Graham Greene’s four fundamental requirements Essay

Westerhoff narrates about Graham Greene’s four fundamental requirements for leading a spiritual life. (1) willingness to embrace suffering of world while enduring one’s own (2) a life of solitude and silence (3) introspection of deep restlessness within spirit (4) to see the image of God (Christ) within the community of faith. (John. H. Westerhoff 1994, 30) To preach or to teach, expertise level of human knowledge and understanding is required in order to communicate verbally without hurting others. There were no instances in Bible where Jesus hurted disciples or followers. Jesus was above solutions and problems and that is why offered a formulae by saying â€Å"Take my yoke† which means accepting one’s own suffering along with world’s suffering. â€Å"My burden is light† (St. Matt. 11:29) which includes a fact that Jesus carries the burden along with those who are practicing Jesus teachings. Spiritual life with God can be compared with a grape wine climber as Jesus said â€Å" I am the true vine† (St. John 15:1) â€Å"Abide in me and I in you† (St. John 15:4) . A constant communication with God or clinging to the word of God leads to spiritual formation. â€Å"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you†. (St. John15:7). Communication with God through prayer is explained by Urban Holmes in the book â€Å"A History of Spirituality†(John H. Westerhoff 1994, 53) wherein knowing God in two different methods. (1) Kataphatic means knowing God indirectly in which relationship with God is mediated (2) apophatic means, knowing God directly and where there is no mediation. Speculative-kataphatic encourages rationalism. Further this school of prayer is based on imaginary senses and even includes writing of conversations with God, while affective-kataphatic encourages pietism which is more charismatic and includes all the bodily expressions and senses in complete contact with God (e. g. clapping, moving body, shouting etc). ,. Speculative-apophatic leads to encratism while affective-apophatic leads to quietism. The four symbols of four categories are : speculative-kataphatic = â€Å"S†, speculative-apophatic = â€Å"T†, affective-kataphatic = â€Å"F†, affective-kataphatic = â€Å"N†. These categories offered by Jung are applicable in prayer and devotion according to the personal preferences. Schools of spirituality can only be applied as an aid for spiritual growth. Prayer purifies souls, castes away unhealthy minds and thoughts and brings closer to God who is an embodiment of love. (St. John 3:16) (I Corinthians 13). God also said â€Å"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you†. Seeking God amidst of daily lives and chores. Karl Rahner, the Jesuit priest-theologian, in a letter to God, discusses about tiring hours of activities in a day and how the time is not allocated to God and lays emphasis on how important it is to be in relation with God. Further states that for the entire mankind seeking God’s guidance and support amidst of daily life, is another way of practicing God’s presence. Conclusion Prayer is the only means and a wonderful gift of God to be in constant relation with God. Prayer is a strong weapon that has been used by several preachers in the past such as King Martin Luther, D.L. Moody, John Wesley, David Livingstone and several holy and pious preachers. The present international evangelists and Bible preachers include Dr. Billy Graham (BGEA)and Charles Stanley (In Touch Ministries) who believe concretely in the power of prayer. The preachers who dedicate hours of prayer to God, receive visionary experiences, divine power to deliver gospel of God. Preachers have to maintain a dual relation, one with God and second with those who are receiving the gospel/word of God.

