War is never justified Essay Example for Free

War is never justified Essay In this essay I shall give a review of the current war on Afghanistan and some of the theories behind it being either just or unjust war. In these time is can be difficult for people to give their honest and pure opinions on war, partly because of their countries allies, enemies and even their personal friends foes. People living in the United States of America will be influenced by their leaders getting them to go to a war against Afghanistan in which they call: War Against Terrorism. There is one problem with this and that is that you cannot wipe out all the wicked off the world as this is impossible. You may be able to stop a significant amount of it but not all of it, it is just physically impossible. I said at the beginning of this essay that I would go through some of the theories, so here they are: 1. Realism: no moral justification Realism is when the public do not get a decision to go to war, it is all up to the government to decide and work at their own interests on the war. 2. Consequentialism: Consequentialism is when a war is justified by the consequences on both sides. This prevents any possible tragedies happening. 3. Just War Theory: The Just War Theory has VERY strict conditions, in fact if a war is justified it must meet with seven conditions: 1.Just cause 2.Last Resort 3.Lawful Authority 4.Formal Declaration 5.Right Intention 6.Prospects of Success 7.Proportionality (good overall effects) 4. Pacifism: Pacifism is simply that war is never justified, this is what I believe. Now let me give you three questions that give a simple sum-up of what I have just said: 1. Is war allowed or not? Pacifism versus non-pacifism 2. If allowed, are any ethical limitations suitable? Realism versus ethics-of-war theories. 3. If moral constraints are appropriate, what should they be? Consequentialism, Just War Theory or Pacificism. Ill bet there are many more theories out there, but I have just picked these out because it gives a good range of different perspectives. I will now go through the seven conditions of the Just War Theory and apply them of the war against Afghanistan: 1.Just cause 2.Last Resort 3.Lawful Authority 4.Formal Declaration 5.Right Intention 6.Prospects of Success 7.Proportionality (good overall effects) Just Cause Just Cause means that you cannot just attack a random country for some poor reason, for example (this is imaginary): The USA attack Monte Carlo because they are jealous of a wonderfully complex and twisty racetrack they possess. This would be pathetic as the Americans have the Laguna Seca Raceway and it just seems so childish. Anyway, back to the point, this theory has to include two states, one being attacked and the other doing the attacking. The problem with this is that no state attacked America, it was an organisation. So this part of the Just Cause Test has been failed. Now for the second condition. Last Resort This condition states that if all other reasonable (in the eyes of the theory) options have been exhausted then the best option can be taken. It seems debatable that other options have not been exhausted, so another failure. Lawful Authority Formal Declaration The war must be formally declared to the public and the opposing state. Bin Laden has completely failed this test, but the USA has formally declared their war. This test has been passed with flying colours Right Intention Not only do states have to have a just cause, they must let the public know about it, not just some hidden intention like the imaginary example I gave earlier. If we look at American foreign policy since World War II it shows that the policy has been inconsistent throughout. Through their disobedience of justice we can positively say that the same has happened here, so this test is almost undoubtedly failed. Prospects of Success If there are no signs stating that this war will be won, then it will be a disastrous waste of life. The current War against Terrorism covers such a colossal span it is evident that the named battle will never be won. Another test failed. Proportionality (good overall effects) No war is justified unless the good effects gained by the war are better than the evil it inflicts. The war is causing starvation (including death of it), many casualties, and death because of protests. According to the just war theory two out of the seven conditions have been passed, so in this theory the war should not be continued. Realist View Nothing better will be gained for the Americans, so from this view the war should not have been started either. Utilitarian view The verdict is doubtful for utilitarianism, too. Whether the war has better consequences than any alternative approach depends not just on the last point of the Just War Theory, which itself makes it very doubtful that the war can be justified. Also, utilitarianism requires not just that the results of war be on balance but on the war being the alternative with the best results, which is even more doubtful. Completely failed. Consequentialism According to Consequentialists the key question is: Will the final strategy minimise the bad-effects compared to all the other options? You must consider that all lives are equal. So, if all lives count equally, then a military strategy that kills many more civilians for the sake of a smaller reduction in military casualties on one side cannot be justified on consequentialist justifications. But this is precisely the reason why the US and its allies have used massive air strikes in what they say is the first phase of the war. It seems likely that this strategy does not minimise the bad effects compared to all alternatives and so any consequentialist justification is doubtful. Summing up I believe that there is no such thing as a just war and countries should stop, tidy up and talk, it would save a lot of lives and be a lot more logical, even if it means translating!

