7 Reasons to Celebrate Your Favorite Teacher

7 Reasons to Celebrate Your Favorite Teacher The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) instituted World Teacher Day on October 5. However, many countries observe Teacher Day celebrations independently. In America, students celebrate  Teacher Appreciation Week  in the first full week of May. In that week, Teacher Appreciation Day is celebrated on Tuesday. How You Can Celebrate Teacher Day On Teachers Day, students express their gratitude and  appreciation  to their teachers. Many educational institutes commemorate Teacher Day with elaborate entertainment activities that include short plays,  dance,  and music. Parent volunteers and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) members often host a small celebration party for the teachers. As a student, you can put up banners, and posters with  a thank you note  scribbled on them. Express your appreciation through  thank you cards. 7 Reasons to Appreciate Teachers A Teachers Influence Lasts Forever: In the words of William Butler Yeats, Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire. We must credit our teachers who ignite the fire of learning in the mind that is yearning for knowledge. Someone once said, Teachers dont impact for a year, but for a lifetime. A teacher can make a lasting impression on your mind. This influence persists beyond school, college, and university, and becomes the beacon of light, guiding us through the journey of life. Good teachers play the role of a parent, providing encouragement, inspiration, and invaluable guidance.Teaching Is Not Easy: Not everyone can be a teacher. Sure, you can pursue teaching programs to gain the necessary certification to be a teacher. But a good teacher has to have certain qualities to be an icon of inspiration. Great teachers are those who can extract the nectar of goodness from young aspirants. They can fish out the hidden qualities of every student. With words of inspir ation, persistent training, and rigid discipline, they steer the students in the right direction. Great teachers teach the student to believe that nothing is impossible. Teachers Impact Many Generations:  Everyone has a favorite teacher. You may love this special teacher for her charisma, enthusiasm, or knowledge. Often, your best memories of childhood revolve around a great teacher, who inspired and changed your life. Their words  or actions linger in your memory decades after you leave school. Subconsciously, you emulate them as you pass on your knowledge to the next generation. Thus, a great teachers influence can last for many generations.Teaching Self-Reliance: By setting the right example, a teacher can impress the importance of self-reliance, instead of expecting help from others. This can teach students to build on their strengths and be responsible for their successes and failures. Students can learn to push their limits.Teachers Teach You to Seek Knowledge:  You may have come across some teachers who instilled value education in you. This kind of education can mold a human being for life. Teachers bear an enormous responsibility of pa ssing on their wisdom and knowledge. Italian astronomer and mathematician Galileo expressed, You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself. Good teachers help in enabling this discovery. They open new avenues  and encourage students to explore and achieve their true potential. The Best Teachers:  Recollect the good qualities of your favorite teachers. You may notice some common qualities. They motivated you to work harder, and take bigger initiatives. They are passionate about their subject and enjoyed teaching. Good teachers understand the importance of nurturing the love and thirst for knowledge. Some nuggets of their valuable advice remain with you forever. Their insight broadens your horizons and enables you to expand your knowledge.Teachers as Entertainers: Good teaching involves good delivery. African-American scholar and teacher John Henrik Clarke rightly said, A good teacher, like a good entertainer, first must hold his audiences attention; then he can teach his lesson. It is not enough to simply know your subject. To initiate learning, teachers have to make the classroom experience enriching. Appreciate Your Teacher's Efforts With Gratitude Use this opportunity to get to know your teachers better. Share your thoughts and ideas and learn what inspires them. Make beautiful Teacher Day cards with  Happy Teacher Day quotes to express your admiration. One beautiful Teachers Day quote by Albert Einstein goes, It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. Every Day Is Teacher Day Why wait for  Teacher Day to come around? You dont need a special occasion to express your affection towards your teacher. Make each day of your teachers life special with thoughtful words and deeds. A first-grade teacher is pleased as punch whenever she gets a hand-made card from one of her students. Overlooking the spelling mistakes and scrawny handwriting, she says that it is the thought that counts. Your Success Is Your Teacher's Success A teacher considers herself successful when her students achieve success in their respective careers. For her, the only reward is your advancement. On Teachers Day, pay a visit to your alma mater, and meet the teachers who molded you. You will be surprised to find that they remember you, even though many years have rolled by. Your visit might bring tears of joy to their eyes. Express your appreciation by writing a personalized message. It is the best gift you could ever give your teachers.