Inter-Professional Working Essay

The intention of this essay is to explore inter professional working and the impact it has on the quality of health care delivered within a mental health setting. For this purpose I have reflected on a previous placement where I worked in an acute mental health treatment ward and on the formative assessment assigned to me within this module. Inter professional working in a health care setting involves different health care professionals working together in a collaborative fashion, this ensures the highest quality of care is delivered to service users (Day, J 2005). It is suggested that the collaborative nature of inter professional working will lead to information and knowledge being shared amongst professionals within a team, which will ultimately lead to improved judgement when providing care and creating a higher bench mark for quality care (DOH 2007). In the NHS, it is stated that quality is defined by doing the right thing in the right way at the right time in the right place with the right result (NHS 2012). Lord Darzi’s High Quality Care for all (2008) states that delivering quality healthcare includes providing patients and the public with effective safety, cleanliness, delivery of care as well as a good patient experience and the consideration of patient dignity and respect . To assure that quality care is being provided, quality is externally and internally measured and evaluated. Within a healthcare setting it is measured at three levels. The national level includes audits, staff surveys, patient surveys and mortality and morbidity rates. The strategic level includes clinical governance, benchmarking and meetings amongst high level staff. The clinical level includes protocols, care pathways, complaints made by patients and infection control (CQC 2011). Within the NHS another element in the provision of quality, is the implementation of national service frameworks. These are implemented to make sure clear quality requirements are set and that the most up to date evidence based practice is working effectively in a given setting (DOH 2011). Following exploration of the literature for interprofessional working, three key issues identified are communication, culture and knowledge of professional roles (Pollard, K et al 2005). In regards to communication with in the team, to be able to provide holism in regards to a patients care all professionals within the team must engage in clear and open communication (Ellis. R et al 2003). It is essential that all of the professionals’ views and perspectives are heard and taken into consideration when implementing care. Although there are clear advantages to open communication there are often barriers that inhibit this practice. Lack of knowledge or the stereotyping of other professions can lead to ideas, recommendations and perspectives of an individual not being heard or taken into consideration. This can ultimately affect the quality of care delivered to a service user (Barret,G et al 2005). In order to overcome such barriers, trust and respect of fellow professionals must be present. If the environment is lacking in trust and respect, it may result in professionals protecting their roles and justifying actions. This can then result in a closed working environment, where professionals do not learn from shared experiences and constructive criticism is not welcomed. Collectively this can impede on the holistic and collaborative nature required in the delivery of healthcare (Day, J 2005). In order to approach care holistically, each member of the interprofessional team must have awareness and knowledge of the different professional roles within the team. This is due to the fact that conducting a holistic assessment is beyond the scope of any individual professional. Lack of knowledge of the roles of other professions and the boundaries of an individual’s role can lead to specific areas of care not being delivered to its highest quality (Wilcock, M et al. 2009). Professional culture can affect the delivery of quality care as the norms and values of different professional groups maybe in contrast with one another. This can lead to a disagreement or conflict when discussing and planning the approach when devising a plan to deliver patient care. However these differences between professional s can have a positive effect on the formulation and direction of service delivery (Day, J 2005). Taking into account the different ideals and perspectives can lead to a comprehensive and thorough assessment of a service user needs thus optimizing the quality of care provided. Within professional cultures there is often the use of unique jargon. Amongst an interprofessional team this can lead to barriers to effective communication which could ultimately lead to a lesser quality of care delivered. In order to overcome this obstacle members within the interprofessional team need to be self-aware of the language they are using to avoid causing confusion amongst professionals (Ellis. R et al .2003). On consideration of my placement in an acute psychiatric ward, I reflected on the interactions amongst the members of the interprofessional team. The role of the acute psychiatric ward was to provide treatment to service users aged eighteen to fifty five with conditions ranging from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective, depression, mania, eating disorders and borderline personality disorders. Due to the wide range of disorders and the complex care that is often required to treat service users holistically there were often more than one professional within the interprofessional team that was involved in a service users care (NICE 2011). The professionals that were involved in this wards care whilst I was on placement were Nurses, Occupational therapists, Psychiatrists, Pharmacists, Social workers, Dietitians and Psychologists. Due to the differing nature of each of these professions, unique perspectives of the service user and their needs are assessed and an adequate and holistic care plan could be implemented. Key information was often passed on, an example I observed was in regards to eating plans from the Dietitan passed on to the nursing staff for eating disorder patients. From my perspective as a student mental health nurse whilst on the ward it became apparent that professional culture and ideologies of the professions often came in conflict with each other. I observed this when decisions needed to be made, there was often a professional that had to compromise their views. Interprofessional working at times also had a negative effect on the service users. In one instance a patient was on continuous observations by two staff due to recent multiple suicide attempts, it was agreed amongst nursing staff that the service user only had essential items and was not allowed anything that could be potentially harmful to herself. Although this was agreed amongst nursing staff the policy did not state any specifics that were not allowed, it did however state that it would be at the discretion of the professional at the time that is carrying out the continuous observation. This ultimately led to conflict when the occupational therapist allowed the service user to use paints, pencils, and paint brushes. On reflection this was not conducive to the recovery or mental state of the service user due to lack of consistency from staff that were looking after her. Barrett, G et al (2005) states that the power share amongst the interprofessional team is an important issue as an unequal power share amongst the team could lead to professions oppressed and unable to have a significant input. However it is also argued that without strong leadership and direction there is no true direction to the care being delivered and professionals within the team will rely on others to take charge (DOH 2007). On the acute ward as a student nurse I found that on the surface level there was an equal power share with all the professionals having equal input. However at times it became apparent that if a decision was made that certain professions did not like, the former hierarchy system came to fruition and the grievance was taken directly to the consultant and their decision would be final. On placement I believe that professional culture was a boundary to effective communication and collaboration amongst staff. Although all patient notes were stored on RIO which is readily available to any staff involved with patient care information was never discussed openly, formally or informally between professions unless something of significance happened. The driving factor for the interprofessional team to congregate was at that point to discuss blame instead of collaborative working. Professional identity also contributed to the quality and the effectiveness of the care given in the placement setting. The very nature of the training of each professional automatically assigns a skill set, codes of practice and standards from their governing body for example the NMC (2012) or HPC (2012). Thus meaning the very nature of this governing body can often conflict with collaborative nature of an interprofessional team. My personal suggestions for my acute mental health placement would be that there are clear guidelines and policies that need to be implemented in order for seamless clinical care to be delivered amongst the professionals. This could set clear boundaries to the remit of staff’s responsibilities. I would also suggest that time for interprofessional education be available for staff so there is a sound knowledge between the professions which can lead to a greater appreciation of the care that is delivered. On reflection of my formative group assessment it became apparent that the interpretation of the task at hand was different between each of the four members of the group, this could have been due to the fact that amongst the group there were different specialities of nurses. Once this was realised the group had to meet in order for each member to be fully aware of what was expected of them. Once there was clarity in the roles of each of the members a co-ordinator was appointed for the work to be collected and arranged appropriately for the presentation. It was agreed amongst the group the order of speakers and this translated seamlessly to the presentation. It became evident after the assessment had ended that if we had not of congregated beforehand the presentation would have not been as organised and coherent as it was (appendix). In conclusion it is clear that interprofessional working plays a vital part in the effectiveness and quality of care delivered to a service user. The literature has stated that in able for quality care to be delivered there must be willing and open participation form all members of the interprofessional team to work collaboratively. Although there are many barriers to effective interprofessional working, regulating bodies such as the NMC and organisations such as NICE have initiatives and guidelines for guidance in overcoming differences and conflicts. Clearly defined roles is an importance for professionals to be able to deliver high quality care, however he very nature of interprofessional working can sometimes hinder this as the views and perspectives of a situation between different professionals conflict with each other thus potentially leading to lack of clarity when delivering care (Wilcock, M et al. 2009). These factors were often present in my own experience in the above mentioned clinical setting. It became apparent that although there was an interprofessional approach to delivering quality healthcare, there was no clear structure to the composition of the team thus leading to conflict occurring more often than effective collaboration. Reference list: Barret, g et al . (2005). The process required for effective interprofessional working. In: Barret,g et al Interprofessional working in health and social care . Hampshire: Palgrave. P8-18. CQC (2010). Mental Health five year action plan. London Day, J (2005). Being Interprofessional . UK: Nelson thornes . P1-161. DOH (2007). Creating an Interprofessional workforce. UK: London. 1-72. DOH (2008) High quality care for all. NHS next stage review final report. London DOH (2011) The NHS Performance framework: implementation guidence. London Ellis. R et al . (2003). Improving communication . In: Ellis. R et al Interpersonal communication in nursing . 2nd ed. Hampshire: Elsevier. HPC. (2012). Your duties as registarnts . Available: http://www.hpc-uk.org/assets/documents/10001BFBSCPEs-cfw.pdf. Last accessed 9th Apr 2012 NHS. (2012). Quality. Available: http://www.clinicalgovernance.scot.nhs.uk/section2/definition.asp. Last accessed 7th Apr 2012. NHS. (2012). Quality. Available: http://www.clinicalgovernance.scot.nhs.uk/section2/definition.asp. Last accessed 7th Apr 2012. NMC. (2012). The Code. Available: http://www.nmc-uk.org/Nurses-and-midwives/The-code/. Last accessed 07th Apr 2012 Pollard, K et al . (2005). The need for interprofessional working. In: Barret,g et al Interprofessional working in health and social care . Hampshire: Palgrave. P5-7. Wilcock, M et al. (2009). Health care improvement and continuing interprofessional education . Journal of continuing education in the health professions . 29 (2), p84-90

