Finding True Compassion Essay Example for Free

Finding True Compassion Essay In human society, man is surrounded by those less privileged, those in a state of desperation. In her piece â€Å"On Compassion†, Barbara Ascher describes brief scenes that capture the basis of transaction between the helpless and those in a position to give help, arguing that the only way society can achieve true compassion is by truly identifying with the suffering of others. Ascher observes the world around her as a member of society, describing encounters between those in a place of misery and those in normal walks of life. As she observes the â€Å"grinning man† on the street corner and the old man who smelled of â€Å"cigarettes and urine†, she distinguishes herself from her fellow human beings. Ascher notices these people, while others â€Å"look away† and â€Å"daydream a bit†, making her stand out as someone who can acknowledge and understand those in times of hardship. Because Ascher writes as someone who can identify with adversity, she succeeds in persuading society as a whole to embrace compassion through understanding. Ascher draws a strict line between those suffering and those privileged in her piece to specifically isolate her audience. At the very beginning of her essay, Ascher describes a group of pedestrians assembled at a street corner, intent on ignoring the haggard homeless man before them. A man â€Å"lifts and lowers the shiny toe of his right shoe, watching the light reflect† – doing anything to avoid confronting the â€Å"grinning man† in any way. Later in her piece, Ascher describes â€Å"ladies in high-heeled shoes† and how they â€Å"pick their way through poverty and madness†, hoping to escape the torment experienced by those around them. Ascher accuses these people as being the flawed majority of a compassionless society, exposing how they actively attempt to ignore and push past the living adversity that walks the streets around them. The â€Å"troublesome presence is removed from the awareness of the electorate†, but Ascher tries to persuade these people to do the exact opposite; by letting in the hardship they also grow to grasp compassion. Ascher describes scenarios in which she questions whether or not acts of â€Å"compassion† are simply facades that hide misguided motives. The woman who protects herself and her child by â€Å"bearing the dollar like a cross† obviously acts out of fear, attempting to ward off the unwanted presence of the homeless man. Ascher uses rhetorical questions to challenge the woman’s motives, inquiring â€Å"was it fear or compassion that motivated the gift? † Ascher also questions the motives of the coffee shop owner, asking if pity, care or compassion compelled her decision to feed the homeless man day after day. Ascher takes up an extremely accusatory tone, directly exposing the mayor of New York City’s misguided motives behind the â€Å"involuntary hospitalization† of the homeless in his city. Ascher questions the grounds upon which these people act to enforce her argument that humanity must learn to identify with the â€Å"rags with voices† to become truly compassionate. Ascher exposes the flaws in society’s acts of â€Å"compassion†, reminding everyday men and women that their tendency to fear and distance themselves from the helpless only proves to hinder their capacity for compassion. As people walk through the Greek tragedy that is life, the only way to truly brighten the stage is to embrace the darkness that afflicts other â€Å"players†, hoping to shed the pure light of compassion.