Aids As An Invader Essays - HIVAIDS, HIV, Ryan White, Free Essays

Aids As An Invader Essays - HIVAIDS, HIV, Ryan White, Free Essays Aids As An Invader Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, also known as AIDS, is a silent invader. The first cases of this disease were reported in the early 1980s. AIDS is caused by the infection known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is a microscopic organism that can grow and multiply inside living cells. HIV attacks and disables the bodys immune system. The immune system is the system that usually fights off illnesses. When the immune system breaks down, a person with AIDS will develop life-threatening illnesses. (Flynn & Lound, 6) The invasion of the AIDS virus in an individuals body leaves the body open to an invasion by many other different infections, called opportunistic diseases. These infections are the main causes of death of AIDS patients. Because there is not yet a cure for AIDS, once the disease invades the body there is no way to get rid of it. AIDS is a life-threatening disease and those infected are often treated as invaders although they are the ones who were invaded. Although AIDS first appeared in the United States in the early 1980s, HIV first gained a foothold in humans some fifty or more years ago in Africa. (Joseph, M. D., 14) At that time many hunters and their families killed and ate monkeys that carried the then undiagnosed and unnamed virus. Stephen C. Joseph, M. D. said that in the 1970s, when he practiced medicine in Central Africa, he saw patients with wasting syndromes, atypical progressive infections, bizarre malignancies-all undiagnosed due to lack of laboratory facilities or lack of specific knowledge. Joseph went on to say that most of the mortally ill children I was caring for had a combination of severe malnutrition and one or more infectious diseases. These children were in a way the analog to todays people with AIDS -they suffered malnutrition to such an extreme that their immune systems collapsed. (Joseph, M. D., 15) The 1970s is when the AIDS virus first erupted in the United States. This is when certain rare types of cance r and many other serious infections were starting to show up in many people who were healthy beforehand. Strikingly, these were disorders that would hardly ever threaten persons with normally functioning immune systems. (Grolier) It wasnt until 1981 that these symptoms, which were symptoms of HIV, progressed and were given a formal name and description we now know as the AIDS syndrome. Since the first AIDS cases were reported, more than 1 million people have been diagnosed with the AIDS virus and over 200,000 have died in the United States alone. Of the more that 1 million people who have been infected by HIV, most dont even know that they have been infected because they still have not developed any symptoms. The first high risk group was among homosexual men. AIDS first appeared among the gay community. Now, homosexuals are not the only people who are getting AIDS. The syndrome is now widespread among heterosexuals also. AIDS is an invader because it unwantingly enters the body without any warning signs. There is no way in telling whether or not a person has HIV or even full-blown AIDS. Anyone can get AIDS. The only way that an individual can be safe from this silent invader is to stay away from high risk activities. These activities are sexual intercourse, whether it be homosexual or heterosexual, with an infected individual and exposure to infected blood or blood products, such as through a blood transfusion or by using infected hypodermic needles during drug use. The number of women being infected by the AIDS virus is increasing very rapidly. AIDS has become the leading cause of death for women between the ages of 20 and 40 in the major cities or North and South America, Western Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States, AIDS has hit hardest among black and Hispanic women. (Grolier) Eighty percent of children born to women with AIDS acquire HIV from their infected mothers. Between 24 and 33 percent of children born to infected women will develop the disease. (Grolier) AIDS first invades the body as HIV, and an individual with this virus may not show any symptoms at all. The period from when

Communication in business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Communication in business - Essay Example Though we had some problems in the past, we have successfully overcome them and are now viewing ourselves as a socially responsible company that works in cooperation with the society and its individual members. We are committed to our consumers and stakeholders, and are actively supporting a number of CSR programs with the help of our worldwide CSR initiatives. The Coca-Cola Foundation has given us the knowledge and expertise on reaching out to people and communities all over the world. Therefore, on the basis of our own experience, as well as best world practices, in this letter we would like to address the following principles of United Nation’s Global Compact, which we view as the guiding principles for conducting business in current economic, political and social environment: Principle 4: Businesses should uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor. Principle 8: Businesses should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility (United Nations Global Compact, 2010). Protecting human rights and well-being of our planet are among the primary objectives of Coca Cola. We believe these aspects of business should be fundamental for every organization in order for all of us to help the planet be a better, safer and healthier place. Therefore, with regards to these Global Compact principles, we recommend that the members of the Australasian Local Network should: Develop and implement internal, integrated into corporate strategy and corporate culture, policies for preventing and fighting all forms of forced and compulsory labor. The companies are welcome and encouraged to take a look at, and view as an example, our Human Rights Statement (Staff, 2013). This document may serve as a guide for developing own, company-specific, set of policies and strategies. It is also useful to cooperate with human rights experts in order to