Assignment paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assignment paper - Essay Example In this essay, my main focus will be on the critical analysis of my cultural gift giving practices in the U.S and the gift giving practices in the Chinese culture. The U.S gifting season is also the traditional holiday season. This season begins during the Thanksgiving, moving to the Christmas and ends with the New Year Eve. The St. Valentines Day has also been included in this season by the modern media (Gifts and Ideas 1-3). The act of giving gifts to family members, friends and business associates is dictated by the American customs and culture. These are covered by well thought out gifts depending on the occasion. Due to the cultural melting of the American culture, there has been a lot of influence on the other minority ethnic groups in America such as the Hispanics, to also adopt and incorporate the modern American cultural elements of gifting and celebrations within their own cultural celebrations. Various gifts are given by the Americans as gifts to other during various occasions. The most common gifts given out include cards, flowers, food items, gift baskets, chocolates, cakes, wines, spa gifts and perfumes among other. The main reason for giving out these gifts is for appreciation purposes. Gift giving is also a common practice in the American culture during the Christmas period that usually marks the birth of Jesus. During this period, gift giving usually crowns the occasion, and it becomes the most important ritual performed. To begin with, there is the gift giving session done by the parents to their children where the latest gadgets are usually given out to them. Other people also buy different kinds of gifts such as CDs, jewelry, books and gourmet food among other gifts to their relatives, parents and lived ones. Another occasion in America during when gift giving is done much is during the mothers day that usually falls on the second Sunday of May, each year. According to the American culture, mothers should be given

Laboratory Report of an experiment on Optical Fibre Transmission Lab

Laboratory of an experiment on Optical Fibre Transmission - Lab Report Example Optical fibre is popular as a global means of telecommunication. The study of the signal generation and wavelength regulation in fibre optic systems is vital in the design and improvement of systems by optimizing the configuration properties. Fibre Optic communication system uses the physical principle of light reflection. As light travels through various media, depending on the density of the medium, the light goes through total internal reflection. This takes place when light is propagated inside a transmission medium with a greater optical density than that of the medium outside. This property depends on the difference of the speed of light inside various mediums. The ratio of the speeds between the mediums and the speed of light in a vacuum is referred to as the refractive index of that specific material or the medium. In this model, N1 is the refractive index of material 1 and N2 is the refractive index of material 2 which the light passes through. Angle ÃŽ ¸1 represents the angle of incident while ÃŽ ¸2 represents the angle of refraction in the boundary between the two light transmitting materials. When light moves from a medium with a higher refractive index than that of a lower refractive index, the angle of refraction can be shown to be 90Â º at critical angle ÃŽ ¸c. This is represented in the model below. Above the incident angle, in the boundary between the materials of higher refractive index and that of low refractive index, there is a total internal reflection of the light. Therefore, the fibre is made as thin as possible to maximize the size of the incident angle and ensure that it is always higher than the critical angle. Even though it is possible to direct the inside an optical fibre, it is vital to decide on the way the input signal ought to be reduced on the basis of its frequency of that signal. This is a safe way of transmission in

Revolution Politically Considered Essay Example for Free

Revolution Politically Considered Essay The word Maccabean comes from Judas Maccabeus, the leader of the Jewish revolt against Syria which took place from 167 – 160 B. C. E. In 2nd Maccabees 15 v 30 he is described as â€Å"The perfect champion of his fellow citizens. † The story is recorded in the Apocryphal Biblical Books Ist and 2nd Maccabees, the sources written closest in time to the events and to a lesser extent by the Jewish 1st century C. E. historian Flavius Josephus in his Antiquities ( Books XII and XIII) who wrote some 200 years later. Martin Cohen ( The Hasmonean Revolution Politically Considered,1975, page 21) describes all three of authors, those of the Maccabean books and Josephus, as being overly partisan and seems to be saying that the so called sinners weren’t as black as they are painted. Some might say however that his article is in danger of going too far the other way in parts. The name means ‘hammer’ and was used to describe Judas’ immense strength. It was then taken as a name by his brothers, two of whom succeeded him, and other followers. The conflict had been stirred when, after a period of increasing Hellenisation, Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes gave orders forbidding certain Jewish customs and practices and turned the Temple into a shrine for the pagan god Zeus – the idol the Jews refer to as ‘the abomination of desecration’ mentioned in Daniel 11. Judas Maccabeus and his followers incited a revolt. In 164 B. C. E they were able to regain control of the Temple, which was then