Nepal Essay Essay

Introduction I am doing my report on a country by the name of Nepal. The formal name is The Kingdom of Nepal. The term for citizens is Nepalese. The capital of Nepal is Katmandu. Nepal became independent in 1768 when a number of independent hill states were unified by Prithri Narayan Shah as the Kingdom of Gorkha. The area of Nepal is 56,827 square miles. Its population according to the 1991 census was 18,462, 081. Nepal is located between China and India. Population The most recent information about Nepal’s population is in the year of 1994. It was an estimate of about 20,000,000. At this time the average family was made up of 5.9 persons, and the life expectancy was about 50 years. About 70 percent of the total population was of working age, or between the ages of fifteen and fifty-nine years of age. Nearly 44 percent of the population is in the Terai Region, 48 percent in the Mountain Region. In 1981 the capital, Katmandu , had a population of 235,160. Government Nepal has a constitutional monarchy government. The multiparty democracy established along with the November 1990 constitution which replaced the panchayat system. Education The education system has expanded rapidly since 1951. Right now there are elementary and high schools found in most areas of the country. Tribharan University was established in 1961 to serve as the hub of a higher education system. The literacy rate is still only an estimated fifteen percent, with most of the literate population concentrated in Katmandu Valley and in the Terai. Language In Nepal there are numerous languages spoken which is a problem because they do not belong to the same family group. The most common and national language , Nepali, stems form the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo European family. Nepali is spoken by 60 percent of the population. A second category of languages in Nepal is the Tibeto- Burman languages, of which the most common are Newer, Magarkura, Gurangkura, Karin and Limbuani. Religion and Society Religion occupies an integral position in Nepalese life and society. The main religion in Nepal is Hinduism , but much of the population follows an unorthodox Buddhism strongly affected by mixtures of Hinduism. The fact that Hindus worship in Buddhist temples and Buddhists worship in Hindus temples has been one of the main reasons followers of the two dominate groups in Nepal have never engaged in any conflicts. Because of such dual faith practices the differences between Hindus and Buddhists have been generally in nature. In 1991 about 89.5 percent of the Nepalese people indenified themselves as Hindus. Buddhists and Muslims occupied only 5.3 and 2.7 percent. The remainder religion is Christianity. At least 87 percent of the population in every region is made of Hindus. Buddhists are mostly found in the Eastern Hills, the Katmandu Valley, and the Central Terai, in each area about 10 percent of the people were Buddhist. Terai The Terai region of Nepal is a low, fertile alluvial plain, in effect the northern extrusion of the Ganges plain. It is 20 miles wide at its broadest point and extends over most of the southern edge. North of this, bordering the forests of the Bhabar and Chria Hills, the Terai is marshy and malaria is endemic. A green belt of excellent timber parallels or dense elephant grass growing to a height of 15 feet. Climate The climate is moderate only in the mountain valleys, about 5,000 feet above sea level. The rest of Nepal is either extremely hot, as in the Terai, climate changes sharply with elevation. In the Himalayas, exposure to the sun and to rain-bearing winds produce complex patterns of local climates. Average temperatures in the Katmandu Valley range form 50 degrees in January to 78 degrees in July. Rainfall mainly  occurs between June and September. The dry season is November to January. Agriculture About 90 percent of Nepal’s working force is directly engaged in agricultural pursuits. Arable land is at 30 percent of the total land area, of which 60 percent is classified as suitable for wet cultivation and 30 percent for dry cultivation. The main crops are rice, corn, millet, wheat, sugarcane, tobacco, fruits, and vegetables. Rice is grown in the Teria, Katmandu Valley , and the lower hill area. Corn and millet are the main crops at higher altitudes , which is about 6,000 feet above sea level. Annual Rainfall Fire climate zones based on altitude range from subtropical in the South, to cool summers and severe winters in the North. The annual rainfall depends on a monsoon cycle which provides 60 to 80 percent of the total rainfall. The Eastern part of the country get the most with 2,500 millimeters. The Katmandu averages around 1,420 millimeters. And Western Nepal gets around 1,000 millimeters. Himalayans The Himalayans are what Nepal is known for. The Himalayans were formed about 60 million years ago, When the earth’s continents were still forming, a part of east Africa broke loose and began to driff slowly northward. When it rammed into Asia , the force of the collision caused the land to crumple up into a vast mountain range. More than 1,000 miles long and hundreds of miles wide. This system contains some of the highest mountains in the world. The most famous of these is Mount Everest. Bibliography Norton, Peter B., and Joseph J. Esposito. â€Å"Nepal.†Ã‚  Encyclopedia Britanica. 1995. Boehm, Richard G. World Geography. Westerville: The McGraw-Hill. 1997.