expand and deepen the company’s understanding the issues related to human rights and f ighting forced labor. Design and implement a forced labor awareness program to educate host communities on their employment rights. At Coca Cola we believe that not only the company itself, but also the society should take aware of how to prevent forced labor practices. Though it may be a challenge in some countries and communities, companies should adhere to internationally accepted practices and principles and promote them within the host communities. Notify and oblige suppliers to follow the company’s policy for preventing and fighting forced and compulsory labor. As an example, we created Supplier Guiding Principles that outline the rights and obligations of our suppliers in terms of human rights. This document is a part of all the agreements between Coca-Cola and its suppliers, so our suppliers are required to obey our guidelines in treating and protecting the rights of workers and members of the communities, with which the suppliers work (Staff, 2013). The Guiding Princ iples are supported by implementation guides, which help our partners to comply with the global best practices in terms of fighting forced and compulsory labor. Conduct a deep audit of the company’s waste and emissions levels in order to identify areas for improvement, saving and elimination environment contamination. It is a very important CSR issue, with which we had direct negative experience: we did suffer from groundwater exploitation in the villagers of Kerala and

Open source software Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Open source software - Essay Example In today's business world which uses IT for its optimal and non-stop functioning, a database is something which any organization will not run without. Speedy business needs has made database an absolute requirement. As their number increases, so is the competition between them. These all vendors always think about new and innovative ideas to win the market competition. One of these way has been to offer customer an open source software so that if the customers preferences changes they can make necessary amendments This has given rise to a numerous software solution providers or database developers. Does this, supplying open source software,give an indication about future of all database Vendors Do all database vendors will eventually have to open up their source code or go out of business This essay disagrees to this thought and will examine few reasons for it.Those who still believe in supplying closed source software will always own a bigger share of the market as they have been do ing it in the past.In the recent past some companies have searched for a more economic database than to shell out a hefty amount to Database biggies every time they thought of expanding their business limits.There stepped in the open source database software because modifying it to the extended needs just take little.As the volume of business is rising and so does the requirement of software capabilities.Many companies today resort to open source database but merely acquiring an open source doesn't guarantee that whatever changes you make to the database it will always work with finesse. There may be instances of irrecoverable data loss or reduced security. There will be no one to take guarantee to that effect. That's why, industries where there is a requirement of updating the software importantly with the transfer of their past crucial data, they will always look for bigger companies doing this against insured terms. These insured terms are not possible even if you have a complete software development wing in your office. Developing software is a group effort, but modifying the software with keeping existing data intact is a serious group effort. Now days there are so many companies selling open source databases but they are less preferred upwards in size of business. So the open source will of course keep in market and remain in competition with the packed database software but will never be able to beat them. There is also a psychological reason behind this that as someone reaches towards the peak his chances of falling are increasing. The top of the peak is all surrounded by falls so after reaching near to peak no one would like take a cheap and risky step but will always go for a costly but assured step. For example a bank would never use open source software modified by its own organization. There is a related online special article in which Lacy S (2006) has told about Herman's search for database management keeping budgetin mind. "His search took him in an unexpected direction. He's spended a lot of time evaluating databases built around the open-source software that's disseminated and developed freely over the Internet. Sony, like most big companies, has been conservative when it comes to open source. So now Herman and executives like him are the spoils in what's shaping up to be a heated round of database wars. On one side are the defending champions -- Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft -- against a ragtag bunch of coders and some more organized corporate ventures, all going to market in different ways, but all trying to take down the Big Three using the power of open source." This open source trend is rising not only in database softwares but in other fields too. In this regard Valimaki (2005) states in his book - The rise

Influence of Language Contact on English Language