cleansed and rededicating to the God of Israel. To this day Jews celebrate the feast of Hanukkah to recall these events. The story ends with the death of Nicanor in 2 Maccabeans 15 and also the idea of dedicating a special day to its remembrance- the thirtieth day of the twelfth month. The use of the menorah, the seven branched candlestick, is a reminder of the same events. Members of Judas’ family, the Hasmoneans, continued to rule in Israel until the Romans arrived in force in 63 B. C. E. Ist Maccabees was originally written in Hebrew, but that version is now lost and the text used is taken from the Greek Septuagint. The book is set in the period of Greek rule and covers the period of revolt from 175 to 134 B. C. However it also describes how many Hebrews actually welcomed the coming of Greek customs, even to the extent of trying to pass themselves off as Greeks. In 1st Maccabees 1 v 15 the writer tells how some were trying to hide the marks of circumcism i. e. the very mark of their Jewishness. In 2nd Maccabees the events are again related, but this time seemingly with the intention of showing God’s continued care for his people. It begins by urging Alexandrian Jews to keep the feast of Hanukkah and looks back at the events that led up to the first celebration. At the same time it castigates several people – the Hellenistic Jewish priests, in particular including High Priest Jason who was said to have sent money for statue of Herakles, something Martin Cohen ( Page 15 ) sees as a bribe rather than as a genuine donation because of faith.. Robert Doran ( 2006, The revolt of the Maccabees) looked for historic similarities and likened it to the modern day insurgency in Iraq. He tells how for the first years of Seleucid rule there were no major problems between the two groups. He describes the main problem as being about Jewish identity and who controls that definition. He makes the point that some would not have considered Jason to be a Jew at all, whereas he, as Jewish high priest, presumably did. He cites 20th century Jewish scholars Elias Bickermann and Victor Tchenikover who put the blame not on the Seleucids, but upon the Jewish leaders of the time. While I Maccabees blames the Seleucid leader, it has been pointed out by scholars such as Otto Morkholm (Antiochus IV of Syria, 1966) that in general he supported local cultures. The writer of 2nd Maccabees blames the institution of Greek education, even though there were a number of years between the opening of the Greek school and the revolt. The truth seems to be that when a villager from Modein, the Hasmonean home town, went to make sacrifices, Mattathias, the father of Judas, struck him with his sword. The family then fled, but also began a campaign of throwing down the pagan alters that they found and killing those who opposed what they felt was right. By the opening of 2nd Maccabees the father had died and it is Judas who is leading the revolutionaries. There are other major differences between the accounts, namely with regard to fighting on the Sabbath. This happens in the first book, but not in the second. According to Doran, in what seems to be a quite objective account ( page 107), upon the death of Antiochus his successor seems, to have let the matter stand, with the Hasmoneans in charge in Jerusalem. However the revolution was spreading to other areas. Jerusalem became the center for a general revolt against Seleucid rule. In 162 B. C. E. Judas finally lost control of the Temple area and was killed. Josephus describes in the opening words of his second book about the period, (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 13) how, after the death of Judus Maccabeus ‘all the wicked, and those that transgressed the laws of their forefathers, sprang up again in Judea. ’ And so the battles continued under new leadership. However soon after this the Seleucid Empire began to crumble because of its own internal divisiveness and Simon, brother of Judas, was able to expel the Seleucids. He was recognized as high priest of Judea in 140 B. C. E. So what had begun as a religious protest ended up as the basis for an independent kingdom – at last for a while. Martin Cohen took a new look at the events portrayed in the scriptures. He sees it as much as an internal fight among Jews as a revolt against foreign rule. He states (page 26) that Antiochus believed that no Jewish group was capable of holding the peace. He had trouble elsewhere and this is why he came down hard, turning Jerusalem into a fortress and he also removed the power of the Jewish constitution. This turned many into revolutionaries. If they had no Jewish law how could they be Jewish? Cohen describes how the revolt has often been viewed as a class struggle between the Hellenistic rulers and the ordinary people, despite the fact that there seems to have been grass roots support of Hellenisation. The Maccabees were not just non Hellenistic however, they were totally anti – Hellenistic, not just for themselves, but for Judaism as such. Cohen points out that the two accounts are both conflicting and inadequate and that the facts cited by Jewish historian Josephus don’t add a great deal to historic knowledge. He also describes how the Jewish Hellenistic aristocracy were very small in number. If they had not had popular support then the Selucid would have had to come down hard. Right from the beginning. The priests concerned are condemned in passages such as 2nd Maccabees 4 v 11 and 14. In the former passage they are accused of adding to the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch was scripture, but it was also the basis for all Jewish life. At the time of the revolution religion and