World Vision, My Vision free essay sample

It must have been at least four years ago when I stumbled out of the church sanctuary and into the quaint, sunlit, foyer. The pastor was a brilliant man but at my age, his messages seemed to pass right overhead. As a result I would sneak glances at the clock behind me, counting down the minutes praying, yes, praying that his sermon would be over quickly. As I waited impatiently, my fingers would twitch and my legs would swing back and forth occasionally hitting the occupied chair in front of me at which point I would shift my head nonchalantly in the opposite direction as if nothing had happened. Finally the pastor ended in prayer and I jumped up in glorious exaltation because the service was finally over. I ran to the foyer as my parents lingered to chat with friends. I glanced around and seeing no faces I recognized, I slowly drifted over to a table in the corner with a sign that read, â€Å"Sponsor a Child Today. We will write a custom essay sample on World Vision, My Vision or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † The table was covered with numerous pamphlets with various children that were available to be sponsored. I began rifling through the pictures as if they were the latest video game until I came across one of the happiest children I have ever seen. His name was Oscar and he was one day older than my brother. We took Oscar home that Sunday joyously, for less than a dollar a day. It was not long before I could barely remember his name. His picture was tacked innocently on our bulletin board, his dirty clothes barely clinging to his small, fragile frame. He should not have had a smile on his face but there he was, showing off his discolored teeth without a care in the world. I walked past his picture every day noticing him less and less. Pictures are sent to us not to show off what our child looks like but to remind us that we are sponsoring that child. We need to be reminded because it is so easy to forget, to be consumed with our own miniscule problems that we forget about the poverty and distress in our world. We forget that there are people worse off than us. Our wants and desires are insatiable and we take for granted every right, freedom and every opportunity that we are blessed with. We turn our heads and give third worlds and struggling nations not as much attention as they deserve instead deciding to bury our heads into our expensive houses, fast cars, fashionable clothing, big screen TVs and our finances sitting in the bank, gaining interest far too slowly. I am not saying everyone is like this nor am I excluding myself, for God knows I looked at Oscar’s picture today for the first time in a long time. His letters came every few months and I skimmed them over quickly never taking the time to write him back. I would leave that to my sister and when she did not do it either, my mom ended up filling up the space on the card. I guess I was just too busy playing X Box or going to a movie with all my friends. Thirty dollars came out of the bank e ach month wasn’t that good enough? No. Not even close. We cannot just fund other people’s lives and hope they turn out better. They need our time and hands to help create a better world for everyone. People say money is the root of all evil. Others say money brings happiness. I know first hand from my own experience that money tears apart families and destroys important friendships and relationships. It creates rifts and judgement in our lives creating more problems then solutions. We judge people based on what they wear, what they drive; ultimately everything that can be bought is judged. We make assumptions based on these initial judgements and can treat people differently than they should be treated as an outcome. Money exemplifies greed, and greed creates a world where thousands of people die daily from malnutrition, disease, and harsh living environments, just to name a few. Millions of people scavenge for food wanting only their basic needs to be met. What do w e want? More than what we already have which is too much. We are presented with innumerable opportunities daily such as work and education. What we do not realize is that the people who do not have these choices or are denied them would pay every last cent to have the opportunities that present themselves to us every day. Since they are so readily available to us, we push them aside because, well, there is always tomorrow right? I honestly believe if everyone had a chance to be the sick diseased man, the young inexperienced mother, or the parentless child, draped in filthy, torn, rags while limping on blistered, tired feet and swishing dirty water between their blackened teeth, then this world may just open up a little more and provide more attention and assistance to those who need it most. From war torn nations to even those that are homeless in our own city anything can help but before we can get to we, it starts with me. Dear Oscar, I’m sorry I did not write sooner†¦