Influence of Language Contact on English Language To what extent has language contact affected the English language? In discussing the influence of other languages on the English language, the term language contact may be defined as the impact of other languages on English as a result of socio-historical interaction (Mà ¡rquez 90). Languages are dynamic entities, which are constantly evolving to reflect our needs and the state of the societies that we live in (Bex 26). This is certainly the case for the English language, which has been heavily influenced by many languages throughout history as a result of numerous invasions, proselytism, interest in so-called prestigious languages, and many other factors, with the code-switching that ensued as a result of these having a profound impact on English. Therefore, this essay will illustrate the enduring impact that language contact has had by looking at how aspects of the English language like lexicon, orthography, phonology and place-names have been greatly affected by Englishs interaction with other languages, with particular focus on the influence of the Italic languages of Latin and French. Regarding lexicon and place-names, Latin has undeniably left a lasting impression on the English language. For instance, Jonathan Culpeper states that the Romans most successful raid under Emperor Claudius in AD 43 was what successfully laid the foundation for the partial Latinisation of many of Britains Celtic place-names (2, 3). While it remained rare for British place-names to be mostly derived from Latin origins, rare exceptions such as Speen from the Latin Spinis do exist; however, one of the most prominent legacies that Latin left occurred through compounding, with certain elements of the names of numerous cities and towns having Latin roots (Nielsen 154, 155). For instance, the suffix -wich in place-names such as Greenwich was derived from the Latin vicus, meaning village (Ayers and Cherry 7). Regardless, while Latin certainly had an impact on many British place-names, it also left a more general mark on the English language in the form of borrowed lexicon and loanwords. According to Culpeper, while early Christian missionaries introduced approximately four hundred and fifty Latin words into Old English through religious texts, and thousands of Latin loans entered the English Language during the Middle English period from areas such as religion, science, law and literature, it was not until the sixteenth century that borrowing from Latin and Greek became extremely popular (36, 37), which became a defining feature of Early Modern English (c.1500 17000). This may be explained by the influence of the Renaissance (c. 1300 1600), which was a time of significant interest in the sciences and arts, and which led to a renewed interest in Latin as the language of scholars, scientists and philosophers (Minkova and Tunberg xxvi). However, as there were no English equivalents for man y of the complex scholarly terms featured in these texts, approximately seven-thousand Latin loanwords entered the English language, which often represented abstract concepts, unlike English words of Germanic origins (Culpeper 39). Also, several Latinate roots have been borrowed numerous times, resulting in doublets; for instance, the Latin word sal has inspired numerous English words, including saline and salary (Green 35). Nonetheless, borrowing from Latin decreased after the seventeenth century, mainly due to Englishs newfound prestige and status as the language of scholarship (Culpeper 37, 38). Regardless, it is clear to see that Latin has had a profound impact on the English lexicon through thousands of loanwords. On the other hand, because of the Norman invasion of 1066, French became the official language of law and administration in England and, due to its prestigious status as the language of the upper class and the code-switching that occurred after the invasion, approximately ten-thousand French words associated with warfare, rule, law and fashion (Millar 126) were adopted into the English language during the Middle English period (c. 1100-1500) (Mellinkoff 97). However, while some Norman-French terms completely replaced their Old English counterparts, such fortune replacing wyrd, semantic change occurred when both terms survived, with an example being the distinction between the Old English house and the French loan mansion (Culpeper 37). However, much like Latin, French borrowing has been in decline since the upper class stopped speaking French and English became regarded as the new language of administration (Culpeper 37, 38), yet the influence of French has lived on in various levels of borrowings, such as through borrowed food-related lexis like poultry, phrases such as mà ©nage à   trois, and bound morpheme suffixes like -ible (Fromkin et al. 358, 505). Unlike the written lexis of Latin, the fact that French influenced English mostly through spoken vocabulary is significant because it places French loanwords between Germanic and Latinate lexis in that they may convey a mixed register and refer both concrete and abstract concepts (Culpeper 39). However, while Norman-French generally had a small impact on place-names as most British places already had established names by 1066, some elements of French did inspire certain naming practices. For example, the French-speaking aristocracy routinely named castles and estates like Belvoir and Malpas directly after landmarks and places in France, Norman scribes substituted sounds for some more familiar to French (which is reflected in the spelling and pronunciation of places such as Cambridge), and the prevalence of double-barrelled named manors like Kingston Lacy can also be attributed to the French aristocracy, who often gave their properties recognisable names to distinguish their manors from others (Mills xvi). Consequently, much like Latin, it is undeniable that French has had an impact on the place-names and lexicon of the English language. Moreover, it may be argued that both languages have had a significant impact on the orthography and, in turn, the phonology of the English language. The fact that English spellings are not always phonemic, for example, may be attributed partly to the move from the Runic alphabet to the Latin alphabet used by the Romans during the Conversion Period (c. AD 597 AD 735), which meant that there were not enough orthographic counterparts for all of the Old English phonemes, as the Latin alphabet consisted of only twenty-three letters (Culpeper 22). Also, Doreen Scott-Dunne has noted that Latin impacted English orthography and phonology through etymological respellings. For instance, because of the renewed interest in Latin and Greek texts, many Renaissance scholars decided to respell certain words to make them orthographically resemble their Latin origins, which is evident in the change of words like the Middle English det to the modern debt, which now more closely resembles the Latin debi tum (62). However, while this simply resulted in the addition of silent letters to many words (Scott-Dunne 62), other Latin-inspired spelling changes were mirrored by significant changes in pronunciations. For example, Renaissance scholars often added the letter after in words to make English appear as prestigious as Latin, which changed lexis like the Old French loan trone to throne (Algeo and Butcher 155).   