Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 18

Chapter 18 I have been out among you, eating and talking and walking and walking and walking, for hours without having to turn because of a wall in my way. The angel woke me this morning with a new set of clothes, strange to the feel but familiar to the sight (from television). Jeans, sweatshirt, and sneakers, as well as some socks and boxer shorts. â€Å"Put these on. I'm taking you out for a walk,† said Raziel. â€Å"As if I were a dog,† I said. â€Å"Exactly as if you were a dog.† The angel was also wearing modern American garb, and although he was still strikingly handsome, he looked so uncomfortable that the clothes might have been held to his body with flaming spikes. â€Å"Where are we going?† â€Å"I told you, out.† â€Å"Where did you get the clothes?† â€Å"I called down and Jesus brought them up. There is a clothing store in the hotel. Come now.† Raziel closed the door behind us and put the room key in his jeans pocket with the money. I wondered if he'd ever had pockets before. I wouldn't have thought to use them. I didn't say a word as we rode the elevator down to the lobby and made our way out the front doors. I didn't want to ruin it, to say something that would bring the angel to his senses. The noise in the street was glorious: the cars, the jackhammers, the insane people babbling to themselves. The light! The smells! I felt as if I must have been in shock when we first traveled here from Jerusalem. I didn't remember it being so vivid. I started to skip down the street and the angel caught me by the shoulder; his fingers dug into my muscles like talons. â€Å"You know that you can't get away, that if you run I can catch you and snap your legs so you will never run again. You know that if you should escape even for a few minutes, you cannot hide from me. You know that I can find you, as I once found everyone of your kind? You know these things?† â€Å"Yes, let go of me. Let's walk.† â€Å"I hate walking. Have you ever seen an eagle look at a pigeon? That's how I feel about you and your walking.† I should point out, I suppose, what Raziel was talking about when he said that he once found everyone of my kind. It seems that he did a stint, centuries ago, as the Angel of Death, but was relieved of his duties because he was not particularly good at them. He admits that he's a sucker for a hard-luck story (perhaps that explains his fascination with soap operas). Anyway, when you read in the Torah about Noah living to be nine hundred and Moses living to be a hundred and forty, well, guess who led the chorus line in the â€Å"Off This Mortal Coil† shuffle? That's where he got the black-winged aspect that I've talked about before. Even though they fired him, they let him keep the outfit. (Can you believe that Noah was able to postpone death for eight hundred years by telling the angel that he was behind in his paperwork? Would that Raziel could be that incompetent at his current task.) â€Å"Look, Raziel! Pizza!† I pointed to a sign. â€Å"Buy us pizza!† He took some money out of his pocket and handed it to me. â€Å"You do it. You can do it, right?† â€Å"Yes, we had commerce in my time,† I said sarcastically. â€Å"We didn't have pizza, but we had commerce.† â€Å"Good, can you use that machine?† He pointed to a box that held newspapers behind glass. â€Å"If it doesn't open with that little handle, then no.† The angel looked perturbed. â€Å"How is it that you can receive the gift of tongues and suddenly understand all languages, and there is no gift that can tell you how things work in this time? Tell me that.† â€Å"Look, maybe if you didn't hog the remote all the time I would learn how to use these things.† I meant that I could have learned more about the outside world from television, but Raziel thought I meant that I needed more practice pushing the channel buttons. â€Å"Knowing how to use the television isn't enough. You have to know how everything in this world works.† And with that the angel turned and stared through the window of the pizza place at the men tossing disks of dough into the air. â€Å"Why, Raziel? Why do I need to know about how this world works? If anything, you've tried to keep me from learning anything.† â€Å"Not anymore. Let's go eat pizza.† â€Å"Raziel?† He wouldn't explain any further, but for the rest of the day we wandered the city, spending money, talking to people, learning. In the late afternoon Raziel inquired of a bus driver as to where we might go to meet Spider-Man. I could have gone another two thousand years without seeing the kind of disappointment I saw on Raziel's face when the bus driver gave his answer. We returned here to the room where Raziel said, â€Å"I miss destroying cities full of humans.† â€Å"I know what you mean,† I said, even though it was my best friend who had caused that sort of thing to go out of fashion, and not a moment too soon. But the angel needed to hear it. There's a difference between bearing false witness and saving someone's feelings. Even Joshua knew that. â€Å"Joshua, you're scaring me,† I said, talking to the disembodied voice that floated before me in the temple. â€Å"Where are you?† â€Å"I am everywhere and nowhere,† Joshua's voice said. â€Å"How come your voice is in front of me then?† I didn't like this at all. Yes, my years with Joshua had jaded me in regard to supernatural experiences, but my meditation hadn't yet brought me to the place where I wouldn't react to my friend being invisible. â€Å"I suppose it is the nature of a voice that it must come from somewhere, but only so that it may be let go.† Gaspar had been sitting in the temple and at the sound of our voices he rose and came over to me. He didn't appear to be angry, but then, he never did. â€Å"Why?† Gaspar said to me, meaning, Why are you talking and disturbing everyone's meditation with your infernal noise, you barbarian? â€Å"Joshua has attained enlightenment,† I said. Gaspar said nothing, meaning, So? That's the idea, you unworthy spawn of a razor-burned yak. I could tell that's what he meant by the tone in his voice. â€Å"So he's invisible.† â€Å"Mu,† Joshua's voice said. Mu meaning nothing beyond nothingness in Chinese. In an act of distinctly uncontrolled spontaneity, Gaspar screamed like a little girl and jumped four feet straight in the air. Monks stopped chanting and looked up. â€Å"What was that?† â€Å"That's Joshua.† â€Å"I am free of self, free of ego,† Joshua said. There was a little squeak and then a nasty stench infused us. I looked at Gaspar and he shook his head. He looked at me and I shrugged. â€Å"Was that you?† Gaspar asked Joshua. â€Å"Me in the sense that I am part of all things, or me in the sense of I am the one who poofed the gefilte gas?† asked Josh. â€Å"The latter,† said Gaspar. â€Å"No,† said Josh. â€Å"You lie,† I said, as amazed at that as I was at the fact that I couldn't see my friend. â€Å"I should stop talking now. Having a voice separates me from all that is.† With that he was quiet, and Gaspar looked as if he were about to panic. â€Å"Don't go away, Joshua,† the abbot said. â€Å"Stay as you are if you must, but come to the tea chamber at dawn tomorrow.† Gaspar looked to me. â€Å"You come too.† â€Å"I have to train on the poles in the morning,† I said. â€Å"You are excused,† Gaspar said. â€Å"And if Joshua talks to you anymore tonight, try to persuade him to share our existence.† Then he hurried off in a very unenlightened way. That night I was falling asleep when I heard a squeak in the hall outside of my cell, then an incredibly foul odor jolted me awake. â€Å"Joshua?† I crawled out of my cell into the hall. There were narrow slots high in the walls through which moonlight could sift, but I saw nothing but faint blue light on the stone. â€Å"Joshua, is that you?† â€Å"How could you tell?† Joshua's disembodied voice said. â€Å"Well, honestly, you stink, Josh.† â€Å"The last time we went to the village for alms, a woman gave Number Fourteen and me a thousand-year-old egg. It didn't sit well.† â€Å"Can't imagine why. I don't think you're supposed to eat an egg after, oh, two hundred years or so.† â€Å"They bury them, leave them there, then dig them up.† â€Å"Is that why I can't see you?† â€Å"No, that's because of my meditation. I've let go of everything. I've achieved perfect freedom.† â€Å"You've been free ever since we left Galilee.† â€Å"It's not the same. That's what I came to tell you, that I can't free our people from the rule of Romans.† â€Å"Why not?† â€Å"Because that's not true freedom. Any freedom that can be given can be taken away. Moses didn't need to ask Pharaoh to release our people, our people didn't need to be released from the Babylonians, and they don't need to be released from the Romans. I can't give them freedom. Freedom is in their hearts, they merely have to find it.† â€Å"So you're saying you're not the Messiah?† â€Å"How can I be? How can a humble being presume to grant something that is not his to give?† â€Å"If not you, who, Josh? Angels and miracles, your ability to heal and comfort? Who else is chosen if not you?† â€Å"I don't know. I don't know anything. I wanted to say good-bye. I'll be with you, as part of all things, but you won't perceive me until you become enlightened. You can't imagine how this feels, Biff. You are everything, you love everything, you need nothing.† â€Å"Okay. You won't be needing your shoes then, right?† â€Å"Possessions stand between you and freedom.† â€Å"Sounded like a yes to me. Do me one favor though, okay?† â€Å"Of course.† â€Å"Listen to what Gaspar has to say to you tomorrow.† And give me time to think up an intelligent answer to someone who's invisible and crazy, I thought to myself. Joshua was innocent, but he wasn't stupid. I had to come up with something to save the Messiah so he could save the rest of us. â€Å"I'm going to the temple to sit. I'll see you in the morning.† â€Å"Not if I see you first.† â€Å"Funny,† said Josh. Gaspar looked especially old that morning when I met him in the tea room. His personal quarters consisted of a cell no bigger than my own, but it was located just off the tea room and had a door which he could close. It was cold in the morning in the monastery and I could see our breath as Gaspar boiled the water for tea. Soon I saw a third puff of breath coming from my side of the table, although there was no person there. â€Å"Good morning, Joshua,† Gaspar said. â€Å"Did you sleep, or are you free from that need?† â€Å"No, I don't need sleep anymore,† said Josh. â€Å"You'll excuse Twenty-one and I, as we still require nourishment.† Gaspar poured us some tea and fetched two rice balls from a shelf where he kept the tea. He held one out for me and I took it. â€Å"I don't have my bowl with me,† I said, worried that Gaspar would be angry with me. How was I to know? The monks always ate breakfast together. This was out of order. â€Å"Your hands are clean,† said Gaspar. Then he sipped his tea and sat peacefully for a while, not saying a word. Soon the room heated up from the charcoal brazier that Gaspar had used to heat the tea and I was no longer able to see Joshua's breath. Evidently he'd also overcome the gastric distress of the thousand-year-old egg. I began to get nervous, aware that Number Three would be waiting for Joshua and me in the courtyard to start our exercises. I was about to say something when Gaspar held up a finger to mark silence. â€Å"Joshua,† Gaspar said, â€Å"do you know what a bodhisattva is?† â€Å"No, master, I don't.† â€Å"Gautama Buddha was a bodhisattva. The twenty-seven patriarchs since Gautama Buddha were also bodhisattvas. Some say that I, myself, am a bodhisattva, but the claim is not mine.† â€Å"There are no Buddhas,† said Joshua. â€Å"Indeed,† said Gaspar, â€Å"but when one reaches the place of Buddhahood and realizes that there is no Buddha because everything is Buddha, when one reaches enlightenment, but makes a decision that he will not evolve to nirvana until all sentient beings have preceded him there, then he is a bodhisattva. A savior. A bodhisattva, by making this decision, grasps the only thing that can ever be grasped: compassion for the suffering of his fellow humans. Do you understand?† â€Å"I think so,† said Joshua. â€Å"But the decision to become a bodhisattva sounds like an act of ego, a denial of enlightenment.† â€Å"Indeed it is, Joshua. It is an act of self-love.† â€Å"Are you asking me to become a bodhisattva?† â€Å"If I were to say to you, love your neighbor as you love yourself, would I be telling you to be selfish?† There was silence for a moment, and as I looked at the place where Joshua's voice was originating, he gradually started to become visible again. â€Å"No,† said Joshua. â€Å"Why?