Chaucers Canterbury Tales - Concept of Charity in the General Prologue :: General Prologue Essays

The Concept of Charity in the General Prologue    In the "General Prologue," Chaucer presents an array of characters from the 1400's in order to paint portraits of human dishonesty and stupidity as well as virtue.   Out of these twenty-nine character portraits three of them are especially interesting because they deal with charity.   Charity during the 1400's, was a virtue of both religious and human traits.   One character, the Parson, exemplifies Chaucer's idea of charity, and two characters, Prioress, and Friar, to satirize the idea of charity and show that they are using charity for either devious reasons or out of convention or habit.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the definition from the Webster's dictionary, charity means giving to the needy and helping the poor.   In Chaucer's time, however, charity meant much more.   It included a love of G-d and doing the will of G-d as well as the kind of person one is.   Thus Charity had two parts, one human, the other divine.   Two parts that mixed in different portions depending on a person. Charity was a human virtue that the Church encouraged.   People believed that if one does something good, he will be rewarded by G-d.   Many people did meaningful, charitable things out the goodness of their hearts, but others had done it for other reasons.   Those reasons included making money from people's suffering and giving to charity because someone told them to do so, rather than from the goodness of their hearts or to ease the suffering of others.   Chaucer plays off both of these parts of charity in his portraits to show how they can be combined differently in different people and to distinguish "true" charity from "false" charity.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Parson exemplifies Chaucer's idea of true charity.   Even though Parson does not have any money, he considers himself rich spiritually.   Going around the village, he teaches the poor and those who can't go to church about what G-d is and how to be a religious person.   He gives more than he receives.   In fact, he avoids preaching to the rich and well-to-do because he prefers going to the humble and poor, who truly need his help and G-d.   He doesn't run to London to earn easy bread

How Four Rookie Ceos Handled the Great Recession?

How Four Rookie CEOs Handled the Great Recession? 1. Use the chapter material to decide what different kinds of management challenges these four CEOs faced as they took control of managing their different companies. One of the challenges that they faced was the recession. The CEOs had to demonstrate their best conceptual skills because starting during a recession means they had to make drastic changes before the company went under. The new CEOs had to restructure the company to lower operating cost. Another challenge was managing a diverse workforce.How do you train a workforce that spoke different languages and have different work practices and worked overseas? 2. In what kinds of ways did these managers respond to these challenges- for example, in their approaches to planning, leading, organizing and controlling? Donahoe had a strategy to change the customer’s website and introducing BillMeLater. He led the employees and investors to this vision which paid off. The stocks be gan to rise again. Mr. Kenney of T Rowe Price made a plan to reduce costs.He took charge and cut back on hiring, advertising and IT. Diane took the recession by the hand and used it to her advantage. Her company had an edge over the leading competitors which at the time would struggle. She revamped the company website and pushed the products overseas. 3. Search the web. How are these managers and their companies currently performing? EBay’s John Donahoe was interviewed by James Stewart of NY Times saying â€Å"Our multiyear effort is paying off,† he said. Profit more than doubled and revenue jumped 23 percent. EBay is revitalized. We believe the best is yet to come. † In a stock market struggling with recession fears and the European debt crisis, eBay stock this week hit a six-year high. † He says that the introduction of the EBay mobile app and the purchase of PayPal has been a great innovation. T. Rowe Price’s James Kennedy said in his recent inter view for the Baltimore Business Journal, that T. Rowe’s earnings were up in the second quarter. â€Å"Investors are concerned about the Greece crisis because it will affect the rest of Europe.Here in the U. S. , he said investors are being rattled by a number of factors — unemployment, a sluggish housing market and uncertainty over whether the Affordable Care Act will drive health care costs higher, and by how much. † Diane Irvine of Blue Nile has resigned. Blue Nile didn’t give a reason why. Peter Swinburn of Molson Brewing Co. , recently made a $3. 