Crime and prison population essays

Crime and prison population essays The answer to this question is astounding: the U.S. incarcerates 25% of the worlds prison population with only 7% of the worlds population. This is a disturbing anamoly in the history of the world. Never before has a country been able to incarcerate so many people at such a high rate, two million and 1 in 127 respectively. These large numbers are incredibly difficult to think about in meaningful terms. But if you can imagine the population of Los Angeles in 1950; and if you then put all of those people in some type of cage, you are close to contemplating the immensity of the U.S. incarcerated population. The incredibly important and disturbing factor is how fast this occurred. Todays level of roughly two million was achieved mainly since 1980 when there was about 500,000 people incarcerated. California illustrates how this growth has occurred over a relatively short period of time. Since 1977, the California Department of Corrections (CDCs) prison population has increased from 17,338 to 160,655, over a seven hundred percent increse. If you add the people in Californias federal prisons and county jails, California leads the country with around 258,000 people in prison or jail. When we color these numbers, the problem becomes clearer: of the prison population, African Americans constitute almost one third while they represent 6% of the population. Said another way, 1,996 in every 100,000 African American Californians are imprisoned in comparison to the 242 whites in every 100,000. Latinos, proportionally, have suffered the brunt of Californias prison boom. In 1977, 42% of the prison population was white and 22% was Latino. The two groups are approaching a full reversal because today Latinos represent 35% of the state prison population whereas whites now represent 2 9%. A total reversal appears likely if you look at the juvenile halls in Los Angeles County, where 1,100 of the 1,800 ...

Definition and Types of Illocutionary Force

Definition and Types of Illocutionary Force In speech-act theory, illocutionary force  refers to a speakers intention in delivering an utterance  or to the kind of illocutionary act the speaker is performing. Also known as an illocutionary function  or illocutionary point. In Syntax: Structure, Meaning, and Function (1997), Van Vallin and LaPolla state that illocutionary force refers to whether an utterance is an assertion, a question, a command or an expression of a wish. These are different types of illocutionary force, which means that we can talk about interrogative illocutionary force, imperative illocutionary force, optative illocutionary force, and declarative illocutionary force. The terms illocutionary act and illocutionary force were introduced by British linguistic philosopher John L. Austin in How to Do Things With Words (1962). Examples and Observations Illocutionary Act and Illocutionary Force [A]n illocutionary act refers to the type of function a speaker intends to accomplish in the course of producing an utterance. It is an act accomplished in speaking and defined within a system of social conventions. Thus, if John says to Mary Pass me the glasses, please, he performs the illocutionary act of requesting or ordering Mary to hand the glasses over to him. The functions or actions just mentioned are also referred to as the illocutionary force or illocutionary point of the speech act. The illocutionary force of a speech act is the effect a speech act is intended to have by a speaker. Indeed, the term speech act in its narrow sense is often taken to refer specifically to illocutionary act.(Yan Huang, The Oxford Dictionary of Pragmatics. Oxford University Press, 2012) Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices There are different devices used to indicate how an illocutionary force must be interpreted. For example, Open the door and Could you open the door have the same propositional content (open the door), but they represent different illocutionary acts- an order and a request respectively. These devices that aid the hearer in identifying the illocutionary force of the utterance are referred to as the illocutionary force indicating devices or IFIDs [also called illocutionary force markers]. Performative verbs, mood, word order, intonation, stress are examples of IFIDs.(Elizabeth Flores Salgado,  The Pragmatics of Requests and Apologies. John Benjamins, 2011) I may indicate the kind of illocutionary act I am performing by beginning the sentence with I apologize, I warn, I state, etc. Often, in actual speech situations, the context will make it clear what the illocutionary force of the utterance is, without its being necessary to invoke the appropriate explicit illocutionary force indicator.(John R. Searle,  Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge University Press, 1969) I Was Just Saying That Kenneth Parcell: Im sorry, Mr. Jordan. Im just overworked. With my page duties and being Mr. Donaghys assistant, theres not enough hours in the day.Tracy Jordan: Im sorry about that. But just let me know if theres any way I can help.Kenneth: Actually, there is one thing...Tracy: No! I was just saying that! Why cant you read human facial cues (Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan, Cutbacks. 30 Rock, April 9, 2009) Pragmatic Competence Achieving pragmatic competence involves the ability to understand the illocutionary force of an utterance, that is, what a speaker intends by making it. This is particularly important in cross-cultural encounters since the same form (e.g. When are you leaving?) can vary in its illocutionary force depending on the context in which it is made (e.g. May I have a ride with you? or Dont you think it is time for you to go?).(Sandra Lee McKay, Teaching English as an International Language. Oxford University Press, 2002) What I Really Mean When I say how are you to a co-worker, I really mean hello. Although I know what I mean by how are you, it is possible that the receiver does not know that I mean hello and actually proceeds to give me a fifteen-minute discourse on his various maladies.(George Ritzer, Sociology: A Multiple Paradigm Science. Allyn Bacon, 1980)