† asked Gaspar. â€Å"Love thy neighbor as thou lovest thyself† – and here there was a long pause when I could imagine Joshua looking to the sky for an answer, as he so often did, then: â€Å"for he is thee, and thou art he, and everything that is ever worth loving is everything.† Joshua solidified before our eyes, fully dressed, looking no worse for the wear. Gaspar smiled and those extra years that he had been carrying on his face seemed to fade away. There was a peace in his aspect and for a moment he could have been as young as we were. â€Å"That is correct, Joshua. You are truly an enlightened being.† â€Å"I will be a bodhisattva to my people,† Joshua said. â€Å"Good, now go shave the yak,† said Gaspar. I dropped my rice ball. â€Å"What?† â€Å"And you, find Number Three and commence your training on the posts.† â€Å"Let me shave the yak,† I said. â€Å"I've done it before.† Joshua put his hand on my shoulder. â€Å"I'll be fine.† Gaspar said: â€Å"And on the next moon, after alms, you shall both go with the group into the mountains for a special meditation. Your training begins tonight. You shall receive no meals for two days and you must bring me your blankets before sundown. â€Å"But I've already been enlightened,† protested Josh. â€Å"Good. Shave the yak,† said the master. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when Joshua showed up the next day at the communal dining room with a bale of yak hair and not a scratch on him. The other monks didn't seem surprised in the least. In fact, they hardly looked up from their rice and tea. (In my years at Gaspar's monastery, I found it was astoundingly difficult to surprise a Buddhist monk, especially one who had been trained in kung fu. So alert were they to the moment that one had to become nearly invisible and completely silent to sneak up on a monk, and even then simply jumping out and shouting â€Å"boo† wasn't enough to shake their chakras. To get a real reaction, you pretty much had to poleax one of them with a fighting staff, and if he heard the staff whistling through the air, there was a good chance he'd catch it, take it away from you, and pound you into damp pulp with it. So, no, they weren't surprised when Joshua delivered the fuzz harvest unscathed.) â€Å"How?† I asked, that being pretty much what I wanted to know. â€Å"I told her what I was doing,† said Joshua. â€Å"She stood perfectly still.† â€Å"You just told her what you were going to do?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"She wasn't afraid, so she didn't resist. All fear comes from trying to see the future, Biff. If you know what is coming, you aren't afraid.† â€Å"That's not true. I knew what was coming – namely that you were going to get stomped by the yak and that I'm not nearly as good at healing as you are – and I was afraid.† â€Å"Oh, then I'm wrong. Sorry. She must just not like you.† â€Å"That's more like it,† I said, vindicated. Joshua sat on the floor across from me. Like me, he wasn't permitted to eat anything, but we were allowed tea. â€Å"Hungry?† â€Å"Yes, you?† â€Å"Starving. How did you sleep last night, without your blanket, I mean?† â€Å"It was cold, but I used the training and I was able to sleep.† â€Å"I tried, but I shivered all night long. It's not even winter yet, Josh. When the snow falls we'll freeze to death without a blanket. I hate the cold.† â€Å"You have to be the cold,† said Joshua. â€Å"I liked you better before you got enlightened,† I said. Now Gaspar started to oversee our training personally. He was there every second as we leapt from post to post, and he drilled us mercilessly through the complex hand and foot movements we practiced as part of our kung fu regimen. (I had a funny feeling that I'd seen the movements before as he taught them to us, then I remembered Joy doing her complex dances in Balthasar's fortress. Had Gaspar taught the wizard, or vice versa?) As we sat in meditation, sometimes all through the night, he stood behind us with his bamboo rod and periodically struck us on the back of the head for no reason I could discern. â€Å"Why's he keep doing that? I didn't do anything,† I complained to Joshua over tea. â€Å"He's not hitting you to punish you, he's hitting you to keep you in the moment.† â€Å"Well, I'm in the moment now, and at the moment I'd like to beat the crap out of him.† â€Å"You don't mean that.† â€Å"Oh, what? I'm supposed to want to be the crap I beat out of him?† â€Å"Yes, Biff,† Joshua said somberly. â€Å"You must be the crap.† But he couldn't keep a straight face and he started to snicker as he sipped his tea, finally spraying the hot liquid out his nostrils and collapsing into a fit of laughter. All of the other monks, who evidently had been listening in, started giggling as well. A couple of them rolled around on the floor holding their sides. It's very difficult to stay angry when a room full of bald guys in orange robes start giggling. Buddhism. Gaspar made us wait two months before taking us on the special meditation pilgrimage, so it was well into winter before we made that monumental trek. Snow fell so deep on the mountainside that we literally had to tunnel our way out to the courtyard every morning for exercise. Before we were allowed to begin, Joshua and I had to shovel all of the snow out of the courtyard, which meant that some days it was well past noon before we were able to start drilling. Other days the wind whipped down out of the mountains so viciously that we couldn't see more than a few inches past our faces, and Gaspar would devise exercises that we could practice inside. Joshua and I were not given our blankets back, so I, for one, spent every night shivering myself to sleep. Although the high windows were shuttered and charcoal braziers were lit in the rooms that were occupied, there was never anything approaching physical comfort during the winter. To my relief, the other monks were not unaffected by the cold, and I noticed that the accepted posture for breakfast was to wrap your entire body around your steaming cup of tea, so not so much as a mote of precious heat might escape. Someone entering the dining hall, seeing us all balled up in our orange robes, might have thought he stumbled into a steaming patch of giant pumpkins. At least the others, including Joshua, seemed to find some relief from the chill during their meditations, having reached that state, I'm told, where they could, indeed, generate their own heat. I was still learning the discipline. Sometimes I considered climbing to the back of the temple where the cave became narrow and hund reds of fuzzy bats hibernated on the ceiling in a great seething mass of fur and sinew. The smell might have been horrid, but it would have been warm. When the day finally came for us to take the pilgrimage, I was no closer to generating my own heat than I had been at the start, so I was relieved when Gaspar led five of us to a cabinet and issued yak-wool leggings and boots to each of us. â€Å"Life is suffering,† said Gaspar as he handed Joshua his leggings, â€Å"but it is more expedient to go through it with one's legs intact.† We left just after dawn on a crystal clear morning after a night of brutal wind that had blown much of the snow off the base of the mountain. Gaspar led five of us down the mountain to the village. Sometimes we trod in the snow up to our waists, other times we hopped across the tops of exposed stones, suddenly making our training on the tops of the posts seem much more practical than I had ever thought possible. On the mountainside, a slip from one of the stones might have sent us plunging into a powder-filled ravine to suffocate under fifty feet of snow. The villagers received us with great celebration, coming out of their stone and sod houses to fill our bowls with rice and root vegetables, ringing small brass bells and blowing the yak horn in our honor before quickly retreating back to their fires and slamming their doors against the cold. It was festive, but it was brief. Gaspar led us to the home of the toothless old woman who Joshua and I had met so long ago and we all bedded down in the straw of her small barn amid her goats and a pair of yaks. (Her yaks were much smaller than the one we kept at the monastery, more the size of normal cattle. I found out later that ours was the progeny of the wild yaks that lived in the high plateaus, while hers were from stock that had been domesticated for a thousand years.) After the others had gone to sleep, I snuck into the old woman's house in search of some food. It was a small stone house with two rooms. The front one was dimly lit by a single window covered with a tanned and stretched animal hide that transmitted the light of the full moon as a dull yellow glow. I could only make out shapes, not actual objects, but I felt my way around the room until I laid my hand on what had to be a bag of turnips. I dug one of the knobby vegetables from the bag, brushed the dirt from the surface with my palm, then sunk in my teeth and crunched away a mouthful of crisp, earthy bliss. I had never even cared for turnips up to that time, but I had just decided that I was going to sit there until I had transferred the entire contents of that bag to my stomach, when I heard a noise in the back room. I stopped chewing and listened. Suddenly I could see someone standing in the doorway between the two rooms. I drew in my breath and held it. Then I heard the old woman's voice, speaking Chinese with her peculiar accent: â€Å"To take the life of a human or one like a human. To take a thing that is not given. To claim to have superhuman powers.† I was slow, but suddenly I realized that the old woman was reciting the rules for which a monk could be expelled from the monastery. As she came into the dim light from the window she said, â€Å"To have intercourse with anyone, even down to an animal.† And at that second, I realized that the toothless old woman was completely naked. A mouthful of chewed turnip rolled out of my mouth and down the front of my robe. The old woman, close now, reached out, I thought to catch the mess, but instead she caught what was under my robe. â€Å"Do you have superhuman powers?† the old woman said, pulling on my manhood, which, much to my amazement, nodded an answer. I need to say here that it had been over two years since we had left Balthasar's fortress, and another six months before that since the demon had come and killed all of the girls but Joy – thus curtailing my regular supply of sexual companions. I want to go on record that I had been steadfast in adhering to the rules of the monastery, allowing only those nocturnal emissions as were expelled during dreams (although I had gotten pretty good in directing my dreams in that direction, so all that mental discipline and meditation wasn't completely useless). So, that said, I was in a weakened state of resistance when the old woman, leathery and toothless as she might have been, compelled me by threat and intimidation to share with her what the Chinese call the Forbidden Monkey Dance. Five times. Imagine my chagrin when the man who would save the world found me in the morning with a twisted burl of Chinese crone-flesh orally affixed to my fleshy pagoda of expandable joy, even as I snored away in transcendent turnip-digesting oblivion. â€Å"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!† said Joshua, turning to the wall and throwing his robe over his head. â€Å"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!† I said, roused from my slumber by the disgusted exclamation of my friend. â€Å"Ahhhhhhhhhh!† said the old woman, I think. (Her speech was generously obstructed, if I do say so myself.) â€Å"Jeez, Biff,† Joshua stuttered. â€Å"You can't†¦I mean†¦Lust is†¦Jeez, Biff!† â€Å"What?† I said, like I didn't know what. â€Å"You've ruined sex for me for all time,† Joshua said. â€Å"Whenever I think of it, this picture will always come up in my mind.† â€Å"So,† I said, pushing the old woman away and shooing her into the back room. â€Å"So†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Joshua turned around and looked me in the eye, then grinned widely enough to threaten the integrity of his ears. â€Å"So thanks.† I stood and bowed. â€Å"I am here only to serve,† I said, grinning back. â€Å"Gaspar sent me to look for you. He's ready to leave.† â€Å"Okay, I'd better, you know, say good-bye.† I gestured toward the back room. Joshua shuddered. â€Å"No offense,† he said to the old woman, who was out of sight in the other room. â€Å"I was just surprised.† â€Å"Want a turnip?† I said, holding up one of the knobby treats. Joshua turned and started out the door. â€Å"Jeez, Biff,† he was saying as he left.