The Contemporary Challenges Of The Muslim Ummah Religion Essay

The Contemporary Challenges Of The Muslim Ummah Religion Essay Before scrutinizing those challenges, let us have a quick look to the definition of challenges and ummah, the key words throughout this study. Challenge is a simple everyday word. If one browses through several dictionaries he will find out that the definition given by those dictionaries is more or less the same, which is a demanding or stimulating situation  [1]  . Specifically, it refers to (the situation of being faced with) something needing great mental and physical effort in order to be done successfully and which therefore tests a persons ability.  [2]   No doubt that our ummah faces many challenges, both internal and external. While external challenges come from our surrounding most of them created by the West to control and destroy us, internal challenges are challenges that occurred within us, which sometimes difficult for us to identify (and admit) and much more dangerous compared to external challenges, if we fail to manage and overcome them. This study will focus first in discussing the internal challenges and will touch about the external challenges later. Internal Challenges Disunited Ummah: The No. 1 within Enemy The first and foremost internal challenge that Muslims need to overcome urgently is their disunited ummah. As we know, the mission of the prophet Muhammad was to bring peace and unity to the feuding tribes of the pre-Islamic days. However, after the prophet passed away, the Arabs returned to their feuding wars. Blindly tribal loyalties returned. Disputes over which tribe had the right to succeed the leadership of the Muslims ummah after the death of the prophet eventually led to the most serious and dangerous schism among Muslims. Certainly, the quarrel between Muslim sects and nations are obviously contrary to the teachings of Islam. Let us admit that Islam and the Muslim world today are divided and disarray. They are unable to cope with the changes that are happening in this world and are reversing further and further backwards. Therefore, we should resolve our own quarrels to present a united ummah. Most importantly, we should never be our own enemy. Disappointingly, personal quarrels and ambitions for power seem allowed in Muslim world, which eventually disrupt government administration, leaving it incapable of addressing the needs of the people  [5]  . As a result, Muslim nations remain largely underdeveloped, poor, unskilled, uneducated and incapable of contributing positively towards the well being of the Muslims, their faiths and nations. Though many of us are blessed with rich resources, we are unable to put such resources to the optimal use, to serve and defend Islam and Muslims against those who loudly confess their hatred against us and bravely proclaim their intention to frustrate us. The bad situation becomes worse when the best, skilful and knowledgeable people of us emigrate and contribute to the wealth and prosperity of other nations, to the some extent, to the nations which are hostile to us. This frustrated situation happened because we are unable to offer these talented people with facilities, plus the conditions of our nations are unsuitable for the application of the considerable attributes that they possess, simply because we are too busy with our petty quarrels  [6]  . Thus, we need the right people to rule the nations, and to get this, the one and only situation is to revert to the teaching of Islam, the really true teachings, not the teachings which are interpreted to justify the bad things we are doing as good. If we are not sure what is really meant by the true teachings, we need to ask only few questions. Does Islam advocate wars and violence amongst Muslims? Does Islam advocate oppression of the people by the government, or destabilize the government by the irresponsible acts of the people? Can we really say that it is our religious duty to be poor, without knowledge and skills, incapable of defending ourselves against our enemies? We clearly know the answers to all these questions, and yet, we do not care to follow the Islamic answers to these questions. Instead, we quibble about small issues, fight over minor differences. We divide Muslims and cause them to fight because differences created in our practices in Islam. Fundamentalists: The True Muslims or Extremists? Another internal challenge faces by Muslim in this contemporary world is fundamentalist Muslims. Realizing or not, fundamentalism is one of the most abused word. Most of the time, it is associated with extremism. Yet, if the teachings of Islam are revised, it would be obvious that the past best Muslims were fundamentalists. On the contrary, nowadays, the people who are usually described as fundamentalists are far away from following of the Islamic teachings. Most of them have seemingly reverted to the pre-Islamic jahilliyyah ways of extreme loyalty to their groups, to fanaticism or taasub  [7]  . The answer lies in correcting or abandoning the incorrect interpretations of Islam by some of the so called ulama. These interpreters, no matter how learned they may be in teachings of the religion, or how large may be their followers, or how established their teachings, are not prophets. Prophets can not be wrong, but these interpreters of Islam can be. If Islam appears rigid and doctrinaire, it is because the learned interpreters make it so. They tended to be harsh and intolerant when interpreting during the golden day of the Muslim empires. And so, long after the Muslims have lost their predominant era, and the world has changed, the Muslim were exhorted to adhere to interpretation which are no longer adequate or relevant. What Muslims must do is to go back to the teaching of Holy Quran and genuine Hadiths, study and interpret them in the context of the present day. It is Allahs will that the world has changed. It is not for man to reverse what has been willed by Him. Islam is not only meant for seventh century Arabs. The faithful must look for guidance from the teachings of Quran and Hadiths in the present context. If we Muslims understand this, then there will be fewer misunderstandings among us, and the world will be a better place if all misunderstandings are removed. External Challenges Globalization: The Modern Form of Colonization Globalization as defined by the West is the generalized expansion of international economic activity which includes increased international trade, growth of international investment (foreign investment) and international migration, and increased creation of technology among countries. Globalization is the increasing world-wide integration of markets for goods, services, labor, and capital.  [8]  Some Muslim scholars are exalted and believed that globalization will benefit and give positive impacts on Muslims, while others (including this study) take a more skeptical and critical view of this process. Realizing or not, globalization in its current manifestation is benefiting the West as their idea of a borderless would simply means the unbridled flow of capital across borders. The huge amount of wealth some of us have accumulated through the extraction of our national resources has not been invested in our own countries. We have instead taking advantage of the free flow of capital to invest in the developed countries. Effectively we have enriched them  [9]  . Unfortunately, they have used our money that we have invested, to invest back in our countries, destabilize and impoverish us by pulling out their investment suddenly. Then, they take advantage of our poverty to gain control over us. Much of our money is hold hostage abroad and is actually used against us. In fact, we are not even able to use our natural resources to enrich ourselves. We find ourselves quite helpless and unable to adjust and take advantage of these new ideas and concepts. Our own resources are the cause of our present impoverishment and weakness. But, we do not really care because we always believe that they can provide us with powerful means to assert our influence in the whole world, to strengthen and protect us from oppression. All we need is simple, the will to regulate the supply. Yet, we cannot even do this  [10]  . Nowadays, colonial control of land by military strength or physical colonialism can no longer be accepted by society worldwide, even no longer necessary. Control to currency trading that globalization has introduced holds similar effects. This form of colonialism could be achieved without sacrificing the life of soldiers. When a country becomes poor, it will be politically unstable and a power struggle will ensue. As a result, there will be successive change in leadership until a candidate who is willing to submit to the world power is found. In other words, before getting to that moment, colonization has occurred. Still, there are some of us who do not believe that what is happening now can throw us back to the early days of colonialism  [11]  . When we agreed to globalization, we thought that we would be able to share the wealth and technology of the rich countries. But, the rich countries are actually thinking about how globalization would enable them to exploit the untapped resources of the poor countries by using their huge capital and sophisticated technology. Even though exploiting the poor to enrich themselves causes more poverty and misery, so long as it is done in the name of globalization, it is still considered as fair and proper. The attack on the currencies of South East Asian countries in 1997 is the good example on how they exploit globalization  [12]  . Islam stresses a balance between materialism and spiritualism, between life in this world and hereafter. The loss of the spiritual values in the West has resulted in unbridled materialism. Money is considered as the most important thing in life. As a result, money is literally worshipped as an end in itself, not as a mean to an end. Nothing must get in the way in the acquisition of more money. And in the process of doing so, economic has to be devastated, people killed, children starved. All these are perfectly all rights as long as the objective is to make more money  [13]  . Therefore, all Muslims should work together to defend the sovereignty of our nations. What we are doing is actually defending our own independence. No less than that. Do remember, those who created the economic, political and social problems that we are facing now are just like the colonists who once colonized us. Do not ever think that their behaviors have changed. As the Malay proverb says, Tigers will always have their stripes. Globalization a world without border is a terminology introduced by the West, not by us, by Muslims. Surely, the West did not come out with this new thought to lose out. It is invented for their own interest. Let us not accept it without scrutiny, without suspicion. Let us not accept all this simply because we want them to regard us as sophisticated. Let us not be proud of being praised by them when we show how up-to-date our thinking is  [14]  . Globalization might bring many benefits to us, but this new thinking will destroy us more. The attack of our currencies is part of globalization and we only end up losing. Information Technology Another Cold War Nowadays, it is obvious that information, rather the mastery over it, will determine the course of future struggles between nations. Recent breakthroughs in the field of communication and computer technologies have made it the most valuable currency of the age. If natural resources were what represented wealth and power in the past, information now claims an equal place, and is poised to become, in the near future, the most basic source of strength  [15]  . Muslim countries have struggled so hard to catch up with advanced nations. This new technology may affect this struggle in two opposite ways. Firstly, it is possible that it may take the battle still harder. The technology might make the gap between Muslims and industrial world more difficult to bridge, increase the westernization of our culture, and further tighten the grip of those already in control of the world. However, if we take it positively, the same technology may provide wider opportunities to Muslims nations to free themselves from cultural and economic influence of the West, loosen their control over the means of knowledge, and reduce its influence over oppressed nations. Of course, these opportunities will come for us only if we know how to exploit this technology to gain our objectives. It would need vision, strategy, cooperation and solidarity. That is the only way the challenges of the next century can be met. A quick survey at the state of information in Muslim countries will show how difficult it is to speak of a joint Islamic information in the absence of strong cooperation among them. The lack of comprehensive researches and field studies reflect the true state of information in Muslim societies. Therefore, any evaluation of the state of information in the Muslim world would be no more than a general opinion based purely on personal experience and observation. To cure a disease, of course we need to be clear about what really cause it. Generally speaking, information in Muslim countries continue to suffer because of several reasons continuous dependency on foreign media, low level of cooperation and exchanges of information among Muslim nations, centralization and state control of information, and emphasize more on technical and material aspects while manpower development gets low priority. It would be unrealistic, and almost impossible to believe that individual Muslim country would be able to confront these challenges separately  [16]  . Cooperation must always be the principle guidance. Instead of complaining about foreign cultural and media invasion of our societies, we must take the initiative to stop the invasion. Appeal to Islamic government to cooperate with the private sector for the establishment of joint information, advertising projects, and supporting and encouraging information industries can be one of the valuable suggestion. To ensure the successful implementation of such projects, there must be unified policies and plans to facilitate and attract investments plus a joint Islamic fund to provide loans to finance these projects. Moreover, the infrastructure of Muslim countries should be linked together, commercial information and advertising representation unified, communication mechanism consolidated and an Islamic information bloc set up. All these promises brought about by the information revolution should make us view them with optimism and make the right investment in a way that would ensure the advancement of our societies and enable us to face the challenges facing us. They should also inspire us to plan carefully and lay down a solid ground for a coordinated effort that would free us from Western information domination. The cure lies in our ills and we know the cure. What is needed is a joint initiative to start the treatment. Conclusion Perhaps, it is too much to expect that our Muslim ummah would awake and fight all the challenges discussed above. But, still, we need to fight because it is a duty towards our religion. If we learn from the Islamic Civilization of the past, it will tell us that how a great faithful ummah can lead to greatness and establishment of one of the greatest, if not the greatest ever, civilization on earth. What has been done once by Muslims can be done again, and perhaps the second one will be everlasting. It is for us, Muslims, to decide. God willing, we will awake and we will decide, we will fight, and insha Allah, we will win.