Business Research Method2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business Research Method2 - Essay Example The metamorphosis of education industry is visible at all levels such as primary education, secondary education, higher education, adult education and alternative education. The change has been with the curriculum, learning modalities, teaching, technology, and economics. Education at preschool levels: Education at the preschool level has seen enormous changes in the last two decades. Preschool or Childcare was initially started with an intention to serve those working couple who have to leave the child in a creche, which can take care of the child during the day. Gradually these creche started converting themselves into education providers for the little toddlers. Creches not only provide care for children of working mothers but also play an educational role, with the pre-school education play a key part in child's development (Vlok 1996, pg.403). These schools fulfills the basic issues which the parents would like their children to achieve including personal, social, and emotional development apart from communication, knowledge and understanding of the world Since the initiation of the globalization process, the education industry has changed completely. Now educational institutions can spread their wings globally to any part of the world where potential exists including in developing but potential countries like China, India, etc. Educational institutions try to enter new markets through entry strategies like the franchisee system. According to a report â€Å"the preschool industry in India accounts for 985million$ and the largest chain of pre schools in India comprises of just 550 schools, less than 4% of the total market potential of 15,000 preschools†. (Kumar 2008). Though the above mentioned fact, it is very clear that in a country like India there is a huge potential to start preschool businesses. Modern pre schools which would like to distinguish from the rest and stay away from cut throat competition, now offers other extra curricular activitie s to the children who enroll with them like playing, teamwork, self help skills, scientific thinking, creative arts, etc. As far as the pre school industry is concerned the competition is from the unorganized sector. Parents wanting to put their wards in the best schools located at far away places have left many a school go vacant in the UK. In December 2008, revised school admission code was formulated and was presented in the parliament. One of the agenda is to â€Å"improve the application process so that parents can apply for a school place to the local authority in which they live, instead of the authorities where their preferred schools are located† (nfer.ac.uk) With the visible improvement in the lifestyle of the people, the demand for a well structured, branded pre-school will grow leaps and bounds in the years to come. â€Å"The preschools which have a good track record and look for new things to inculcate in their curriculum remain successful. Moreover, the educati on and training sector is ever growing and everyone wants to try his or her hand at it.† (Arora 2010). The other issue plaguing the pre-school sector is the shortage of teachers, which has become a universal challenge. The global teaching force in primary education has expanded since 1971 but, has slowed down ever since 2000. In primary education sector, education providers who can provide a decent pay to the teachers could stay afloat in serious competition.

Online AP Classes Are Big Business Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Online AP Classes Are Big Business - Case Study Example A system that allows one not to pay attention to major courses is disadvantageous for educational purposes. The AP classes have increased failure rates in schools. Many students are taking the AP classes in High schools. At the same time, statistics indicate that there is a growing number of students who fail their exams in high school. Thus, it is an indication that the AP system does not target or maximize on the students rate of learning. The learning outcomes are rather weak preventing the students from getting the maximum knowledge intended (Fandl & Smith 2013). Students undertaking the AP classes are at a disadvantage when joining college. Joining college entails students achieving a certain criteria of minimum requirements. The AP students are at a disadvantage as majority of the students fail to pass the exams. Thus, they cannot match the students who attended normal classes. The AP classes tend to cover much content in class in a short time. The students fail to have a natural interaction with the instructors. The teachers cannot help develop each students according to their capabilities. The online classes are flexible and convenient. Online classes would be helpful for college students who have to keep their day job. It offers the student a chance to learn during free time. The free time could be during odd hours like late in the night. One could easily log in the schools website and access scholarly materials or submit an assignment. The online classes are pocket friendly. One could save on certain expenses such as transportation on a daily basis. It requires a computer and constant internet to take part in learning. There are colleges that would provide their students with free internet (Bourne & Moore 2004). Online classes would allow the students to take additional courses. The classes are flexible and accommodating requiring only a few hours of attendance. A student