Euthanasia should be legalised. Agree or Disagree? Essay

Euthanasia is inducing a painless death, by agreement and with compassion, to ease suffering. There are also four different kind of euthanasia; active, passive, voluntary and involuntary. Active euthanasia means carrying out some action to help someone to die, whereas passive euthanasia is to not carry out actions which would prolong life. Thus with regards to the above, voluntary euthanasia is helping a person who wishes to die to do so and involuntary euthanasia is helping a person to die when they are unable to request this for themselves. It is argued on a yearly basis as to whether euthanasia should be legalised in the United Kingdom. There are several arguments in favour for the legalisation of euthanasia. In voluntary euthanasia, it’s argued that it shows mercy for those suffering with pain and a disease with no cure, a view which Thomas More (1478-1535) supports. In his book Utopia (1516), More argued that when a patient suffers ‘a torturing and lingering pain, so that there is no hope, either of recovery or ease, they may choose rather to die, since they cannot live but in much misery’. It is an opportunity to end needless suffering, one that we already offer to animals, thus should be offered to humans. Other advocates of voluntary euthanasia argue that it should be an option for an adult who is able and willing to make such a decision (autonomy). They argue that it should be on offer as one option among many, along with the kind of care of patients with a terminal illness is offered by hospitals and hospices. This argument is maintained by John Stuart Mill who, in his book On Liberty (1859), argued that in matters that do not concern others, individuals should have full autonomy: ‘The only part of the conduct of any one, for which (a citizen) is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his body and mind, this individual is sovereign.’ The VES (www.dignityindying.org.uk) also argues that every human being deserves respect and has the right to choose his or her own destiny, including how he or she lives and dies. American doctor Jack Kervorkian has said (Gula, 1988): ‘In my view the highest principle in medical ethics – in any kind of ethics – is personal autonomy, self-determination. What counts is what the patient wants and judges to be a benefit or a value in his or her own life. That’s primary’. We have autonomy over our bodies in matters of life, and it should be the same in matters of death. Thus, voluntary euthanasia gives people full autonomy and should be legalised. Other believers of voluntary euthanasia claim that it maintains quality of life. They say that human beings should be able to maintain their dignity up until the end of their lives. Thus, not only is it a matter of pain, but of self respect. If someone’s standard of living is such that they no longer want to live, then they should be able to end their life and, if necessary, be assisted in doing so. However, the quality of life worth living is one that only the person in question can define. Having control over their life is a way of enhancing their human dignity. Thus, as euthanasia maintains this quality of life and human dignity it should be legalised. A further point arguing that euthanasia is acceptable claims that the act is not in fact murder and should therefore be legalised, as it doesn’t go against any other laws. This is sustained by Gregory E. Pence in his article ‘Why physicians should aid the dying’ (1997). Pence argues that killing humans who don’t want to live is not wrong. He continues to explain that it isn’t wrong to help the dying to die, because they are actually dying. There are also several arguments against voluntary euthanasia. One difficulty with euthanasia being legalised is a person’s motives. It is questionable as to whether we can be sure that when a person asks for death, that the person isn’t crying out in despair, rather than making a definitive decision. When a person is desperate, they may feel that they want to end their life and therefore deduce that the pain is too great and life too agonising. However perhaps these moments of desperation will pass and they will be glad that no one acted on their pleas. It is also questionable as to whether doctors can be sure that they know and understand all the facts. It could also be possible that they may fear a future which will not be realised. Thus any euthanasia process would have to establish, beyond any doubt, the true intentions of the patient who is requesting euthanasia and that the patient is fully aware of the situation. Thus from this view point euthanasia shouldn’t be legalised due to the risk of misinformation or a failure to comprehend the situation which would leave the patient vulnerable to a decision that he or she might not truly want to make. There are also arguments against the legalisation of euthanasia due to the risk of mistake that may occur, as we can’t be certain that they would be avoided. For example, someone chooses death because they have been diagnosed with a fatal, incurable and painful illness. Then, after the person has died, it is discovered that the diagnosis was incorrect. Therefore, in the legalisation of euthanasia, the diagnosis would have to be beyond a doubt and it is questionable about whether there can always be medical certainty about what the condition will entail and how long it will take to develop. Thus, being an area of doubt that could lead to irreversible mistakes, euthanasia shouldn’t be legalised to safeguard people against this. Glover (1977) noted that people who feel they are burdens on their families sometimes commit suicide. Thus it may be possible that elderly relatives who think they are burdens to their families ask for voluntary euthanasia out of a sense of duty to the family. It’s also questionable as to whether, on the other hand, they could be pressured into asking for voluntary euthanasia by their relatives. As an example, the conviction of Harold Shipman who, as a doctor, murdered elderly patients over a period of years shows the power of doctors. Thus, due to possible abuse of the system, euthanasia should not be legalised as the existence of such a system could allow such people even more capacity for murder by manipulating patients and documentation. There are also arguments against the legalisation of euthanasia due to its’ possible negative impact on the community. It is argued that the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia might lead to other forms of euthanasia being supported, for example, involuntary euthanasia may start to be carried out (like the Nazis did) on the sick, the elderly and the disabled. However, Glover (1977) says that this argument is unconvincing and thus rejects it, whilst Helga Kuhse (1991) has observed that this has not happened in the Netherlands, where voluntary euthanasia is legal. It is further argued that its’ negative effects on the community might include the damage of the care of patients who are dying. While oppressing voluntary euthanasia, people have developed caring and sensitive environments for the terminally ill within the hospice movement. Therefore it is possible that legalisation of voluntary euthanasia would effect the culture in which that approach to care has been developed. For example, it is questionable as to whether, if voluntary euthanasia was legalised, people would be concerned about visiting hospitals, fearful of what might happen such as an unwanted assisted death. There are other cases where a patient cannot let their wishes be known, such as a person who is in a coma in which recovery is very unlikely or impossible. There are also cases of babies who have severe, permanent and possibly deteriorating health conditions that cause suffering. The withdrawal of treatment or use of certain medicines may lead to involuntary euthanasia. The principle of this is uncontroversial. However, the question of taking away food and water is. Tony Bland (1989) was in a coma from which doctors believed he would never recover. He was classed as in a vegetative state and could open his eyes but he did not respond to anything around him. He couldn’t feed but could digest food and needed to have food and water provided to him through a feeding tube. He wasn’t dying, yet there was no cure. There ended in being a court case over whether or not it was right to remove artificial feeding, which would lead to his death. The court allowed Bland to die through starvation and dehydration, which would be painful if he was able to sense the pain, though is was presumed that he couldn’t. Thus this takes steps towards active involuntary euthanasia or even non-voluntary euthanasia as The 2005 Mental Capacity Act for England and Wales preserves in law the view that assisted food and fluids is a medical treatment that could be withdrawn. With there being instances where doctors are convinced a person will never wake up from a coma, or has no capacity for normal function, and yet can be kept alive, there is the question over whether it shows much or less respect for the value of a person to withdraw life saving measures and thus whether or not this should be legal. Other areas of controversy surround the care of disabled babies. It is possible to keep alive more and more physically disabled babies. However, some argue that allowing a disabled baby to live is to disable a family. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (November 2006) urged health professionals to consider euthanasia for seriously disabled babies to spare the emotional burden of families bringing them up. Critics of this are concerned that the example of actively killing a baby or withdrawing treatment to bring about death develops a culture in which all disabled people are considered to be of less value and thus dispute as to whether or not this should be legal. Answers of these questions are also sought through religion. Questions such as what do we do for the person who is in a coma with no hope for recovery? How do we care for the terminally ill who is in a lot of pain? These questions can be answered by Christianity and Islam. In Christianity, biblical teachings forbid killing (Sixth commandment). They also say that life should not be violated and there is also a powerful message of the importance of healing and care for the sick. However, there are exceptions for warfare and self-defence. There are also examples in the bible where the sacrifice of life is considered moral (‘greater love has no man than this: That a man lay down his life for his friends’ John 15:13). The bible does not prohibit all taking of life in all circumstances, although Christians have traditionally considered taking one’s own life to be wrong. Thus is can be seen that Christians would accept euthanasia in certain circumstances.