54 billion dollar deal for the Eastern European beer brewer Starbev. The deal is expected to add to its earnings quickly, starting in the first full year of joint operations.Molson is banking on that growth, with the company paying for the transaction almost entirely through debt. Under the terms of the acquisition, Molson will pay $3 billion in cash and debt and an additional $667 million in convertible debt that will be paid to CVC. References De La Merced , M. (2012, April 03). In starbev deal, molson bets big on growth . The New York Times. Retrieved from http://dealbook. nytimes. com/2012/04/03/in-starbev-deal-molson-bets-big-on-growth/ Haber, G. (2012). T. owe price ceo on the global economy, baltimore grand prix . Retrieved from http://www. bizjournals. com/baltimore/news/2012/07/25/t-rowe-price-ceo-on-the-global. html? page=all Martinez, A. (2012, NOV 08). Blue nile ceo resigns abruptly; 3q profit falls . . Retrieved from http://seattletimes. com/html/businesstechnology/2016718784_bluenile 09. html Stewart, J. (2012, July 27). Nytimes. com. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2012/07/28/business/ebays-turnaround-defies-convention-for-internet-companies. html? pagewanted=all

Free and Fair Election

Free and Fair Election The electoral system have to be fair and just and to ensure this, free and fair election will be held when the Parliament is dissolved or finish it’s sitting duration of 5 years. A free and fair election must be in orderly manner and it must not have Coup d’etat. Coup d’etat is meant by a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics . It is an alteration of an existing government by a small group that tend to create riots and chaos. The current Malaysia government believe that Bersih 2. 0 and 3. 0 is an attempted coup d’etat to topple the government – an allegation made by the Prime Minister himself.But the 8 demands from Bersih 2. 0 have no bias standing against any of the governmental parties in Malaysia. Basically they just wanted a clean and fair election, which is the fundamental element in the electoral system. Malaysia practices the simple plurality system which is also known as ‘first-past-the-post system. The h allmark of this system is that constituencies are single-member constituencies and a candidate with the largest vote wins the electoral district even if it does not constitute an absolute majority of the electors.Article 116 and 117 constitute that representatives at State and Federal level are divided into constituencies in accordance with the provisions contained in the Thirteenth Schedule. This system is following the Westminster post system which is also followed by UK and India. The MP who won the election does not usually equal to the majority of votes. They won the election by simple majority but not the entire popularity of the voters. The fundamental built on this system is that each voter is entitled to only one vote. Constituencies are approximately equal in population size so that it carries the same value.All constituencies are single-member constituencies so that there are as many electoral districts as there are seats in the elected chamber. Only one ballot is held an d the candidate obtaining the most votes is declared elected. Candidate with the largest vote wins. The advantages of the simple plurality system are that it produces a clear winner; it provides political stability; reduce the number of political parties represented in Parliament; enables stability in government and ensures easy passage of legislation through Parliament. Furthermore, it avours large groups and coalition and eliminates small parties, making it an easy tunnel for the legislation making to pass through. There is no perfection in everything, so does the political electoral system. One of the defects of first-past-the-post system is that it produces parliaments that are elected but not representative. Democratic legitimate is in doubt because the ascendancy of government population is usually below 50%. Voters who voted for unsuccessful candidates receive no representation in Parliament. In 1982, 60. 5% of the votes gave to the Barisan 85. 7% of the constituencies. In 20 04, 63. % of the ballots translated to 90. 41 seats in the Dewan Rakyat. These flaws can be minimized with the system of proportional representation where the parliamentary seats are given to the parties in proportion to the number of votes obtained by them. In single transferable vote system, a candidate is elected only if he obtains the quota of the vote cast. It is a multi-member constituency but each voter has only one vote and he is required to mark out his preference for different candidates. In the list system,each party is allowed to put up a list of candidates equal to the number of seats to be filled.The voter gives his vote to the whole list en bloc. There must have an honest and competent administration to run the election so that the election will be fair. The Election Commission must be fair. Article 114(2) of FC written that in appointing members of the Election Commission the YDPA shall have regard to the importance of securing an Election Commission which enjoys pub lic confidence. This implies that public confidence is essential and to gain the public trust, independent and fair Election Commission is a must.In Article 114(4)(b) and (c) also clearly stated that the YDPA shall by order remove from office any member of the Election Commission