Erotic Love in the Iliad Essay

Eros, meaning â€Å"erotic love† in Greek, has had tremendous power over men and women for centuries, causing small and large conflicts. In Homer’s Iliad, it is the very thing that sparks the war between Greece and Troy. This theme of erotic love shows itself over and over again in the epic poem, showing the detriments of allowing desire and sexual attraction to overcome reason. Beginning in the first book, erotic love is responsible for starting the rage of Achilles. Agamemnon demands Achilles’ concubine Brisies for himself in exchange for returning his maiden Chryseis to her father Chryses in order to end the plague set upon the Achaean army. Agamemnon and Achilles, two of the best Achaean warriors, came extremely close to battling each other over these stolen maidens – a fight driven by erotic love that could have divided the Greek army. Furthermore, Helen contributes significantly to the theme of erotic love blinding men and causing citywide conflict in the Iliad. Paris’ attraction to and desire for Helen, the most beautiful of all women at the time, essentially led to the downfall of Troy. In Book 3, Aphrodite inspires the erotic love between Helen and Paris that Helen initially resists but is overcome by the power of this attraction fostered by the goddess. This book of the Iliad shows erotic love as an undeniable, powerful force responsible for much of the conflict resulting in the rest of the epic poem. This theme of erotic love, capable of dividing friends and starting wars, is not to be confused with other forms of love also portrayed in the Iliad, such as the love between Hector and Andromache, or between King Priam and his people. Erotic love appears alongside of other forces of love that all play a part in shaping the characters actions and the outcome of conflict.

Reasons to Support and Reasons to Oppose Ecotourism Essay

Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting pristine, fragile, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, purposed as a low- impact and small scale alternative to commercial tourism, which contributes towards both environmental and socioeconomic benefits. Ecotourism travel has significantly caught the attention of various individuals recently. There are a number of reasons supporting ecotourism and there are a number of reasons opposing ecotourism. Ecotourism invented to help conserving the natural environment, it also helps improving the cultural, economical and social situations of the developing countries. At the same time, it can also possibly leads to a destruction of natural habitats, it can be prejudicial as well as damaging the local communities. The reason opposes ecotourism is that ecotourism will cause the destruction of the ecosystem. Tourists would scare the animals in areas where animals live, such as woodland areas. Those animals live in the forest are wild, they are not tame, and may pose a danger to tourists. The presence of tourists will cause stress to the wild animals since they are not used to live together with humans. If those tourists are carrying food and try to feed them, over a period of time, the survival ability of those animals would decline and it is bad to them. On Mexico’s Pacific coast, bright lights from beachfront hotels disorient female sea turtles coming ashore to lay eggs, often preventing successful reproduction (Eco-tourism: Encouraging Conservation or Adding to Exploitation?;pg.2). If you have ever been to any national parks, you will know that the parks are very big and there are at least a few pieces of rubbish in different places. Examples of that include the large-scale habitat transformation to enhance ecotourism experience in Malaysia, track erosion in Costa Rican National Parks and severe pollution by garbage at certain points in the Himalayas in Nepal (The role of ecotourism in conservation: panacea or Pandora’s box?; pg. 592). There are many park rangers to manage the parks, but it is still difficult to find every single piece of rubbish in the parks. The rubbish can be harmful to the natural environments and animals, especially the plastic trash, for example plastic bottles and plastic bags which cannot be decomposed in a short period. The first reason to support ecotourism is that countries can receive the economic gain from developing ecotourism, especially for those developing countries. Tourism in general created only between 0.5 and 13.5%of the GDP for some developed countries (The role of ecotourism in conservation: panacea or Pandora’s box?; pg. 584), it’s because the developed countries concentrate in financial industry and the real estate industry. But for the developing countries, it could generate huge revenue, for example, hotel revenue, sites entrance fee, tax revenue etc. Goodwin (1996) predicted the revenue created by ecotourism and environmentally sensitive tourism to be 50 billion and 300 billion US$ in the year 2000, respectively (The role of ecotourism in conservation: panacea or Pandora’s box?; pg. 580). It can also generate foreign currencies for their economic development. Ecotourism can also generate employment opportunities for the local communities, they can have more type of work to choose. In Bhutan, ecotourism plays an important role in generating employment opportunities, because there are 80 % of people work in agricultural sector, but conservative figures by the Tourism Council of Bhutan estimate tourism’s contribution to GDP at US$90 million in 2010, and there are now 21,000people employed directly and indirectly in tourism (Bhutan, A Model for Sustainable Tourism Development; pg. 15). The living standard of the local people is increased and compare to the extractive uses of land that ecotourism is more sustainable that locals could gain the long term income. Another reason is, to the developed and developing countries, many of the lands have ecological value for economic development. Developing ecotourism can make the sites protected well because it can generate foreign currency which provides a strong incentive to the government to conserve the sites. The governments will protect the sites for sustainable development but not destroying it, for example hiring park rangers to manage the sites. Also they will promote sites protection to the local resident, since they may not notice about the place they live now is that beautiful and need to conserve it, develop ecotourism can increase their awareness on protecting the sites. Since sustainable development is important to the sites, the government will improve the maintenance of the sites and have a good management. The last reason is ecotourism can increase sense of mission among tourists on nature and tourists can benefit from the local cultures. They can gain more knowledge about the nature since they can experience that directly. Local residents can benefit from the environmental education ecotourism provides. Honduran schoolchildren from the capital city of Tegucigalpa are routinely taken to visit the La Tigra cloud forest visitor center, to learn about the intricacies of the rainforests (Eco-tourism: Encouraging Conservation or Adding to Exploitation? ;pg.2). Tourist always like shopping while traveling, ecotourism can let them have more interaction with the nature, local residents and have a relaxing time, not just shopping but also enjoy the natural environment and try to travel on foot. Tourists are able to have an opportunity benefit from local cultures and understand the country more deeply. Some countries will promote that supporting local cultures by eating foods which are locally grown, having lunch in local-owned restaurants, taking part in their traditional activities, buying food at stores. The rise of interest in ecotourism is beneficial to many aspects, the government can achieve economic gains, and the local communities have a higher income. Also, it is beneficial to the ecotourism sites that the sites can be protected well and beneficial to the tourists that they can gain more knowledge about the nature. Although ecotourism may cause some habitat alterations and pollute the area, it can still be balanced between sustainable development and economic development if it is managed well and can be developed in more and more countries. So the advantages of development of ecotourism outweigh the disadvantages. It can also conserve the environment, which is good to all of us.

Charles Dickens Hard Times English Literature Essay

Charles Dickens Hard Times English Literature Essay The research paper explores the basic ideas related to Psychoanalysis in the context of Charles Dickens Hard Times. Sigmund Freud laid the foundation of ‘Psychoanalysis’. The research paper is based on Freudian Psychoanalysis as it attempts to study the characters in this novel in its light. The psychoanalytic theory refers to the concept of the development of personality and its changing dynamics. It studies the influence of childhood impressions on the personality development of the adults and on their mental functioning. It focusses on the ideas based on personality which include the division of psyche into the id, the ego and the superego, repression, transference and fantasy. The research paper studies and analyses these ideas in relation to the characters in this novel. It also explores the ideas in the mind of the author in the light of this novel. Keywords: Psychoanalysis, personality development, id, ego, superego, repression, transference, parentification, fan tasy Psychoanalysis is a psychological and psychotherapeutic theory because it deals with the scientific study of mental functions and behaviours and it is also used for therapeutic interaction or treatment of a patient by a psychologist or a psychiatrist. It is devised by an Austrian neurologist called Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. This field has evolved over a period of time but has also been the target of scathing criticism. Charles Dickens’ (1812-1870) Hard Times (1854) is a study in psychoanalysis because the characters in this novel depict the mental functions and behaviours of individuals in real life. In this novel, Louisa Gradgrind, the daughter of Thomas Gradgrind and wife of Josiah Bounderby, experiences a nervous breakdown as she realizes that she despises her husband Josiah Bounderby but may be romantically inclined towards James Harthouse. She is not sure of her feelings towards James Harthouse as she is unable to experience any emotion whatsoever. She feels miserable and is unable to rectify the situation. She finally makes a candid confession in front of her father. She tells her father: â€Å"And I so young. In this condition, father – for I show you now, without fear or favour, the ordinary deadened state of my mind as I know it – you proposed my husband to me. I took him. I never made a pretence to him or you that I loved him. I knew, and, father, you knew, and he knew, that I never didà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hard Times 212) â€Å"I am coming to it. Father, chance then threw into my way a new acquaintance, a man such as I had no experience of; used to the world; light, polished, easy; making no pretences; avowing the low estimate of everything, that I was half afraid to form in secret; conveying to what degrees, that he understood me, and read my thought. I could not find that he was worse than I. There seemed to be a near affinity between us. I only wondered it shoul d be worth his while, who cared for nothing else, to care so much for me.† (Hard Times 213)

An Outline for the Education in Kuwait Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