Mary Whiton Calkins Essay

In the early days of psychology there were few female psychologists who had any type of impact on the field of psychology. There was sex discrimination and it was a common belief that women were inferior to men. Mary Whiton Calkins was able to beat the odds and have a long lasting legacy in psychology. She is considered one of the pioneers in psychology and is credited with a major theoretical contribution of self-psychology, which was centered on the idea that all consciousness is personal. Calkins overcame discrimination from both students and scholars and succeeded in inventing a procedure that was historic; paired associate learning, which has become the standard method in cognitive research (Goodwin, 2008). Mary Whiton Calkins was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1863. She was the oldest of five children; their parents encouraged their education, especially the study of languages and cultures (Furumoto, 1980). Calkins did graduate from high school in Newton Massachusetts and began Smith College in 1882 as a sophomore. Unfortunately, in 1883, her sister’s illness and subsequent death caused her to decide to study Greek at home the following year. However Calkins returned to Smith College in 1884 as a senior, and graduated with a concentration in classics and philosophy in 1885. In 1887, after graduating from Smith College, she was hired to teach Greek at Wellesley College. She had been teaching for three years when she was offered she was offered a position teaching in the new area of psychology (Goodwin, 2008). In 1890 Wellesley finally offered Calkins the position, with the condition that she would study psychology for a year. There were very few psychology programs available at that time, and even fewer that would accept women applicants. This made it difficult for her to have the one year of study needed to teach the subject of psychology. During the following year Calkins also worked unofficially at the psychology laboratory at Clark University with Edmund Sanford. He also assisted Calkins in the creation of a psychology lab for Wellesley College, equipped with state of the art equipment. That psychology lab officially opened in 1891, the same year that Calkins began teaching psychology at Wellesley (Goodwin, 2008). After being invited to sit in on some of the lectures at Harvard, Calkins formally requested that she be allowed to sit in on these lectures. She decided to try to take classes at the Harvard Annex taught by Josiah Royce, a Harvard professor, because the Annex was not an official part of Harvard University. Royce, however, pushed her to try to attend regular Harvard classes because not all of his classes were available through the Annex. Charles Eliot, the president of Harvard, believed strongly that the two sexes should be educated separately. But it was not until the pressure applied to him from both James and Royce was combined with a petition from Calkins father and a letter from the president of Wellesley College that Eliot finally agreed in 1892. Calkins would be allowed to attend James and Royce’s seminars on psychology, but it was officially stated that she would not be a student of the University entitled to registration. (Furumoto, 1980). Calkins felt like she needed to do more graduate work. She continued teaching while simultaneously studying with J. Munsterberg until 1894 when she studied full-time for a year. At that time Munsterberg petitioned Harvard to admit Calkins as a Ph. D. candidate, but was refused. The Harvard psychology department held an informal examination of Calkins, which she passed in 1895. The same year, while at Harvard, Calkins presented her theses, where she completed a series of experimental studies on association. She developed a procedure known as paired-associate learning (Goodwin, 2008). Her subjects first studied stimulus-response pairs comprised of sequentially presented color patches and numbers, and then they tried to recall the umber responses when shown the color stimuli. Her results showed that recall was enhanced by each of the four factors: frequency, vividness, recency, and primacy. These four conditions could strengthen associations, and found that frequency was the most important. (Goodwin, 2008). Calkins then returned to Wellesley College where she continued to teach until her retirement in 1927. From about 1900, her publications became less research-oriented as she developed her major theoretical contribution to psychology, self-psychology. Calkins maintained that psychology could be the study of mental life, but that the central fact of psychology must be that all consciousness contains an element of the self (Goodwin, 2008). In 1900, Calkins published her first article on a system of psychology of the self, a topic which became her primary focus. Over the next thirty years, Calkins continued to present, develop, and defend her theory of self-psychology, gradually moving more towards philosophy and away from the psychological trend towards behaviorism. There is evidence that her primary interest was always philosophy rather than psychology. She was teaching psychology for almost a decade before another faculty member trained in psychology joined the philosophy department. (Furumoto, 1980). In 1905, Calkins became the first woman elected president of the American Psychological Association. As her interests shifted to philosophy, she became the first woman elected president of the other APA, the American Philosophical Association in 1918. All of her work in philosophy as well as psychology came to center around the importance of self. She used it as a way to reconcile competing theoretical schools of thought including structuralism and functionalism (Furumoto, 1980). She believed that self-psychology was a method of resolving disputes between structuralism, which analyzes consciousness in to its basic elements, and functionalism, which focuses on how consciousness serves to adapt the individual to the environment (Goodwin, 2008). Among her major contributions to psychology are the invention of the paired associate’s technique and her work in self based psychology. Calkins believed that the conscious self was the primary focus of psychology. Despite Mary Whiton Calkins contributions, Harvard maintains its refusal to grant the degree she earned and her influence on psychology is often overlooked by both scholars and students. She was passionate about her beliefs, even when Harvard was going to award her a PhD. from Radcliffe College; she refused to accept the degree because she did not agree with the â€Å"injustice of unequal treatment of the sexes based on the implicit assumption that there are inherent differences in their mentalities† (Furumoto, 1980). Mary Whiton Calkins was a pioneer in psychology. She was responsible for the creation of a method of memorization called the paired associate technique, founder of one of the early psychological laboratories in the United States, and creator of a system of self-psychology (Furumoto, 1980). Conclusion Mary Whiton Calkins was a prolific writer in both psychology and philosophy, publishing four books and over a hundred papers divided among the fields. In addition to being the first woman president of the American Psychological Association, Calkins also served as president of the American Philosophical Association in 1918. The topics Mary Whiton Calkins studied in psychology covered a wide range including dream research, animal consciousness, and memorization. In 1892 she presented a report on a dream study that she had worked on with Sanford at the first meeting of the APA. Thirteen years later she was elected president of that same organization. In 1895 she returned to Wellesley as an associate professor, and in 1898 she became a full professor, a position she held until she retired in 1927 (Furumoto, 1980). On February 26, 1930, Calkins died of inoperable cancer, one year after retiring from Wellesley as a Research Professor and turning over that department to Eleanor Gamble. Her teaching career spanned forty two years. She died with two honorary degrees, a doctor of letters from Columbia University and a doctor of laws from Smith College. However, she never received the degree that she worked for at Harvard. In 1927 a group of Harvard alumni petitioned the president of Harvard requesting that the university grant Calkins her Ph. D. , but they were denied (Furumoto, 1980).

Health Ass. discussion questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Health Ass. discussion questions - Assignment Example In nursing assessment, information is gathered and then interpreted. The two processes are different as one moves into the advanced practice role, as nursing assessment is employed to identify the health problems faced by the patient and are based on research, findings and literature (Spain, DeCristofaro, & Smith, 2004). The nurse is able to recognize the present health status and how it relates to the patient’s previous health status. The approach and the structure used in assessment is determined by the priorities of the specific service for which it is created and on the type of population the nurse is dealing with for example, elderly, children and adults (Rosdahl & Kowalski, 2008). However, clinical reasoning is a part of the assessment that is needed to understand and interpret gathered information. According to Spain et al. (2004), the clinical decision-making worksheet is developed to support data organization, interpretation and collection in accordance to standardize d communication format. 2. Consider a clinical situation (patient case) in your own practice (current or past). In what ways do you see your role changing as you become an advanced practice registered nurse, and how might this affect your assessment of that patient? Currently, as a registered nurse I receive patients in my care and consider the health status presently and how it is associated with the patient’s health history. I see my role changing as I become an advanced practice registered nurse as I will have gained full competencies needed in the profession. Moreover, I will be able to prescribe medication, diagnose and treat acute and chronic illness, all in the focus of health promotion and prevention. The competencies will help me in applying the knowledge of the scientific basis for quality care in practice (Thomas et.al, 2011). I will be able to apply expertise in data literacy, technology