if such member engages in any paid office or employment outside the duties of his office or is a member of either House of Parliament or of the Legislative Assembly of a State. By staying away from the executive and legislative branch, it prevents the Election Commission from choosing side or bias towards any of the party in the election. Even their remuneration comes from consolidated fund as stated in Article 114(5) of Federal Constitution.This proves that the Election Commission is neutral from the government. Their duties are to conduct election, keep the election roll clean and constitutes boundary as listed. Mobilising organisations like political parties aided our country to envisage democracy. Non-p olitical associations and organisations like firms, industries, trade unions and religious organisations help to create and mobilize public opinion. This indicates that developed system of a political party is essential to ensure fair and free election. In Malaysia political parties are allowed but they must apply for registration under Societies Act.Nearly 34 political parties are registered with the Registrar of Societies. The ruling Barisan National is the world’s most enduring political coalition. Starting out as the Alliance since 1955, today it has 14 parties, 9 which won federal parliamentary seats. There are 20 registered opposition parties, 4 of which gained parliamentary representation. To achieve a free and fair election, candidates must apply the general rules of fair play. Equal chances should be given to each participating parties to conduct their election campaign.Election campaign could be conducted through media and spreading their propaganda. Shifting voters illegally, creating â€Å"phantom† voters, granting illegal immigrants citizenship and the right to vote, buying votes, handing out cash aid to vulnerable groups, and intimidating voters are crimes of election and must not be conducted in any way. The use of propaganda is limited in some countries by forbidding use of opinion polls, newspaper advertisement and house to house campaigns. Giving of free transport, food and bribes to the electorate is forbidden.But government after government gets around the law by promising or delivering â€Å"development aid† just before the election (Prof. Shad Saleem Faruqi, 2008). In Malaysia, under the Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1959-82, the period for election campaign has been progressively shortened from the period of 147 days to a minimum of 11 days. The conduct of the campaign is supposed to be fair and equal to each participating parties. But the Government’s ban on political processions on the alleged ground of security make the certain parties unable to reach the electorate and to mobilise public opinion.The short campaign period limits out the other parties to reach out to the electorate. The ownership and control of the mainstream print and electronic media by the Government or groups affiliated with the ruling coalition like TV3, Bernama and Berita Harian gives the Government an unfair advantage over its opponents. These issues need to be addressed and redressed. The right to speech, assembly and association are the essential pillars of a democratic set-up; to reach the goal of free and fair election. Speech, assembly and association are restrained considerably in Malaysia.Though Article 10(1) enshrines these freedoms, Articles 10(2), 10(4), 149 and 150 permit the Parliament to impose restrictions on the exercise of these freedoms on 14 constitutionally permissible grounds. A plethora of laws has been enacted under the authority of the Constitution to ensure that electoral z eal does not compromise race relations, national security and public order. As in during ordinary or election campaign, processions, public rallies and assemblies are not allowed except with a police permit under the Police Act. The recent case of Bersih 2. rally was an assembly that was not permitted by the Police Act, although their organization was legal and permitted. The root to achieve fair and free election results is through the votes. Malaysia uses the â€Å"One vote, one value† which is based on one cardinal principle- that constituencies should be approximately equal in population size so as to give reality to the principle of one person, one vote, one value. This principle is an offshoot of the rule of equality before the law. The weightage of the votes are differ based on geographical areas, basically categorized into rural and urban area.The Baker v Carr rules gives parliaments a primarily urban bias. For this reason many countries including Malaysia allow rural constituencies to be smaller in population size than urban electoral districts. â€Å"Rural† or â€Å"urban† are not defined in the Constitution and wide disparities in population exist from constituency to constituency. Population, geographical size and the urban-rural dichotomy seem to have exerted influence. Labuan, Putrajaya, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Sabah and Perlis are over-represented. Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Terengganu are under-represented in the federal legislature.

