with his grandfather, a great leader of the Dagara. His grandfather taught him many of the stories of the Dagara people, their spiritual beliefs, and their history. Some’s grandfather emphasized the close spiritual relationship of the Dagara with the world, the land, and the spirits of their deceased ancestors. The Dagara believe there is an important connection between an individual, his people, his land, and his god. Some’s grandfather could not understand the Catholic Church’s attempts at missionary work throughout the world, â€Å". . . let me tell you that a God who would send his people away from their land must be drinking a very strong wine all the time† (Some 1994, 29). At the time of his death, Some’s grandfather told Some that the ancestors had designated Some to â€Å"follow the white man so that you may serve as the eye of the compound, the ear of your many brothers, and the mouth of your tribe† (Some 1994, 40). Some’s grandfather also told him that he came back to the tribe he would appear strange to the Dagara, he would only be part Dagara and would have to undergo the month long initiation in the wilderness to become a member of the tribe. Some’s time at the Jesuit school was unpleasant. The priests often beat him while they were teaching him as if the beatings would reinforce the lessons and make him confirm to the Jesuit teachings. When he graduated to the seminary school at Nansi he had similar experiences and often found that he lived outside of himself. He would make his â€Å"thoughts go away from my body so that when the first blow fell, I [he] was not even aware of it† (Some 1994, 114). Some resented the way he was treated and found himself rebelling against the method of instruction. This rebellion reached its climax when Some was twenty and became involved in a physical altercation with one of the priests. During the struggle the priest fell through the window and landed in the dirt outside. Consequently, Some ran away from the school to return to his home. His journey home took him eleven days since he was forced to walk the entire way. Ironically, on his journey, Some learned that the country had gained its independence from France in 1960 and such forced schooling had come to an end. Since Some was about four-years-old both when independence occurred and when he was taken away from his people to attend school, he could have returned to his people long before (Some 1994, 153; 99-156). By the time he returned to his village, the Jesuit missionary priests on the hill were gone, although a day school still existed. Once Some was in his home compound, he found he no longer fit it with his people. He had forgotten how to speak the language; the village had changed with independence. His people were not comfortable with him there, nor was he comfortable with them. Consequently the elders decided he should undergo the Baor, the month long initiation, â€Å"to quiet the white man in your soul . . . so that his â€Å"soul [would] come back home and . . . stop being a stranger to yourself and to us† (Some 1994, 178). Some describes his spiritual initiation in detail and tells how he was able to return to the Dagara. Once he had returned fully to the Dagara, Some found that he was again not comfortable living with his people because he had not yet completed his mission that his grandfather had told him about and that his ancestors had assigned him. Once again it became necessary to leave his people so the he might â€Å"be friends with the stranger/enemy. † This is what Some continues to do today through his writings and lecturing. However, he is careful to return to his home every year to make certain he reconnects with his home and people. Bibliography Some, Malidoma Patrice. Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, A Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Book, 1994.

Our Posthuman Future Summary Essay

Chapter 1: At the beginning of Our Posthuman Future by Francis Fukuyama, it talks about two different books: 1984 and Brave New World. These books talk about multiple technologies that would change and shape the next two generations. For the decade that these books were published it had them think that having a utopian world would have no consequences. I disagree with it for the most part, because if we are created to have certain qualities or characteristics then we would lose the understanding of what it means to be human. It referred to invetro fertilization and Fukoyama thought it was a deal with the devil. And it is in a way. We shouldn’t be allowed to mess with the creation of life or choose what they would look like, how they would act just because there might be that off chance that they may blame the parents instead of themselves. Biotechnology is not something to be trifled with. You must be careful with your steps or face the consequences of what the aftermath may be. Basically chapter one creates a visual for the future of the human race if evolution is pushed to far then we will face our own destruction that we caused. Chapter 2: So the beginning of chapter two talks about molecular biology and how it could help with the prevention of genetic diseases like breast cancer and cystic fibrosis. In a way this will help our ability to improve ourselves and gives us room to grow and empathize with the technological revolution. Francis mentions that we face ethical choices about genetic privacy, proper uses of drugs and human cloning. And we truthfully do. It goes back to what we believe is right and wrong but we have to take in the fine line in between. If we think about it, one human cloning does have its benefits. The chances of getting a genetic disease or dying due to a low immune system would severely decrease. But then it goes back to losing our human qualities and personality. But with the upcoming future we will have to face these issues for enhancements rather than therapeutic reasons. And by enhancements there may be a way to understand the genetics of homosexuality and possibly propose a plan for the parents to reduce the likelihood that they will give birth to a gay