Analysing organisations Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Analysing organisations - Assignment Example However, if a common, feasible and workable organizational culture is actualized or ‘operationalised’, the organization as well as the employees can coordinate and cooperate in a more effective manner, thereby achieving greater success. The blueprint for the success can only be formulated by an effective leader or manager. The leader following the paradigm of Functionalism or by becoming Functionalists can actualize an optimum organizational culture, according to the structure and situation of the organization, thereby solving many of its problems. As Functionalists fundamentally believe in the structure of the organisations and their necessity, they will focus on the problems that negatively impact that organization, and seek solutions for it. This assignment focusing on the organization, Starbucks and its leader, Howard Schultz will discuss how incorporation of optimum organizational culture fulfilled its ethical objectives, and importantly how it is line with Function alist paradigm. The assignment after discussing about paradigm, will review the literature about the functionalism paradigm and its relation to organizational culture, then will do the organizational analysis focusing on Starbucks and ending with conclusions and recommendations for further improvement. 2. Paradigmatic Perspectives: Functionalism As mentioned above, Functionalism focuses on how an organization or any entity exists and operates, based not only on its internal structure or constitution, but the way it functions. Because of this perspective only, organizations can focus on the problems that is impacting its functions, rather than focusing on its structure, and thereby come up with apt solutions. Although, the term ‘functionalism’ can be used to view as well as designate a variety of perspectives in different fields or disciplines, including psychology, sociology, economics, and even business environment, functionalism’ focus from philosophical perspe ctive provides apt meanings. â€Å"Functionalism in the philosophy of mind is the doctrine that what makes something a mental state of a particular type does not depend on its internal constitution, but rather on the way it functions, or the role it plays, in the system of which it is a part.† (Levin 2004). This philosophical perspective about Functionalism originated from Aristotle's conception and ideas of the soul, and also based on Hobbes's conception of the mind. Thus, Functionalism can be considered as one of the oldest perspectives or paradigms, which is at the same time, relevant to the current times in various fields. The other key perspective about Functionalism is, it will make the organizations or any entity function in a more organised and systematic manner, while analyzing the problems and coming up with solutions. â€Å"Functionalists sought to explain the mental processes in a more systematic and accurate manner. Rather than focusing on the elements of consci ousness, functionalists focused on the purpose of consciousness and behavior.† (Cherry). When Functionalism is focused on the basis of Ontological and epistemological assumptions, it gives different and interesting perspectives. Functionalism according to ontological assumptions is a paradigm which stays stable for a long time, and so it is available for study for a longer time. That is, without undergoing major changes, it could be realistic and can be

A field trip to Point Reyes National Seashore and Lighthouse Assignment

A field trip to Point Reyes National Seashore and Lighthouse - Assignment Example California Highway 1 is one of the routes one can take people to the Point Reyes lighthouse. Highway 1 passes through very fragile hillsides in Big Sur region and one gets the impression that they might be trapped in a rock or mud slide. The area between Gorda and Lucia seems to have the most delicate hillsides. California Highway one is classified as one of the most dangerous highways in the state and consequently the state has set several safety rules for drivers using this road; the road meanders through the landscape. It also passes around the edges of steep slopes and this makes it seem even more dangerous. Point Reyes National Seashore is full of numerous wonderful features. The place has no mountains but is hilly. Other interesting features are windswept the beach, marshes, estuaries, coastal scrub grassland, and coniferous forests. Forested ridges are very beautiful as I could view vast regions from a single point. River Trail passes near the Point Reyes National Seashore. It is a source of drinking water to wild animals living around the area but also decorates the landscape. In the Point Reyes National park, there are numerous plant varieties and animal species. Of all these, I found the deer the most interesting. There are three deer species which are black-tailed deer, tule elk and fallow deer. They are very interesting to watch as they run up and down in the field. It is very easy to distinguish the three species from a distance as they have clear distinguishing features. The fallow deer is non-native as it was imported from the Californian mainland. It is the most beautiful of all with well combined white and brown colors. They are well adapted to the ecosystem and they make the entire environment beautiful. Driving through the beautiful landscape made me seem to have reached the end of my tour but when I reached the lighthouse, everything changed. It was clear from a

Criminal Justice - Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Criminal Justice - - Essay Example In Shawshank Redemption, Andy was imprisoned after killing his wife and her lover despite his claims of innocence. After the prison warder had realized that Andy was an accountant by profession, he began protecting him. This is because he knew that he would assist him in his money laundering scam (Cole, Christopher and Christina 95). Conover’s depiction of prison guards is different from that of Shawshank Redemption. This is because Conover condemned the bad picture, which portrays the correctional officers as bad people, mindlessly authoritarian, and inherently sadistic. For example, Conover demonstrated this by acting as an example in Sing Sing Prison. He interacted with prison wardens and inmates closely unlike at first where there was a greater gap between the correctional officers, prison wardens, and inmates. Conover described this portrayal as unsympathetic and inaccurate image of the guards. Conover portrayed prison guards as multidimensional characters. This is because they are neither good nor bad, but they are simply struggling in difficult circumstances. Conover recommended that the prison guards should be given full support since they have critical roles in administering justice. This is in terms of working environment, remuneration, and housing. It has been obvious that inmates are the most brutalized in the prisons. This is because guards are mistreating them by denying them their rights in the prison. For example, they might be bitten to an extent that they are injured. Others go for some days without food and even taking bath. The brutal exercise might even extend to other people who are not in prison. These are, for example, the relatives of the inmates. The relatives are coming to the prison to visit their people, but they are sometimes denied to talk or even greet the inmates. Though they are not physically brutalized, they are psychologically disturbed

Cold War - Causes and Consequences of the Battle of Two Ideologies Essay

Cold War - Causes and Consequences of the Battle of Two Ideologies - Essay Example The cold war was the result of the clashing between capitalism and communism which at the moment were two opposing worldviews. For the two countries involved, the war was a battle between the two civilizations capitalism and communism. There was also the concern by the Soviet Union to protect its sovereignty by securing its borders. This was due to the two previous invasions in one century by the Germans in 1941 and Japan in 1904.In 1945, the U.S.A created and used the atomic bomb against Japan. This sparked an arms race with Russia attempting to make one of its own thus both countries created large stocks of missiles and other arms. There was also the threat that Russia felt after the U.S.A moved its bombers to Europe and the rearming of Germany as well as its admission to NATO. The war was further aggravated to show technological superiority using the space race as a platform with the launching of satellites into space by the race.Politically the war was meant to be a quest for dom inance across the world; thus, the competition between them and their political allies was geopolitical in that their allies were strategically found around the world. As a result, the United States aimed at containing the expansion of Soviet power. The two countries also sought to influence new governments the world over following the power vacuum after decolonization. For this, the United States backed brutal dictators only to prevent the spread of communism that was advocated for by the Soviet Union. As a result, the U.S. abandoned its ideals of self-determination. The cold war, in regard to politics, led to the election of anticommunist leaders into power such as Nixon, Regan, Kennedy, and Truman. The leaders and Truman in particular approved funds for developing nations, in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to curb communism.

Processing the Crime Scene and Establishing Identity Essay - 1

Processing the Crime Scene and Establishing Identity - Essay Example The initial pictures suggest that destructive material was used in the preparation of the bomb, as the dead bodies are showing very strong signs of injuries of ball-bearing piercings. There was considerable panic as depicted in the media at the crime scene because of the horrific outcomes of the blast. There has been no such incident in London within this area for years and people were not expecting this to take place at such an augmented magnitude. There are different speculations about the different aspects of the bomb blast and most of the people and experts are hinting towards the possibility of a terrorist attack. In order to lessen the speculations and start team oriented investigation of the crime scene, the following team is prepared keeping in view the requirements of the crime scene 1. Leader of the team 2. Photography specialist and Log Recorder 3. Sketch Artist 4. Evidence Recovery and Recording Specialists 5. Investigation Specialists (Allison, 2008) The first and foremo st responsibility of the team leader is to visit the crime scene with the team and brief the team members about the current situation and contextual background of the crime scene (Gardner, 2005).  . The area was secured as a first priority by a low level police agency in order to secure the evidences and fingerprints. After the initial help to the wounded, the dead bodies are placed on the ground and they are not touched as said by the team leader. The photographer has the responsibility to take the pictures of the crime scene from every angle in order to file a strong case for the FIR case. The role of photographer is of importance in this case because of the fact that crime scene is spread in a very huge area and the pictures must be taken of all the places where the bomb shrapnel and other pieces of human bodies have spread. This is important in order to have a sound knowledge about the strength of the bomb that was used. The photographs quality is also highly dependent upon th e angles that are deployed during the usage of the pictures at the crime scene because there is a great need to inculcate the fact that pictures will be used in the future also for investigation at a higher level (National Institute of Justice, 2013). The third role is that of the sketch preparer who has a very crucial role in this case. All the people who are the survivors of this bomb blast were interviewed and they were asked about the possible outlook of the bomber/culprit. Most of the people said that there was a teen ager who came at the bus stop he shouted something loudly which is not interpreted yet by people and then there was a blast. Most of the injured people have given the signs and outlooks of that boy and the sketch maker has given a sketch in which a clean shaven, teen-age white guy is depicted. This will be used country wide for the tracing of the original motivators of this crime. Evidence recorder is another very important role in a team investigation in this cas e which has the responsibility to collect all the evidences, finger prints, interview wounded people, survey the nearby buildings, shops, churches, schools and markets in order to get a strong grasp on all the important factors that were responsible for the crime. The other role is of the specialists who are the main responsible team member in order to get to the depth of this case. Forensic specialists were called on the crime scene who will apply the arts of back tracking and check the American national database for searching any possible