Empirical Paper Assignment Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Empirical Assignment - Research Paper Example The rate however increased in five states and remained constant in 11 other states. Kentucky recorded the most significant percentage decrement, though the state’s unemployment rate remained above the nation’s average value. There were additional job opportunities in the state in October but some people also left their jobs, with retirees as examples of those who left their jobs. The lost jobs in Kentucky were however filled with new employees and not really lost from the economy. Kentucky recorded the greatest fall in unemployment rate with a deviation of 0.5 percent while four other states realized a decrease of 0.4 percent in their unemployment rates. Unemployment rates per state remained lower that national statistics in Rocky Mountain States. On the national level, unemployment rate reduced by 0.1 percent, from 5.9 percent in September and this resulted from creation of 214000 new jobs. The report includes states’ unemployment rates for September and October of the year 2014 and for the month of October 2013 (Sparshott 1). The author’s statistics are reliable because data and generated graphs from FRED support them. Below are graphs of two indicators of employment rates, as retrieved from FRED databases that support the author’s report. The graphs, inteprated together, offers information that is consistent with Sspartshott’s report and therefofe support the author’s viewpoint. From graph 1, it is evident that employment rates have been increasing, steadily, over the past one year. Consistency in the increament can be used to forecast further increament to october and the rest of the months in the year 2014. Consequently, it can be concluded that the number of employments in the private sector improved from its value in September 2014 into October 2014. The graph of number of employment in the public sector is however unstable and suggests a decrease in employment rate from September 2014 to October 2014. Rate of

Case study analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 6

Case study analysis - Essay Example Many foreign business people were encouraged to invest in Russia and a privatisation programme was introduced, as well. The economic reform policy led to high inflation rates in 1992 and the succeeding eight years. The national output fell by almost 20 per cent in 1992 leading to increased unemployment rate in the same year. There was a huge government deficit in 1992 rising from 1.5 per cent in the first quarter to 15 per cent in the last quarter. The economic growth rate slowed down in 1993 until 2000 where the economy almost realised full recovery. Inflation may refer to the general increase in prices of commodities in an economy. Following the introduction of the reform policy in 1991, Russian economy experienced a hyperinflation in 1992, which amounted to 1527 per cent. The reform critics argued that the Russian economy was very rigid to adopt the mixed economy system. They added that the increased rate of money supply of 600 per cent contributed to the increased inflation rates. When the government abolished the price controls, the monopoly producers hiked the prices of their products. The consumers, on the other hand, could not afford the goods sold at high prices and this lead to a huge decline in demand. The forces of foreign investors lead to some local producers escape the industry and, as a result, there were huge shortages of commodities in the market. Consequently, the decreased supply levels led to increased prices of commodities, such as food and clothing (Leitzel 213). The rate of inflation rose from less than 200 per cent in 1991 to more than 1400 per cent in 1992. In 1993, the inflation rate fall drastically to around 300 per cent and reduced gradually to a value below 10 per cent in 1997. Despite the financial crisis in 1998, the rate of inflation remained constant until 199 when it rose with a small per cent. Since 2000, the rate of inflation has remained below 15 per cent until 2008 (see the blue curve). The real GDP declined

Mount Carmel High School Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mount Carmel High School - Assignment Example The Mount Carmel High School is being launched to prepare students for the Crimson College. Till now, Crimson College has received students from other schools in the district. It will continue to receive other students. However, henceforth first preference will be provided to students from its own school, the Mount Carmel High School. The Mount Carmel High School is being launched as a premium school with modern methods of learning. The school will engage its students in critical thinking, analysis, research and other resources that will markedly depart from the traditional pedagogy teaching alone. The school is open to students of all culture and beliefs without discrimination on the basis of race and religion. Learning by appropriate use of pedagogy, interactive technology, group discussions, and analysis will be encouraged. Students will also be encouraged to be involved in arts, music, and learning foreign language. The learning curve with consist of medium that engages the students' interest from their early days in school. There will be extra curricular activities such as publishing of magazine, elocution, dance, and annual fair for the development of students' mental faculties. Activities are aimed with the child's all-round development in view. The school is expecting to start with the 6th grade with 80 students. This grade will be divided into four sections. So the teacher-students' ratio will be not more than twenty students per teacher at any given time. Curriculum The curriculum will consist of the key subjects, viz. language, mathematics, science, and social science. English will be the main language. Mathematics will comprise algebra and geometry. Students will have the options of studying the subjects through pedagogy, interactive technology or both. The options to study will be monitored regularly through appropriate tests. The students will be given enough time for learning and evaluations. The students will also be encouraged to engage in group discussions, make notes and evaluations and use these in determining answers. The school will have enough computers for the purpose of interactive learning. Introductions to each subject will be done by pedagogy. In case a student misses the introduction, he or she has the option to learn it from other students or seek the teacher's assistance after prior intimation (Primary Core Curriculum Studies, 2007). Teachers will keep note of individual learning skills and needs and engage students keeping these in view. It will be the teachers' responsibility that students learn chapters of different subjects within the prescribed time. In case certain students are unable to grasp

Diversity's impact on Society Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Diversity's impact on Society - Term Paper Example This implies the different composition that makes up society. That is the cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious differences. However, in the U.S. context, the term diversity will be used to mean the racial and ethnic composition that makes up the country. This paper will describe the diversity and inclusion concepts in the context of U.S. and global society and culture. The paper will mainly focus on African-Americans and the Spanish-Americans in terms of their cultural diversity. It will also discuss how the two diverse cultures and the events contributed to the US society and culture by describing their origins and contribution to the development of the U.S, and how the events that they experienced led to their inclusion into the US society by 1870s (Graen, 2003). The world is a diverse society made of different cultures, ethnic, religious, racial and languages. This is eminent in all parts of the world be it Africa, Asia, America or Europe. The diversity exists mainly due to the different characteristics, beliefs, and religious affiliations. For instance, Muslims poses certain beliefs that are very different from those of their Christian counterparts. Different people are also different in their own way due to their ethnic and cultural background, while in some societies, diversity exists because of racial difference ((Essed, 1996). The U.S. is one country that is highly rich in diverse cultures. It is imperative to state that diversity in the context of the U.S. mainly refers to the racial and ethnic diversity. The U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2000 reveals that the population of ethnic and minority cultures in the U.S. accounted for over 30% of the U.S. population (Graen, 2003). This translates to more than 100 million diverse racial and ethnic groups. Richard Rodriquez attributes this high number to the high rate of immigration, which began a long time ago