An Outline for the Education in Kuwait - Essay Example Secondly, it is more or less sure that the author of this paper was a second language speaker of English. This is because the word choice, the syntax as well as the run-on sentences need to be edited or revised by an editor to avoid any misunderstanding or confusion while reading the article. Reviewing by Each Chapter The first chapter of this paper focused on the background as well as the structure of the essay with the background concentrating on the team from Singapore and the timeline on which the team worked on. The main research question of the diagnostic study was hidden on page 6 as part of the ‘structure of the paper’. Proper writing procedures require that both the purpose of the study as well as the research questions be explicit to the reader and be stated clearly in the introduction section for better guidance. In chapter two, the researchers stated the outcomes as outlined in the document of Kuwait’s vision 2023. The target of the desired outcomes wa s clustered around the making of a complete ‘human’ product. Nevertheless, the seven desired outcomes were general, vague and the explanation of each outcome was shallow and limited to social aspects. Moreover, the researchers did not explain the rationale for stating those seven outcomes within the framework and scope of the study. The desired outcomes failed to have a properly framed link to the labour market and the economic side of the country. The seven outcomes did not state anything about decision-making, critical thinking and creativity, which are fundamental elements in a human product. The third chapter talked about the core pillars that support the education system and the conceptual framework of the diagnostic study within the country. The researchers needed to explain the objects for the eight pillars as the basis for supporting the education system. The team needed to explain the objects that made them choose each pillar with a cohesive definition as used within the study. In the pillars, the researchers failed to place performance management systems under the human resource policies as applied within Kuwait. Furthermore, the curriculum pillar as used on the fourteenth page did not have a clear definition and a teacher as was elaborated and explained in detail on pages 15 to 18 short compared it to the education. Conventional writing has it that the reader needs to know the theories behind the conceptual framework as used in any study. The conceptual framework should lay down assumptions,  principles and  rules, and then bind them together to produce a broad  concept, which is easily understandable by all readers. Due to the short explanation in the conceptual framework part, the whole essay from the study appears quite unclear. This chapter, therefore, requires to be holistically revised in order to make it the guidance and the lens to the entire essay. Even if this study was about diagnosing the system, the reader needs to co mprehend the rules behind using a quantitative and qualitative method, which are not clear as from the study. An analysis of the fourth chapter uses 2400 participants, which does not specify whether this figure was a sum to all the students, parents, teachers as well as the principle. The study needed to have a tabulation of the different categories of participants as well as give a clear picture of the all the participants.     Ã‚  

Aviation Systems Blogs and Wikis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Aviation Systems Blogs and Wikis - Essay Example Most of these blogs contain excellent materials that an individual can never get enough, especially with the current trend where people acquire most of the information and learning materials from the online resources. For these reasons, I would recommend the Second Life Aviation from the wiki site for students seeking online aviation materials and other related resources (Second Life Aviation, 2015). These sites have invaluable materials and articles that provide immense information on the topic. Personally, I consider the site as the favorite because of the ease of getting information and materials related to aviation. The site resembles a blog, it is well managed by the wikia website, one of the largest wiki platforms online, with huge fan base contributing to the concepts and asking questions that draws discussions and forum indulgence. Such approach makes it easy to learn and acquire additional insight on aviation. Additionally, its simplicity nature makes it easy for anyone to use the information and contribute to the existing knowledge base. Simplicity here is available from various aspects of materials, the website has several sections that are easy to access and select. First, the language in use is clear, simple, and precise. Also the tabs are well arranged and one can easily know where to find what they are looking for. For instance, if you want to know more on Aircraft, it brings you to it and offers you an array of information on it. Further to that, is the design, theme is well thought of and appealing. Also the tabs are well labeled out with each topic having a sub-topic on an under t ab, once you click on the main tab. With all of these features and the immense knowledge related to aviation and others items, it is only fair to say that this would be a site suitable for students to increase their knowledge on matters related to aviation. I therefore highly recommend it, for any student who requires in-depth and informative online platform about

Measuring an Applicant's Characteristics Case Study

Measuring an Applicant's Characteristics - Case Study Example In addition, a recommendation in relation to measurement of applicants’ characteristics and rankings has also been provided in this report. At the end of the report, potential legal liabilities arising out of the recommended option have been noted down, which the employer shall take into consideration. Strengths and Weaknesses of Current Process While going through the current process of hiring an employee, which aims at  effectively measuring applicant knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics, it can be observed that there are some strengths and weaknesses in the process. The strengths and weaknesses are separately discussed as under: Strengths Keeping in view the current process, it can be stated that some of the measures used to evaluate an applicant are effective. As for instance, measures like testing the ability of an applicant to manage conversations with demanding customers and testing the basic computer skills and accuracy of data entry are all streng ths of the current process. Weaknesses On the other hand, reviewing the existing process of hiring new employees for CSR 1, there are a few weaknesses in the process. As for instance the fluency in English requires testing of reading, writing and speaking skills of individual applicants, and no emphasis is placed on listening skills, which form an important part of their job. On the other hand, although there is a system in place for assuring good attendance of the new hired employees, but it does not seem to work effectively, as there is high turnover of newly hired employees in training phase. Options for Predicting Employees’ Attendance Employees’ attendance is a crucial factor in ensuring smooth flow of an organization’s operations and activities. Absenteeism, which refers to an employee being absent from work, has been considered by a number of researchers in the past (Kingery, 2009; Ivancevich, 1985). The options available for predicting an applicantâ€⠄¢s attendance, if hired by the company, include evaluation of various aspects of that individual’s personality and traits. By considering these personality and traits (Macan, 2009). The existing problem in this regard for Iron Town Incorporation is that newly hired employees have a high turnover during the training session. In this regard, it is important that a brief description of training program is incorporated in the employee hiring process, which will enable applicants to understand the procedure they will go through, thus filtering out those employees who do not like the training program or do not want to be a part of it for any other reason (Honer, Wright, & Sablynski, 2007; Macan, 2009). Moreover, other initiatives which can be included in the staffing process for predicting employees’ attendance can be review of their previous employment record, asking for references and corresponding with them regarding their absenteeism. In addition, it is also desirable t o evaluate the financial aspects and nature of job offered to applicants by checking his or her compatibility with the same. In this way, it can be predicted whether the applicant, if being selected for the job, will be satisfied with the job and henceforth remain punctual (Honer, Wright, & Sablynski, 2007; Ivancevich, 1985; Macan, 2009). Recommendations for Measuring Applicants’ Characteristics and Rankings As far as measurement of applicants’ characteristics is concerned, it is recommended that a thorough evaluation of an applicant’

Run to win marathon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Run to win marathon - Essay Example Run to win is a half marathon planned for sports men. A half marathon is the longest running event that is for experienced runners. This race is on 21 km or 13.1 miles. It is called a half marathon because it is half the distance of a marathon and is run on the road.The distance is challenging but it does not require the extensive training one has to go under in a marathon. Some places the half marathon is also known as 21k. Usually people tend to start with a half marathon and then take up the challenge of a marathon. (Dostoc, 2011)This physical and mentally demanding excursion requires a lot of training and proper preparation if being attempted for the first time. Proposed Date: 12 February 2012 Location: --- Time: 8 am-2 pm Event Objectives Primary Objective To ensure that top major athletes attend this half marathon on 12 February 2012 and make this event a major success. This will be achieved by inviting the athletes personally by telephone and personal invitation and making sur e the event is well attended and proper coverage is provided. (Smart Plan, 2011) To achieve coverage, the management will make sure that the proper authorities are notified and that word gets out and the respective media makes the event a smashing success. In short to make sure that the even brings in top people and proper coverage is provided to them. Financial Objective The financial objective of this event is to gain enough sponsors to support the financial cost of this event and churn out a profit if possible. The prize money is such to entice top athletes so that the event becomes a successful one and draws in big crowds. As its both open to males and females thus it would be only fair if the prize money is awarded to both the top contestants and runner ups in both the gender. It is decided thus to either breakeven or to run into a profit which would thus lead into further event planning generation. The prize money for the winner could be settled at $2000 followed by $1500 for the second runner up and $500 for the third runner up. All these figures are estimation and a minimum figure is thus provided and is not final. These values are both for males and females separately. (Dostoc, 2011) Event Details The event is aimed at the young and upcoming athletes along with the mixture of some top class professionals to make the competition exciting. This is done to let the young and upcoming athletes to show case their sportsmanship and talent and with a desire to win the prize money, the event sure is to draw a lot of attention and competitors from all around the country. Also with the event being a prominent one the outreach would be huge because of the media coverage that would be present before and during this event. Activities The race being the main event and activity itself is not the only main attraction of the event. To make this event a more bigger and better success, I decided to put in some extra events so that not only the athletes and racers could p articipate but also the general audience or the spectators of this exhilarating race could take some interest too besides watching. Included is a costume contest competition, during the race there are some tricky fun obstacles to make the race more interesting and challenging. Also to make it sort of more exciting the audience gets a chance to enter into a lucky draw that sort of works on the ranking of the racers in the events. (Active Network, 2011) Promotion The promotion of this event is a must and thus needs to be on an extensive scale so that majority of the people are made aware of this event and are thus attracted towards it leading it to make it a success. The most likely options include that of social networking and social media, chiefly Facebook, twitter, MySpace, Google plus and the likes. (Goshen, 2010) Social media penetration would guarantee a lot of exposure and platform but is not enough, so poster, word of mouth leaflets and such conventional and popular mediums wo uld also be favoured too. The cost for these would raise