The impact of societal change on family structures Essay Example for Free

The impact of societal change on family structures Essay The impact of societal change on family structures, functions and resources has become evident through, the acceptance of, same sex marriages/couples, sole parent, extended, foster, nuclear and defacto families, physical, economic, emotional, social, cultural, moral, spiritual, religious and adaptive lifestyles. Statistics from around the world are showing the changing views and perspectives on various roles in the family. It wasnt long ago in Australia, that births outside of marriage were considered to be unacceptable. In those days the young woman was sent off to the country to have her child and give it up for adoption, as to not damage her familys reputation. Nowadays many women are having children out of marriage. Whether it is through the convenience of not being married or an unplanned pregnancy it has become frequently more common and accepted throughout Australia. This also brings in to the equation the growing number of mothers in the workplace. Previously after a woman had a child she did not return to work, but as the number of single mothers in the community has become more acceptable so has the view that women can return to the workforce after they have a child. Through the assistance of government pensions, workplace run childcare and daycare centres, single mothers have the option of full government support or returning to work, with some assistance from the government. Apart from single mothers, there is the issue of single fathers. This could occur through the death of the mother or the mother being unsuitable to her role. Support and acceptance are now widely offered to either single parent. Australians are also showing a trend to marrying later and having fewer children, often preferring to focus on their careers rather then settling down. Previously men and women were expected to have a family in their late teens, but as the necessity to have lots of money the view on this has changed. Also because of IVF and many other resources to help you have a child, both men and women do not feel the rush to have children, compared to people twenty years back. Since the number of babies has dropped dramatically over the past few years, it has brought about an increase of other nationalities to spread across Australia. Also acceptance of inter-racial and inter-religious marriages has become accepted, as many people are coming to terms that all races are th e same. This also brings in the acceptance of adoption, as many couples are starting to adopt children from overseas countries, such as Asia, Africa and Russia, as well as having their own children has increased the number of blended families, in Australia. As Australia now is a growing multicultural society it has accepted and adapted to many multicultural traditions, cultures and beliefs. This has affected the way all Australians think; as we have a more diverse background we are more acceptable and adaptive to change in our society. Divorce was once considered to be a taboo, less than twenty years ago but statistics have proven that this view has been changed dramatically with, out of 331 200 marriages 173 600, will end in divorce. Many of these marriages include children with the average age of the child being seven years old. It has also proven that women are more likely to gain custody of the children then men, and in cases like these 14% of divorced dads end up, either not wanting to see their children or neglecting them emotionally. When divorce does occur there is a dramatic drop in the familys income, assistance is sometimes required from the government to provide for the basic needs, eg food and clothing. As a result of less income the family members become extremely acceptable to breakdowns and stress, which can lead to anger and falling out between family members. This can lead to the reduction of socialisation between family members, as they can no longer stand being around one another. There is a variety of reasons in why more people are becoming divorced, they include, it being easier and more acceptable. In many cases divorced parents end up re-marrying, which creates stepfamilies. The couples who do survive the high divorce mortality rate often after their children leave home become foster parents as many couples seem to believe that having children around will keep them forever young and forever together. The largest societal change by far has been the acceptance of same-sex couples. Previously these couples were shunned by men and women alike, with many suppressing their sexuality. (Homosexuality dates back to Ancient Greece.) Is now only just becoming more readily accepted. There is now almost 18% of outed same sex couples in Australia, with a further more 9%, pursuing IVF or similar treatment to have children. The family functions has also changed through many fathers becoming the stay at home mum and the women, after having the child return to the workforce and become the breadwinners. The good old nuclear family, being 2.3 children, mother, father and a dog has a seemed to have disappeared, with the impact of societal change. People have begun to realise that they can be an individual family and that they do not have to identify and have the same religion, culture and beliefs as everybody else. I believe that the change in society on family structures, functions and resources has changed for the better.