Responsibilities Of Man In The Family

Responsibilities Of Man In The Family Family is an assembly of people who have marital relation and blood related individuals, living under the same roof. A group of many families living together is considered a society. In other words, family is a cell of a modern society. Each and every individual has the responsibility of building up the family in order to create a happy family. In the current world, the man plays a very special role which affects not only his current family but also later generations. There is a saying in Vietnamese: Men are the ones who build the house, while women are the one who create the home, we can see that the man is always the strong one, who does the heaviest work for his family, but it does not mean that the mans role is just to support the family in financing, building the house, providing settlement then living all the rest of the familys duties to the woman to do all the household chores such as raising children or house caring, the man and the woman have to share with each other about every aspect of living life and familys side. Being a man of the family is not a simple thing, he has to show all of his strengths to build up his family which seems to be a difficult work for all men in the world. Marriage is a combination of the man and the woman, according to Mignon McLaughlin, a successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. To become the man of the family, firstly, he has to be a good husband. A good husband is the man who understands his wifes needs and wants. Any woman wants her husband to be a successful man and always willing to share with her all problems in life, like Zig Ziglar (also known as Hilary Hinton Ziglar) said before: Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side. For the Christians, when a man and a woman are getting married, they always promise to love each other forever and be side by side through sickness, poverty, even the hardest times of life, richness or healthy in the church. So, we can easily see that love is the first requirement of being a husband. The husband needs to give his wife the love and regards her like a woman and a person, not a maid for free in the house. Intense love, compassion, altruism, understanding of the husband is the thing woman wants the most. A man who has a warm heart, always opens his mind to listen to his wife is an ideal husband. Listening and understanding is always the important thing to do for his wife because Shared joy is a double joy, shared sorrow is half a sorrow said by Swedish Proverb. Woman loves by eyes and ears, thus she will be very happy when she gets a good compliment from the husband. When the wife feels happy, she will do everything to make her family become happier and happier, fully fi lled with love. Dividing the responsibilities in a family is different, depend on the culture. For instance, it is common for a Japanese household that the husband is the one who goes to work, giving financial support for the whole family, while the wife usually retreats from her previous work, willingly take care of all the house chores and raising children. Rarely, the husband will do some part of the chores when he feels like to, or under pressure from other parties (his spouse, children, etc.). In this situation, the man of the family becomes the main financial provider. In the modern life, other hard works, such as fixing or maintaining the houses equipments can be done by paying to a third party service, thus making money becomes the most important assignment that the man has to concentrate on. Aside from that, the man in the house must also have well personality, good insight and knowledgeable. Moreover, contributing to the emotional, spiritual, physical and mental well-being of his family are all necessary. In order to do this, he must recognise that there are other elements other than money are needed to be provided. The man mainly takes this part in familys duties. When the need of love and financial are fulfilled, the woman will need a strong man to protect her family. That is an important duty of the husband. Not only protecting the family, the man should also be the first one to solve all the problems. That does not mean that the husband is the only one who has to do all the problem-solving part, but that he should do it instead of waiting for his partner to ask for help or push him up. A role-model husband is not the one who knows everything or does everything, but the one who has the ability to balance every duty, giving it the most suitable priority. Nowadays, there are many women choose to be single mothers. They are confident that even when lacking the support of the men, they can still be able to live well, raising the children to become good people without the need of their childrens father. However, that will not give the children all the care they need, as a proverb in Vietnamese: the child without his/her father is similar to the house without its roof. On the other hand, the mother cannot teach her child all the skills that the childs father can do. No matter how masculine the woman is, there are always tasks that only men can do. Become a mother is a proof of how the feminine she is already. How can she raise her son to become a real man, without the affection of all the feminine she has? And how can she give her precious girl a good imagine of the daughters future partner? They will just simply take all the trait of their only parent, thus hardening all the tasks on the mother, will may not relevant at early age, but become more clearly as they grow up. Furthermore, children are always longed more love and care, and will easily get jealous if they see that they are not getting as much attention as other kids. Whenever they see other childrens fathers sending them to school, or playing sport together, immediately there will be countless questions arise in the lonely child mind: Do I have a father? Who is my father? Why had he never appeared in my life? As the consequence, all that questions will be turned to the mother, which will surely be in an uncomfortable situation when being asked like that. At that time, is there any explanation that understand able to the children without hurting them, or will other lies be given that put the children in deeper confusion? A life without a man in the family will cause many difficulties to the woman. For now she will have to do all the house works, while taking care of the kids and keeping the familys financial situation at an acceptable rate. How does she suppose to do all that jobs at the same time? If the woman is in a rich family, or she already has a well paying job, then the tasks can be less pressuring. However, those are only rare exceptions. On the contradict, many single mothers having trouble balancing the duties all at once. Hence, she will need a man to share all the weight on her shoulder, in order to keep the family happy and affluent at all time. Taking care of the children must not come from the though that is it the duty as the parents, but from the immeasurable and unconditional love to their blood related children. Educating the kids is not an individual task. It must be done by both the parents, taken will well care