Economic concepts to my personal experience Essay

Economic concepts to my personal experience - Essay Example This paper looks at how some of the microeconomic concepts can be applied to personal life and how they relate to our everyday usage regarding the goods and services. Micro economics is mainly helpful for me in making the decision on switching between the alternatives available for a particular satisfaction. To draw a balance between my budget and prices of the commodity. It certainly helps in buying decision in my personal life. For starters, let us consider the simple fact of buying and selling goods and services. When we want to buy a particular good, there are a host of factors that determine our decision and influence our purchase right from the price of the good to the quality of the good and the competitors for the brand of the product. We measure the utility of the good against the price and then take a decision regarding whether to buy it or not. If we compare the utility value of a good against the price, we would come to a fairly reasonable conclusion about maximizing utility and thus contributing to our decision to buy the good. This applies in the case of many household goods and services and can be used to determine whether a particular good ought to be bought or not. The Microeconomic theory helps in finding answers to the three basic fundamental questions for any business entity in any economy–(1) what to produce, (2) how to produce and (3) for whom to produce in order to utilize the available scarce resources efficiently. That is why the Price theory, Demand concepts and theories of Market structure are the important elements of micro economics. Microeconomic theory studies the economic behavior of individual decision-making units such as consumers, resource owners (i.e. households who provide services to the business entities in exchange of the income) and business firms in a free-enterprise economy. Proper analysis of all these 3 areas of concern helps the business entity to perform efficiently. If the business

The Name of the Rose Film Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Name of the Rose Film - Movie Review Example The Apostolic poverty is a doctrine that emphasizes Christ's and the Apostles' absolute lack of possession and was strongly supported by the Franciscan religious order. The Dominicans opposed this doctrine and their views were upheld by the Pope John XXII who considered the poverty doctrine as subverting his authority (Harvey, 2004). At the same time, there was a great conflict between the Pope and the Bavarian Emperor Louis regarding the boundaries between religious and lay power and the Pope's claim to intervene on lay issues such as the Emperor's Coronation (Eco, 1983). This is, in brief, the historical setting of the film. According to the plot, the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville arrived in the Benedictine Abbey to participate in a meeting between the Pope's and the Emperor's delegates in an attempt to bring together the two opposite sides. His mission was to convey the views of the Emperor's theologists on the issue of Apostolic poverty and to ensure that there would be arrangements for a second meeting in Avignon, the Pope's court, where the Emperor's delegates would have the opportunity to express their views directly to the Pope. In my opinion, there is a twofold meaning hidden behind the deaths of the monks. First, all dead monks but Severinus worked in the library and their duty was to preserve and protect its content. However, their wish for knowledge became their death sentence. Adelmo killed himself out of shame after he had succumbed to Berengar's an ethical proposal with the exchange to have unlimited access to the library. Venantius, Berengar, and Malachi were poisoned because of their curiosity to read the secret book. Seeking for truth can be a dangerous path with dreadful consequences. Their lust for knowledge, their quest for truth in the writings of secular philosophers was a hubris, an insult to God, a doubt of Genesis, that yielded a fatal punishment. Man uses his intellect and skills to give meaning to his universe, to produce c ivilization, to obtain and convey knowledge and finally, in his quest for the ultimate cause of things, he is eliminated by the limitations of his own mortal, disposable nature. Death terminated the monks' curiosity and fire destroyed the library thus depriving humanity of a thesaurus of knowledge. What a great irony! It was the light that Adso held that caused the fire and eventually led to cultural and philosophical darkness. Second, William of Baskerville was particularly interested in Logic and based all his conclusions on deductive reasoning. However, he eventually realized that his investigation comprised of a series of false deductions that accidentally led to the right final conclusion.  

Morality and God Essay Example for Free

Morality and God Essay Morality only exists if we believe in God; therefore if God doesn’t exist there is no morality. There have been so many evil acts committed in the name of God that it is difficult to maintain that a belief in God equates to morality. There are situations that happen every day where decisions are made based off of human rights that contradict the word of God. Morality comes from within, it is an understanding of right versus wrong and the ability to choose what is right. Knowing all this a belief in God is not a requirement for a person to be moral. (Mosser, 2011) We are taught that morals are basically the difference between right and wrong. A child may be taught that stealing is wrong because it hurts the store owner and can ruin the child’s reputation. Or the child may be told that if they steal they will be punished because God is always watching. The child has learned the fundamental difference between right and wrong, even if the reasoning is different. This will allow the child to make moral decisions when they grow up whether it is based off of human compassion or fear of God. If we accept that the child understands right from wrong regardless of their reason, we accept that God is not a requirement to be a moral person. If a person observes an act of violence or torture, they are morally required to stop it. In biblical times these acts were not only accepted but encouraged by the bible. Today, a person would not ignore these things simply because they did not believe in God. There are human rights that we believe each person is entitled to and someone with good morals would help out another person in need because it is the right thing to do. If it turned out that God does not exist, violence and torture would not suddenly become acceptable. (Mosser, 2011) Mass acceptance of a belief does not make it right. Ancient religions that believed in numerous gods have been pushed aside as fairy tales, for the more widely accepted belief in a single God. During their time those gods were prayed to just as fervently as today’s God. What was accepted as true back then is now known as a fable, and the laws of the day have been wiped away and replaced with our modern laws. These laws were put in to place to punish people who do wrong to others. They have become the moral balance. If you do wrong you will be punished, if you continue to do what is right you will live unmolested and enjoy your freedoms. God is not a requirement for someone to act morally, because there are earthly punishments for crimes. There is no right or wrong without God because He determines what is right and wrong. Moral standards cannot be enforced without God to ensure that we are punished or rewarded for our acts. Someone who does not believe in God may change their morals to whatever suits them at the time. We have been given guidelines by God on what is morally acceptable, and informed of the punishment that comes with being immoral. When an individual does not believe in God they cannot be a moral person, because they have no moral standards. (Millard, A. 2000) The Ten Commandments give us a basic understanding of what is right and wrong. These Commandments along with various scriptures from the bible determine which acts are moral and which are immoral. An individual who witnesses a crime but does not believe in God can simply decide that they are not responsible for stopping the crime. This may lead one to believe that if a non-believer does something right that they have morals. This is not the case, because they could just as easily do wrong and their conscience would have been just as clear. They have no moral compass to tell them that this act is leading them astray from God. (Riskin, S. 2007) If one does not believe in God they cannot know right from wrong and cannot do what is right because they do not have the understanding. The lack of a belief in God means that rules do not have to be followed. If you do not fear the wrath of God, there is nothing to stop you from committing immoral acts, or any crimes for that matter. Any situation can be overlooked because there is no fear of punishment without a fear of God. Only a person with a firm belief in God can be considered moral because they fear His punishment and desire his reward. God is the only person great enough to enforce moral standards, without his guidance there can be no binding morals. Moral standards come from God and without Him a person cannot be moral. When we talk in absolutes we ignore possibilities that exist outside of our beliefs. There are many examples of individuals that believed in God who acted immorally, as well as examples of people who do not believe in God acting with good morals. Their beliefs do not determine their morality, their acts do. If we are to base morality solely on a belief in God then which believer do we follow? Do we follow the believer who commits crimes, or only the believer who is an upstanding member of society? Adolf Hitler was raised as a Catholic, and in his adult life spoke of his religious beliefs. He wanted to create a pure Germany, through a religion known as positive Christianity. Positive Christianity removed the Jewish elements from the standard Christianity doctrine and replaced them with Nazi philosophy. More than six million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust in the ideal of positive Christianity. Bill Gates is noted as saying he does not know if there is a God or not, yet he donates billions of dollars to Charity every year. The foundation he formed with his wife to address extreme poverty and poor health in third world countries has brought attention and relief to millions of people across the globe. These acts were not done in the hopes that they would be rewarded, but instead to help the human condition. A general concern about the welfare of our neighbors is not exclusive to God. Not every action is based solely off of a person’s morals. There are many reasons people decide to do things and we cannot judge a person’s moral standing off of a single action. We do not look at Adolf Hitler and say that he is a great moral figure because he believed in God. On the same note we do not look at Bill Gates, a non-believer and say that he is immoral. We look at their actions over time and determine whether or not they acted morally. We know that killing millions of innocent people is immoral; just as we know that helping sick and injured people is moral. Which God you believe in determines what you consider to be moral. Muslims agree that polygamy is acceptable. Protestants and the Jewish believe divorce is acceptable if certain conditions are met. Catholics are strictly against both polygamy and divorce. Which God is morally right? All of these groups worship the same God, so perhaps it is the translation of the word of God that is in question. When we look at this we begin to have a better understanding that God’s contradictory words could bring the thought of what is moral crumbling down. There are many controversial moral endorsements in the bible that are accepted today. There are also commands given that are ignored because they are no longer socially accepted as truth. Exodus 20:13 says we must not kill. However, Leviticus 20:13 tells us that if a man lies with another man he must be put to death. There are many debates and arguments over whether homosexuality is moral, but we overlook the second part of the scripture because it is no longer held as a valid punishment. The times have changed and we cannot murder or we will go to jail. Leviticus 19:19 says it is a sin to wear clothes made from two different types of material. You will be hard pressed to find anyone backing up this claim today. (King James Bible) Many religious people have chosen scripture from the bible to suit their lifestyles over the years, but ignore things that are no longer socially accepted as immoral. They hold others to strict standards on matters that they do not agree on and use verses from the bible to support their viewpoint. If everyone used the internal right versus wrong approach to morality there would be less confusion on which standards we held each other to. It is unfair to condemn someone for something using half of a statement from the bible, and then ignore the rest of the statement because it does not agree with current beliefs. Our faith, lessons from our parents or even witnessing other people’s actions are different reasons to decide what we believe is moral. All three have flaws that can lead to differing views on the same subject. However, at the end of the day there are certain things that everyone accepts as morally right, or morally wrong. These are situations where it does not matter how you learned it, you just know it. Biblical teachings tell us that certain things are acceptable, while others are punishable by death. But in the legal society of America acting on the acceptable things will land you in prison, and the immoral sins are inalienable rights. Every day decisions are made across the world without having to consider if we will be punished by a higher being. These things prove that a person does not have to believe in God to act morally. A moral person is someone who not only understands the difference between right and wrong, but also does what is right. The lack of God in someone’s life doesn’t make a person immoral just as the presence of God does not make someone moral. Morality is not proven by a belief in God. References King James Bible Millard, A. (2000). How reliable is exodus? Biblical Archaeology Review, 26(4), 50-57. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/214908737? accountid=32521 Mosser, K. (2011). Logic an introduction. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Riskin, S. (2007). Ten commandments audience? Washington Jewish Week. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/220857354? accountid=32521.