Micro And Macro Environment Analysis Of Disneyland Tourism Essay

Micro And Macro Environment Analysis Of Disneyland Tourism Essay Upon review the Disneyland operation in different regions that appear many opportunities and challenges, which are facing to Disneyland. Since the major challenge is cultural crash in different areas that vary from region to region, which together with the problems of Disneylands standardization structure. In the past, Disneyland has difficulty when dealing with the employees in 2006 of Hong Kong Disney that led to high level of anger among dissatisfied. The top management in Disneyland tries to cope with cultural in overseas to solve the problems of conflicts between the employers and employees towards. On the other hand, Disneyland tries every mean to adapt more to the local environment in order to facilitate the local customers needs and wants. The Walt Disney Company is in the entertainment industry that is tending to spread more globally throughout the world. History and Company Background of Disneyland The Walt Disney Theme Park was founded over 80 years that the first Disneyland is lunched in USA, which is going to expand to new territories that go further to market globalization in universal. There is total 11 theme park in worldwide that contain Paris, Tokyo, Honk Kong and Shanghai in future. (DISNEY, 2010) Mission of Disneyland That is to deliver quality entertainment experience to all ages with the messages Dream come true and focus on the Imagineering that focus to provide and create magic hours to all guests and visitors. Context Analysis This will go on to analysis the marketing environment that consists of micro-environment and macro-environment. The micro-environment concerns the internal factors affecting The Walt Disney Company whereas the macro-environment concerns the external factors that can affect the micro-environment (Kolter, Bowen Makens, 2006). SWOT Analysis of Walt Disney Company There are four things an organization should consider and analyze during various stages throughout the fiscal year that are crucial to keeping up with the competition and giving a relatively accurate perspective on positioning. The SWOT analysis helps an organization understand the current and potential environment for their particular product and service (Hair, Lamb McDaniel, 2008) which allow adjusting the marketing tactics in order to help focus the strategies. That is going to analysis and recognizes the strengths and weaknesses are internal reflections, whereas the opportunities and threats are external reflections. Strengths Walt Disney Company has developed established and well known brand name and image over many years in the entertainment industry, which has long history and tradition that can facilitate traditional values (Datamonitor, 2007). In addition, Disneyland has many unique roles of characters and each of it has specific and attractive fairy tales hus, Disneyland are well equipping with broad product portfolio that consist of media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment and consumer products as different business segments with Imagineering section. Weaknesses Walt Disney Company is frequent change in top management level that let to miscommunication and a high chance for a bureaucracy between employers and employees, which cause of high turnover rate. Furthermore, Disneyland is mainly focus on standardization that each of the theme parks in different region is similar except the one in Tokyo. Since 1997 decreasing revenues and strong degreasing operating income no profitable unit Opportunities The markets of today are becoming more versatile to outsourcing and globalization. The trend towards globalization is not immune to the entertainment business and The Walt Disney Company is revealing this by expanding outside of the United States and offering theme parks in France, Japan and China. Threats Threats that are more prevalent in the era of globalization are the laws and regulations of other countries. There is a need for constant monitoring of the differences in the laws of other countries and the United States when organizations are outsourcing. Moreover, the theme parks must meet the safety regulations of the countries in which they operate in order to stay in business and maintain their international status. Furthermore, since the culture difference is vary from region to region that is hard to predict the right social development or interests of the target customers. As with any business a main aspect of the threat analysis is the competition. The Walt Disney Company and the theme park industry are many competitors like Universal Studios. In addition, there are many other less visible competitors that one might not naturally think of when assessing the competitive market in which Disney deals. For instance, there are various country parks like water parks that can also be considered as cheaper or more valuable competition for Disney. Competition, in any form, can diminish Disneys market share in the entertainment industry (Datamonitor, 2007 After analysis the external and internal environment of Walt Disney Company that has been figure out some of the problems should be aware afterwards. Key Issues The major existing problems facing by The Walt Disney Company that is highlighted the theme parks in Paris and Hong Kong. For the Disney of Paris has faulty or misguided during the planning of basic assumptions and forecasts. Disney failed to anticipate the major change of economy that European Recession during the Disney opened. Europe was in the middle of an economic slump with financial problem. Thus, this reduced the purchasing power at this time. The graph below illustrates the downturn in Frances GDP during this period (1992-1994), resulting in a reduction in disposable income among the French population. Moreover, Disney did not anticipate the culture differences of Europeans that incorporate with the language and eating habits, initially, banned alcohol in the park of the worlds largest wine consumption country. The cultural miscalculations with incorrect marketing plan of cross-cultural blunders occurred and were widely, even gleefully as the American cultural imperialism. Many additional internal and external factors contributed to the initial failure of Euro Disney, which are communication gaps, increasing interest rates, reduction in the real estate market, operational errors, and high labor costs all contributed to the $1 billion USD total loss. However, many of these factors have been thoroughly analyzed throughout the years. Fortunately for Disney, many of these factors were corrected. By 2008, Euro Disney was able to make a profit of $19 million HKD. Besides, Hong Kong Disney fails to reach target numbers of guest arrivals and fails to gain competitive advantages that due to poor management that fail to embrace the importance of corporate social responsibility planning in building up customer loyalty. Although Disney learned lessons and tried to avoid the same mistakes of cultural differences, the management has only focused on risk patterns rather than appraisal and learning about potential chance and risk. Disney had attempted entry into the growing Chinese market prior opening in china (Kolter Armstrong, 2006). Since the publication of fairy tales story books in Mandarin and creation of Disney character based on the Chinese traditional legend Mulan. Thus, Hong Kong Disneyland took the steps to avoid the cultural crashes which happened in France, by preparing the population for the entry of Disney and enabling the identification with Disney character and concepts (Jobber D., 2007). However, Hong Kong Disneyland admitted that the park had only attended around 4.5 million visitors in 2008 and so on in 2009. Apart from this, there are losing money according to the revenue and expenses that shown at the bellowing (HKDL, 2010). On the other hand, Tokyo Disney regarded as a great success with combined annual attendance and operating income, which is a joint venture operation model operated by Japanese. That successful reason is not only rely on à ¦- ¥Ãƒ ¦Ã…“ ¬Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ºÃƒ ¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¡Ã‚ ªÃƒ ¥Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ±manageà §Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚ ªÃ†â€™Ã‚   no cultural crash that can à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. As the Japanese had a great interest in Western cultural and do love of fantasy and costume that main visitors of this theme park are the local residents of Japan in fact. Despite Japan is facing the problem of aging population, the management had set the slight on the growing elderly population as marketing strategy to deal with the problem of aging population. Tokyo Disneyland offers a cut-rate annual pass for visitor who aged 60 or above. This action arise the discussion that Disneyland is icons of entertainment for children, no matter this is the first time a special annual pass for seniors has been available, it also successes to take measure and addressed to the senior. (THINGSASIAN, 2008) http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/29639 After the wavering beginnings of Euro Disney, management quickly learned many valuable lessons about international expansion and acted on these lessons to develop culturally accepted and profitable theme park. To prevent the consequences of the failure that is needed learn from the pervious experiences and clarify clearly about the key successful factors of managing global marketing strategies. Q1. The critical success factors in managing a global marketing strategy Business consultants thus contend that the key to successful international marketing for any business-whether a multinational corporation or a small entrepreneurial venture-is the ability to adapt, manage, and coordinate an intelligent plan in an unfamiliar (and sometimes unstable) foreign environment.