politics, as far as the Jewish people were concerned were one and the same thing. But the Hellenistic Jews did not deny Judaism and the priests amongst them continued with their sacrificial roles, which they do not seem to have considered as being in opposition to their Hellenistic practices. Conclusion Whatever the truth of the matter regarding the origins of the revolt and wherever the true blame should lie, essentially this was about preserving Judaism as it had been for hundred of years and was about defining what is a Jew an argument that can still be seen to be going on, even if sometimes in silence, in the differences to be observed daily in the 21st century between those who call themselves Orthodox Jews and others of the same faith and race, believers and otherwise. Works Cited Bible, King James, â€Å"2nd Maccabees†, Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia 12th May 2010, Libraryhttp://etext. virginia. edu/toc/modeng/public/Kjv2Mac. html Bible, Revised Standard Version, â€Å"Ist Maccabees†, National Council of Churches of Christ in America 12th May 2010, http://quod. lib. umich. edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx? type=DIV1byte=4219672 Cohen Martin, â€Å"The Hasmonean Revolution Politically Considered: Outline of a New Interpretation,† The Journal of the Central Conference of American Rabbis , (Fall 1975 ): 13-34 Doran , Robert, â€Å"The Revolt of the Maccabees â€Å" The National Interest ( September –October 2006):99, 100 Josephus , â€Å"Antiquities of the Jews† , Book XII ,12th May 2010, http://www. ccel. org/j/josephus/works/ant-12. htm Josephus , â€Å"Antiquities of the Jews† , Book XIII 12th May 2010 http://www. ccel. org/j/josephus/works/ant-13. htm Morkholm, Otto,† Antiochus IV of Syria†, Classica et Mediaevalia Dissertationes VIII, Copenhagen. 1966

Looking At Internet Crimes Against Children Media Essay

Looking At Internet Crimes Against Children Media Essay The internet is a fundamental resource that provides adults and children with opportunities for learning, entertainment and communication. But how hard is it to use the internet? Any child that is old enough to find a letter on a keyboard can access the World Wide Web. New technologies provide number of ways to communicate, and youth of today have mastered those techniques. The world of computers and internet is constantly expanding and changing, and it is not unusual if a child might know more about some software or website than a parent. But, the truth is that a child does not know that one of these technologies might have a negative impact on his/her moral values and behavior. As great of a resource as internet is, sometimes it might be used for illegal activities such as sexual exploitation, harassment, and pornography. The sad thing is that the victims of these activities are mostly children. Thats why in this research paper, I am going to focus on internet crimes against children, measures that should be taken to prevent these crimes, and punishment for those who commit them. Pornography and Children as a Target First of all, how often are children exposed to sexually explicit material on the internet? Unfortunately, any child that has access to the internet may come in contact with sexually explicit material. They do not even have to know the name of the URL of the website to view pornography on the internet. Most of the youth today are familiar with search engines such as google and yahoo, and it is really simple to type in something that might contain sexually explicit words and get at least ten thousand results in return. The study of adolescents ages fourteen to seventeen has been done, and it shows that most of the children came to exposure to pornographic material accidentally or unintentionally. Sometimes they would get e-mails with links to unknown or unfamiliar websites, and out of curiosity they would click on the link, which brought them to a page that contained pornographic material. Some exposures to the pornographic material are intentional and are done mostly by teens in puberty with the purpose of pleasure. So how often do children view pornographic material on the internet? An online survey was carried out which included 500 students, and 72.8 percent reported that they viewed sexually explicit material on the internet before the age of eighteen. Most children that intentionally viewed pornography in on the web in the past are likely to do it again almost every time they get a chance. This happens when parents are not around, and it even happens in random places that have computers and access to the internet such as public schools and libraries. Impact of Online Pornographic Material on Children It influences the moral values and sexual attitudes of youth. It changes the way children think about sex. They start perceiving sex only as pleasure, not thinking about consequences that might arise such as unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Children that view pornography are more likely to become sexually active earlier that children that do not. One of the ethical issues that arises is questioning if pornography should exist on the web or not, since it obviously has a negative impact on youth. Well, in this case the three of workable ethical theories could be applied to analyze the problem, and decide if having pornographic material on the internet is fair. Lets look at Kantians 2ndFormulation of Categorical Imperative, which states that people should never treat other people as a means to an end. So when a new website is uploaded to the server, people are not forced to view that website. Since no one is forced to do so, it can be said that in this case people are not being