Performance measurement

Performance measurement Introduction: This report is about operations Management in general and performance measurement in specific, which is broadly a study of an organization’s performance. LYCATEL has been chosen as Model Company in order to measure its performance. This report will focus on studying the different areas of their operations. This repot will also look at the positive or negative impacts of operational decisions taken by the company. This report will positively contribute to highlight some issues which may lead company towards betterment or vice versa. Finally the conclusion will proceed to some recommendations based on our analysis.This report will begin with brief explanation of performance measurement and its related concepts. The next section will introduce the Model Company and description of the problem. Finally the company will be analyzed on the basis of performance measure tools and recommendations will be made. Performance Measurement: Performance measurement can be defined as: a process in which we check or evaluate the company from different angels that how they are performing in their field. If we explore history, organisations have always measured performance in some way through the financial performance that they are making profit or not. However, traditional performance measured, based on cost accounting information; provide little to support companies on their quality journey. They never check the performance of an organisation seen by their customers that how they think about organisation’s performance. According to an article published in PMA Newsletter: â€Å"Evaluating performance is important, but we can not limit the performance measurement to this purpose. If we want to manage for results and manage through measures we should consider the performance measurement not just as a rear-view mirror to evaluate our past performance but as a tool to support decision making process in the organisation day by day.† Now a days in a successful total quality organisation, performance measures by the improvements seen by the customer as well as by the results delivered to other stakeholders, such as the shareholders. In the issue of Perspectives on Performance, Max Moullin recommended his personal definition of performance measurement and explained the aims of it. We would like to contribute to the discussion what he asserted. Here is how Moullin defined performance measurement: â€Å"Performance measurement is evaluating how well organisations are managed and the value they deliver for customers and other stakeholders† â€Å"We are not totally agreed with this definition because the word he used ‘how well’ should be decided after the measurement, we can’t say that the organisation is doing well or not before the measurement.† But as far other concerns it covers the both sides that the performance measurement tells the customer satisfaction and the stakeholders. Obviously if the customers are happy with the products or organisation they will stick with them and organisation will make profit, it’s just the different angle to see the things. Tools for Performance Measurement: When we talk about measuring something the first concept in the mind comes that measurable things should be tangible. So question arises here how we can measure intangible things? Then there should be some tools to measure the performance like if we want to measure the speed we measure in km/hr or if there is some liquid then we measure in litre and length in meters but for organisations we check that how good is their performance. It is really easy to say that in some organisation, some operation is not doing well or its performance is not very good but how we can say that what exactly we mean by these words â€Å"Well† or â€Å"Good†. To justify this we need something to measure the performance of operations in an organisation, some tool to do that. For this we will use Slack’s theory as a tool and measure the performance. His theory is also a best match with our case. In his theory he is using Quality, Speed, Dependability, Flexibility and Cost as tools to measure the performance. And these tools can be used to measure that the organisation is: Gives Doing things Right a Quality advantage Gives Doing things Fast a Speed advantage Gives Doing things On-Time a Dependability advantage Gives Changing what you do a Flexibility advantage Gives Doing things cheaply a Cost advantage The LYCATEL Group In this section a brief introduction is given about LYCATEL which is a dynamic, fast growing alternative provider of telecommunications services for consumers and businesses throughout the world. We will asses their performance in the UK market that how they perform in the market from customer’s point of view. LYCATEL Group covers several countries all over the world but we will check its performance specifically in the UK. The LYCATEL Group offers a broad product portfolio comprising of prepaid telephony solutions including: Carrier to carrier wholesale services Calling cards Residential Indirect Access Services (1xxxx) Mobile services (MVNO) Through a relentless focus on providing high voice quality by partnering with over 70 global telecommunications carriers, the LYCATEL brand serves its growing base of over 2 million customers who want to make low cost international calls. LYCATEL Group’s FUTURE The LYCATEL Group is committed to being the first choice telecommunications provider focused on serving global niche segments that have a need to call internationally whilst managing their monthly budgets through prepaid solutions. Vision To create a world-class telecommunications organisation where their talented people team up with their business partners to continually drive down costs and deliver superior value propositions to their customers. Mission To be the global market leader in the prepaid international calling card business by 2008. To diversify their revenue mix by developing prepaid carrier to carrier wholesale, prepaid residential and prepaid international mobile businesses, accounting for 40% of revenue streams by 2008. To delight their customers by providing low cost, high quality telecommunications services. Performance Key Facts Generates over 700 million minutes of voice calls every month – handling over 1.2 million completed calls daily. Operates a state-of-the-art global network comprising over 2,500 E1s – combining modern VOIP and traditional TDM technology. Employs over 150 talented professionals in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and Portugal. Interconnects with over 70 blue chip telecommunications carriers. Operates though a broad European distribution network of wholesalers providing access to over 300,000 outlets, including own controlled outlets in key locations. Provides customer services through a 24-hour multi-lingual call centre. Brand is recognised and used by over 2 million pan-European consumers. Is the European prepaid calling card market leader with an estimated market share of 25% in the UK, 20% in Holland, 20% in France and growing rapidly in Scandinavia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria and Switzerland? Has annualised global revenues in excess of $300 million and on target to achieve global revenues of $500 million in 2006. Calling Cards LYCATEL calling cards enable their customers to make international calls easily and cost effectively. Providing over 100 calling card product brands to the market place including Uni Asia, Uni Tel, Lyca India, Latino Tel, Euro Tel, Africa Tel, They originate over 350 million minutes per month, of which we terminate over 60 million minutes to the Asian Sub-Continent, 70 million minutes to Africa, 20 million minutes to the US, 35 million minutes to Europe and 20 million minutes to the UK per month. The LYCATEL Group produces and distributes 6 million calling cards a month making us one of the biggest European operators in this sector. They achieve this through an extensive network of wholesalers ensuring that their customers can easily purchase cards at over 300,000 retailers across Europe including own controlled outlets in key strategic locations or online through their e-shop at www.LYCATEL.com. (3) Measuring the Performance of LYCATEL: As we all know that there is a big competition in telecommunication companies now a day in the UK and all over the world. Everyone is trying to give the best to their customers in this competitive market and want to bind the customers with them forever because they know the values have been changed. Now the customer’s satisfaction is a very big issue for the companies in the UK and all over the world. In telecommunication companies if someone needs to contact any one in the company, need any information, or they have any complaints or any sort of matter they have, they go through customer services. So it means customer services play a vital role in these companies and leave a deep impact on the customers as well. That’s why we decided to measure the performance of their (LYCATEL Group) customer services. We gathered views of people about LYCATEL’s customer services and measure them using our tools to get their performance. Now we will try to measure their performance using different tools. No doubt that the facts figures they are showing in their charts are very good and the company is progressing but it is not enough if we compare with their competitors especially in the UK. We will asses their performance using some tools like Quality, Speed, Dependability, Flexibility and Cost. We took review of the people about their customer services in which we will check these certain areas: Quality: One of the main factors in quality measurement is to evaluate the level of complaints. There are many sources to check the customer’s complaints. Different businesses use different strategies in order to get feed back. There have been many companies and websites formed in order to collect the positive negative reviews of the company. We have measured company’s customer services on the basis of customers complaints registered on one of the authentic web source, which is famous to collect customers views. There have been many complaints registered regarding their poor customer services depicted in one of the customer’s view as: View: â€Å"Bought Africa tel lycatel phone card and it gave me 5 minutes to talk yet claiming I had more minutes. I guess they disappeared in the thin air. I then proceeded to call customer service, who do not seem to know what they are talking about, did not answer or help me in any way shape or form, they just wanted me to get off the phone by giving me false information.†(4) In our research we found that customers were not much dissatisfied with the products of the company but with the customer services. A number of complaints were found regarding language barriers especially accent related issues. The customer services don’t seem to be well trained. They have not been equipped with proper information as reflected in the view which clearly shows the communication gap between management and staff. We also found many complaints regarding warrant claims and mean time between failures when measured the performance of customer services. Another person’s view as follows: â€Å" Very bad. Customer service too bad. I have online account with lycatel and I paid through credit card and they took the money and did not credit my account. Trying to contact them but call center could not help me on this. Very bad service.† Speed: Communication is known as a backbone in the field of customer services. LYCATEL’s customer services lacking in the field of communication due to their pronunciation problem as their most of the staff is non English. The consequences of this factor is influencing very negatively on their customer query time. The bad communication leads to misunderstanding, repetition and finally frustration. This does not only results in delaying customer query but also increases the order lead time. View: â€Å"Bought Africa Tel Lycatel phone card and it gave me 5 minutes to talk yet claiming I had more minutes. I guess they disappeared in the thin air. I then proceeded to call customer service, who do not seem to know what they are talking about, did not answer or help me in any way shape or form, they just wanted me to get of the phone by giving me false information.† Dependability: In this regard we would like to share personal experience of one of our colleague’s, who was dealt with many of the customer assistants including their supervisors. He experienced that every person he spoke to was not dependable at all. Every assistant provided different information on a same query but no one could solve it. Finally it was found that information provided by each of the members of the staff did not exist in the policies of the company. The same issue was also reflected in many other views. View: â€Å"Its so annoying when the card tells you have 195 minutes for the call. You make a call for one hour. A couple of hours later you go back and the card tell you have no funds. What happened to the other 2 hours? You call the customer service team (at YOUR expense), am left holding for over 15 minutes only to be told that the computer does not update for 6 hours. You call back again in the morning over 9 hours later only to be told the same thing.† Flexibility: Our research found that LYCATEL is not flexible enough to provide solution for diversity of queries. Very minor issues are discussed with supervisors or transferred to others. This causes dissatisfaction and finally shows inflexibility. The customer assistants are not equipped with the variety of information that’s why they depend on their seniors. View: â€Å"I bought a  £5 card, used it once for about 20mins, (out of an apparent 1000+). And then, despite it still having credit, I could never call a single other number on it again. Needless to say their customer services are the very kind you fear coming across, i.e.: a million miles away, deaf to your concerns and completely unable to do anything to rectify your loss of time, money and whist.† Cost: Minimizing the cost is one of the main objectives of any organization. When companies try to minimize their costs they must consider many factors in order to make decisions. Lyca tell seems to increase cost due to the delay of handling costs. These problems eventually result in dissatisfaction and obviously if one customer is dissatisfied hundred of other are affected due to the word of mouth. Hence labour productivity effects directly on the increasing costs and puts bad impacts on efficiency. View â€Å"I am so frustrated with my attempts and loss of time that I will not buy this card again and will relay my experience to my friends too.† â€Å"There was nothing good in my experience about Lycatel and their calling cards. Open a card without using it, and you will be surprise Lycatels computers will use the card for you. I thought I would have received loads of minutes on the cards but Lycatel.com never fulfilled this for me. I therefore do not recommend Lycatel.com.† Problem Description: Analysis has pointed out a problem in their customer services. Being business doctors it is diagnosed that actually the problem doesn’t exist directly in the customer services but in their operations. The statement we arrived at as diagnosed above is based on our detailed analysis by utilising the performance tool in the early section. Our research has found that the root cause of the problem exists in operations management because that the call centres of LYCATEL’s are based in India which is purely an operations based decision as the service layout is wrongly designed. Due to the cheap labour most of the customer services staff is hired from the mentioned country. LYCATEL deals with millions of customers in the UK market every day. Further more it is found that many other problems link to this decision. Solution/Recommendation: It is recommended that LYCATEL should realize the customers concern and they should change their layout of call centres from India to UK. Our conclusion is based on our detailed analysis where all factors are analysed and we find that in order to improve quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and reduce cost the service layout must be redesigned and call centres should be based in the UK. And British people should be hired. This will not only reduce the customer’s complaints regarding language barriers but also improve quality satisfaction. Properly trained employees with better communication will increase the speed of handling calls which will eventually reduce the cost and also reduce the waiting calls time. LYCATEL’s call centres are basically structured in India due to the cost effectiveness. They have surely seen one side of the picture but have totally ignored the other side. Our calculations show that if one person is dissatisfied it can distract 100s of customers. If LYCATEL satisfies one customer it means he is saving hundreds of customers which is actually cost effectiveness. Another angel of cost reduction can be considered by employing well trained staff who can satisfy three times more customers as compare to less trained staff. As LYCATEL is operating in different parts of the world, We recommend that small scaled call centres should be established for only UK based customers which another way of considering cost effectiveness. Our research has also found that people living in India are not much familiar with the cultural values of the UK, this is also one of the reasons which results communication gaps when dealing with totally different cultural background customers. References: (http://www.balancedscorecardreview.it/c2005/Definition-of-Performance-Measurement.pdf) 12/03/09 @ 20:30 Max Moullin – Defining performance measurement in Perspectives on Performance Volume 2 (Issue 2 March 2003) (http://www.lycatel.com/LycaTelHome.aspx) Date: 14/03/09 @ 14:00 (http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews93358.html) 16/03/09 @ 19:45