Compare the differences and similarities in how stories are framed Assignment

Compare the differences and similarities in how stories are framed - Assignment Example There is a quote from the nuclear specialist who narrates his meeting after the disaster with his wife and children (MSNBC, 19 March 2011). By including this real life experience, the report gets more close to the human disaster rather than dwelling only on technical details. While reporting the radiation contamination of food items, Fox News has included crucial information that others have not- the tap water also has become contaminated with radiation (Fox News, 19 March 2011). This is important information and missing this does not go well with other news agencies. Fox News also has included the emotional account of the nuclear specialist about meeting his family (Fox News, 19 March 2011). Fox News has also given a brief history of the disaster by telling how it started and through which phases it developed (Fox News, 19 March 2011). It is a good practice to keep the viewers informed about the history of an event when it is a running story. CNBC has not made th food contamination a major headline and has given it as only a sub-heading to the main heading, ‘Japan Sees Some Stabilization in Nuclear Crisis’ (19 March 2011).

A Shining Thread of Hope - The History of Black Women in America Essay

A Shining Thread of Hope - The History of Black Women in America - Essay Example It is through this strength and the resulting bonds of family, community and faith, the authors argue, that both yesterday’s and today’s African American woman is beginning to be recognized for her significant contributions to the progress and development of the United States and the importance she continues to play in providing examples to live, work and raise a family in trying times with dignity, grace, love and success. The prologue of the book immediately captures the reader’s attention with a detailed description of a young African woman’s life in the earliest days of the colonies. This pattern is continued with further detail into this and other stories of African women in the early colonies as the book moves into its first chapter. The sense of immediacy is developed as the authors fictionalize to a degree in describing Lucy Terry Prince and other early African women brought to America. â€Å"A young woman stood on the shores of the New World. †¦ We do not know this woman’s name, but we will call her Oni. She will be, for us, not a number – one of twenty slaves who were the first to be brought to North America – but the real woman she was† (8). Although they arrived on these shores as slaves, the authors demonstrate how these early slaves gained freedom, happiness, land ownership, scholarship and, at times, a degree of equality with their white nei ghbors. Yet there remain significant gaps to these stories as the children disappear or the family property is swallowed up by white invaders. â€Å"It is important to remember that other African Americans, women as well as men, were simultaneously creating a separate culture. Its development was not usually recorded, and few names have come down to us† (26). As they describe these stories, the authors also work to distance themselves from the stories, often switching back to the narrative scholastic voice of the present rather

What Do I Believe About Others Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

What Do I Believe About Others - Essay Example I believe that immigrants get space in our country with due permission and approval of the government, and the government only allows them to share this space with us because their arrival to our land is expected to have a positive effect on our economy. I tend to interact and socialize with others a lot. I know that it can be very emotionally and psychologically demanding at times, as the friends usually keep offending each other in a sarcastic way all the time, but dealing with them makes me learn patience and tolerance. Once I develop that level of comfort talking and interacting with them, such conventionally offensive notions no more bother me, because of the fact that I have developed indifference to them. I believe that while my friends have a lot of negative traits, they also carry several positive traits. I tend to acquire good habits from them while staying away from bad influences. One thing that I particularly take care of is not to offend others while interacting with them. I think use of mockery and criticism just draws people away from you, and presents you as an overconfident person that they become hesitant to interact with. One can expand one’s social network by behaving decently with others and giving them respect. The formula is; treat others just the way that you want them to treat you. Since I desire respect from others, so I give others respect too, and it works for me. However, I make sure that with my patience, tolerance, and nice nature, I don’t become a sweet dish for them that they can eat.