used as a means to an end. But, here we are talking about children and youth as victims of being exposed to sexually explicit material on the Web. Well, thats up to the parents to take part and get familiar with activities that their children are doing online. We can also apply Utilitarianism to analyze the issue of pornography on the internet. First of all, we have to consider who benefits and who is being harmed by presence of pornographic material on the Web. Porn industry has great benefits from their websites being available to the people on the internet. For them, it is a way advertising their products and making money as well. There are also a lot of adults who benefit from it because they view it for their pleasure. Children and youth are being harmed by their actions because sexually explicit material influences their moral values and sexual attitudes. In this case its hard to tell if there are more people who benefit then people who are being harmed by presence of pornography on the Web. On the other hand, it is easy to tell that there are greater benefits on pornographic material being on the internet. Utilitarianism does not mean the good of the greatest number, therefore having pornography on the Web is fair. Now lets look at Social Contract Theory, and how it approaches having pornographic material on the internet. Most of the pornography pages now days have their policy listed for users before they can access the page. It has the terms of use, and users have a choice to exit if they have any obligations. At the bottom of any pornography page, there is a warning that urges users to exit the page if they are under the age of eighteen. So this is one of the ways for porn industry to guard themselves against any opposition and illegal activities. Having the warning label, they are following the US law, which gives them legal rights to upload their websites to the server. So according to the Social Contract theory, it is acceptable to have pornography containing material on the internet. Pornography on the internet is not the only issue that arises with easy accessibility to the World Wide Web. Whats more of an issue is that some people are using the Web for sexual exploitation. Online Sexual Exploitation Easy access to the internet has led to increased exposure of children to online sexual exploitation exposure of children to online predators. Most of the children that are victims of online sexual exploitation are under the age of seventeen. A year-long survey has been conducted in 2001, which analyzed 129 Internet-initiated sex crimes. It involved victims age seventeen or younger, and it found that 74 percent of those victims actually met with the predator. What is even more heartbreaking is that 93 percent of those occurred meetings involved sexual contact. Are girls and boys equally exposed to online sexual exploitation? It was assumed that girls are at higher risk and are more likely to fall victims to online sexual exploitation than boys. Well, this turned out to be true confirming that seventy-five percent of victims included in the survey from 2001 were girls. Online Predators Today there are more ways than ever to find a mate, but sometimes search for love can be devastating. When it comes to potential of meeting new mates, nothing compares to the internet. Most of the time, the danger of this modern way of dating can be ignored. There are also situations where people involved in online dating might be in it for love. Well, these people are known to our community as online predators. So where do online predators come from, and is it easy to tell who might be online predator by their physical appearance? Online predators come in different shapes and sizes, and have different expectations from their victims. Social status does not matter when it comes to determining who might a potential online predator. They come from all backgrounds, and are not easily detectable. They might seem like respectable members of the community, which of course can be deceiving to many of us. Who would ever come to thinking that an online predator might be a teacher, fireman, ph ysician, former military personnel or a successful businessman, but the cases of these have been reported. A reality television show To Catch a Predator was featured on NBC, and there was an episode where a high school teacher, caught on hidden cameras, showed up to a meeting, which he thought he arranged with an under aged girl. There was no under aged involved, instead police officer was posing as a thirteen year old. He was caught and trialed thanks to the effort of the police and enough evidence collected by hidden cameras. There was also one case were a former military officer was involved in online sexual exploitation. He was also caught and sentenced to serve time in jail. Most of the time when online predators get caught; they are publically humiliated and sentenced to prison time. The prison time depends on the severity of the case, and it ranges from two to twelve years. Some predators were just placed on probations because they did not make sexual contact with their victims, but did set up the meeting which they never showed up to. They were also ordered to pay a big fine. Bullying and Harassment on the Internet Communication technologies such as social-networking websites like MySpace and Facebook have led to rapid growth of teens harassing their peers. In 2005, a survey was conducted, and it has been found that almost thirty percent of youth have harassed their peers via the internet. Seventeen percent of those have harassed the others multiple number of times. The survey was also done with the purpose to show the incidence of