Reflection for “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”

Reflection for â€Å"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings† Abstract This essay consists of three sections. The first section, a brief synopsis of the book â€Å"I know why caged bird sings† is presented. At the second part, three insights after reading the book are introduced. That is, metaphor of caged bird, power of literacy, and power of silence. At the last section, discipline-specific knowledge that relevant to the main character of book is stated. Synopsis of the Text This autobiography is Maya Angelou’s coming of age story, and follows Marguerite’s (called â€Å"My’ or â€Å"Maya† by her brother) life from the age of three to seventeen.In this story, Angelou as the storyteller, tells the audience about her experiences as an African American girl living in the Southern United States and her struggles with racism and being raped at eight years old. The book reveals the process of how she overcomes these difficulties and transforms into a sel f-possessed, dignified young woman, capable of responding to prejudice. Her maturity is mainly gained by her grandmother, Momma, the power of literacy, and the love around her. The book starts with Marguerite at three years old.At three, she was sent to Stamps, Arkansas, with her older brother Bailey to live with her grandmother and crippled uncle. Momma owns a merchandise store in the Stamps, and her store is a center of the African American community. Church, school, and the store are main places that little Maya and her brother live around. They are acquainted with African American life in Stamps which is hopeful in the morning before they go to cut the cotton, then turns dissatisfied and disappointed in the evening when they return from the cotton field.  Read also Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder  (PTSD).Stamps is a place where the black world and white world is clearly distinctive. Segregation makes them feel fear and hatred towards the white people in Stamps. Maya and her b rother’s relatively peaceful lives are disturbed by their father’s appearance at Stamps. He takes them to St. Louis, Missouri, to live with their mother. Later, Maya was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. After her mother’s boyfriend’s death, Maya misconceives that her words lead him to his death, and then she refuses to speak.This make her mother feel helplessness, therefore she decides to send her children to Stamps again. In Stamps, Maya meets Mrs. Bertha Flowers, who supplies her with books to encourage her love of reading and helps her to break through her shell. Later, Momma decides to send her grandchildren to their mother in San Francisco, California, to protect them from the dangers of racism in Stamps. Before Maya graduates, she becomes first African American female streetcar conductor in San Francisco.During her final year of high school, she worries that she might be a lesbian and initiates sexual intercourse with a teenage boy. Later, sh e finds out that she is pregnant. Maya gives birth at the end of the book and begins her journey to adulthood by accepting her role as a mother. Insights You Obtained from Reading this Text Metaphor of Caged Bird In this text, the cage is used to imply many things. In young Maya’s eyes, being black is like living in a cage; she always imagines she could escape from her black skin.In addition, her uncle’s handicapped body is his own cage. African American laborers in the Stamps cotton field are also being caged, because they are repeatedly doing the same labor work day after day, but their life does not seem to change. It is still very tough; they are like the caged bird cannot go anywhere. When the â€Å"powhitetrash† girls ridicule Momma, Maya looks through the window and watches the whole process of Momma being ridiculed by these girls. She was angry and wanted to yell at them but she could not, like the caged bird.From reading this text, I could know the seve rer victimization from racism and the impacts of segregation on African American person’s life at that time. When Maya firstly comes across the white community in Stamps, she feels fear and perceives the white people there are un-human. Segregation produces misunderstanding between the two groups and escalates the conflict. Power of Literacy Maya is scared about the power of words after the death of Mr. Freeman, and refuses to speak. After she goes back to Stamps, Maya met Mrs. Flower, who encourages her reading of books.Books become a refuge in her bewildering childhood. Maya finds characters of a book to make sense of her bewildering world. She even uses books as a way of coping with her rape. From the literacy, Maya gets comfort; literacy expands her thought and enables her to think independently without considering the unwritten rules of society at that time. Literacy also enhances Maya’s ability of thinking; it lets her have better understanding of herself, elabor ates her thought, and makes her become a stronger person. In addition, literacy inspires her to think what true human dignity is.It is very lucky for Maya to find a way to coping, as McPherson says, â€Å"if there is one stable element in Angelou’s youth it is a dependence upon books. † (McPherson, 1990, pp. 215). I wonder what the most dignified characteristic of a human