child. It’s rather sad that an expectant mother would take a pill or have something injected into the fetus just so they wouldn’t have to worry about the harassment. Even if you say you are against antigay discrimination then you should stick to that decision, give the person a choice before they are able to make it themselves. Chapter 3: Chapter three talks about the advances in the field of neuropharmacology. It also talks about Freudianism that was built on the premise that mental illness was primarily psychological in nature. This caused doctors to try drug therapy rather than talk therapy. One used was Lithium; it â€Å"cured† a number of people and then led to other drugs like Prozac and Ritalin. These drugs helped relax the mentally ill and calmed them down. The drug Prozac is an anti-depressant that supposedly changed this girls life around for the better. While I do believe that her doctor over-exaggerated I think most doctors do. Why would they explain every possible side effect like: memory loss, violence, weight gain and the big one suicide. It definitely should not be prescribed as a wonder drug because of the long term side effects. Although like with most drugs, when they are first distributed they truthfully don’t understand its genetic makeup, even with testing and trials. But by understanding them better now and how they affect the human body we are now able to understand the neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin. These two transmitters control the messages of the brain that can alter our feelings of wellness, happiness, jealousy and fear. I feel that if the knowledge of the brain functions are able to be altered then it can cause a political standing. Francis talks about self-esteem that can only come through by fulfilling our human desire of acknowledgment. I suppose if the drugs can give us a feeling of righteousness then in might help the depression that seems to follow us because of the world around us. But I doubt it will give us the motivation for us to set our own ideals. I still believe that these few drugs are not good for us. With our luck there will probably be an unforeseen side-effect and then where would we be, back to square one. Chapter 4: Chapter four talks about the prolongation of life and the increase of life expectancies. In a way this is a bad economically because of social security and other retirement benefits. It also talks about evolutionary biologists that ten to believe that aging is caused by genes and that there are no shortcuts to the postponement of death. I do tend to agree with this for the most part. It does not matter much how you live your life because anything can cause your time to end in a moment. No one knows when a person is going to die because there are too many factors to consider. Another theory is that the body loses its functionality and just dies. And then there is also the Hayflick Limit, where environmental factors prevent the accurate copying of DNA. I think that if someone were to die due to health issues it would follow more of this idea. In time I do believe that the view point of death will change. Will a person be able to understand that their body is going out or will they fight tooth and nail to stay alive? Fear of dying plagues us all. We may be able to understand more why we die in 2050 but that does not mean we will be prepared. I do not think we will ever be over our apprehension of dying, that is what we will have with us at all times because we are human. Chapter 5: Chapter five is all about genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is definitely a huge controversy and has been for many years. The project was funded by the US and other governments across the globe. There was, of course, the usual competition and the â€Å"want† to be first. It seems with anything there is that pride when the secrets are unlocked to something (DNA) so complex. With the success of the cloned Dolly sheep, some began to wonder if cloning humans would ever work. I personally do not believe we should be able to. There has to be a reason why our bodies are designed to create life, instead of in a cold laboratory. Not to mention why would someone want to clone themselves? Another technology under study would be artificial chromosomes. Scientists want to add an extra chromosome to the 46 we already possess. They not only want to create one, but they want to be able to turn it on or off with the persons consent when they are of age. For them to be able to actually create this would be extremely difficult if not impossible. Every one of our chromosomes serves a purpose so how would they be able to create one that does something different? Would it bring false hope that this person would be a super genius, or have the inability to cause harm? Cloning anything is beyond difficult and causes plenty of moral and social concerns. Chapter 6: Chapter six is pretty much about why we should worry about biotechnology. It starts off talking about eugenics (deliberate breeding of people with desirable traits). Western countries actually had laws that permitted the state to sterilize people them deem imbeciles. I don’t understand how they can just not give someone a chance to bring life into this world. Most of the time a person becomes desperate and that is why they have to turn to a life of crime or do things they normally wouldn’t do. Granted someone finally grew a conscious and the popularity of eugenics in most places, except for the Asian territories where they have the one child per family law. They did not understand at the time that with most traits or characteristics have to be inherited by both parents. Since World War 2 eugenics has been associated with racism because of the discrimination it perceives towards certain groups of people. It’s almost like telling a child that they can’t play with the blue-eyed children because they are no good. It is ridiculous on its own. There is always the chance that eugenics will pop back up, and if it does it will cause the parents to make decisions. The parent does ultimately have the decision but if