children being bullied on cyberspace. It showed that thirty-two percent of 900 teens under the age of seventeen have been harassed when using MySpace, Facebook or instant messaging. What is heartbreaking is that cyber-bullying may lead to a tragic end sometimes. A 13 year old girl committed suicide after being cyber-bullied by her neighbor who pretended to be a teenage boy. It turned out that he was an adult, and of course he had to pay for his actions. Measures Parents are taking to prevent Their Children from Internet Crimes Although kids feel like they are aware of dangers of using the internet, in reality, they are naive when it comes to online communications. The following are measures that parents should take to prevent their children from becoming a victim. Parents need to become familiar with their childrens online activities. There is software that comes with Windows 7 and Windows Vista, or that can be downloaded for free such as Windows Live Family Safety Setting. Most of the social-networking sites have policies that require users to be thirteen years or older. If a child is not old enough to fulfill that requirement, parents should not let them use it. Some parents educate their kids about the dangers of online chatting, and set certain expectations from their children. Many parents are taking part in becoming familiar with who their kids talk to when they use chat rooms. They are also educating their children to stay in public areas of chat room since many chat rooms allow for one on one commu nication in chat rooms private area. Parents are also encouraged to keep their computers in most common areas of the house so that they can monitor their kids when theyre online. Since there are potential risks of email, many parents are setting up family emails, which their kids can use as well. This is one of the ways to protect their kids from being exposed to pornographic material contained in emails. They also urge their kids not to open any unknown emails reducing the risk of internet related crimes. Some also have passwords to their childrens social networking sites, which enables them to check the messages. There are options which allow parents to use parental controls, and other setting and preferences. Another way of monitoring that same parents use are is spy software. A Spybot by Brickhouse Security was advertised on CNN, which enables parents to monitor everything their children do on the internet. Its easy to install, undetectable, and the kids will never know its there. Internet Crimes against Children and Law Enforcement The expansion of the computers and internet has played a major role in sex crimes being committed against children and youth. The new communication technologies created new challenges for Law Enforcement to come up with new investigation techniques, and handle the crimes done on internet. The federal government has increased funding in the effort to prevent internet related crimes. They created Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which supports state and local law enforcement agencies in fight against internet crimes. Internet crimes are divided into three categories. Internet Crimes Against Identified Victims, which involves production of child pornography and other internet related crimes committed against identified victims. Then there Internet Crimes Against Unidentified Victims, which involves undercover law enforcement posing as minors in chat rooms. And the third category of internet crimes deals with offenders who are involved in possession, trade or distribution of Internet Child Pornography not using the internet to sexually exploit identified victims or solicit undercover investigators. Most of the arrests are made against offenders who commit crimes against identified victims. Sixty-seven percent of the arrests involved offenders who possessed child pornography. Eighty-three percent had images of children mostly ages 6 to 12, and 80 percent of those images showed sexual contact between minors and adults. Majority of offenders were non-Hispanic white males over 25 years of age. Eighty-five percent of arrests involved state, local or county law enforcement agencies, 46 percent had agencies operating on federal level. Moral Question Related to Online Predators and Law Enforcement Is it ok for Law Enforcement Agencies to set up traps in which online predators can fall into? According to all three workable ethical theories, it is ok for law enforcement to pose as minors in order to catch a predator. Minors are being used as a means to an end since predators introduce themselves as cute teenage boys. Minors do not benefit from these kinds of actions, and they get to live with the fact that they were sexually abused by an adult. On the other hand, predators get pleasure from these actions. So there is greater bad than good in it. Social Contract Theory approves actions of law enforcement because they are dealing with someone who shows up to the meeting ad forces a minor into something that they do not want to do. As we could see, Internet use has become widespread. Some use with the purpose of sexual exploitation of children and distribution of child pornography, while some use it to harass their peers. These kinds of activities have created concerns among parents, lawmakers, educators and law enforcement agencies. Parents have taken part in educating their children about dangers of internet crimes. Despite all these measures, internet crimes against children are still present, and law enforcement agencies are operating on local, state and federal levels to catch those committing these crimes, and preventing internet related crimes from happening as well.