being is. The answer I found from this book is not the color of skin, socioeconomic status, or power; it is the self-determined ability to not allows others to decide the value of themselves, because everyone is equally dignified. Power of Silence Maya’s grandmother is a quite successful African American woman in the African American community in Stamps.However, Momma and Momma’s family frequently suffered from racist attacks. On one occasion, Momma is taunted by â€Å"powhithetrash† girls. Maya sees Momma through the window coping with ignorance while being dignified. When these girls go to leave, Momma says to them â€Å"Bye, Miz†. After seeing how Momma fights with racism, Maya realizes racism can be fought without impudence, but instead with dignity. On the another occasion, Momma hides Uncle Willies in a vegetable bin to protect him from Ku Klux Klan raiders, because at that time, it was hard for a black man get protection from the police.Momma chooses very realistic ways to protect her family and shows to little Maya what truth dignity is. Discipline-Specific Knowledge that You Think is Relevant to this Main Character If Maya is a client, what should a practitioner do with Maya? At first, the counselor needs to decide the time that Maya come to see him or her. Maya has come to see the counselor after she has been raped. As described in the book, after this incident, Maya refused to speak and closed herself to the outside world. Therefore, it can be assumed that this period is the first crisis in Maya’s life.At the beginning of the counsel ing session, establishing a good relationship is very important. Sexual abuse involves betrayal of the child’s trust. The effect of such behavior makes a child who survives sexual abuse feel that it is difficult for them to trust others. Therefore, the counselor needs to make a tremendous effort to build a good rapport with Maya. We can utilize the things that Maya likes in the beginning of the session. As known from the text, Mrs. Bertha Flowers introduces books to Maya and encourage her love of reading books.Therefore, we can talk about characters or authors of books, or whatever can bring her interest. After establishing a good relationship with Maya and making sure that she is ready to talk, the counselor will do assessment. Through talking with Maya, the counselor can comprehend Maya’s feelings, her coping behaviors, her perceptions about the incident, her developmental tasks, and her ecosystem. At the end of the assessment, two main issues might emerge. That is, trauma from sexual abuse and racism-related issues, including obsession with race and an identity issue.It is said that counselors are ethically and legally mandated to report suspicions of child sexual abuse to authorities (Miller, Dove, & Miller, 2007). Therefore, documenting and reporting the suspected sexual abuse of Maya is the counselor’s first job. In the specific counseling session, the counselor needs to consider that treatment issues for child victims of rape typically includes many symptoms. Some of these symptoms include anger, trust issues, social withdrawal, self-blame, emotional dysregulation, dissociation, eating disorders, self-injury, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Budrionis & Jongsma, 2003).Previous research suggests cognitive-behavioral approaches â€Å"reduce the impact† of (child) sexual abuse (Berliner & Elliot, 2002), and are more effective than supportive therapy in promoting improvements in children’s knowledge about body safety sk ills (Deblinger, Stauffer, & Steer, 2001). The counselor could apply cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to identify distorted thinking, like how Maya thought being raped and Mr. Freeman’s death were caused by her; modify beliefs; facilitate relating to others in different ways; and changes Maya’s behaviors associated with her trauma.Next, the counselor needs to deal with the racism-related issues that Maya is experiencing. Cross model of psychological nigrescense (the process of becoming Black)(Cross, 1971, 1991, 1995;Hall & Cross, & Freedle, 1972) indicated that the evolution from the pre-encounter to the internalization stage reflects a movement form psychological dysfunction to psychological health. Evidence from the book supports an assumption that Maya is in her pre-encounter stage, where individuals consciously or unconsciously devalue their own Blackness and concurrently value White values and ways.This can be seen when Maya often imagines that one day she will escapes from her black skin and become a blond and blue-eyed white girl. African Americans at pre-encounter stage evidence self-hate, low self-esteem, and poor mental health (Vandiver. 