equss vs amadeus by peter shaffer Essay -- essays research papers

In both Equus and Amadeus Shaffer shows insanity in his characters. He does this not only to stress the characters feelings and state of mind of which they are in. Also, he attempts to cast a blanket over the reader; it gives the reader the feeling that Shaffer designed the characters to express and reflect the beauty in insanity and to convey the ugliness on normality. â€Å"Madness, if not out rightly divine, is at best preferable to the 20th century’s ruthless and uninspired sanity, is in this play, as it is so much fashionable philosophizing, totally dependent on a pleasant, aesthetically rational form of derangement for the credibility of its argument† (Richardson 389). Shaffer brings us into these feelings with the story of Alan Strang, a seventeen-year-old British boy. He has been sent to Rokeby Psychiatric Hospital in southern England to get â€Å"help† for the crime of blinding six horses that he worked with. â€Å"Equus†¦. surgically probes man’s continuing fascination with violent forms of belief† (Gill 387). Shaffer makes this all so obvious to us. Alan is an insane young man with no justification and quandary that must be dealt with. His therapist Dysart sees that this boy is troubled and can be helped, but fears that there might be something deeper. â€Å"Dysart recognizes also that the boy he is treating has experienced ‘a passion more ferocious that I have felt in any second of my life† (Real389). Clearly he envies this. In turn Dysart fears that the passion of the boy, not because he can’t understand it, but because he does. â€Å"The inference is that, once cured, that is, rid or his ‘divine’ suffering, Alan will become a dullard like most normal people† (Clurman 388). Shaffer is trying to illustrate that â€Å"normality† is not good, but bad and that the only way to be divine is this state of mind is to go by Shaffer’s idea of â€Å"insane.† Shaffer wants us to think in the mindset of the boy and see what he sees. He wants us to feel the insane thoughts of Equus and experience the urge to follow to voice, but we must ask our selves; what divine spirit is this we see? There is nothing to it but the pure crazed madness of a boy. After reading the play you are left feeling sorry for the poor soul because he was never able to fit into society and the normality, but hear he is being forced into it. Shaffer uses the word insane is strong context because as the author he has cont... ...ely worthless,’ Salieri survives only to see himself become extinct as Mozart’s posthumous reputation increases. For thirty-two years Salieri nurses his hate, refusing to be God’s joke and demanding to be remembered, ‘if not in fame, then infamy.’ Thus, he composes ‘a false confession’ in which he explains ‘how I really murdered Mozart—with arsenic—out of envy!’ Then, as the sun rises and the play draws to its conclusion, he cuts his throat with a razor. Again, however, Salieri fails. He does not die; his confession is found but not believed. It is dismissed as the raving of a madman† (Morace 39). Shaffer ends off leaving us with our mouths wide open, craving more of the story like bees after honey, more of the tale told by the insane old man. This story of the insane from the eyes of the insane also makes it seem as if the norm is insanity and we are all but puppets with our strings being dangled for us by normality. â€Å"But positioning such an alternative is false. One need not be ‘crazed’ to live untrammeled by conventional proscriptions. Most of the insane are in every way for more wretched and pitiful than the average man in his quiet despair of humdrum gloom† (Clurman 388).