Poem and Short Story Essay Example for Free

Poem and Short Story Essay Mill of the Gods (Estrella Alfon) Among us who lived in Espeleta – that street that I love, about whose people I keep telling tales – among us, I say, there was one named Martha, and she was the daughter of Pio and Engracia. To all of us, life must seem like a road given us to travel, and it is up to Fate, that convenient blunderer, whether, that road be broad and unwinding, or whether it shall be a tortuous lane, its path a hard and twisted mat of dust and stones. And each road, whether lane or avenue, shall have its own landmarks, that only the traveller soul shall recognize and remember, and remembering, continue the journey again. To Martha, the gods gave this for a first memory: a first scar. She was a girl of twelve, and in every way she was but a child. A rather dull child, who always lagged behind the others of her age, whether in study or in play. Life had been so far a question of staying more years in a grade than the others, of being told she would have to apply herself a little harder if she didn’t want the infants catching up with her. But that was so dismal thing. She had gotten a little bit used to being always behind. To always being the biggest girl in her class. Even in play there was some part of her that never managed to take too great a part – she was so content if they always made her â€Å"it† in a game of tag, if only they would let her play. And when she had dolls, she was eager to lend them to other girls, if they would only include her in the fascinating games she could not play alone. This was she, then. Her hair hung in pigtails each side of her face, and already it irked a little to have her dresses too short. She could not help in her mother’s kitchen, and could be trusted to keep her room clean, but she was not ready for the thing her mother told her one night when she was awakened from sleep. It was a sleep untroubled by dreams, then all of a sudden there was an uproar in the house, and she could hear her mother’s frenzied sobbing, and it was not sobbing that held as much of sorrow as it did of anger. She lay still for a while, thinking perhaps she was dreaming, until she could hear her father’s grunted answers to the half – understood things her mother was mouthing at him. Then there were sounds that was clearly the sound of two bodies struggling in terrible fury with each other. She stood up, and like a child, cried into the night. Mother? She wailed the word, in her panic finding a little relief in her own wailing, Mother? And she heard her mother’s voice call her, panting out, saying, Martha, come quickly, come into this room! Martha got up and stood at the door of the room, hesitating about opening it, until her mother, the part of a terrible grasp, said Martha! So Martha pushed in the door, and found her mother and her father locked in an embrace n which both of them struggled and panted and had almost no breath left for words. Martha stood wide – eyed and frightened, not knowing what to do, just standing there, even though she had seen what it was they struggled for. A kitchen knife, blade held upwards in her mother’s hand. Her arms were pinioned to her sides by her husband, but her wild eyes, the frenzy with which she stamped her feet on his feet, and kicked him in the shins, and tried to bite him with her teeth, these were more terrible than the glint of that shining blade. It was her father who spoke to her saying urgently, Martha, reach for her knife, take it away. Yet Martha stood there and did not comprehend until her mother spoke, saying No, no; Martha, your father deserves to be killed. Then it was Martha who realized what she was to do, and slowly, hesitantly, she went near them, her fear of both of them in this terrible anger they now presented making her almost too afraid to reach up for the knife. But reach up she did, and with her child’s fingers, put her mother’s away from the weapon. And when she had it in her hands she did not know what to do with it, except look at it. It wasn’t a very sharp knife, but its blade was clean, and its hilt firm. And so she looked at it, until her father said. Throw it out of the window, Martha and without thinking, she went to a window, opened a casement and threw it away. Then her father released her mother, and once her mother had gotten her arms free, she swung back her hand, and wordlessly, slapped him; slapped him once, twice, three times, alternating with her hands, on alternate cheeks, until her father said. That’s enough, Engracia. And saying so, he took her hands in his, led her resisting to the bed, and made her sit down. And Martha was too young to wonder that her father, who was a big man, should have surrendered to the repeated slapping from her mother who was a very small frail woman. Her father said, â€Å"Aren’t you ashamed now Martha has seen? † And immediately her mother screamed to him, â€Å"Ashamed? Me, ashamed? I’ll tell Martha about you! † Her father looked at Martha still standing dumbly by the window out of which she had thrown the knife, and said, â€Å"No, Aciang, she is just a child. † And to her: â€Å"Martha, go back to bed. † But now her mother jumped up from the bed, and clutched at Martha, and brought her to bed with her. And deliberately without looking at Martha’s father, she said, Martha you are not too young to know. And so, the words falling from her lips with a terrible quiet, she told Martha. The words that were strange to her ears, Martha heard them, and listened to them, and looked from her mother to her father, and without knowing it, wetting her cheeks with her tears that fell. And then her mother stopped talking, and looking at her husband, she spat on him, and Martha saw the saliva spatter on the front of the dark shirt he wore. She watched while her father strode over them, and slowly, also deliberately, slapped her mother on the cheek. Martha watched his open palm as he did it, and felt the blow as though it had been she who had been hit. Then her father strode out of the room, saying nothing, leaving them alone. When her father had gone, Martha’s mother began to cry, saying brokenly to Martha, â€Å"It is that woman, that woman! † And making excuses to Martha for her father, saying it was never completely the man’s fault. And Martha listened bewildered, because this was so different from the venomous words her mother had told her while her father was in the room. And then her mother, still weeping, directed her to look for her father and Martha went out of the room. Her father was not in the house. The night was very dark as she peered out of the windows to see is she could find him outside, but he was nowhere. So she went back to her mother, and told her she could not find her father. Her mother cried silently, the tears coursing down her cheeks, and her sobs tearing through her throat. Martha cried with her, and caressed her mother’s back with her hands, but she had no words to offer, nothing to say. When her mother at last was able to talk again, she told Martha to go back to bed. But it wasn’t the child that entered who went out of that room. And yet the terror of that night was not so great because it was only a terror half – understood. It wasn’t until she was eighteen, that the hurt of that night was invested with its full measure. For when she was eighteen, she fell in love. She was a girl of placid appearance, in her eyes the dreaming stolid night of the unawakened. She still was slow to learn, still not prone to brilliance. And when she fell in love she chose the brightest boy of her limited acquaintance to fall in love with. He was slightly older than herself, a little too handsome, a trifle too given to laughter. Espeleta did not like him; he was too different from the other young me n on the street. But Martha loved him. You could see that in the way she looked at him, the way she listened to him. Martha’s pigtails had lengthened. She now wore her braids coiled on the top of her head like a coronet, and it went well with the placid features, the rather full figure. She was easily one of our prettier maidens. It was well that she was not too brilliant. That she did not have any too modern ideas. The air of shyness, the awkward lack of sparkling conversation suited her Madonna – like face and calm. And her seriousness with love was also part of the calm waiting nature. It did not enter her head that there are such things as play, and a game. And a man’s eagerness for sport. And so when she noticed that his attentions seemed to be wandering, even after he had admitted to a lot of people that they were engaged, she asked him, with the eager desperation of the inexperienced, about their marriage. He laughed at her. Laughed gently, teasingly, saying they could not get married for a long time yet; he must repay his parents first for all that they had done for him. He must first be sure to be able to afford the things she deserved. Well turned phrases he said his excuses with. Charming little evasions. And if she did not see through them while he spoke them, his frequent absences, where his visits had been as a habit; his excuses to stay away when once no amount of sending him off could make him stay away; these but made her see. And understand. And then the way neighbours will, they tried to be kind to her. For they could see her heart was breaking and they tried to say sweet things to her, things like her being far too good for him. And then they heard that he had married. Another girl. And they saw her grief, and thought it strange that a girl should grieve over an undeserving lover or so. She lost a little of the plumpness that was one of her charms. And into her eyes crept a hurt look to replace the dreaming. And Espeleta, with all the good people, strove to be even kinder to her. Watched her grief and pitied her. And told her that whatever mistakes she had committed to make her grieve so, to make her suffer so, they understood and forgave. And they did not blame her. But now that she had learned her lesson, she must beware. She knew her own father as much as they knew about him. And it was in the Fates that his sins must be paid for. If not by himself, then by whom but she who was begotten by him? So, didn’t she see? How careful she should be? Because you could, they said it to her gently, kindly, cruelly, because she could if she were careful, turn