Hispanic Girls Growing up on the Border Essay -- Essays Papers

Hispanic Girls Growing up on the Border The Southwest United States is an area of great diversity. It is located on the border between the US and Mexico. In this region there are four main ethnicities represented: Hispanics, African Americans, Anglo Americans, and Native Americans. These groups interact daily working in the same offices and going to school together. Youth of each ethnicity face risks as they grow up. By focusing on the Hispanic adolescent girl the extent of the possible risks to one ethnicity can be explored. These risks will include motivation at school, the risk of dropping out of school, the at-risk classification, which includes gang involvement, and teen pregnancy. The results of studies focused on the risks to Hispanic girls will be compared to an interview with a Hispanic girl living in Tucson, Arizona and what she feels the actual risks are. Through the comparison a full view of the risks to adolescent Hispanic girls growing up in the border region will be seen. At-Risk girls is a term used over and over in order to describe girls that may be predisposed to problems such as dropping out of school or joining gangs. Girls classified as at risk share many of the same characteristics. Not having English as a native language is one of the risk factors attributed to the at risk girl classification. For first and, often, second generation Hispanics the language barrier is a problem leading to poor economic standing and poor education. In the border region this problem is evident in some schools since they may "consist primarily of Mexican American students, most of whom are considered at-risk based on language barriers, economic disadvantages, and poor family education"(Sonne... ...erimental Education 62.1 (1993): 60-71. Granleese, Jaqueline & Joseph, Stephen. "Self-Perception Profile of Adolescent Girls at a Single-Sex and Mixed Sex School." Journal of Genetic Psychology 154.4 (1993): 525-530. Jones, Randall M. & Lauver, Philip J. "Factors Associated With Perceived Career Options in American Indian, White, and Hispanic Rural High School Students." Journal of Counseling Psychology 38.2 (1991): 159-166. Menchaca, Velma D. "Achievement Motivation in Mexican-American Eighth Grade Students." Psychological Reports 72.3 (1993): 971-978. Osborne, Jason W. "Race and Academic Disidentification." Journal of Educational Psychology 89.4 (1997): 728-735. Sonnenblick, Melissa D. "The GALLS Club: Promoting Belonging Among At-Risk Adolescent Girls." The School Counselor 44 (1997): 243-245. Smith, Josie. Personal interview. 24 Mar. 1999.