Personal Narrative: I have seen Elvis Presley :: Celebrity Actor Acting Performing Musician

I Have Seen Elvis While driving down the expressway late last Saturday night I saw the strangest thing. There on the side of the road was an old broken-down blue Cadillac. As I passed, that's when I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye; it was him. There stood Elvis Presley, the King, kicking at the flattened tire of his rusted out Cadillac. I swear it was him. He had the side-burns, the wonderfully slicked back hair, and just as he went out of sight I swear he was doing that lip thing. As I think back on that night I wonder to myself if it was really him or if I just really wanted it to be. To me he is a symbol of both a lifestyle and a generation. Even though he supposedly died a month before I was born, his image and his likeness has so much meaning for me. Was it his greasy hair, the rebellious sexuality of his gyrating hips or just that sullen look in his eye? All these years I have never really known how my obsession with him came about. Now that I am in college I am beginning to question how thi s man of relatively little talent became such a hero to me and such a legend of American pop-culture? I guess for me, I am just infatuated with his image. You could say I'm sold on it. Elvis was everything I have always wanted to be. He was a rebellious loner and also incredibly popular. Elvis was always carrying around a pretty guitar but it is rumored he could barely play three cords on it. Presley was so phenomenally talented that even after dead for more than twenty-two years, he is still making more money than the average hard working American. He was a poor southern boy who was manufactured and constructed into American royalty. It is for these reasons that I hold a special place in my heart for Elvis. It is also for these reasons that I will from now on respectfully refer to him as, The King. The King is the result of the manipulation and the marketing of the American public through the use of the mass media. The first weapon used to target the wallets of the American people was the record. Rock 'n' Roll, a rebellious new sound that was immediately embraced by the young teen-agers of the fifties was a great turning point in our American society.

The Life of my Dog Precious Essay -- Personal Narrative Pets Family Es

The Life of my Dog Precious Within the animal kingdom, few animals have the characteristics to co exist with humans. Dogs, however, are the exception. For centuries dogs have been known as man’s best friend. Throughout the test of time dogs have proven to be the most loyal and the truest friends. â€Å"Dogs are not just our proverbial best friends in the animal world but probably our oldest† (Phillips 12). With this in mind I understand the reason that my dog Precious is my most treasured and loyal friend. On December 24, 1993 I opened my mom’s purse to get some Tylenol and out popped a little puppy. Its fur was soft and blonde, she had freckles on her nose, and she had droopy eyes. It was a Cocker Spaniel. She was so adorable that my family and I decided to name her â€Å"Precious.† She was the greatest present anyone could have asked for. Precious, unlike most dogs, has lived an incredible life. She has been dog knapped three different times and taken to Georgia each time. She has been shot, ran over by a car, and experienced many other life threatening experiences. This dog has been through it all. After having her only two weeks, we decided to visit my grandmother. Precious did not like o be left alone, so when I looked around and noticed she was nowhere to be found, we all got a little worried. My family and I started searching all over the house. Finally, my grandmother heard a weird noise coming from the bathroom. Sure enough, it was Precious. She fallen in the toilet while trying to drink out of it, and could not get out. Thanks to my grandmother’s great hearing, Precious did not drown. Throughout Precious’s puppy years we had to repair many things that she destroyed. One ... ...eorgia. Last summer, right before I left to come to school, Precious was once again missing, and I was once again crying my eyes out. Instead of contacting our police or even driving down to Georgia, my parents contacted the police force in the area where the renters lived. They had an officer on dispatch drive by to see if they saw a little blonde Cocker Spaniel and there she was sitting in there lawn. The policeman told the people why he was there and quickly brought Precious home. One might think that dogs do not live an exciting life, but Precious has been on more road trips and lived through many life-threatening adventures than most humans. She is a wonderful pet and a great best friend. Obviously, she is adorable because she was stolen three times. She means the world to me and I do not know what I will do when she is gone for good.

Animal Farm: Stalin And Napoleon :: Animal Farm Essays

The novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, was an allegory about the Russian Revolution in which the author used a farm and it’s members to symbolize major characters and their actions. In this composition, I will reveal to you many of Joseph Stalin’ s important contributions and how they relate to the actions of Napoleon from Animal Farm. I will break this topic down into the following three parts, their rise to power, Stalin’s Five Year Plan, and their use and abuse of authority. When Lenin died in 1924, a struggle for power began between Trotsky (Snowball) and Stalin (Napoleon). Trotsky was a brilliant individual, but Stalin was just a simple person whose power was based on allegiances with other members of the communist party rather than on ideas. This is contrary to how Snowball was the more intelligent one of the two and all the sheep and pigs were loyal to Napoleon. Trotsky believed in Russia’s trying to spread communism all over the world as Snowball’s purpose with animalism and Stalin was more focused on the prosperity of Russia, as was Napoleon about the wellness of the farm. By 1929, Stalin had gathered enough resources to exile Trotsky from Russia just as Napoleon did to Snowball. Stalin believed that Russia was one hundred years behind the west. He devised his Five Year Plan to bring Russia up to speed with the rest of the world. This plan included many of Trotsky’s ideas, which Stalin had previously opposed. We can relate this to the building of the windmill in Animal Farm and how Napoleon was against the idea until after the expulsion of Snowball. Russia’s economy was centralized on agriculture with over twenty five million farms. Unfortunately, the majority of these barely produced enough to feed the families of those who worked them. Farmers who had a surplus of produce were called kulaks. Stalin decided he would "liquidate the kulaks as a class" under collective agriculture. He believed that once the population of "those just getting by" saw the benefits that they would receive from these state-run farms, they would immediately approve, and that’s just what they did. Unfortunately for Stalin, the kulaks did not li ke this idea. In protest, they destroyed their livestock and tools and burned their crops or let them rot in the fields. This event is displayed in Animal Farm when Napoleon decides to sell the chickens' eggs for the benefit of the farm.