aside the vengeance of the implacable fates. And she believed them kind although she hated their suspicions. She believed them kind, and so she started, then, to hate her father. And that night long ago came back to her, and she wished she had not thrown that knife away. Espeleta saw Martha turn religious. More religious than Iya Andia and Iya Nesia, who were old and saw death coming close, and wanted to be assured of the easing of the gates of heaven. Espeleta approved. Because Espeleta did not know what she prayed for. Because they saw only the downcast eyes under the light veil, the coil of shining hair as it bowed over the communion rail. Yet Martha’s mother and father still lived together. They never had separated. Even after that night, when she was twelve years old and frightened, and she had called for him and looked for him and not found him. The next day he had come back, and between her mother and him there was a silence. They slept in the same bed, and spent the nights in the same room, and yet Martha and Espeleta knew he had another bed, another chamber. Espeleta praised Martha’s mother for being so patient. After Martha had fallen in love, when she began hating her father truly then also she began despising her mother. You did not know it to look at Martha. For her coil of braided hair was still there, and the shy way of speaking, and the charming awkwardness at conversation. And Martha made up her earlier lack of lustre by shining in her class now. She was eighteen and not through high school yet. But she made up for it by graduating with high honours. Espeleta clapped its hands when she graduated. Gave her flowers. Her mother and father were there, too. And they were proud. And to look at Martha, you would think she was proud too, if a little too shy still. Martha studied nursing. And started having visitors in her mother’s house again. Doctors this time. Older men, to whom her gravity of manner appealed, and the innate good sense that seemed so patient in her quiet demeanour. Espeleta was now rather proud of Martha. She seemed everything a girl should be, and they cited her as an example of what religion could do. Lift you out of the shadow of your inheritance. For look at Martha. See how different she is from what should be her father’s daughter. But what they did not know was that all of these doctors Martha had to choose someone slightly older than the rest. And where the girl of eighteen that she had been almost a child unschooled, now she was a woman wise and wary. Where the other nurses knew this doctor only as someone who did not like their dances as much as the younger ones, who did not speak as lightly, as flippantly of love as the younger ones, Martha knew why he didn’t. Between the two of them there had been, form the very start, a quick lifting of the pulse, an immediate quickening of the breath. From the very start. And where he could have concealed the secrets of life, he chose the very first time they were able to talk to each other, to tell her that he was not free. He had a wife, and whether he loved her or not, whether she was unfaithful to him or not, which she was, there had been the irrevocable ceremony to bind them, to always make his love for any other woman, if he ever fell in love again, something that must be hidden, something that might not see light. She was a woman now, Martha was. Wise and wary. But there is no wisdom, no weariness against love. Not the kind of deep love she knew she bore him. And as even she him, she found within herself the old deep – abiding secret hate. Against her father. Against the laws of man and church. Against the very fates that seemed rejoiced in making her pay for a sin she had not committed. She now learned of bitterness. Because she could not help thinking of that night, long ago, when her mother had sat on the bed, and in deliberate words told her just what kind of a father she had. It had been as though her mother had shifted on to her unwilling, unready shoulders the burden of the sorrows, the goad of the grief. Espeleta, that was so quick to censure, and to condemn; even Espeleta had taken the situation in Martha’s house as something that could not be helped. And as long as there was no open strife, Espeleta made excuses for a thing that, they said, had been designed by Fate. Martha’s father came home. Acted, on the surface, the good husband. And since he was married to Martha’s mother, so must Martha’s mother bear it, and welcome him home again. Because she would rather he came home, then went to the other one, wouldn’t she? Espeleta cited heavenly rewards. For Martha’s mother. And Martha went to church regularly, and was a good nurse. And still called her father, Father. You have heard that one of course, about the mill of the gods, how they â€Å"grind exceedingly fine, and grind exceedingly slow. † Espeleta hadn’t heard that one, nor had Martha. But Espeleta of course would have a more winded version of it. Anyhow, one day at the hospital, Martha was attendant nurse at an emergency case. A man had been shot. There were three bullets through his chest, but he was still alive. Martha laughed queerly to herself, saying I must be dreaming, I am imagining that man has my father’s face. It was the doctor she loved who was in charge. With a queer dreaming feeling, she raised her eyes to meet his, and was shocked to see him drop his gaze, and over his face steal a twist as of pain, as of pity. They were instantly their efficient selves again, cloaking themselves in the impersonal masks of physician and nurse. It was as if he who lay there beneath their instruments and their probing fingers was any man, the way it could be any man. Not her father. But all while, training and discipline unavailing. Martha said to herself, but it is my father. He died on the table. He never gained consciousness. Martha drew the sheet over his face and form. And watched as they wheeled him out of the room. She still had the instruments to put away and the room to put in order. But this did not take long and when she went out into the corridor, she found her mother weeping beside the shrouded form on the wheeled table. There was a policeman beside her awkwardly trying with gruff words to console the little woman over her loss. Beside the policeman stood also the doctor, who passed an arm around the shoulder of Martha’s mother, saying simply, we tried to save him. Martha joined them, knowing that she should be in tears, yet finding that she had none to shed. It would ease the tightness within her, would loosen the hard knot in her heart to cry. But you cannot summon tears when you feel no grief, and the pain you feel is not of sorrow but of the cruel justness of things. She could not even put her arms around her weeping mother. When the doctor told her that she would be excused from duty the rest of the day, that he would arrange it for her, she did not thank him. She did not say anything for indeed she no longer had any words, nor any emotions that required speech. Or should be given speech. For one cannot say, how right! How just! When one’s father has just died. Her mother and she took a taxi together to accompany the hearse that took her father home. There was a crowd awaiting them. Espeleta in tears. Espeleta crying condolence and opprobrium in the same breath. It was from them – their good neighbours, their kind neighbours – that Martha learned how â€Å"God’s justice had overtaken the sinner. † Colon is not as intimate as Espeleta. For it is a long street and broad street. But where the railroad crosses it, the houses group together in intimate warmth and neighbourly closeness and its families live each other’s lives almost as meddlingly as Espeleta does. And is as avid for scandals as Espeleta is. Among the people in Martha’s house were some from Colon. And it was they who supplied the grimmer details, the more lucid picture. In that other woman’s house – and Martha did not even know the other woman’s name there had existed the stalemate state of affairs that had existed in Martha’s house. Only where in Martha’s house it had been a wife who was patient, in that other woman’s house it had been the husband who had bided his time. And yet the neighbours had thought he had not cared. For indeed he had seemed like a man blind and deaf, and if he raised his voice against his wife, it was not so they could hear it. Yet today, he had come home, after he had said he was going away somewhere. And had come upon Martha’s father in the house, and had, without saying anything, taken out his revolver, and shot at him. Martha heard all these. And thought you know often life seems like an old – fashioned melodrama, guns and all. And yet the gun had not gone off. It had jammed, and Martha’s father had been able to run. And running, even as he seemed far enough from the house to be safe, the gun in the husband’s hand had come right again. The man had gone out in the street, aimed at the fleeing figure. That explained why the bullets had gone in through his back and out through his chest. They said that the street was spattered with blood and where he fell, there was a pool of gory red. The killer had surrendered himself at once. But everyone knew he would not pay with his life he had taken. For the woman was his wife and he had come upon them in his own home. Martha stayed with the kind condolers only a while. She left her mother for them to comfort as best as they could. They would have praises like â€Å"The good God knows best;† they would have words like, â€Å"Your grief is ended, let your other grief commence. † She went to look at her father lying well arranged now in his bier. Already in spite of the manner of his death, there were flowers for him. Death had left no glare in the eyes that the doctor at the hospital had mercifully closed, over the features lingered no evidence of pain. And Martha said, Death was kind to you. In Martha’s room there hung a crucifix. Upon the crossed wood was the agonized Christ, His eyes soft and deep and tender, even in his agony. But as Martha knelt, and lighted her candles, and prayed, in her eyes was no softness, and on her lips no words appealing for pity for him who had died. There was only the glitter of a justice meted out at last, and the thankfulness for a punishment fulfilled. So she gave thanks, very fervent thanks. For now, she hoped, she would cease to pay.