2001), whereas African Americans with the greatest internalization of racial identity report the highest self –esteem (Pierre & Mahalik, 2005). It seems that accepting who you are and being proud of yourself are fundamental for African American to maintain mental health. However, long journey needs to be gone through in order to make changes.For changing the perception of herself and her perceptions towards African Americans, the counselor could introduce Maya with some movies or books of outstanding African Americans. Facing racism, Neal-Barnette and Crowther (2000) found that parents who focusing on human values and ignoring the role of race more likely generate children’s higher levels of social anxiety, particularly with African American peers. It means, for African Americans, it is crucial for parents actively prevent racism by admitting existence of racism, putting this issue on the table, and guiding their children to confront racism.In Maya’s case, the counselor could refer to Sue and Sue (2007)’s recommendation. That is, the counselor can employ family and community support systems. Specifically, members of the family and other important individuals (brother, Momma, uncle, teacher, etc. ) in Maya’s life could be asked to meet together in Momma’s home, and then all the members could share information about their struggles and search for identity. Sue and Sue (2007) indicated that, use of these techniques, derived from African American experience, can lead to personal empowerment. Reference Angelou, M. (1971).I know why the caged bird sings. New York, United States: Bantam Books. Berliner, L. , & Elliot, D. M. (2002). Sexual abuse of children. In J. E. B. Myers, L. Berliner, J. Briere, & Ct. T. Hendrix (Eds. ), The APSAC handbook on child maltreatment (2nd ed). (pp. 55-78). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Budrionis, R. , & Jongsma, A. E. (2003). The Sexual abuse Victim and Sexual Offender Treatment Planner. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley. Cross, W. E. (1971). The Negro-to-Black conversion experience: Towards a psychology of Black liberation. Black World. 20, 13-27 Cross, W. E. (1991).Shades of Black: Diversity in African American identity. Philadelphia: temple University Press. Cross, W. E. (1995). The psychology of Nigrescence: Revising the Cross model. In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki, & C. M. Alexander(Eds. ), Handbook of multicultural counseling (PP. 93-122). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Deblinger, E. , Stauffer, L. B. , & Steer, R. A. (2001). Comparative efficacies of supportive and cognitive behavioral group therapies for young children who have been sexually abused and their nonoffending mothers. Child Maltreatment, 6 (4), 332-343. Hall, W. S. , Cross, W. E. & Freedle, R. (1972). Stages in the development of Black awareness: An exploratory investigation. In R. L. Jones (Ed. ), Black psychology (pp. 156-165). New Yourk: Harper & Row. Neal-Barnett, A. M. , & Crowther, J. H. (2000). To be female, middle class, anxious, and Black. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24, 129-136 McPherson, Dolly A. (1990). Order out of Chaos: The autobiographical Works of Maya Angelou. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. Miller, K. L. , Dove, M. K. , & Miller, S. M. (2007, October). A counselor’s guide to child sexual abuse: Prevention, reporting and treatment strategies.Paper based on a program presented at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Conference, Columbus, OH. Pierre, M. R. , & Mahalik, J. R. (2005). Examining African self-consciousness and Black racial identity as predictors of Black men’s psychological well-being. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 11, 28-40. Sue, D. W. , & Sue, D. (2007). Counseling the Culturally Diverse : Theory an d Practice. (5th Ed). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Vandiver, B. J. (2001). Psychological nigrescence revisited: introduction and overview. Journal of Multicultural counseling and Development, 29, 165-173.

The Islam and its Concept of Jihad and Jihadism Essay - 1

The Islam and its Concept of Jihad and Jihadism - Essay Example In order to understand the concepts of Jihad as outlined in the Islam and as they are being practiced now, it is really critical to understand the overall concept of Jihad and how it has been outlined by the Islam in it original principles. Further, it is also critical to explore as to how the Jihad is being conceived and practiced now and whether there is a drift from the earlier established principles or not. It has been argued that the Jihad as it is practiced now is a complete shift from the earlier traditions of Islam and is now believed to be practiced in a manner which marks a complete shift from the same. Whether this is the case or not or whether Jihad is exactly practiced the way earlier traditions outlined is the topic which this paper will attempt to explore and discuss. The literal meaning of the word Jihad in Arabic is struggle and is a noun in Arabic language. The word Jihad has appeared in the Quran for more than 40 times however, indirect references to the metaphysical meanings of the word have also been made in Quran on various occasions. Quranic interpretation of Jihad therefore indicates a struggle in the way of Allah and is considered as one of the important religious duties for the Muslims. There are various instances in Muslim history in which Prophet (PBUH) has considered doing Jihad under different conditions. The overall importance which has been attached to it is because it is not only mentioned in Quran but it was also practiced by the Prophet (PBUH) himself. (Burgat & Dowell, 1993) There are various instances in the Islamic history wherein Prophet (PBUH) has specifically mentioned that the greater Jihad is the struggle against one’s own desires. Based on this, Jihad is therefore often divided into two categories i.e. lesser Jihad and greater Jihad or Jihad e Akbar.