This resulted in a change of pronunciation, with the words first phoneme shifting from [t] to [ÃŽÂ ¸]; nonetheless, this was not a universal change for all words that contained the letter , and words like Anthony did not always change in pronunciation in British English, which exemplifies the fact that language contact can often result in a lack of regularity (Algeo and Butcher 155). Furthermore, French scribes during the Middle English period may have caused English spelling variations (House 243), which often led to phonological changes. For instance, the runic symbol , which represented the phoneme [w], was scarcely used after 1300, due to it being replaced by the symbols or , which originated in northern France (Culpeper 22). Also, the letter represented a vowel in Middle English, but a consonantal that was pronounced as [dÊ’] appeared during the Middle English period, which is often attributed to the influence of Norman-French (House 241). However, another significant phonological impact occurred because the importation of French lexis during the Middle Ages encouraged a separation of voiced and unvoiced fricatives into separate phonemes (Millar 126). While Old English had simply represented [f] and [v] as at the start of words and in other positions, the importation of French lexis like voice that began with the phoneme [v], along with the desire to speak with a prestigious French accent, meant that graphological distinctions between the phonemes naturally occurred (Millar 126). Similarly, while lexis such as centre was borrowed from the Latin centrum, the influence of French meant that the grapheme started to represent the phoneme [s] instead of [k] in some words (Culpeper 26), leading to a lack of regularisation. Additionally, while Old English had a strict stress pattern, in which stress fell on the first central (not prefix) syllable, the stress pattern of French was variable depending on each word and, therefore, prosodic changes had to take place during the Middle Ages so that French loanwords could be smoothly integrated into English (Millar 126). However, while etymological respellings of some words took place to show their French origins, scribes sometimes incorrectly assumed the etymology of words like island, meaning a was added to the Middle English iland to make resemble the Old French isle, even though the word was originally from the Old English iegland, and therefore had Germanic roots (Horobin 112, 113). By and large, the profound influence of Latin and French on the English language exemplifies the fact that languages are not static, and continuously evolve organically in order to meet our linguistic and societal needs. In fact, English itself has already split into separate variations like American English and Australian English, which each have unique variations based on their contact history. Moreover, due to advances in travel and technology, English continues to be shaped and changed by more languages in our modern world, as evidenced by recent additions to the Oxford English Dictionary such as dopiaza (dopiaza, n.) and maitake (maitake, n.), which have Hindi and Japanese roots, respectively. Therefore, while syntagmatic, paragigmatic, social and technological changes (including scientific discoveries and the development of the internet) are arguably the primary causes of language change in the twenty-first century (Algeo and Butcher 10), language contact has undeniably had a s ignificant impact on the English language overall, and will most likely continue to play a role in influencing various aspects of the English language for years to come. Works cited: Algeo, John, and Carmen A. Butcher. The Origins and Development of the English Language. Seventh ed. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. Ayers, Donald M., and R. L. Cherry. English Words from Latin and Greek Elements. Second ed. Ed. Thomas D. Worthen. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1986. Print. Bex, Tony. Variety in Written English: Texts in Society: Societies in Text. London, England: Routledge, 1996. Print. Culpeper, Jonathan. History of English. Second ed. London, England: Routledge, 2005. Print. dopiaza, n. OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2016. Web. Accessed 30 December 2016. Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams. An Introduction to Language. Ninth ed. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Green, Tamara M. The Greek & Latin Roots of English. Fifth ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Print. Horobin, Simon. Does Spelling Matter?. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print. House, Linda I. Introductory Phonetics and Phonology: A Workbook Approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1998. Print. maitake, n. OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2016. Web. Accessed 30 December 2016. Mà ¡rquez, Miguel Fuster. Working with Words: An Introduction to English Linguistics. Eds. Miguel Fuster Mà ¡rquez and Antonia Sà ¡nchez. Valà ¨ncia, Spain: University of Valà ¨ncia, 2011. Print. Mellinkoff, David. The Language of the Law. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004. Print. Millar, Robert McColl. English Historical Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh, England: Edinburgh University Press, 2012. Print. Mills, A. D. A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Fourth ed. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. Minkova, Milena, and Terence Tunberg. Latin for the New Millennium: Level 2: Student Text. Vol. 5. Mundelein, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2009. Print. Nielsen, Hans Frede. The Continental Backgrounds of English and its Insular Development until 1154. Vol. 1. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press, 1998. Print. Scott-Dunne, Doreen. When Spelling Matters: Developing Writers Who Can Spell and Understand Language. Ontario, Canada: Pembroke, 2012. Print.