Cost Identification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cost Identification - Essay Example This is calculated from the direct cost which includes expenses in issues such as revenues, selling and distribution expenses, as well as the cost of development. Others include government revenue on production, as well as shipping costs. These are coined together as the selling and distribution expenses. The costs are engaged directly by the company in the effort of manufacturing the product and distributing it into the market. The company enlists this expense as the central indicator of their path to achievement (Lenovo, 2013). Subsequently, the company experiences yet another set of expenses that is coined under the name of indirect cost. On reference is the expenses that are associated to proceedings that are not unswervingly connected to the production and sales lines. They include an increase in the cost of production due to issue such as inflation, which foresees the increase in the cost of inputs. Others include restrictions on considerations such as environment pollution. Others include the cost incurred on rent, energy, maintenance and internal communication, amongst others. Such costs are accrued in an effort to better quality of the product but are not specific on the product on reference. They may cover all the products in the production line (Lenovo, 2013). Regarding the variable and the fixed cost, various illustrations focusing on these aspects can be fetched from the financial records of the company. Fixed costs include expenses such as rent (property), equipments and units (plant), amongst others. These costs are constantly engaged with minimal variation. The enlisted variable cost include expenses on topics such as wages, upgrade of infrastructure, payment of leases and other utilities necessitated in the process of production. Such costs are set to vary in the course of production (Lenovo, 2013). A further analysis on the financial records posted by the company identifies yet another set of expenses. This includes the value added

What Democracy Is and What It Is Not Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What Democracy Is and What It Is Not - Essay Example The Zimbabwe issue is center stage at the moment and is a clear example of how democracy can be exploited and manipulated to suit a select few. As a requirement for making democracy possible, a competition was available against those who held center stage in the political arena for more than a decade. The race was carried out and there was no majority consensus of more than fifty percent of the electorate. Less than 90 days later the same electorate returns to power a person they had initially rejected, even narrowly Is it safe then to say that within the ensuing time between polls a massive change of heart had come over the nation's electorate and can it be a majority decision when less than fifty percent of the eligible voters turned out the second time around (p97). To use the nation in transit democracy scoring system (2006), I would give the nation a score of 6.00 to 7.00! Suffice to say that the authors may have listed the conditions that make democracy possible which can be substantiated by several texts but they failed to move me from the position where I believe that as long as we are human with individualistic personalities with the need to put self first, a complete democracy will remain a utopia.

Manila and Jose Rizal Essay Example for Free

Manila and Jose Rizal Essay Jose Rizal is our national hero but seriously i don’t know a lot about him. But when I watched the film about Dr. Jose Rizal I was shocked and amazed because of his sacrifice for our country. I though the he was a brilliant individual. He served as an inspiration to all Filipino. During his lifetime, he spent many years outside the Philippines, enriching himself through education, especially in Madrid, Spain. The distance did not diminish nor reduce his love for his country. Far from his motherland, he looked across the seas to find its strength, as well as its weaknesses, in order to uplift it from the abuses of foreign rule. One of the problems and this I feel strongly, with our current approach to Rizal is that it removes him from our ability to relate. But to continue to hold that up as a reason why he should be admired is kind of ridiculous. Because of how we approach Rizal, with all these misguided attempts at humanizing him, we fail to approach him as he would have wanted: Through his ideas, his dreams, his hopes, his understanding in the Philippines, his words that inspire many Filipinos. His real words, not those carefully edited. Not the number of women he supposedly slept with. And most definitely not in the number of languages he spoke. Rizal and I shared the same belief that students must be urged by patriotic ideals and by their passionate love for their country, the Philippines, love for truth and proper values of education. Dr. Jose P. Rizal had given proof of desiring liberty for his country, and he set down as a premise, the education of the people. His teachings greatly influence in me. Like him, I believe in people power and consider myself a modern Rizal youth of today, as the hope of my motherlands tomorrow. He is very nationalistic and I want to reserve my nationalism as well. Like Rizal, Im proud to be a Filipino.

Sale of Human Organs Ethical Argument

Sale of Human Organs Ethical Argument Many people have felt the shock and disbelief that comes with losing a family member or someone close, but the feeling is worse when their death could have been prevented. People often die of organ failure or conditions associated with organs while on a transplant list. In the United States alone, tens of thousands hope for an organ, and thousands die waiting each year (Karimi). By legalizing the sale of human organs, there is a greater chance of increasing organ supply and decreasing the number of lives lost. According to the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984, the buying and selling or compensation for organs from any human for the purpose of transplantation is illegal (Linde). The only organs available to patients in need, are ones from donors whether it be a car crash victim or a spouse with matching blood and tissue type. However, these donations do not cover all of the people in need of an organ, which means around 18 people die everyday because of the fact there are simply not enough (Karimi). The government should legalize the sale or compensation of human organs. In doing so, the number of available organs will increase and make it easier for patients to find an organ match. This will also increase the number of live organ donors, allowing a longer life span for the organs donated as compared to cadaver organs. The compensations also give people in need another option to obtain money, however the choice to give out of the goodness of ones heart is still present. The most important reason why we should legalize human organ sales is the lack of available organ supply. With compensation for donating an organ, more people would be willing to give up a part of themselves. In doing so, the transplant waiting list will decrease, if not disappear. In Iran, there is a kidney program that openly allows payments. This has helped to effectively eliminate the countrys kidney transplant waiting list since 1999 (Karimi). Many doctors and experts have urged America along with other nations to consider adopting these aspects of Irans system (Karimi). A large number of people die because along with the shortage of organs, they are not able to find a suitable donor. Choosing an appropriate donor for a patient is not a simple task. There are a lot of factors that should be considered such as type of the blood, medical urgency, health of the donor, distance from donor, etc. According to Bhattacharya, there is large shortage of organs all over the world. To be specific, in the US, about 75,000 were waiting for the kidney transplants in 2008, but only 18,000 got their kidneys; about 4,000 of those Americans have died, waiting until the end of 2009. (Linde) According to Nasser Karimi, thousands more people could be saved if medical staff searched for possible donors more often. Therefore, an increase in the number of organs available with make the process of finding a matching organ much easier. A benefit to the sale or donation of live human donors organs, is the fact that living organs last much longer than cadaver organs. An example is explained by Nasser Karimi in his article when he explicates that kidneys from a living donor have a significantly better long-term survival rate than those from a deceased donor. The average kidney from a diseased donor lasts 10 years, while one from a living donor averages about 15 years (Karimi). This principle can also add on to the number of lives saved via transplant. Over the past years, hundreds of thousand of transplants have been performed with organs from living donors who acted out of the sense of common humanity or love. While donating out of the goodness of ones heart is used for some, many people often need money for a variety of reasons. By legalizing the compensation for organs, people in need would have another option to pay for things like retirement, college tuition, bills, etc. Another issue to come up is the amount of money that should be given as compensation to the donor. Many say a person can not put a price on organs. The system to set the price would be very organized and involve different factors including the type of organ and the distance from the patient (Marchione). Many experts all suggest that organ sales would give advantage to the wealthy and disadvantage to the poor (Lopez). However as explained above, there is not a set price on the organ, meaning negotiations will make the final decision. The government should legalize the sale of organs because of the many benefits it has to offer. With compensations for donors, lives will be saved, organ supply will skyrocket and it will be easier for a patient to find a match. This in turn will offer a more readily available supply of organs. Lives will be saved and deaths will be prevented with the legalization of organ sales..