Internet Chat Rooms :: Technolgy Computers Communication Essays

Internet Chat Rooms missing works cited Over the course of the last several years I have explored several on line communities such as intimate adult chat, travel, dogs, trivia, and writers. Mostly I was curious about what draws people to chat rooms and what benefit, if any, is derived from their going to chat rooms. I was also curious as to whether people actually used the information gleaned, whether it was beneficial or did they simply just check out rooms because they were lonely and wanted to find new friends who had similar interests. On a personal level, I found that once I entered a community or chat room, the more specific I was about what I was looking for, the better the information provided. I found that the information given was given freely and was generally useful. Worse case scenario was if someone didn't know they generally referred me to a source that could provide the needed information. I believe you can find just about anything on line, but what about other people? Did they share my beliefs about the in formation obtained on line? And why do I sometimes still feel more comfortable if I can "touch" the information or "talk live" to another person? Did other people feel the same way? I must admit that the romantic in me kicked in when I read stories about people donating kidneys to chat room friends or arranged a reunion between people who haven't met in over 30 years. Would I find this in my classroom survey? I decided to experiment with my English 305B class and find out. Due to time constraints I sent them each a questionnaire containing 10 questions that would hopefully determine if they shared my feeling about information gathered on line. Although they knew who sent them the questionnaire, with our instructor's assistance they were guaranteed anonymity in their responses. I had no way of determining who they were and if they answered. I'd like to begin by first stating the questions asked together with a narrative of how I interpreted the results. I sent the survey during class on May 18, 2000. There were 20 people in class and I had 11 responses, or 55% of the group replied. Questions Asked of the Group as a Whole: 1) Male or Female 6 male; 5 female My only comment is that I'm pleased about the fact that both males and females responded in almost equal numbers.

Hope and Saul Bellow :: Biography Biographies Essays

Hope and Saul Bellow      Ã‚  Ã‚   People grow up to respect their elders, their society, and their lifestyle. We learn from the people around us and our own experience. Saul Bellow presents his moral code and the standards that he believes people should follow. His characters experience loneliness and alienation from society. They place blame on the people around them, society, and religion. Each character believes in something; hope is everything to them. They think they can promote change and achieve a moral standard. Bellow believes in the human spirit. His characters show that no matter what we are presented with, or what hand fate deals us, we can conquer.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Bellow acknowledges the primitive tendencies latent in human beings. Scratch the surface of human civilization, and you will find the beast lying just below. As Frank D. McConnell states "the shuddering recognition of how little distant we actually are from the savagery of our origins, how fragile a thing is the civilization which makes, we continue to tell ourselves, our life worth living". Bellow's protagonists sense this dark side of the human spirit lurking within society. They struggle to find decency and meaning in the chaos of the world.    In Bellow's novel The Victim, the main character, Asa Leventhal, a resident of Chicago, struggles with his identity in a subtle way. Instead of philosophizing about who he is and what he is doing, he creates conflict with people and society. Allbee lost his job and had a drinking problem, Levanthal could have helped get him a new job or given him assistance. He is insecure about what he is doing, because despite his wish to ignore and turn away his old friend Kirby Allbee, he also feels compelled to help him.   Allbee places all the blame on Levanthal for losing his job. If Levanthal had talked to him and told him it was also due to his drinking problem and relationship difficulties, he would not be blamed for costing Allbee his job. Instead, he takes responsibility he is unwilling to confront Allbee, wanting none of Allbee's problems to invade his life. As Derek Rubin writes in his analysis of Levanthal's faults "Levanthal's being caught between his desire to turn Allbee away and his inability to ignore Allbee's demand for help is related to his insecurity as a marginal man"(1). Kirby tries to reason with Leventhal, but is turned away " 'Watch your talk,' said Leventhal stiffly.

Nabokov- Good Reader and Writer Essay

A good reader will ask themselves questions as they read along, using sticky notes for that section. This technique allows the readers to come back to the questions and answer them after reader more of the novel or essay. Also, a good reader uses hints the author hides through the passage for the reader to interpret. This lets readers figure out what message the author wants the reader to know. Good readers are active readers which means they use their reading experiences for support by bring knowledge from the world into reading. In addition, they use comprehension strategies to draw conclusions, synthesis and compare and contrast. Further, a good reader knows when to slow down and read faster based on difficulty. When a good reader doesn’t understand a word he/she use context clues to figure out the meaning of it. Lastly, a good reader should have an open mind based on his/her reading. A good writer uses proper punctuation at all times. Grammar and spelling are important as well. Also, a writer should have a lot of knowledge based on what he/she is writing about. This means that the writer should create a plan before writing about. This means that the writer will research ones topic before writing about it. In addition, a good writer should create a plan before writing to have a formal paper. To tell the truth, if a writer doesn’t truly believe in what one is writing about then that’s not a writer at all. A good writer would not care about what others think of ones opinion. Finally, a good writer grabs the reader’s attention from the beginning of the story. Lastly, a good writer writes novels with enough detail to let the reader understand, but not too much so the reader has to interpret the story you are writing about.