and be treasured. Children are especially sensitive, and always eager to learn new things from the world. Every little thing from the outer environment will affect their perspective, which decides the childrens behaviour when they grow up. They will just simply mimic all what they think that are interesting. The worst thing is, the actions that the children try to mimic may not be all right. Supposedly there may be bad behaviours such as bullying or pick pocketing. As time goes by, they will consider that those actions are the righteous, without regarding its true meaning. Therefore, as the nearest source of affection the children, parents always have to act as role model, not only while teaching their kid, but in everyday actions. Similar to growing a tree, if well tended had not been taken since it was a seed, the tree might not give out its expected juicy fruit. For example, considering a family of the sporty type, in which there are many sports activities are done by both the father and the son. The boy will soon get the habit of doing sport, and keep practicing them when he grows up. Soon enough, that man will spread his hobby to the next generation, when he starts having family on his own. In the family of the arguing type, where parents always shout at each other for every trivial, the children will pick up that pattern, and become ill-mannered in no time. That cycle will continue for ever, until there are changes in the new family. However, that does not mean that any successful man will also success in being a father. Sometime, the mans mind sways away with his busy career, thus forgetting his duty as a father, neglecting his responsibility of teaching the kids. Only when he is at the top of the career ladder, and his children have already on the completely wrong track, he will realise his own carelessness. Therefore, it is necessary for the man to balance between the family and the job. For a girl, the father is usually taken as the model for her boy friend or future life partner. If the relationship between father and daughter is close and they often have conservations together, the girl will be more confident in choosing boyfriend, better understanding of the opposite gender, thus avoid misunderstandings and unnecessary worries. As a female, when the girl gets dressed, she wants to be the centre of the attentions, so if the father can understand and commend on her dresses, it will affect to her way of dressing and living and then leading to a familiar life suitable to her family and society. A boy always has his secret which is not easy to say out and he is easy to be influent by his friends bad habits, if he has a good guider who encourage his mind and knowledge, he will be prevented from the wrong way in his life. And the boy is deeply getting his father characters effect. If a boy grow up without a father, he cannot get along well with all the boys problems, mother cannot share all the secrets with her son. Boys are more difficult, they often act like his father does. In conclusion, the man in the family plays a very important role in the family. He has to perform the duty of not only the husband, the father but also the mental leader. As a husband, he has to understands and sympathises with his wife, his soul-mate. As a father, he has the responsibility to teach his son and daughter the skills needed to become good people. As a mental leader, he has to remain calm and strong in any situations. It is not easy to perform all those tasks perfectly simultaneously, but with a strong heart and a clear determination, nothing is impossible. BIBLIOGRAPHIES Cohen D., 2001, The fathers book :being a good dad in the 21st century, Wileys, ISBN: 0470841338 Dubowitz H., MD, MS; Black M.M., PhD; Kerr M.A., MS; 2000; Father and Child Neglect; Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2000; pp.154:135-141 Garfield C. F., Issaco A., Fathers and the Well-Child Visit, PEDIATRICS Vol. 117 No. 4 April 2006, pp. e637-e645 Garner P., Clough P., 2008, Fathers and sons: in and about education, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books Ltd., ISBN: 9781858563701 Gilbert L. A., Rachlin V., 1987, Mental health and psychological functioning of dual-career families, The Counseling Psychologist 15 (1987), pp. 7-49. Katiereich, 7-7-2009, Support the man in your life [Online resource], reference link: http://missionalwife.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/support-the-man-in-your-life/, last accessed 16-04-2010 McGrail A., 1996, Becoming a family (National Childbirth Trust Guide), Stationery Office Books, ISBN: 0117019348 Michael D., 1999, The name assigned to the document by the author. This field may also contain sub-titles, series names, and report numbers.Parenting and Child Development in Nontraditional Families, Publisher name and contact information, as provided by the publisher; updated only if notified by the publisher.Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, ISBN: 0-8058-2748-X

The Coward Revealed in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman :: Death Salesman essays

The Coward Revealed in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the main character, Willy Loman, is a struggling salesman. Willy Loman is a complex character who confuses illusion with reality. In a way, Willy has two personalities in this play. The one we see in the present action is a tired man in his sixties. The other Willy is the one we see in flashbacks. He is young and confident. In Act Two, Scene Fourteen, Willy’s son Biff tells him that he loves him. Willy can tell that Biff is not just saying this out of pity because Biff is sobbing. In a flashback, Willy speaks to his dead brother Ben. Ben keeps saying "Time, William, Time", reminding him that suicide is closing in. Ben also tells Willy that he should come to the jungle. In this scene, the jungle represents opportunities for success. The reason that Ben tells Willy to come to the jungle, is that when in the jungle, Willy can get the diamonds. The diamonds represent the insurance money that the family will get from Willy’s accident. Therefore, Ben is saying that the only way Willy can get twenty thousand dollars in insurance money is to kill himself, or symbolically Ben is saying that the only way to get the diamonds is to enter the jungle. Willy also talks to Ben how great Biff would do with all of that money. Willy thinks one more time about Biff and how he was a great football player. This shows that Willy still thinks of Biff as a football hero, which is one of the reasons Willy thinks Biff is so magnificent. As Willy is finishing up his thoughts, his wife, Linda, is calling him to come up to bed. After this happens, the sound of a speeding car is heard driving off into the night. In the same scene, Willy’s wife Linda has come to make a peace with their two sons, Biff and Happy. Linda also suspects that Willy may kill himself. She made a big mistake by leaving the disturbed Willy alone. The rubber tubing that Linda found on the heater foreshadows Willy’s suicide. Linda doesn’t want Willy to kill himself, but believes that she cannot interfere with his business. I believe that Willy’s suicide was an escape from shame. He couldn’t keep living his life as a lie.