Classroom Management Plan

I believe Classroom Management is the key component in any educational setting. I believe that if students are in a safe environment, then learning can take place. This doesn’t necessarily mean punishing behavior problems but rather a combination of setting the tone in a class, preventing behavior problems with interesting and engaging curriculums and effectively including all students in the classroom so that their needs are met. Having the right environment for all students to learn is my major goal of implementing good classroom management–without it the students would not be able to learn. Outside of their parents, the teacher is the next adult figure with the most influence in their lives. I must take every student under my wing and guide them through the year. In order to do that, the environment of the classroom I create will comprise of me taking a sincere interest in students and see them as unique individuals. I will be notice if they play any sports, or participate in any clubs and connect with them at that level. I will also build lasting relationships that inspire and encourage students to be confident with whom they are. Every single student in my classroom will be recognized for the diversity they bring to the community and I will never allow them to think they are less significant than someone else. I want a community classroom that is structured with independence, encouragement, an open-mind, and student cooperation. Cooperation and communication are vital in establishing a classroom because it considerably limits negative situations. As a teacher, I will set guidelines the classroom. In addition to establishing guidelines, I also believe it is important to know my students as individuals. Getting to know them, listening about their interests, attending their award ceremonies, this establishes a mutual respect and trust that transcends into the classroom. When my students view me as a teacher who has a vested interest in them, they are less likely to display negative behaviors in the classroom. As a teacher I believe that it is my responsibility to provide each student with the optimal learning environment in which to thrive academically. Establishing and maintaining a positive classroom climate based on mutual respect and responsibility not only fosters academic growth, but also provides a foundation for minimizing negative behaviors. By creating this environment, serious discipline issues, as well as minor issues, are often prevented, allowing growth to be the primary focus, not discipline. The first step is to ensure that children understand what is expected of them. Teachers should model expectations. For example, when children are treated with fairness and respect, they will react in kind. Therefore adults in the classroom must model a positive, caring attitude. Because children learn differently, it is important to employ various strategies for helping a child learn how to appropriately behave in the classroom. Philosophical Statement In order for me to succeed as their teacher, I must be consistent and reliable. Students can expect me to treat them the way I want to be treated. I have learned it is important to hold myself to high standards and I hope my students will return the favor. Responsibility, respect, honor, and equality are four specific qualities I value and I anticipate my students will see me display these traits and model after them. I want nothing more and expect nothing less than to see young minds grow and mature into exceptional individuals who succeed in and out of the classroom. In addition to a structured environment, children also need a caring environment in which they feel safe to make mistakes and to learn. Though I believe that the classroom is a serious place for learning, there are also many opportunities for play and for silliness. I want my students to feel comfortable in the classroom, and to know that I am always approachable. Bringing in songs and costumes and participating in activities with my students will allow them to see that I not only care about their learning, but I also care about enjoying time with them. My assumptions about young people are that their peers and the media pull them in many directions. When I look around, I see so many advertisements, TV shows, shopping stores, and people trying to get the attention of our children. They flash pretty pictures and sound off hip music to draw our children in, and convince them that they need to be cool by either buying something or having something in their possession. The young people today also seem to be more mature than in the past, but this maturity also brings about much confusion and anxiety. Young people are looking for a safe haven and refuge from the many mixed messages that are being sent to them. For many young people, their home environments are unstable, which leads to more confusion. Classroom Management Plan I believe Classroom Management is the key component in any educational setting. I believe that if students are in a safe environment, then learning can take place. This doesn’t necessarily mean punishing behavior problems but rather a combination of setting the tone in a class, preventing behavior problems with interesting and engaging curriculums and effectively including all students in the classroom so that their needs are met. Having the right environment for all students to learn is my major goal of implementing good classroom management–without it the students would not be able to learn. Outside of their parents, the teacher is the next adult figure with the most influence in their lives. I must take every student under my wing and guide them through the year. In order to do that, the environment of the classroom I create will comprise of me taking a sincere interest in students and see them as unique individuals. I will be notice if they play any sports, or participate in any clubs and connect with them at that level. I will also build lasting relationships that inspire and encourage students to be confident with whom they are. Every single student in my classroom will be recognized for the diversity they bring to the community and I will never allow them to think they are less significant than someone else. I want a community classroom that is structured with independence, encouragement, an open-mind, and student cooperation. Cooperation and communication are vital in establishing a classroom because it considerably limits negative situations. As a teacher, I will set guidelines the classroom. In addition to establishing guidelines, I also believe it is important to know my students as individuals. Getting to know them, listening about their interests, attending their award ceremonies, this establishes a mutual respect and trust that transcends into the classroom. When my students view me as a teacher who has a vested interest in them, they are less likely to display negative behaviors in the classroom. As a teacher I believe that it is my responsibility to provide each student with the optimal learning environment in which to thrive academically. Establishing and maintaining a positive classroom climate based on mutual respect and responsibility not only fosters academic growth, but also provides a foundation for minimizing negative behaviors. By creating this environment, serious discipline issues, as well as minor issues, are often prevented, allowing growth to be the primary focus, not discipline. The first step is to ensure that children understand what is expected of them. Teachers should model expectations. For example, when children are treated with fairness and respect, they will react in kind. Therefore adults in the classroom must model a positive, caring attitude. Because children learn differently, it is important to employ various strategies for helping a child learn how to appropriately behave in the classroom. Philosophical Statement In order for me to succeed as their teacher, I must be consistent and reliable. Students can expect me to treat them the way I want to be treated. I have learned it is important to hold myself to high standards and I hope my students will return the favor. Responsibility, respect, honor, and equality are four specific qualities I value and I anticipate my students will see me display these traits and model after them. I want nothing more and expect nothing less than to see young minds grow and mature into exceptional individuals who succeed in and out of the classroom. In addition to a structured environment, children also need a caring environment in which they feel safe to make mistakes and to learn. Though I believe that the classroom is a serious place for learning, there are also many opportunities for play and for silliness. I want my students to feel comfortable in the classroom, and to know that I am always approachable. Bringing in songs and costumes and participating in activities with my students will allow them to see that I not only care about their learning, but I also care about enjoying time with them. My assumptions about young people are that their peers and the media pull them in many directions. When I look around, I see so many advertisements, TV shows, shopping stores, and people trying to get the attention of our children. They flash pretty pictures and sound off hip music to draw our children in, and convince them that they need to be cool by either buying something or having something in their possession. The young people today also seem to be more mature than in the past, but this maturity also brings about much confusion and anxiety. Young people are looking for a safe haven and refuge from the many mixed messages that are being sent to them. For many young people, their home environments are unstable, which leads to more confusion.

Corporate Social Responsibilities of Maruti Suzuki in Terms of Employment

MUMBAI: Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest carmaker, is extending some of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to associates on the shop-floor in a bid to make it more inclusive and increase their identification with the company. So far, these programmes were only for managers and engineers. As part of the initiative called e-parivartan, the company helps employees contribute to various social causes. The initiative is run in partnership with local voluntary organisations. Ads by Google LIC Life Insurance PlansInvest Rs. 543/Month & Get Rs. Cr. Life Cover+Medical Benefit. Buy Now LIC. TermInsuranceIndia. co. in Reliance Job Openings2500+ New Jobs For Exp: 5-15 Years. Upload Resume. Apply to Reliance Now TimesJobs. com/Reliance-Openings The company's CSR department facilitates volunteering activity as a link between employees and the community. â€Å"Encouraged by their enthusiasm for social work, we would like to take the employee volunteering programme to th e shop floor,† says SY Siddiqui, chief operating officer in charge of administration (HR, finance, IT and COSL) at Maruti Suzuki India. Some of the focus areas for next year include counselling Class 10 and 12 students at local government schools for higher studies and vocational courses, and support to the environment. â€Å"This community interaction gives extreme satisfaction to the employees. With such associations, their involvement and liking for the company also goes up,† says Siddiqui. The e-parivartan programme was started about four years ago when a group of young employees, in a communication meeting, expressed their desire to meaningfully associate with a social cause. Starting with 40 employees in 2008-09, the programme now involves about 2,200 staffers. From this year, the company has made volunteering an integral part of new employees' induction programme. For instance, new employees like graduate engineer trainees (GET) undergo a full day of community service. This year, a group of GETs participated in an anti-malaria and dengue campaign in Gurgaon that was organised by Maruti in partnership with the government health department. Such exposure helps us shape them as rounded professionals so they are able to contribute not just to the company but also to society,† says a company spokesperson. Underlining the fact that a renewed focus on employee involvement and engagement is very critical for the company, Siddiqui says: â€Å"HR should be able to support all, blue-collared or white-collared. Maruti is refocusing on building bridges between the whiteand blue-collared. † E-parivartan has so far shown tremendous results with white- col lared employees,