pushed or persuaded a certain way it can change their course. We need to let people make their own decisions because if we don’t then how will we learn from them? Chapter 7: Chapter seven is all about human rights. There is an unbelievable amount of rights that we â€Å"Democracy† people think we should have. Not only that but it turns out that abortion is protected under the first amendment. We do have the right to choose whether or not we want to have a child. It’s because we have choices and the right to choose. Basically the word â€Å"right† implies moral judgment. Truthfully I believe we do need rights, no matter what form they come in. to not have right is like going back to the 18th century when everything revolved around power and politics. It didn’t matter what you wanted the courts decided for you. Our human nature has changed and developed into something kinder along the ways. Granted there are times when we feel as though we have no choice but to do this or that, but we can choose to not do something or hell go and do something for the better. of course consequences usually play a role in thing but the fact that we have a right to choose what we would rather do for ourselves is a vast improvement. Chapter 8: Chapter eight talks about how human nature has been extremely controversial. Most of the speculation is about that fine line between nature and nurture. Truthfully there is a fine line between them. You must know where the line is to know when to protect and when to show tough love. This could change the characteristics and how it affects the child. Francis also kind of talks about environmental impacts and it plays a big role. Depending on the environment it can change how human being s react in difficult situations. Chapter 9: Much of politics centers on the question of human dignity and the desire for recognition to which it is related. This means that we humans want to be constantly recognized by our dignity, or by which ever group we partake in. And it is very true. We constantly strive to be noticed in school for our good grades, by making that winning catch in a game or by just being ourselves. We also desire to have respect by our peers; something that is rarely achieved. Francis goes on to talk about a factor X. Factor X is in all humans and should be respected no matter which class, skin color or gender you are. In a way it’s like factor X is what makes us human. If you cause harm on something without the chromosome then it’s ok but if you enslave, torture or kill someone with the chromosome then it’s a crime against humanity. For many societies the X factor was contributed to the upper ranking people. But factor X is the basic meaning of what it is to be human. Without it what are we? If we lose the idea of a factor X then it will more than likely have us returning to discrimination at full force. It’s not fair what humans have had to go through because they lack a single chromosome. Chapter 10: Chapter ten is about the political control of biotechnology. The government must regulate the research of biotechnology to ensure public safety. Without regulations so many bad things can happen it’s almost idiotic. Francis believes that the debate over biotechnology is held captive by extremists from either side, one side being the ones who are with it, the other the ones who are against it. I’m leaning towards the ones who are against it. I believe that should be banned completely. I do think that biotechnology can be controlled but to do so would be difficult. But the real question is how? Scientists cannot police themselves and therefore someone must watch over them. A team of individuals that would have a broad viewpoint would be able to be the police but to find such would be difficult. A ban on biotechnology can happen and maybe will but laws do change over time to fit the socialness of the time. The only area that will probably still go for the bio tech would be East Asia. Really because of their religion, and because eugenics wasn’t abused much over there. I still feel as though biotechnology should not be tried but then again we cannot stop the minds of scientists and they will always try to do the impossible because of their nature. Chapter 11: Chapter eleven is all about how biotechnology is regulated today. There is the self-regulation by scientists or industry and the statutory which is basically the government. The government varies in strictness, big surprise there. With anything government, law or policy, it will always be more strict. Responsibilities are divided out so that they can be followed more closely or better I suppose. It also depends on where you are looking at regulations. Germany is the strictest, Britain the most relaxed and most other places are somewhere in between. As time goes on the laws and regulations have begun to tighten due to scandals and tragedies. It’s unfortunate that it takes something bad to happen before safety and precautions are more of a concern. Chapter 12: Chapter twelve, the FINAL CHAPTER, is about policies for the future. We do need to keep in mind that with time change comes. As of now new laws are being formulated on whether human experimentation applies to embryos. Francis does believe that the scientific community is too permissive, and that most scientists or â€Å"bioethicists† base things on the side of science. And I tend to agree here, to be a bioethicists your moral ground will be far greater than the average Joe. They must believe that they are finding ways to help the science community by figuring out ways to stop deficiencies in our DNA. With human cloning you don’t know how the child will react when they reach maturity. I mean they would be an exact copy of another person without the connection. More than likely it will turn out bad and then we will just have a band of adolescents hating their â€Å"parents†, and the scientist who created them. Truth be told a clone really isn’t a human being. It is more of a replica of what a human is. Also if they try to mix human DNA with animals then the whole definition of human would change completely.