Arthur Miller and the American Dream

As Voltaire once said, â€Å"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game. † Similarly, my grandfather compares people to decks of cards. He believes that for each person, different cards are missing from the deck, accordingly giving each person different abilities. In this example, fate is literally in the cards. Though an unsuccessful salesman, Willy Loman’s infallible belief in his dream shows that he never considered the salesman card was â€Å"missing† from his deck.The notion of the American dream falls back on the blind optimism and faith of Americans. In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman futilely chases the American dream, which is an unattainable, impossible fantasy to Miller, used to show the blind faith in Americans, and depicted as a character flaw rather than attribute in the protagonists of the play. To begin, the tone o f the novel set by Arthur Miller is a critical and cynical attitude towards the idea of the American dream.A widely accepted definition of the American dream is the perception that through hard work, one can achieve a life of personal and material happiness. Moreover, the representation of the American dream in the play is at odds with the general belief that hard work generates success. Willy tells his sons, â€Å"Be liked and you will never want† (33). If this were actually the case, his hard work combined with being well-liked would have been the recipe for personal and materialistic happiness.Though Willy Loman is constantly working, his obsession with the superficial qualities of being liked contrasts with the more tenacious and rewarding understanding of the American dream. Miller shows us just how unbelieving he is in the American dream when he wrote the plot of Death of a Salesman, in which the protagonists chase unattainable desires. Through Miller’s critical take on the American dream, he is trying to portray that Americans are blindly faithful and optimistic; Miller openly criticized such a principle. Happy says on page 23, â€Å"You’re a poet, you know that Biff?You’re a—you’re an idealist! † Making Biff an idealistic, underachieving son of a daydreaming failure adds to the irony of the American dream in the play. Another example of the author’s perspective was the way in which Miller suggests that the idea of the American dream hinders people from enjoying the success they have already achieved, in Willy’s case, having a loving family. The Lomans were optimistic during situations where it was unwarranted; their expectant approach to failure and disappointment is more proof of Arthur Miller’s disapproval of the American Dream.Because Arthur Miller believed the American Dream was chased in vain, he portrayed it as a character flaw rather than an attribute in the protagonists in th e play. Willy Loman, the protagonist (as well as his own antagonist), brought himself to his own demise when he could not discern his own life from his Dream. Miller’s antagonistic approach towards the various get-rich-quick dreams Biff, Happy, and Willy entertained also shined through at the impossibility of their execution. His hostility towards facets of the American mentality comes through in the self-destruction of Willy because of his all-consuming dream.For the same reason, Biff’s longing for the symbolically free West showed that Willy instilled his blind faith and materialistic desires in his son’s dream as well. Biff asked Happy with enthusiasm, â€Å"Listen why don’t you come out West with me? † (23). Although intending to come to terms with his own life, Biff’s longing for the West is glorified by his father’s undying faith in his own Dream. Biff and Willy Loman’s dependency on their fantasies show another, more neg ative, aspect to having dreams.Death of a Salesman is one of the foundational texts describing the American dream. Arthur Miller wrote the play in the mindset of an adversary to the American dream. Death of a Salesman displays Miller’s disapproval for the American dream and blind optimism, and displays chasing a dream as a weakness rather than a strength. In the play, Arthur Miller shows us that although it is important to teach of success, it is equally important to prepare for failure. In a game of cards, you can have all the strategy in the world, but fate is in the draw.

Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult Essay

This is the story of the directionless and destination-less youngsters. This is also the story of the combustible younger generation. Incidents similar to the one depicted in the story can be read in newspapers day after day. The readers are pained, excited and habituated to read such stories and to an extent, have become insensitive as for its implications. If there is no discipline and peace in the society, carry on with the available discipline and peace—seems to be the attitude of the citizens. The blame-game between the politicians, the executive and the judiciary as for the present pathetic state of affairs in the society continues! Nobody is able to give the tangible solution to the octopus-like growing problem. Nagging, abusing and condemning each other have become the way of life. The pages of human history daubed in bloodshed due to the negative attitudes and violence in the name of religion, language, color, race, territorial gains and aggrandizement for wealth, ask the crying question. How to make this Planet Earth heaven-like? The answer is simple and direct. Eyes full of understanding, hearts full of love and the life that refuses conflicts—enough, these alone are enough! What is depicted in ‘Nineteen Minutes,’ is the model of what is happening all over the world on a large scale. The incidents of 9/11 took place in less than 19 minutes. But what were the implications and detailed planning and above all, the mind-set, behind that tragedy! The incident had the potentially to set the entire globe on fire! The hero of Nineteen Minutes, Peter Houghton, 17 years, has been at the receiving end throughout his school life, mentally tortured and tormented, and finally the ‘volcano within him erupts’ He fights back in a dramatic, and perhaps dastardly manner. The shooting at the school leaves nineteen injured and ten dead. The composition of the book has everything to make it an interesting read, and the arguments of the two lawyers, bring out the best as for the life and motives of Peter. The author uses the flashback technique to develop the story. The major players of the plot come to play, Josie Cormier, former best friend of Peter, her mother, the detective and defense lawyer, Peter’s parents-Picoult describes their interactions with sympathy and understanding. He has given to the readers a very interesting book. The theme of the book and the author’s attitude towards the theme, both evoke curiosity. The level of detachment achieved by the author in developing the characters is commendable. Without giving room for too much sentimentalism, a grim situation manifests clearly, grows and attains new dimensions. The book deserves an outstanding position on account of this approach. The mutual interactions over the situation between different characters reveal in the most natural way, the convictions for which the novel stands for. This is the uniqueness of the novel. The narrations are beautiful and as the story develops, it becomes poignant, without losing its ground and reality. If ten or more individuals are united for a cause, and align with the Satan’s domain, that won’t make their alignment stronger. Truth has always been in minority numerically, taking any epic for example, but it is the ultimate victor. Peter’s position is the same. The majority pushed him to the wall and Peter thought that for the desperate situation, desperate remedy is the solution. Some bullets solved his decade-old problem. Those who go through the contents of the book carefully, sympathize with him, not condemn! Everyone has the right of self-defense, and in the process that you kill ten or fifty persons is altogether a different issue. This takes one to the portals of an important social problem. What if the gun control laws were there? Could the tragedy have been averted? The answer is both yes and no. The real problem is not the creation of the gun, but the creation of Peters in the society, for which the society, the parents, brothers and sisters, the friends, the teachers and Preachers, law enforcing authorities, and above all the politicians are responsible—and oh yes, the print and electronic media too, that plays to the gallery and creates deep impact in the impressionable minds of the kids! They must get more and more advertisement revenue no matter what the impact of this white-color robbery on the psyche of the society. These forces have created Peters. So unless the people are basically sound, and basic conditions are created for the people to become basically sound, many more Peters will incarnate. Countries with gun control laws have also Peters. So, changing the gun control laws is not the solution. Changing the thought process of the individuals is! An individual is the foundation stone of the society. Unless one’s thought process changes, one’s action process will not change. When the thoughts are changed, the mind is changed; when the mid is changed, the man is changed; when the man is changed, the society is changed. The message of the book by Picoult is clear. Children-friendly approach is required as for small and big problems confronting them; the teachers need to keep a careful watch as for the groups in classes or the institution as a whole. These groups could be due to any reason, simple jealousies, race and color, rich and poor and this listing of problems can go on and on†¦. The vigilant teaching community has great responsibility in this area. In the materialistic society, due to the impact of industrial and internet revolutions, the parents have little time to spend with the children. The educational institutions are the best alternatives to the prevailing family atmosphere, wherein children can be imparted the moral, ethical and even spiritual education. References Cited: Picoult, Jodi: Book: Nineteen Minutes Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Atria; 1st edition. edition (March 5, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 0739480715 ISBN-13: 978-0743496728 ASIN: 0743496728