A Playground of Life Lessons Essay

A PLAYGROUND OF LIFE LESSONS Where were most of your memories made in elementary school? Ask almost anyone, and their answer will be, â€Å"On the playground during recess!† Unfortunately, the youth of today may not have the opportunity to make those memories. As a result of the No Child Left Behind Act, more than forty percent of schools have reduced recess time, while seven percent have completely eliminated it from the school day (Pappas, 2011). With physical education only being offered to elementary students once a week, typically for forty minutes or less, recess is more important now than ever before. The absence of recess in schools will result in a long-term negative impact on these children’s health, learning, and social development. Recess could possibly be the only opportunity throughout the day for some children to engage in social interactions with their peers. There are many children who have no siblings, or who may live in rural areas that aren’t conducive to gathering with friends after school. The free time that is given during recess allows for the development of social skills that will be beneficial for a lifetime, such as, making choices, developing rules for play, team building, and conflict resolution. These are basic social fundamentals that can’t necessarily be taught in a structured classroom setting, but are imperative in everyday life. Not only is recess crucial for developing social skills, but many lifelong friendships are built while swinging on the play set, or waiting in line for the monkey bars. Being able to nourish those friendships and spend time together gives kids something to look forward to during the school day. It’s a little incentive to get them through when classroom activities become boring and monotonous. Recess is also one of few opportunities for adults and teachers to observe how children behave socially with one another during free play. This can help to determine any tendencies to fight or bully, identify children who possess leadership abilities, or pinpoint any other strengths or weaknesses that can and should be nurtured. In a typical classroom setting, children don’t have the ability to showcase talents that aren’t academic. With childhood obesity on the rise, recess is detrimental to the health of children. Inactivity is associated with childhood obesity tripling since around 1970, along with an increase in other health issues, like elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol (Jarrett, 2002). When children aren’t given the opportunity to be active during the school day, they don’t tend to go home and make up for the exercise that was missed. Research revealed that children were actually less active when they got home from school on the days when they had no recess or physical education classes during the school day (Dale, Corbin, Dale, 2000). Even though not all children participate in physical activity during recess, they won’t even have the opportunity if it’s not offered. Today’s youth is already choosing television and video games over playing outside, so why should we support a sedentary lifestyle by eliminating recess from schools? Physical activity is also impe rative for good mental health. Maintaining physical fitness has shown to increase self-esteem in children, and adults (AHA, 2012). In school aged children, it is especially important to reduce anxiety by burning off excess energy that is built up while sitting in class. The best way for them to do that is by having recess! New experimental research done by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine has also shown that children who are offered recess during the day have less behavioral issues in class. Teachers in a particular school district were asked to rate their students’ behavior, and those students who were given at least a 15 minute recess throughout the day scored higher than those who weren’t (Parker-Pope, 2009). Obviously, recess offers a break from the sedentary routine of the day. The cognitive benefits of that break are astounding! For adults and children alike, breaks are deemed necessary for satisfaction and alertness. Research has also shown that breaks during learning result in a better quality of retention and recall due to the presentation of material being spaced instead of all at once. This research is conducive to what is already known about brain functioning: â€Å"that the brain needs downtime to recycle chemicals crucial for long-term memory formation, and that attention involves 90-to110-minute cyclical patterns throughout the day† (Jarrett, 2002). Other theories state that there is a positive correlation between unstructured interaction with peers, and higher results on intelligence tests (Jirikovic, Vansyckle, McIntyre, & Irish, 2005). Aren’t higher test scores the main focus of educators today? Children aren’t the only ones that need a break from the mundane curriculum. Teachers and aides need an opportunity to regain energy levels, discuss the day’s activities and observations, and get things in order for the next lesson on the agenda. With the heightened expectations of teachers and their accountability for academic progress, the break time that is offered by recess is extremely beneficial for both their job performance and state of mind. It may take them a few minutes to get their classes back on track to learn once they return from free-play, but it has been shown that students are more focused and well behaved after recess (Jarrett, 2002). With so much evidence that supports the benefits of daily recess, it’s surprising that the elimination of it has even come into question. However, there are those who believe that recess is unnecessary and that it takes away from the time and focus on academics. For those people, I would advise to examine the research and the long term benefits that recess has been proven to offer, as well as, the potential negative effects that would result in making it a thing of the past. Some say that school is a place for learning, not playing. I say that the learning that happens during interaction with peers as a child is irreplaceable by any academic lesson plan. Strong social skills are an integral part of moving forward in the world. Any career that you choose is going to require the ability to interact with people, whether it is with co-workers, vendors, patients, or customers. You can have the best academic resume in the world, but if you can’t make your way through an interview, the employer is going to choose someone else for the job. The social skills required to communicate effectively and adapt to certain situations are only learned through personal experience. This personal experience starts on the school playground. There is also the issue of bullying that comes into play when children are offered unstructured play time, such as recess. While that is a valid concern, and should be treated as such, children also need to learn life coping skills and resiliency. Life isn’t fair, and there is usually always a bully, even as an adult. Today’s children are being coddled too much, and given a false sense of security and protection. I feel it would be more beneficial to teach children how to deal with bullying situations, rather than treat them as if they don’t exist. Observation of student’s personalities during recess can help teachers and adults to identify who needs guidance in these areas, as well as, provide them the opportunity to pinpoint the bullies and stop them in their tracks. Although there are arguments against recess, there is no research that supports the benefits of eliminating it from schools. While it may free up a few more minutes for teaching reading comprehension or long division, those minutes are counter-productive if these children have â€Å"zoned-out† and are unable to retain what is being taught. Recess needs to stay in schools, and be recognized for what it is; a playground of life lessons. BIBLIOGRAPHY American Heart Association. (2012, November 26). Physical Activity and Children. Retrieved from website http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/Physical-Activity-and-Children_UCM_304053_Article.jsp Dale, D., Corbin, B., Dale, K. S. (2000). Restricting opportunities to be active during school time: Do children compensate by increasing physical activity levels after school? Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 71(3):240-248. Jarrett, O. (2002, July). Recess in Elementary School: What Does the Research Say? (ERIC Digest). Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED466331) http://www.eric.ed.gov/ Jirikovic, R., Vansyckle, J., McIntyre, C., Irish, B. (2005). RECESS – TIME WELL SPENT! Retrieved from website http://www.timeday.org/pdf/newsletter_february_2006/Recess_Project.pdf

Belmont is a place of youth, happiness and concord, Venice a place of age, melancholy and strife Essay