Catcher In The Rye Essay -- essays research papers

Innocence, Compassion, and some ‘Crazy’ Cliff A novel, which has gained literary recognition worldwide, scrutiny to the point of censorship and has established a following among adolescents, The Catcher in the Rye is in its entirety a unique connotation of the preservation of innocence and the pursuit of compassion. With certain elegance the writer J.D. Salinger, substantiates the growth and perils, which lie between childhood and adulthood. Embellishing the differentiation between innocence and squalor in the grasps of society. The bridge that lies between these contrasting themes are personified through the novel’s protagonist, Holden Caul-field and his visualization of a cliff, which depicts a dividing point between the evident beginning and end. The connection, which binds this gap in reality, was made clear through a new found compassion, consummating Holden’s place in society through the realization of his surroundings from which he successfully cross es over. Focusing on the rebellious and confused actuality of adolescents stuck between the innocence of childhood and the corruptness of the adult world, this novel strikes a cord, which most adolescents can relate. The essence of the story The Catcher in the Rye follows the forty-eight hour escapade of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, told through first person narration. After his expulsion from Pency, a fashionable prep school, the lat-est in a long line of expulsions, Holden has a few confrontations with his fellow students and leaves shortly after to return to his hometown, New York City. In the heart of New York City, Holden spends the following two days hiding out to rest before confronting his parents with the news. During his adventures in the city he tries to renew some old acquaintances, find his significance in the adult world, and come to grips with the head-aches he has been having lately. Eventually, Holden sneaks home to visit his sister Phoebe, because alone on th e streets he feels as if he has no where else to turn. Children are the only people with whom Holden can communicate with throughout the novel, not because they can help him with his growing pains but because they remind him of a simpler time (his inno-cence), which he wishes he could return. The trials of the adult world wear down Holden’s vision of a place in society, portraying innocence as a form of retreat from a confusin... ..., Salin-ger began publishing again and featured his stories in the Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s. By 1951, Salinger has established his reputation exclusively in The New Yorker and the popularity of his work was emerging among college students. And so, he re-leased The Catcher in the Rye, after working on and off on it for ten years. Although it was not an immediate hit it did give Salinger an increasing critical praise and respect. Eventually, as critical acclaim grew, the letters, autograph seekers, and interview-ers began hunting him down and so he became annoyed and moved to Cornish, New Hampshire, where he has lived ever since. While secluding himself from the rest of the world Salinger began work on Nine Stories, which includes a number of published short stories and introduces the Glass family, the central figures of his later works. Nine Sto-ries was published in 1953, after which Salinger published four lengthy short stories about the problems of the extreme ly bright and overly sensitive children of the Glass family. The books in this short story collection include Franny and Zooey (1961), and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963).

Original Writing – Prose: A day in the life of Lauryn-Emily Jones!