Memorable and striking characters Essay

Another way in which Charles Dickens creates memorable and striking characters is by the way he describes how the characters look, as in my opinion a description of what they look like helps me to remember the characters. We first hear Abel Magwitch rather than see him. When we do hear him we learn that he has a â€Å"terrible voice†. On our first impressions we could think he is a ghost as Dickens says, â€Å"As a man started up from among the graves†. Then a full description of Magwitch begins and Dickens throws lots of descriptive words at us in a rhythmic manner. Magwitch is first described as â€Å"A fearful man† â€Å"All in coarse grey† â€Å"With a great iron on his leg†. This is very monosyllabic, suggesting a very basic man. This also immediately gives us the impression that he is an escaped convict, which later in the story we find out he is. In Victorian times an escaped convict would have filled the reader with utter fear. Dickens also says that Magwitch isn’t wearing any hat, which would be regarded as disrespectful, and that he is not a gentleman, as he isn’t wearing a hat. Dickens also uses a lot of verbs in the description regarding the way Magwitch looks, such as: – â€Å"soaked† â€Å"smothered† â€Å"lamed† â€Å"cut† â€Å"stung† and â€Å"torn† which suggests that the environment is hostile towards him and that it has disabled him in some way. There is also a strong sense of rhythm throughout the description, for example â€Å"soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles and torn by briars†. The â€Å"Cut by flints† is almost onomatopoeic in that it gives a choppy monosyllabic effect to capture the act. Dickens finishes off his description of Abel Magwitch by writing verbs like: – â€Å"shivered†, â€Å"limped†, â€Å"glared† and â€Å"growled†. The glared and growled gives us alliteration and proves just how animal like he is, as Magwitch is conveyed as beast like in a wilderness, who is hunted by society. When Pip first sees Miss Havisham he describes her as â€Å"The strangest lady he had ever seen†. There is then a full description of Miss Havisham that proves just how strange and emotionally scared she is. Dickens says that she is dressed in rich materials- satins, and lace, and silks, we can tell from this that is an extremely upper class woman. We start to realise she is strange when Dickens says everything she wore was white. When he says white, we associate it with a wedding and we learn that she was abandoned at the altar later in the book. She has been at Manor/ Satis house for a long time, we can tell this when Dickens says, â€Å"The dress she wore had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow†, and also when he says â€Å"The bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress†. We can tell there is no hope left in her and that she is miserable when Charles Dickens says she has â€Å"Sunken eyes†. Now Pip sees her as â€Å"Ghostly waxwork†. Miss Havisham is regarded as waxwork, as skin and bones but also as a skeleton. She is like the living dead, if you excuse the oxymoron. The way the characters behave is another way in which Charles Dickens creates his memorable and striking characters. Magwitch behaves in a totally bizarre way with Pip, for example: – he turns Pip upside down, which is a symbolic action for when he turns Pip upside down, its like he has turned Pip’s life upside down, which he eventually does. Magwitch also behaves differently as when he finds some bread in Pip’s pocket he eats the bread ravenously, which makes us realise just how hungry and animal like Magwitch is. Magwitch behaves very roughly with Pip as we can see from the descriptions â€Å"Took me by both arms, and tilted me back as far as he could hold me†. This is the ‘action’ of a man who is desperate and needs Pip’s help. Miss Havisham also behaves not just strangely but the way she behaves is grotesque, as she tells Pip â€Å"I have sick fancies, and I have sick fancies that I want to see some play†. I mean who says that to a young boy, it’s just disgusting. She also orders Pip almost as soon as he gets through the door, I think that this is because she thinks that just because she is a wealthy she has the right to order Pip about because he is a working class boy. Another way in which she behaves strangely is that she talks out loud but doesn’t seem to care if Pip can hear or understand what she is saying. The last way in which Dickens creates both memorable and striking characters is by the way he makes them speak. Speech is a very important vehicle in characterisation as it determine a lot about the characters, for example: – where they are from and their social class. When both Magwitch and Miss Havisham speak, they both use imperatives but we realise that Magwitch needs to issue imperatives out of necessity whereas Miss Havisham wants to issue imperatives because she feels she can because she is an upper class woman and Pip is a working class boy. We realise that there is a lot of communication between Magwitch and Pip, but when Pip is with Miss Havisham he is the audience. We also realise that Magwitch uses ‘you’ all the time whereas Miss Havisham uses ‘I’ all the time, as she is