Main Themes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Main Themes - Assignment Example The most important theme of Acuna’s book is to view the Mexican history in complete isolation and to understand their individuality that has been influenced by foreign elements but not completely dominated by them. The Spanish invasion expanded from Mexico to various parts of southwest America, including Texas. With their ever-increasing influence, the indigenous population was then relegated to the status of slaves and the changing roles women were also attributed to the reforms brought about by Spanish invaders, who slowly dominated almost every aspect of their life. The invaders exploited the resources that the region was abundantly endowed with. (Acuna, 2010) The resistance from the Natives then provides an explanation for the friction between the communities that has been reported in the subsequent years. The Mexican population has suffered from great discrimination and was vastly marginalized in the society. This is the main purpose behind Acuna’s writings that aims to highlight the fact that Mexican population once reigned over the region where they are treated more or less like second rate citizens. Acuna has tried to breakdown the misconceptions that were exploited by the colonizers to brand their race as inferiors. The chapters provide a sound historical background, but on a personal level I feel intrigued by the evolution of Mexican culture that took place as a result of these

Dysfunctional Families of the 1920s Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dysfunctional Families of the 1920s - Essay Example Even McBee (1999) points to the fact that "men enjoyed nothing better than staying out late and getting drunk" to wash away their more serious problems. Therefore societal issues such as divorce, discrimination, and economic distress as McBee (1999) describes, can be extremely damaging to the family's well being no matter what time table we are living in. They can in fact lead to the idea of the dysfunctional family. I do believe the Great Depression had a severe impact on the functioning of families in a way that led to many adversities such as drug abuse, alcoholism, and even sexual promiscuous in that defined time period. It is my belief that one of the greatest challenges for the male gender during this time period had to do with the beliefs and ideals that they were raised with. Men felt (and still do) that they had to provide adequate sustenance for the family at all times and if they could not do that then they considered themselves weak and became vulnerable to societal issues, specifically addictions. One of these beliefs is consequently the need to appear "perfect". Another belief that was evident in this time was the belief that men had in regard to the woman's role in the family. Because of the fact that men did not want women to work and also seemingly alienated them, as well as discluded them to a certain degree, it impacted the family during the Great Depression and promoted addictive behaviors onto women as well. However, Chasnoff (1989) claimed that women "were quick to seek help," while men lived in a disillusionment of what was really transpiring within the family, therefore creating more dysfunction whether it was intentional or unintentional. This of course was the central plot of beliefs that, in my opinion, created more disparity among the genders and of which promoted the psychological thought of dysfunctional families in America. In general it is true that there existed those who already had poor moral values, but due to the poorer outlook of the economy it promoted more of a hardship and again took many down a path towards mental incapacity and an inability to function normally on a daily basis. Addictions such as alcoholism, chronic drug use, eating disorders, and uncontrollable anger slowly began tearing at the families and disintegrating life as it was known in that time before the Great Depression. As was stated, the dysfunction of women was brought on by the acting of the men during the 20's and 30's. Therefore their inability to cope is far more understandable than the male genders actions were. After all, history has shown that men are suppose to carry the more heavy burdens for the family, not crumble beneath them like many men did during the Great Depression. "Many women turned to alcohol and drugs", according to Degler (1980) in order to try and wipe away their own inadequacies that society itself was placing on them. These stemmed from inequality and gender discrimination in their lives. For instance, women have been treated almost like property by men for a good number of generations and these feelings were very high in the 20's and 30's; specifically with so much economical disparity occurring all around everyday people. Women in society were basically "demoralized and held down" (Degler 1980). Although women desired to be treated as self-individuals many times in Ame rican society they were not and any form of independence was