Malcolm X Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley was published in 1965. It is national best seller about the life and times of Malcolm X. On May 19, 1925 Malcolm Little was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a preacher who spoke out about the unity of black people. This caused several white racists to strike out against Malcolm’s father and his family violently. His family moved to Lansing, Michigan where Malcolm, his parents, brothers, and sisters were shot at, burned out of their home, harassed, and threatened. When Malcolm was 6 years old, his father was murdered by a white man. After his father’s death his mother had a nervous breakdown and the family got split up by welfare agencies. Malcolm was placed in a lot of different schools and boardinghouses. He was a good student and wanted to be a lawyer someday, but a teacher told him that because he was black he should take up carpentry instead. At age 15 he dropped out of school and moved to Boston to live with his half sister Ella. He quickly sees the fast pace life of Detroit. To get money he shined shoes, worked at a soda fountain, worked at a restaurant and on a railroad kitchen crew. Later he moved to the black Harlem section of New York City where he sold drugs, became a thief, and was involved with a lot of hoodlums and pimps. He moved back to Boston and got arrested for burglary. While he was in prison he learned about the Nation of Islam and later joined the Islamic religion. He was released from prison in 1952 and went to be with his brother in Detroit where he replaced his last name, Little, with X to symbolize his lost true African family name. The Islamic religion taught that white people were devils so Malcolm went around speaking out against whites at universities and other places. He returned to New York and became minister of the Harlem temple. For 12 years he preached that the white man was the devil and Muhammad was God’s messenger. In 1964 he left the Nation of Islam and said "I feel like a man who has been asleep somewhat and under someone else’s control. I feel what I’m thinking and saying now is for myself. Before, it w as for and by guidance of another, now I think with my own mind."(Haley 312) He was 38 years old when he left the Islamic religion and started his own group, Organization of Afro-American Unity. He went to Mecca, known as the Hajj, and this is a religious... ...t of drug addiction, self-hatred and poverty. He restored a sense of pride in our African heritage to millions of black Americans. He offered his own view of civil rights issues, and it was totally different from the views held by other leaders, who were thought to be more moderate. If he had lived, many people think that he would have become one of the most powerful political figures this nation has known. At the end of the book Malcolm said, "I know that societies often have killed the people who have helped to change those societies. And if I can die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth that will help to destroy the racist cancer that is malignant in the body of America then all of the credit is due to Allah. Only the mistakes have been mine." Book Report: The Autobiography of Malcolm X Chidima Keke April 13, 2004 African American History II Professor Lewis Works Cited Haley, Alex. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Ballantine Books: New York.1965 D.Hine, W.C. Hine, Harrold Stanley. The African American Odyssey. 2nd edition. Vol.2.Perason Education, Inc: New Jersey. 2003

The Kite Tunner

In The Kite Runner, even though Hassan remains loyal, forgiving, and good natured, he is still the character who suffers the most. Hassan is a character who is discriminated against from the start of the book, till the very end. He is a part of a poor ethnic group called Hazaras whom are considered victims in the Afghan society. Amir and Hassan are half brothers, but because Hassan was a Hazara, he grew up in a hut as a servant working for his own father. Hassan understands his inferiority and accepts it, which causes other people to take advantage of him by betraying him. For example, even though Hassan always stood up for Amir, Amir left Hassan to get raped. Hassan was too scared to stand up for his best friend and believed that Hassan is sacrificing himself for Amir. Not only was the rape an attack physically, but it is also an attack on the victim’s emotions and dignity. In the Kite Runner, Hassan suffers the most pain both physically and mentally by living his life being betrayed, discriminated and losing his family. To start off, Hassan is a poor ethnic Hazara, he is considered inferior to the Afghan society, and therefore is discriminated throughout the whole novel. For example, Hassan and Amir both have the same rich father, but because Hassan was illegitimate and was a Hazara, he grew up as a servant in his father’s hut. With this in mind, Hassan is discriminated by everyone even his own family even the ones who Hassam didn’t even know was his family. Discrimination is so significant in his life that he has accepted the fact that he was born to be hated for his appearance. Hassan’s biological father Baba lies to Hassan and doesn’t even tell him that he is his real father. Despite the fact that Hassan gets discriminated upon, he still remains loyal and forgiving. Another example would be when the Taliban wanted Baba’s house and when they found out that Hassan and his wife were kuvubg u but alone, they wouldn’t listen to him when he tried to explain that Rahim Khan was the owner and they were waiting his return. The Taliban of course shot Hassan and his wife leaving Sohrab alone. The Taliban who show Hassan and his Wife were dismissed from their trial because they said it was self defence. They were dismissed because they have no proof that the Hazaras attacked the Taliban because no one would stand up for Hazaras. With this in mind, Hassan has died In addition, despite the fact that everyone knows that Hassan is good natured, he still is betrayed many times in the story mostly by his best friend Amir. In detail, Amir treats Hassan unfairly even thought he knows that Hassan will be good about it. For example, Amir left Hassan to get raped by Assef in the alley Hassan taught him incorrect meaning of words. Even after Amir betrays Amir, Hassan continues to serve him. and abandoning him even though Hassan saved him countless amounts of time. Amir only does this because When Assef asked Amir why he’s friends with a Hazara, Amir said that he’s his servant and nothing more. Amir didn’t know that Hassan was his half brother, which leads Amir to take advantage of Hassan. Rape is one of the events in the story that happens to Hassan that makes him suffer the most. In this story, rape is not just physically violent, but it is also an attack on the victim’s emotions and dignity. The fact that Hassan didn’t resist just proves his role in society and how he accepts punishment that is given upon him. The rape proves that he doesn’t care about his own suffering Lastly, Hassan suffers by losing the people who were once family to him. Hassan suffers because his half brother Amir is the reason why Hassan and Ali left the house. In fact, Hassan has it tougher than Amir from the beginning. Not only did he lose his mother, his mother rejected him at birth. Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali's arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter. [†¦ ]. She had refused to even hold Hassan, and just five days later she was gone. (29). This event has left Hassan motherless ever since birth. He is separated from his beloved Amir and Baba whom he spent his whole life with. Another example would be when his mother left and rejected him at birth

Quality Insurance

Quality Improvement Plan: Part III – Managing and Improving Quality In today’s health care environment, competition remains high and many organizations are seeking new ways to improve their quality of care, as well as remain competitive with other health care organizations in the process. Various methods exist today for organizations to integrate quality improvement strategies to help in the measurement of performance improvements.This paper will discuss:1) several methodologies, the pros and cons that exist with these methods, 2) describe information technology applications, how they may be used to improve patient falls, 3)discuss how benchmarking and milestones are involved in managing the use of quality indicators, and finally,4) describe how performance and quality measures are aligned to an organization’s mission, vision, and strategic plan, and how these measurements align with Self-Regional Hospital’s mission, vision, and strategic plan for improvem ent. Methods for Quality Improvement StrategiesAccidental Falls have become the most commonly reported incident in hospitals today, and Self-Regional Hospital is no exception. Recently, Self-Regional researched and gathered specific fall data that included â€Å"mobility/gait, lower-extremity strength, history in fractures, visual, or auditory impairments, dizziness, dehydration, depression, stroke, ischemic attacks, and cardiac arrhythmias† and the role they play with patient falls in the organization (The Joint Commission, 2007, p. 26). They are now in the process of researching various methodologies to help manage and improve this area of concern.Several concepts that concern total quality management (TQM), and quality improvement (QI) are offering health care organizations and their administrators the opportunity to decide which methodology would be most successful in improving quality care for their patients. There are three methodologies Self-Regional is considering: 1) Six Sigma, 2) Lean, and 3) Customer Inspired Quality (CIQ). â€Å"One of the key components of quality improvement is the technology that gathers and compares the data that the quality improvement measure produces† (Dlugacz, 2006).Once this information has been gathered, the organization can benchmark with other comparable organizations. The Six Sigma model, pioneered by Motorola, is used to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying, and removing defects through a problem-solving approach that works to improve quality outputs. The Six Sigma methodology achieves this by using a process known as the DMAIC process (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control), for existing quality processes that are below specifications, and are in need of improvement in increments.There are features with Six Sigma that separates it from other initiatives of quality improvement: * Clear focus on achieving measurable and quantifiable financial returns * Increased emphasis on stron g leadership and support * Special Infrastructure of â€Å"Champions,† to lead and implement the Six Sigma approach * Clear commitment to making decisions based on verifiable data, rather than assuming or guess work (Harry, 2000). The second model is Lean, which played a key role for Toyota’s success.This method is used to help reduce or alleviate waste, while working to improve an organization’s performance through their workflow processes. Organization’s that use Lean have a clear understanding of consumer value, and continuously will focus on the key processes to improve it. Their goal is to provide excellent value to the consumer, by developing an excellent value process that has zero waste. Lean offers the organization the opportunity to identify steps in a quality improvement process, and then identify the steps that are valuable and non-valuable.Once the non-valued steps have been identified they will be removed to prevent waste in the process (Lea n Enterprise Institute, 2009). The Customer Inspired Quality method is the last method for quality improvement that Self-Regional is considering. In 1992, Shaw Resources patented this methodology to focus on work processes that have direct impact on the care and services that hospitals provide. The Customer Inspired Quality methodology identifies, defines, analyzes, and improves the quality and effectiveness of processes in the health care environment with an emphasis on the following work process evaluating components: Integrates department services that are related to defined systems concerning care * Improves productivity and efficiency, while reducing unneeded work processes and costs * Can be implemented as short-term or long-term quality improvement processes * Patient loyalty and satisfaction is enhanced (Shaw Resources, n. d. ). Pros and Cons of Quality Improvement Methodologies There are always pros and cons to any quality improvement methodology. For instance, the pros of Six Sigma tend to place extreme importance on leadership and its support for the success of the project.Another pro is the integration of different human elements, which include cultural change, and focus on the customer and their needs. â€Å"By using the concept of statistical