full of self-absorption. When we first hear Abel Magwitch speak, he speaks with such force and aggression that we think he is a dangerous man. When Magwitch speaks he uses lots of imperatives, such as â€Å"Keep still or I’ll cut your throat! † and â€Å"Hold your noise! † these two sentences are also part of a number of sentences that are monosyllabic. Dickens also uses lots of dialectal grammar for example, â€Å"Tell us your name†. When Magwitch says â€Å"Pint out the place! † this suggests that he may be from a particular region as ‘pint’ is a dialectal word. When Magwitch says â€Å"What fat cheeks you ha’ got† it is quite comical in a way as Magwitch is so hungry he is wanting to eat Pip’s cheeks. When Magwitch turns away as he thinks that Pip’s mother is nearby we can tell that he lives a life of constantly been afraid. After Pip says that both his parents are dead Magwitch says â€Å"Ha! † but this â€Å"Ha! † is not an evil ha, it is a desperate man trying to sound sarcastic muttering, which proves just how desperate he is. When he learns that Pip is an orphan we see a side of him, a warm kind side when he asks all these questions, and Magwitch realises that he can depend on Pip. When he orders Pip by saying, â€Å"You get me a file, and you get me wittles, and you bring ’em both to me† we notice the repetition of the word ‘you’ that suggests that Magwitch is desperate and in a panic, and that Pip (this young boy) is the only person who can help him. When Magwitch describes the man who is in hiding with him, he creates the most horrific and violent imagery, which indeed scares Pip. When Pip says â€Å"Goo- good night sir† Magwitch replies with â€Å"Much of that, I wish I was a frog, or an eel† which proves just how much he hates himself, and that he wants to be someone/ something else, and with that he goes limping into the distance. When we first hear Miss Havisham she comes across as a little, sad, vulnerable, weak, feeble old lady when she says â€Å"Who is it? † however, even though she says this, it arouses our suspicions because she was the person who invited him, so therefore, is expecting him. When Miss Havisham is speaking there is a lot of commands that are styled as imperatives. Miss Havisham starts to open out when she says â€Å"You are not afraid of a woman who has never seen the son since you were born? † When she says this, it is effective sibilance; it is also taunting and full of utter spite. â€Å"What do I touch†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ broken† this sentence is Miss Havisham’s monologue, it is also full of spite, this sentence is also a very odd thing to say to a young boy such as Pip. When Miss Havisham says, â€Å"I am tired, I want diversion, and I have done with men and women, play! † we see that it is all about her, it is full of self-absorption, as she is always saying ‘I’ the readers also realise that something is not quite right when she says this sentence. She then becomes extremely insulting towards Pip when she says â€Å"Are you Sullen and Obstinate† which proves that Miss Havisham is extremely well educated owing to the long sentences and the complex vocabulary she employs. She also talks in riddles when she says â€Å"So new to him, so old to me, so strange to him, so familiar to me† which is not only comparing herself to Pip, but when she says this sentence, it’s like she doesn’t care if Pip hears and understands her or not. Miss Havisham doesn’t think that Pip can do anything for himself and she proves this by saying â€Å"You can do that. Call Estella. At the door†, which is ordering Pip to call Estella in a strange house. I think this is one reason why Pip feels very uncomfortable in Manor house, as it is totally outside his experience- a working class boy in the presence of middle/ high-class society. When Miss Havisham says to Estella â€Å"Well you can break his heart† we see what her plan is and Miss Havisham is also been very horrible. When she asks Pip, what does he think of Estella? She is being a bit cheeky, quite controlling and very mean, but it is the only sentence she says to him politely. When he does say (in her ear) Miss Havisham keeps prompting him, which in my opinion is very taunting, but overall that is what Miss Havisham is. So to conclude there are three main ways, in which Charles Dickens creates his memorable and striking characters. Firstly by the way he describes the setting, secondly by the way Dickens delineates the characters, for example: – the way the characters look and behave and thirdly by the way the characters speak. We have learnt that Abel Magwitch is a kind, desperate man who needed Pips help, and that Miss Havisham is a strange, grotesque, mean old lady who just likes to boss people around, having said this, in my opinion the reader feels a small amount of sympathy for her. We wouldn’t expect that Magwitch and Miss Havisham are totally reversed on our first impressions, but the whole theme is about our expectations. Dickens has created a number of successful characters, and because of their capturing description we can hear and see the characters, and because we know them and Dickens has brought them alive, we remember them for the rest of our lives.