I woke up feeling worried about the day before me, The other staff members had warned me that Thursday was always the worst day but refused to tell me why. Since Monday I had been working in the oncology outpatients department of the city hospital and so far had dealt with all the different emotions adequately. It was hard work not because of the jobs I had to do but because seeing people in and out everyday either recently being told they had cancer or having suffered for years they were still sad when they got bad news and happy when they got good so all the emotions were mixed up. When I walked in on Thursday morning just before nine as I had for the past three days things looked normal. The walls which had been freshly painted were looking bright and fresh and all the staff still looked happy and were smiling so I hoped it was going to be a good day. I went behind reception and there was nothing to do so I stood and watched the people. Most were quite old but all had someone with them for support. I wished silently that everyone that day would get good news but I knew deep down that it was not going to happen and I felt a slight pain in my heart for all the people sitting there, Who were not lucky enough to be seen by some of the best doctors in the world. The disease that was slowly killing could be cured in some cases but it also had lots of side effects to go with it including hair loss, feeling sick at most times, plus the risk of killing too many good cells while killing the bad ones and being in great pain a lot of the time. As I stood thinking about all these things something suddenly popped into my head, What about all the people that did get better? These people included my own Nan who had suffered with throat cancer for a long time but was now cured? This is the proof that these treatments although terrible did work and that even if someone is diagnosed with cancer things can get better. I carried on looking around when a little girl who I later found out was only four came running in, She seemed to know her way around the department and as I looked I realized she did not have very much hair and then I saw her mother. She was a feeble looking woman in a wheel chair; Her husband was pushing her along as she was too weak to do it herself. I decided to talk to this wonderful family and found out the mother had been diagnosed with cancer not long after the doctors told her their daughter had a brain tumour and without a lot of operations and radiotherapy would not live very long and if she did she would be very weak for a lot of her life so may not enjoy it as much as she could. I watched the girl. She was very small and thin and she had tiny patches of hair on her head where the chemotherapy and radiotherapy had made it fall out. Her mother said she had a cancer which they could not specify because it was a mixture of two and she had to have more tests until they could find out. The little girl continued to run around and say hello everyone always keeping a massive smile on her face! This made me smile and I noticed that her father was a very strong man who obviously loved them very much. They soon had to go as the little girl had to have some more radiotherapy. As soon as they went I decided to see what I could find out about radiotherapy. I was told that if a child has to have radiotherapy they get fitted for a mask which fits right over their face, head and neck this is then sent to be made into plastic mask. When the mask is sent back and the child is ready for the radiotherapy, because they can not stay still enough the mask is put over their face with only two little holes for breathing as eye holes are too dangerous. The mask is bolted tightly to the table to stop the child moving because the equipment they use is just a small laser. Unlike chemotherapy it can only be used on the affected part of the body to kill the cells and not on other parts of the body as it kills too many cells and can be very harmful. I stood and thought about this for a minute and wondered whether I would be able to cope with this and how that lively, amazing little girl could cope with it and was told by the lady who does the radiotherapy that most of the time patients have to be put to sleep because they get too distressed by the mask. This thought frightened me and once again I thought how lucky I was to be a normal, healthy 15 year old girl. I found that being in radiotherapy was too distressing and decided to go back up to oncology but when I walked in straight away everything was different, the atmosphere had changed while I was away and I could feel it. I carried on in through the doors and as soon as I got round the corner I realized the whole of the oncology department was full of young men! To any other teenage girl this would be wonderful but to me it was scary. I turned to look and saw a young man no older than 22 sitting in a wheel chair and when it came to going to have his blood taken needed help to get up because he was so weak due to the all the treatment and the disease. I went back behind reception and carried on looking around when I was startled by a lad who slammed his arm down on the desk he looked at me and I noticed he was about the same age as me and he did not look very happy, he had another lad with him who I guessed was for moral support they both smiled at me but the smile was small and not very positive. I decided to go and sit with the lads to see if they would talk to me. I explained what I was doing and they were ok to talk to me. The lad who's name was Rikki told me he was 15 and had been diagnosed with teratoma cancer when he was just 13 and had recently had an operation to try and get rid of it after chemotherapy failed. The other lad who was there was his best mate Ashley, he had been there through everything and they were very close. He said today he had come in to find out whether they had got rid of the cancer or not but was told the chances were small, he gave me a glance his eyes looked sad but I could tell there was a glimmer of hope in there but as he explained he didn't want to get too excited for