thinking, Six Sigma encourages applications of statistical tools and techniques that reduce variability† (Harry, 2000). The cons of Six Sigma include, not having the quality data available, especially when a new process has been implemented without having the data available. Often the solutions that Six Sigma proposes can be costly and only a small portion of the solution can be implemented.When using Six Sigma the choosing of the right project is critical to its success. The pros for Lean include: * Minimizing overhead cost to thirty percent * Eliminates most waste, if not all * Can improve productivity by eighty percent * Eliminates negative behaviors and employees have a clear objective of the orga nization’s expectations The Lean methodology’s cons include: * Can be difficult to attain support from all employees, due to resistance of change * Personality clashes can occur if some individuals do not take orders well from their co-workers Lean training is ongoing and in the beginning is time-consuming (Businessknowledgesource. com, 2010). The pros of the Customer Inspired Quality methodology include: * Quality improvement efforts are prioritized based on the customer’s needs * Friendly and encourages input from employees The main con with the Customer Inspired Quality method is that is structured primarily for health care organizations. Information Technologies for Quality Improvements Information technology plays a major role when it comes to quality improvement methods used by health care organizations.Self-Regional Hospital has implemented software known as Business Objects. The components of Business Objects â€Å"provide performance management, planni ng, reporting, query and analysis, and enterprise information management† (Sap. com, 2008). The Business Objects Enterprise offers the organization the ability to track report instances by triggering alerts. The reports have parameters that can be modified to perform analysis on the data and the organization also has the ability set alerts that trigger when certain conditions are met or not met.The data can be customized to show in charts and can be customized to allow the organization the opportunity to drill down into the data. Information technology allows data to also be displayed in a dashboard or a scorecard. A dashboard is a tool that monitors the ongoing performance of a process and its data in real time. Whereas, scorecards report on past performances and generally focuses on outcomes rather than processes. All of these applications can be used by administrators to track quality improvement processes of the organization.Administrators also have the ability to design t he scorecards or dashboards to display only information that is pertinent to the process. These processes would also give Self-Regional the ability to examine data that pertains to patient falls within their organization. Benchmarks and Milestones Benchmarking is a process that gives an organization the ability to compare their performance metrics and processes to other organization’s best practices. In other words, benchmarking is the process of an organization comparing itself to their competitors and defines how the competition performs better.In health care, when an organization has a clear understanding of how their competitor/s meets their standards, they can set goals for quality improvements within their own organization. Benchmarking is beneficial for improving customer satisfaction, as well as improve core measurements set by the Joint Commission. Self-Regional Hospital can use benchmarking as a means to compare how hospitals rate on patient falls and what processes they have set in place to improve in this area. The hospital would benefit by using the website â€Å"hospitalcompare. hs. gov to research on patient satisfaction, quality improvement outcomes, and where they rate in these areas as well. Potential benchmarks Self-regional will strive for improved core measures at 90% for patient falls. Another area the organization will strive for is to improve patient safety. In order for the hospital to do this they will need to continue to implement the processes that support the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals, and implement quality improvement processes that will involve the organization as a whole.Self-Regional will also implement computerized provider order entry (CPOE), and will also begin the process of extending the goals to the emergency department and critical care areas. The third bench mark will be to enhance the patient’s experience by using the DMAIC model to understand and support the emotional, spir itual, and clinical needs of the patients. Self-Regional Hospital will use the Customer Inspired Quality Methodology for implementing their performance improvement processes with patient falls. Data will be comprised from Crystal reports to display balanced scorecards and dashboards.The organization will divide the dashboards into the Extending Elements, team, clinical, service, market, and finance. This information will be used in conjunction with information from benchmarking data to monitor the quality improvement plan. Health care organization’s use performance and quality measures to align their products and service activities with their mission, vision, and strategic planning to help improve their internal and external communications, as well as monitor the organization performance against their strategic goals.Self-Regional Hospital’s mission, vision, and strategic planning is aligned with their performance and quality measures to provide continuous advanced qua lity care that will improve their patient outcomes, while focusing on patient satisfaction in the process. APA References Dlugacz, Y. D. (2006). Measuring Health Care Using Data for Operational, Financial, and Clinical Improvement, San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass Publications Harry, Mikel J. (2000). The Nature of Six Sigma Quality.Rolling Meadows, Illinois: Motorola University Press. p. 25 Lean Enterprise Institute, (2009). What is Lean? Retrieved on September 26, 2011 from http://www. lean. org/WhatsLean/ Shaw Resources, (n. d. ). Customer Inspired Quality: Health Care Operational Improvements, Retrieved on September 26, 2011 from http://shawresources. com/ customer-inspired-quality-and-processes-improvement. htm Sap. com (2008). Retrieved on September 26, 2011, from http://www. sap. com/ solutions/sapbusinessobjects/index. epx