Methods of measuring stress and their effectiveness

Methods of measuring stress and their effectiveness Firstly introduced by Hans Selye (1950), the term stress is more used to describe an individuals state of tension which is often seen as being related to modern life. However, stress assessment is made using different method which includes: Self report Biomedical Physiological Self report: Life events (Holmes and Rahe 1976) The most common way of assessing stress is by self-report questionnaires, in which individuals answer questions about their mental or physical state. As a result, two medical doctors, Holmes and Rahe (1976) suggested that major life events, whether good or bad, were potentially stressful. Holmes and Rahe were the first to record the effects of life events in a systematic way. By their study, they observed that patients often experienced several life events in the months before the onset of illness, and as a result, these life events seemed to be associated with poor health and stress. They suggested that, stress is caused by change that can lead to greater susceptibility to physical and mental health disorders. They demonstrated the associations between life events, stress and illness by developing some method of measuring life events. Accordingly, they compiled the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) by examining 5000 patient records and making a list of 43 life events both posi tive and negative that seemed to precede illness . Approximately 400 participants were involved in the rating of each item in terms of the quantity of stress produced, out of which 500 was assigned to marriage as a reference point. The averaged results were then divided by 10 to get a measure of the individual events in terms of life change units (LCU). An example of Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) LIFE EVENTS Rank Life Event Stress Value 1 Death of a spouse 100 2 Divorce 73 3 Marital separation 65 4 Jail term 63 5 Death of a close family member 63 6 Personal injury or illness 53 7 Marriage 50 8 Fired at work 47 9 Marital reconciliation 45 10 Retirement 45 13 Sex difficulties 39 23 Son or daughter leaving 29 38 Change in sleeping habits 16 40 Change in eating habits 15 41 Vacation 13 42 Christmas 12 43 Minor violations of the law law 11 Reference Adapted from Holmes, T., Rahe, R. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of psychosomatic research, 11, 213-218. Doctors, Holmes and Rahe (1967) findings suggested that the stress of life events is correlated with physical illness; hence experiencing life events increases the chances of stress-related health breakdown. They were however criticised for being bias by investigating only American men and using only correlational methods. à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ Assessing the effectiveness of the Self report as a method of stress measurement The SRRS provides the basis for perhaps the most active current area of stress research and also retrospective investigation using either the SRRS or SRE (Schedule of Recent Experience) have demonstrated a linear relationship between mounting life change, cardiac death, accidents, diabetes, leukaemia and infectious disease (Holmes Masuda, 1974). Using the research questionnaire, Holmes Rahe (1950) tested various sub-groups to see if the ratings were consistent, e.g. male and female, single and married and so on. As there was strong agreement between different groups, it seemed that the SRRS was a valid measure for all types of people regardless of their backgrounds. This contributes to the effectiveness of the self report method of stress measurement. This SRRS questionnaire (Holmes and Rahe, 1976) has served as a well-known tool for measuring the amount of stress one has experienced within the past year. Taking the test can help one see clearly if theyre at risk of illness due to stress. The method provided some of the first evidence that there is a genuine association between stressful life events and physical illness. Also, the fact that physical health was assessed after life events increases the chances that life events were helping to cause problems with physical health, rather than the other way round The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) and the research associated with it represent a major breakthrough, this is because, it is now generally accepted that life events of various kinds can influence our psychological well-being and our physical and mental health. The development of the SRRS has made it easier to carry out research to test these ideas. This in turn has led to a clearer understanding of the ways in which life events affect us. Indirect evidence that stressful life events play a role in life threatening diseases was reported by Selye, Tache and Day (1979).According to these researchers, cancer was more common among adults who divorced, widowed or separated than among those who were married. The most likely explanation is that, those who were not married were stressed because of lack of social support. It is however hard to establish causal relationships from such data (SSRS data). Perhaps those who were divorced or separated were more vulnerable to stress than those who were married; hence, this stress vulnerability played a role in the collapse of their marriages One of the limitations to this method is that, it has often been assumed that almost any serious life can help to produce any type of illness. This has led to a relative ignoring of more specific effects. Supporting evidence to this effect was where, two men, Finlay -Jones and Brown (1981) found that anxious patients were more likely than depressed patients to have experienced danger events(involving future threats), whereas depressed patients were more likely to have experienced loss events (involving past loses). More research into such studies will however be useful. Another negative side of the SRRS is that, a number of studies have shown that peoples illness rates increase following increase rates in stress scores. However, a number of items on the scale are vague e.g. personal injury or illness appears to suggest that someone could have the same stress score for flu and cancer. Second, there is no general failure to consider the impact of an event on an individual. Christmas is considered to be a mildly stressful event, yet to some people, Christmas may seem extremely stressful, as it may emphasize their loneliness. The SRRS has face validity because many of the events listed are easily recognisable as stressful events. The values Allocated to each stress event have been carefully calculated from data provided by the opinions of many people. The survey form can be filled out easily and quickly. With reference to Raphael et al. (1991), Self-report measures of life events are unreliable. A study had subjects fill out a scale regarding life events they experienced during the prior year. The subjects then filled out the same Questionnaire every month for a year. Towards the end of the year the reports were quite different from the ones made at the beginning of the year (Raphael, et al. 1991). The questionnaire or scale also ignores chronic stresses such as money problems, general hassles etc. Taking this into account, the measure could be considered invalid. Biomedical: Stress and ulcers (Brady 1958) One of the biomedical methods of measuring stress is the evidence that stress may be a causal factor in stomach ulcers. This research was first described by Joseph Brady (1958). Brady did classic studies linking high levels of stress to increased hormone production and the development of ulcers. Brady did this by placing monkeys in restraining chairs and conditioned them to press a lever. The monkeys were then given shocks every 20 seconds unless the lever was pressed during the same time. This experiment however came to an abrupt halt when unexpectedly many of the monkeys died because of ulcers caused by raised gastrointestinal hormone levels. The question put forward was whether the ulcers resulted from the electric shock or the stress. To enhance his results, Brady and his mates used yoked controls where one monkey called executive was liable for controlling the lever while a second monkey received the shocks but had no control over the lever. Thus, only the executive monkey had t he physiological stress of having to press the lever, but both animals received shocks. After 23 days of 6 hours on and off schedule, the executive monkey died because of perforated ulcer. Brady initially thought that the stress might be related to the reinforcement schedule. He also tried several other routines such as 18 hours on and 6 hours off and tested the executive monkey to find out that stomach acidity was greatest during this period. After the experiment, Brady concluded that it was clearly stress, not the shocks that created the ulcers. Having said that, he also concluded that the greatest danger happened while the sympathetic arousal stopped and the stomach was flooded with digestive hormones, which is a parasympathetic rebound linked with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis, hence HPA. Assessing the effectiveness of the biomedical as a method of stress measurement The research carried out by Brady (1958) proved effectively that stress may be a causal factor in stomach ulcers. Stress often increases the secretion of hydrochloric acid, which plays in the development of some ulcers. Stress also weakens the defences of the gastrointestinal tract against this acid, thereby permitting gastric ulcers to develop. (Pinel, 1997). Supporting evidence to the effectiveness of Bradys experiment is Weiner et al. (1957) findings in support to Bradys experiment. Weiner et al. (1957) used army recruits to test for the effectiveness of Bradys experiment. Prior to basic training, the soldiers were tested and classed on the basis of their release of digestive enzymes as over-secretors or under -secretors. After four months of stressful training, 14% of the over-secretors had developed ulcers, whereas none of the under-secretors had. This suggests not only that the same principles apply to humans, but also that individual differences may be important in view of the fact that not all of the over-secretors developed ulcers. Biochemical method of measuring stress involves adrenaline and noradrenalin hormones. These hormones provides effective measures of stress The research also suggested that too much stress at work can lead to development of ulcers. Bradys experiment was however criticised for not randomly selecting the monkeys and also, using non-human samples Subsequent research has also demonstrated that ulcers are not always stress related, there could be an underlying biological cause. E.g. fungi Bradys experiment is associated with the Hypothalamic -Pituitary-Adrenocortical Axis, this in effect elevates levels of glucose and some hormones including the ACTH (Acetylcholine) and the body continues to use its resources at an accelerating rate. Stress-triggered increases in heart rate and blood pressure. This may result in the deterioration and blocking of blood vessels thereby increasing cardiovascular disorders and chronic stress. Many physical, organisational and social factors in the workplace can become sources of stress, usually exerting a relatively long-term, stable and chronic influence. Work overload, lack of control, and poor interpersonal relations at work may all lead distress, ill health and eventual burnout. Hence, biomedical serves as a suitable method for assessing stress at a work place Physiological: Biofeedback Physiological measures in stress provide indications of the level of sympathetic nervous arousal. This can include a persons heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration rate and so on. One of the common physiological methods used in measuring stress is biofeedback. Biofeedback is a technique which involves recording the activity of the physiological systems of the bodys stress response, that is the heart rate, blood pressure or tension in the neck muscles. This enables the individual to monitor their own physiological arousal in real times and develop control over it (Gatchel, 1997). During the process, the individual is attached is attached to a machine which produces feedback about some physiological activity such as an auditory or visual signal to indicate whether his / her heart rate is too high or moderate. The individual is also trained in techniques to reduce physiological aspects of stress such as relaxation training. One of the common ways humans can learn to control their brain-waves is by using electroencephalogram (EEG) biofeedback. Electroencephalogram (EEG) An EEG involves placing electrodes on a persons scalp to record the small changes in electrical activity of the brain. These changes are displayed on a computer screen. EEGs are often used to measure changes in brain activity during the different stages of sleep; however, in biofeedback EEG is used to give visual feedback of the activity of the waking brain. Biofeedback training however involves three stages, they include: Developing an awareness of the particular physiological response such as the heart rate Learning ways of controlling that physiological response in quiet conditions. This can include providing rewards for successful control in addition to no feedback Transferring that control into the conditions of everyday life. Assessing the effectiveness of biofeedback as a method of measuring stress This method has been effective in significant long-term reductions in stress in everyday life and has also led to benefits by producing a sense of control rather than purely psychological methods. Attanasio et al (1985) researched and found that biofeedback helped teenagers and children with stress related disorders to gain control over the symptoms of migraine headaches. The approach was however criticised that it treated symptoms rather than underlying conditions. Biofeedback has enjoyed a brief surge of popularity since its inception in the late 1960s. It has successfully treated many medical problems, particularly stress related illnesses such as incontinence, anxiety, hypertension, circulatory problems, irritable bowel syndrome and so on. Since its inception, it has produced significant long term reductions in stress in everyday life without any side effects unlike the other physiological approach (drugs) Biofeedback may lead to benefits by producing a sense of control rather than purely psychological methods. It is however not invasive, but rather voluntary. Arguably, the benefits of biofeedback could be gained from another relaxation technique and so biofeedback is an unnecessary expense. This serves as a limitation to biofeedback as a method of measuring stress. Recommendation of one way of stress measurement for use by the company Above all these methods of measuring stress, I will recommend life events which falls under self report because it is by this way that the individual can fully express his/her feelings and pain through subjective questionnaire about their mental and physical state. Criteria 3.1 Physiological approach to stress management and control Stress control and management is the attempt that is made to cope with stress through reduction of the of the stress response. There are many approaches to reducing a persons stress levels, but usually, it is aimed at the physiological and psychological effects of stress. The basic target for stress management is usually based on changing the individuals perception of the stressor. Physiological approaches to stress management are techniques that try to control the bodys response to stress by reducing physiological activity. The physiological components of stress can include physiological arousal, sleep disturbance, fatigue, gastrointestinal disturbances, headaches, concentration problems, increased expression of irritability and anger, agitation, increased likelihood for illness, and reduced productivity. The impact and the expression of these stress symptoms vary with the individual and the stressful event. Two physiological methods for controlling stress include biofeedback and stress. However, I am going to evaluate one out these two, which is Anti-anxiety drugs technique. Anti-anxiety drugs Anti-anxiety drugs are medicines that are used calming and relaxing severe stress cases. They can also be used to calm nervousness, tension or for specific phobia disorder. The human body produces chemicals such as hormones and neurotransmitters that create anxiety, which can be countered using other chemical substances such as drugs that reduce anxiety. There are different types of anti- anxiety that work through different mechanisms. The most common drugs are: Beta-blockers Benzodiazepines Alcohol (rarely used) Beta-blockers Beta-blockers are one of the drugs used control stress by reducing activity in the sympathetic nervous system. They have a direct action on the heart and circulatory system hence; they decrease the heart rate and lower peripheral blood pressure. Their effects are on the body however, they do not have direct effects on brain activity. Lau et al. (1992) considered the findings from numerous studies in a meta-analysis hence combining data from several studies. Thus, beta-blockers have proved useful in reducing blood pressure and in treating patients with heart disease. Psychological research also concludes that, the drug reduced the risk of death by about 20% in patients suffering from heart disease. It also enhances performance in musicians and public speakers (Taylor 1995). However, one disadvantage of beta-blockers is that, they target symptoms rather than causes of anxiety and stress hence providing only temporary improvement. Benzodiazepines Sometimes when drugs are taken, they elapse in natural processes by controlling the action of neurotransmitters. Types of benzodiazepines include Valium and Librium which are used for increasing the neurotransmitter GABA, which decreases serotonin activity, which eventually reduces arousal. Benzodiazepines are very effective and used worldwide by approximately hundred million people. Despite its effectiveness, benzodiazepines have got some side effects which are linked to low levels of serotonin. Common effects can include drowsiness, causing of cognitive and memory impairments, feelings of depression, and interacting unpredictably with alcohol Ashton (1997). Another effect of the drug is that, it is more likely to be involved with accident. Strengths of Anti-anxiety drugs Anti-anxiety drugs can be very effective in controlling severe feelings of stress. Beta blockers for instance act on the autonomic nervous system to reduce heart rate/blood pressure physiological stress arousal. Anti-depressant drugs, less often used, can be appropriate for severe anxiety Benzodiazepines such as Valium increase the activity of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in the brain. Anti-anxiety drugs decrease arousal and relax the body by reducing tension in the muscles. Since stress response involves high arousal, tranquillizers may in some cases reduce stress Weaknesses of Anti-anxiety drugs Anti-anxiety drugs like benzodiazepines work by reducing brain activity. While this temporarily relieves anxiety, it can also lead to unwanted side effects. The higher the dose, the more pronounced these side effects typically are. But some people feel sleepy, foggy, and uncoordinated even on low doses of benzodiazepines, which can cause problems with work, school, or everyday activities such as driving. Some even feel a medication hangover the next day. Because benzodiazepines are metabolized slowly, the medication can build up in the body when used over longer periods of time. The result is over sedation. People who are over sedated may look like theyre drunk. Anxyolitic drugs can cause psychological and physical dependence, tolerance and addiction. Psychological approach to stress management and control Psychological approach to stress control and management are the techniques that try to control the cognitive, social, and emotional responses to stress. They do this by addressing the underlying cause of stress such as faulty thinking. This approach works by changing the persons perception of the stressor and increasing their perception control. One psychological approach to stress control and management is the cognitive-behavioral therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy Cognitive-behavioral therapy to controlling stress is based on the cognitive appraisal definition of stress and aims to change a persons perceptions and thoughts relating to, and dealing with stressful disorders. This therapy is appropriate for dealing with stress hence the assumption behind the cognitive approach is that, it is the way one thinks about the problem that is maladaptive. Thus, if an individual can be trained to reorganize their thinking and self-beliefs, the underlying problem itself may simply disappear. This approach to managing stress involves: stress inoculation training and hardiness training. Stress inoculation training Stress inoculation training (SIT): Unlike many cognitive therapies, stress inoculation training (SIT) is a more problem-focused coping strategy. It was developed by Donald Meichenbaum (1977, 1985) and the basic idea was to prepare individuals to cope with potential stressors. According to Meichenbaum (1985), the best way to cope with stressors is to go on the offensive and try to pre-empt them. People should try to anticipate sources of stress and have effective coping strategies ready to put in place. Meichenbaum (1985) describes SIT as: Analogous to the concept of medical inoculation against infectious diseasesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It is designed to build psychological antibodies or coping skills, and to enhance resistance through exposure to stimuli that are strong enough to arouse defences without being so powerful as to overcome them. (Meichenbaum 1985) There are three main phases in stress inoculation training: 1. Assessment: with this training, the therapists discuss the nature of the problem with the individual, and solicit the individuals perception of how to eliminate it. Meichenbaum (1985) considers this relationship to be very important as it provides the glue that allows the various aspects of the therapy to work together. 2. Stress reduction techniques: the individual learns various techniques for reducing stress, such as relaxation and self instructional training, communication, assertion, problem solving, anger control, parenting, study skills and using social support by using coping self statements. 3. Application and follow through: In this final phase, the individual imagines using the stress reduction techniques learned in the second phase in difficult situations and engages in role play of such situations with the therapists, before using the techniques in a real life situations. Strengths of stress inoculation training One important strength of Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) is that, it is very flexible. This is because, it consists of a wide variety of cognitive and behavioural techniques tailored to the individual needs of the client, which can be used to deal with many types of stressor (e.g., time-limited/persistent, controllable/uncontrollable, predictable/unpredictable, current/in the past). It has been found to be successful in helping people deal with the stress of chronic pain, performance anxiety, specific phobias and work related stress (Meichenbaum, 1977, 1985). This training has also helped athletes deal with the stress of competition (Mace, Eastmen Carroll, 1986) and helping patients prepare for surgery (Langer, Janis Wolfer, 1975). Weakness of stress inoculation training Stress inoculation training is however of less value when treating individuals who are highly stressed or exposed to very stressful situations. Most individuals differ in how easy they find it to use coping self statements in stressful situations. Hardiness training Over these years, much research into stress has shown that there are significant individual differences in the way that people respond to stress. Since some individuals seem to cope better than others do, it makes sense to try to isolate the reasons why they can do so. The hope is that more effective ways of coping can be passed on to help those who are not as well prepared. Suzanne Kobasa (1986) has identified such individuals, who she describes as hardy, as those whose cognitive strategies are better suited to dealing with stress. For example, they are more able to identify the symptoms of stress hence avoiding action can be taken in time. They make more realistic assessments of stressors, including being aware of the positive aspects of stressful situations, opportunities and new challenges. Kobasa suggests that hardiness can be improved with appropriate training. Her programme consists of three techniques: 1. Focusing: This explains that one should focus on the physical signs of stress and beware when further attention is needed. 2. Reconstructing stress situations: This technique the individual to think about recent stressful situations and note how it might have turned out both better and worse, hence becoming aware that things could have been worse enables you to feel more positive. 3. Compensation through self-improvement: If an individual is affected by a stressor that cannot be changed or avoided, then it may be helpful to take on another challenge that can be mastered. Consequently, this assures you that you can hope. Strengths of hardiness training There is little direct research evidence on the effectiveness of hardiness training and what research there is, however, Fischman taught a small number of executives these strategies and they had greater job satisfaction, fewer headaches, and better sleep patterns Weaknesses of hardiness training Reports were made that people who have followed this kind of programme do score higher on a test of hardiness, report feeling less stressed, and have lower blood pressure than before, Sarafino (1990). The study was done on a small scale and there was no follow-up, so results may have been due to increased attention and communication only Summary Both Meichenbaum (1985) and Kobasas(1986) approaches to stress management place great emphasis on the individual gaining control of a stressful situation because it is more often the sensation of being out of control that takes a situation beyond a persons ability to cope.