just in case the news was not good. He said he had to stay for a while because he also had to have blood tests and that he would come and see me before he went. I looked at the time and realized I had missed nearly half of my lunch! Although it was raining I wanted to go and sit outside in the fresh air so I could think and I had a chance to clear my head, I watched the people walk in and out and made the decision I would take each day as it comes because I never know what is around the corner, I also decided I would keep very busy after lunch so I could not think about it to much as deep down I was very distressed and was finding it very hard. When I had finished my lunch I went back in to find the waiting area not so packed but was still full of young men waiting to see the doctor. I went to find one of the nurses to talk to and came across Zoi, she had been in the oncology department for 2 years but was leaving soon as she wanted to finish training as a nurse because she never had the chance to do the things she had wanted. We talked about all the people and my feelings; she said the best way to deal with it is to just pretend that everyone was going to be cured and to think myself lucky it was not me. It sounded like a good idea and she also told me Audrey my supervisor wanted to see me at 3 o'clock. We went back to reception and I was asked to do some filing and pulling. This meant taking people's notes and putting them back on the shelves and getting the lists for the next week and pulling all the files for that which is hard because sometimes they are not there so I have to go to other places around the hospital. Once again when I was reading through the lists thinking about whether I had seen any of the sets of notes I was startled by a hand slamming down on the desk but this time when I looked up I saw a smiling face! It was Rikki again but this time he had the kind of smile I knew no one was going to get rid of! I asked him what the doctor said and in the most wonderful happy voice I have ever heard he said â€Å"It's gone! † I smiled at him and he carried on jumping around laughing and then proceeded to try and get me to go to the pub with him to celebrate. We chatted for a little while then I realized I had to get on with my jobs so he gave me one more very happy smile and walked off. Even with his back to me I knew he was going to be smiling for a very long time and it was going to take a lot to get rid of that smile!

Persuasive Essay

Texas legislators should pass and legalized gambling to help keeping the money inside the state and also earn more revenue through tourism and other associated industries. Compare to neighbor state Louisiana, Texas has lost millions and millions dollars per year because Texans crossing the state line for gambling habit. If gambling was legalized, the revenue from this industry would surpass any others. It would not just bring revenue and taxes from casinos but also boosting others industries such as tourism, retails, construction industry and more. Legalized gambling would create more jobs in all industries keeping the Texas stronger through unpredictable profits the state could benefit from it. Legalized gambling would stimulate the economy by creating jobs. Take Nevada for example, there were 193,000 full-time positions were opened in Clark County for hotel industry alone in 1999 (Romano). For Louisiana, a smaller state with legal gambling, also reported over 368 million in annual salaries to employees along with 20% residents ended their government assisted program by working in casino (Cannon). Looking at these two states with legal gambling, Texas could have an even better chance to make more revenue with legalizing gambling. With all the revenue generated from gamble industry, Texas could able to start more programs to help the low income families and lower the unemployment rate. Another indirect impact from legalized gambling is that more casinos, restaurants, shopping malls would be built which would boost construction industry to another level. With the growing in construction industry, the retails for dry wall, wood, cement would be rocketed. In Louisiana, â€Å"over 1. 7 billion has been invested in facility construction in Louisiana by casinos† (Cannon). Going along with the development of construction industry, the real estate industry would also grow rapidly to accommodate the needs of housing, leasing offices, hotels†¦ With the rapid grow of real estate and construction industries, restaurant and retails would be on the uprising as well. In Louisiana, â€Å"riverboats purchased over $454 million in goods and services in 2002, with over 70% of that coming from in-state vendors including computers, printing and floral arrangements† (Cannon), with all the positive indirect impacts that legalized gambling would bring to the state, the local business and retails would be expanding far from predicted and state would be collecting taxes in an increasing value. Tourism would play an important role in collecting revenue for state. The Casino Association of Louisiana estimated that over 17 million out-of-state visitors visited their casinos in 2002† (Cannon). If Texas legalizes gambling, it would bring in another 17 million per year from out-of-state visitors spending money not only in casino but also in restaurants, hotels, gas†¦ Besides bringing more tourists in to the state, Texas could help stopping the outflow of money to Louisiana casinos because more than 50% of gamble revenue in Louisiana comes from o ut-of-state, mostly from Texas (Cannon). There are countless opportunities comes with legalizing gambling in Texas. Just look at the financial benefits alone, Texas could earn another $873 million coming from out-of-state visitors spending in casino just like Louisiana. Besides increasing in revenue, legalized gambling also plays an important role in boosting other industries such as construction, retails, real estate†¦ With all the new revenue generated from legalized gamble, Texas could use that money to assist the low income families, to help the homeless people and others in needs.