Shakespeare sets â€Å"The Merchant of Venice†, in two very contrasting settings of Venice and Belmont. Venice is the city of the merchants; it symbolizes money, business, men and hate. Belmont is a magical town which Shakespeare created to symbolise women, happiness, poetry and love. Shakespeare uses this juxtaposition to give a dramatic effect on the audience and he uses the places to introduce various contrasting themes and emotions. In Shakespeare’s time, to set the play in two very different settings was particularly radical and innovative because of the traditions of theatre set by Greek unities. It was simply not possible to show too much on the stage and so the audience would have come to ‘hear the play’, rather than to see it. By focusing closely upon language differences to show character or setting Shakespeare broke the rules of unity, which had been revived in the Renaissance period. The characteristics of Venice are shown as that of strife, age and melancholy and those of Belmont as a place of happiness and concord. Initially, these places seem to fit the title’s descriptions and Shakespeare shows how the places oppose each other. However, gradually and once the audience begin to ‘hear the play’, it appears all is not as opposing as it seems. Through the language and ideas brought out through the plot, the audience realises it is not the complete truth and that there is more to each setting than is first thought. The more you delve into the play, the more it is apparent that the two places’ themes appear to be often crossed over and constantly change. Strife, for example, is brought into Belmont by an aged father’s will which shows how the concepts of Venice are introduced into the magical place of Belmont. Whereas, in Venice, Belmont’s youthful attitude intervenes when a couple in Venice run off together when the parent forbids it. As the play progresses even more similarities appear between the two settings and more often than not the concepts of the contrasting places become crossed. In Act 1, Scene 1, the audience is introduced to Venice and its themes and characteristics. These themes of age, melancholy and strife are shown throughout the scene through the language Shakespeare uses. The play begins in a melancholy tone, as Antonio is introduced, â€Å"In sooth I know not why I am so sad.† Here Shakespeare demonstrates the melancholy in Venice through the character Antonio’s sadness and confusion. As the audience later find out, Antonio is one of the richest merchants, however this initial line shows despite his money he is discontented and this shows how Venice is not perfect. Even though, Venice is a wealthy industrial, business-rife city it is not as exciting as first thought by the audience for whom it had the appearance that it was an exotic and thrilling place. For Antonio, Venice has not lived up to his expectations. This first line primarily helps to set the impression that working in Venice is risky business and that the merchants lives are full of worry and anxiety. The majority of the first act is written in prose which was used, in the Elizabethan era, to show gossip or low life characters. As the story unfolds of Antonio’s fortune, it is brought to the audience’s attention how his fortune lays on the sea. â€Å"Your mind is tossing on the ocean,† This indicates to the audience that, Antonio must own some sort of big ship and that his mind is constantly with his boats. He always worries that something is going to go wrong. This shows the issues of melancholy and anxiety that lie in Venice. Antonio also represents age, because he is one of the oldest merchants in Venice and is getting weary of life. He is also in denial of life’s value and thinks that everything is always going to go wrong. â€Å"Why then you are in love.† â€Å"Fie, Fie!† Here, when Solanio suggests his sadness is down to love, Antonio dismisses it, as if he is fated to be miserable. He is very flippant about the idea that he will ever have anyone to share his life with. The language Shakespeare uses suggests that although Antonio is rich, he will never be happy and that he is doomed in terms of love and relationships. The audience, see the first cross-over between Venice and Belmont when Bassanio enters during this scene. He talks in verse, which gives the impression of a softer, more exciting tone. He also has a whole speech about love, which encourages the audience to think that Venice is not all it may seem. However, despite all the love language, the idea of money and Venetian values can still be found. He explains that Portia is beautiful, but she is also rich and Bassanio needs her money. Shakespeare liberally interposes the speech with money phrases, as he mentions, â€Å"debts I owe†, â€Å"warranty†, â€Å"prodigal† and â€Å"rate†. Bassanio talks of Portia as, â€Å"A lady richly left,† which keeps in with the Venetian themes of money over love. By the end of this scene, through the style and language Shakespeare uses, the audience builds up the ideas and concepts of melancholy, strife and age surrounding Venice. Scene 2 opens with a wealthy, but weary Portia, â€Å"By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world.† This quotation echoes the opening of Scene 1 and Antonio’s sadness, and it echoes the problems Antonio has found with wealth. This opening suggests melancholy in the magical place of Belmont as well. The audience’s first impression of Belmont is shown as strife- ridden and not a complete contrast to Venice. Shakespeare uses this to create dramatic excitement as it not what the audience expects and it gives the impression that Belmont is all not what it appears. However, one of the key ideas to notice is that in Belmont, it is woman orientated, which does contrast to Venice’s male dominated world. However, as a woman, Portia’s freedom is strictly limited and although Belmont may have a woman at its head, it is still a restricted world. This mirrors the realism of the male domination in the Elizabethan times and it gives something for the audience to relate too. The only factor, that causes all the apparent strife and melancholy in Belmont, is one of love, not money. Portia is worried because her future lies in the caskets left by her deceased father. As the audience become aware of the plot, it also becomes apparent that aspects of Venice are already sneaking into Belmont. This is shown through the caskets; her father set up a kind of lottery to decide her future, which is like gambling- a strong aspect of Venetian values. â€Å"Therefore the lottery that He hath devised in these three chests of gold, silver, and lead†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Also, by making the conflict work and by trying to achieve concord, she is causing herself melancholy and strife by keeping to her word. The scene is spoken in prose which contrasts to the love of Belmont. Shakespeare uses this for dramatic effect, as the audience would expect the characters to speak in poetry in such a beautiful, romantic setting. Nerissa and Portia gossip about the suitors who have already come to woo her and when Bassanio is mentioned, Portia becomes elated and excited. â€Å"I remember him well, and I remember him worthy of thy praise.† Bassanio symbolises youth, happiness and concord coming into Belmont. Yet, this proves to be contrasting that a merchant of dreary Venice is bringing happiness into Belmont, where the audience would have anticipated it to be the other way around. Shakespeare does this to create dramatic effect and to show the audience how the plot is unexpected. Act 3, Scene 2 follows a scene of hatred. Shakespeare completely contrasts this in this scene, as it is all about love. In this scene this is where it may seem most clear about Belmont’s youthful, happy, peaceful theme. However, even in the second line, â€Å"hazard† is said, which is a Venetian type word. It is written entirely in poetry to help achieve the romantic effect for the audience. The morals of Belmont are obvious when Portia says, â€Å"Before you venture for me. I could teach you How to choose right, but then I am forsworn.† She remembers her fathers’ will and knows, despite how much she is in love, that she cannot sway him to the right choice. This shows, a typical Belmont value, unlike Venice, she is sworn to secrecy. However, soon after we see another cross-over of age from Venice. Her father, despite being dead, is still overruling everything causing strife and melancholy. This reminds the audience of the situation between Shylock and his daughter and how similar the two situations appear. However, Portia quickly brings back the feeling of love and happiness back to Belmont, â€Å"One half of me is yours, the other half yours- Mine own, I would say: but if mine then yours, a And so all yours.† The length, style and content of Portia’s speech creates dramatic tension, That tension then becomes the subject of Bassanio’s speech, as he compares his waiting to the agony of being, â€Å"upon the rack.† Here Bassanio brings back a contrast to Belmont’s soft language and turns back to Venetian ways. However, Portia remains romantic and emphasises the fairytale aspect of Belmont. â€Å"Then if he loses he makes a swan-like end, Fading in music.† Shakespeare continues in the romantic style of language and Belmont begins to take hold of Bassanio and he is also converted to Belmont language. He talks in poetic verse and for once is rejecting the attractions of riches. â€Å"Therefore thou gaudy gold, Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee,† Surely enough, he chooses the correct lead casket, which once again represents the true values of love and Belmont, instead of the gold casket which is where the Venetian values lie. It also shows the triumph of his inner feelings over the outward show, which is also more typical to Belmont. Although, soon enough, he returns back to Venetian values, while splitting up the romantic verse, with Portia injecting financial words, â€Å"A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times More rich, that only to stand high in your account.† Following this, Portia begins to plot and set up the ring trick which is another Venetian theme creeping back in to Belmont. â€Å"I give them with this ring, Which when you part from, lose or give away, Let it presage the ruin of your love, And be my vantage to exclaim on you.† Here Shakespeare uses Portia, to bring conflict into the present and future of the idyllic Belmont marriage. Shakespeare does this to create dramatic tension between Bassanio and Portia and to create dramatic effect so the audience feel anxious after the joyful and romantic marriage. The scene comes to a problematic close as Venice continues to sweep back into Belmont bringing strife, melancholy and age as news that Bassanio’s friend, Antonio is in trouble. â€Å"I have engag’d myself to a dear friend, Engag’d my friend to his mere enemy, To feed my means.† Here Shakespeare completely changes the tone of the scene to one of worry, fear and misery. He uses the bad news of the Venetian strife and melancholy to create dramatic effect. The audience feel such a contrast of moods from romance to sudden melancholy and Shakespeare uses this to prove the cross-over between both places and how the moods of each place interlink with each other. Act 4, Scene 1 is more commonly known as The Trial Scene. In this scene, the crossover between the themes of Venice and Belmont is shown constantly through the language and symbols used by Shakespeare. Firstly the people from both places come together and the stories from both places intervene with each other. This proves the point that both places are far more similar than how they first appear.In the scene, Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as the lawyer and lawyer’s clerk. Here, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to add to the intensity of the plot and the excitement of the scene. The atmosphere in the early part of the scene is so intense that it seems as though Shylock himself is being tried, rather than having his case against Antonio heard. Shakespeare uses this to show the audience how the law is in control, not Shylock. Shakespeare allows the appearing fair and unbiased Duke of Venice to show partiality towards Antonio, â€Å"I am sorry for thee.† The scene is generally full of strife, which is mainly caused by Shylock. He represents the age, melancholy and strife in Venice. His hatred for Christians, causes the conflict in the court. â€Å"I bear Antonio, that I follow thus A losing suit against him. Are you answer’d?† Also Shakespeare uses Shylock’s knife and scales to add symbolic meaning as well as drama. He believes in law and sacrifice; both of which are typical for Venetian values. The Court and the Duke also symbolise how law is needed to run Venice and keep control. Human values and opinions are not important, it is all based on the system of the law. â€Å"To have the due and forfeit of my bond If you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter and your city’s freedom!† This ancient precedent of the law again represents the age in Venice. â€Å"If you deny me, fee upon your law There is no force in the decrees of Venice.† Also, Shakespeare uses the character of Antonio to show age and strife in this scene. He is the oldest out of his friends and thinks he is approaching his death. Shakespeare shows how Antonio is prejudiced against Jews, through the language he uses, â€Å"You may as well do anything most hard As to seek to soften that- than which what’s harder- His Jewish heart.† He believes that there is nothing harder than a Jewish heart and that they have no feelings. As Nerissa and Portia enter the scene, an element of youth is brought into Venice. Portia brings in Belmont’s values of concord and happiness and her beliefs of how human values are more important than the law. She asks Shylock to be merciful and she looks at him as a human, rather than just a Jew. However Shylock’s response to this is, â€Å"On what compulsion must I?† evokes the quality of mercy speech which sums up the values of Belmont and how the values of mercy remains strong, â€Å"The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath.† Shakespeare uses this speech of Portia’s to bring in concord to Venice and tries to convert the Venetians to Belmont ways. However, despite her best efforts, Shylock refuses to be merciful and Portia is resorted to using the Venetian laws. â€Å"It must not be; there is no power in Venice Can alter a decree established.† This shows how Venetian ways are taking hold of Portia as she turns almost selfish as she is only thinking about the best interests of her own husband. She uses these laws of Venice to strip Shylock of everything including his religion, money and his pride. Still, Portia is not only contented with that, Shakespeare uses her character and the ring trick to take strife back to Belmont. â€Å"And if your wife be not a mad woman And know how well I have deserv’d this ring.† Shakespeare use the ring trick to show the balance of power between the sexes, and Shakespeare uses Portia to show how the female can have the underlying power in the marriage. He makes the audience think about the consequences the ring and power will have on the marriage and how the trick may have ruined the trust in their strong and loving relationship. In conclusion, overall I think it is not correct to set the themes of Venice as age, melancholy and strife and those of Belmont as youth, happiness and concord. From analysing the language and style Shakespeare uses throughout the play, but mainly in Act 1 Scenes 1 and 2, Act 3 Scene 2 and in Act 4 Scene 1, I believe that the themes of both places continuously interlock and crossover with each other. Shakespeare uses the language and characters of both settings to show the audience how even though both places may appear to be completely contrasting initially, as you delve deeper it becomes clear that the settings are more alike than the audience may first realise. However, Venice is full of strife, age and melancholy at times and at first it seems to definitely appear as if those are the values of Venice. Furthermore Belmont, on occasion, seems to be full of youth, concord and happiness. Therefore, the themes of these places are, in turn, correct, however more often than not the values of the settings swap and interfere with each other to create the dramatic effect for the audience, encouraging them to think about the ‘old values’ in an age of commercialism and the social problems surrounding the different classes in Elizabethan society.