Dust Over The City :: essays research papers

An Essay on "During A Son’s Dangerous Illness" Death can strike at anytime, sometimes expected, but too often unannounced. Denise Levertov wrote a poem entitled "During a Son’s Dangerous Illness" about the unmerciful side of death. This poem emphasied on emotions, visualization, and a consice structure that symbolizes how perplexing and awful death can be. It is a poem of desolate mood and brought a horrifiying feeling to me. In my opinion, works of literature like this that bring a sense of awarness to the world to cherish every moment, for it could be your last. The beginning of the poem starts with a very powerful line: "You could die before me". The fact of the matter is, however, no matter what the circumstances, young, old, rich, poor, white, or black; you can be here today and gone tommorrow. It is very evident at the beginning of the poem that the author is coming from personal expierence. The author speaks of how her younger sister passed away and how heartbroken their mother was. Now it seems she is faced with her first born possibly dying in an untimely manner. Instead of devoting the poem to just simply her pain, anguish, and suffering, she broadens the topic of death and applies it to society and the environment in a way that cause me to reflect. She asks questions regarding what will happen if all life dyies, all creatures, signifing how death effects everyone and has is nondiscriminant in its quest. Questions arise about the past and future and, when something dies, what possibly becomes of that potential future or, in fact, there ever was one. Is it all some master plan, is it all for nothing, do loved ones have a say? I believe part of the answer is no, we have no say in who gets taken from us, at least for the most part. The future that could’ve been, was only a future we, the loving hopefuls, had anticipated. The amount of drain of energy is amazing when someone is deathly ill. When one is not in control of fate and can’t easily accept this lack of control, it can produce a feeling of confusion that takes over ever y aspect of one’s life. That is what this poem is saying. Something else that really interested me was how the author compared how an outsider might feel about a tragic death as compared to the person directly affected by the death of a loved one.