The US Environmental Protection Agency Essay Example for Free

The US Environmental Protection Agency Essay The US Environmental Protection Agency, USEPA or more commonly referred simply as the EPA, is federal agency responsible for the protection of the natural environment for the protection of human health and ecology. It was established under the President Richard Nixon in December 1970 and is currently being headed by Administrator Stephen L. Johnson (EPA, 2008a). The EPA acts through twelve administrative offices and ten regional offices: the administrative offices are in charge with the development and assessment of policies and regional offices are the serve as the primary executive arm of the agency (EPA, 2008b). Prior to the establishment of the agency, there was no national structure for addressing environmental concerns, develop legislation and management programs or to implement corrective measures. The EPA implements and monitors compliance to environmental protection statutes it establishes or as passed thorough by federal legislation (EPA, 2008a). Shortcomings of the agency are viewed not only as a failure of related policies but also an indication of the political will, ethical standards and social concern for the protection of the environment (Heilprin, 2008; Marris, 2007; Morrissey, 2008). Case in point: when policies are considered to be restrictive to industries, this relegates the ethical cost of violation of EPA regulations, encouraging subterfuge if not blatant opposition to policies. On the other hand, hesitation on the part of the EPA to implement polices and prosecute offenders diminishes the public’s interests and violates its functional mandates. Moreover, as Pelley (2008) and Sood (2008) have highlighted, the EPA’s mandate is extends far beyond its functions. It is designed to delivery in its fullest extent the intention behind environmental protection legislation and to provide framework standards of environmental and social responsibility. References Environmental Protection Agency (2008a).Available at http://www. epa. gov/ Environmental Protection Agency (2008b). Laws that We Administer. Retrieved July 13, 2008, from http://www. epa. gov/lawsregs/laws/index. html Heilprin, John (2006). Ex-EPA chiefs: Bush neglects environmental problems. USA Today On Deadline, January 18, 2008. Retrieved July 13, 2008, from http://blogs. usatoday. com/ondeadline/2006/01/exepa_chiefs_bu. html Marris, E. (2007). Car emissions are EPAs problem. Nature, 446(7136):589. Morrissey, Susan R. (2008). EPA Issues Nanotechnology White Paper Intra-agency group gives overview, identifies research needs for nanotech. Washington, DC: Environmental Protection Agency Pelley, Janet (2008). EPA toxicity risk assessments in crisis. Environmental Science Technology, March 21, 2008. Retrieved July 13, 2008, from http://pubs. acs. org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2008/may/policy/jp_iris. html Sood, Suemedha (2008). EPA Success Masks Problems. The Washington Independent, May 28, 2008. Retrieved July 13, 2008, from http://washingtonindependent. com/view/epa-cases-mask-long

Literature Search on the effects of Overtime on Nursing staff

Literature Search on the effects of Overtime on Nursing staff PICO Question Numerous research studies have been completed in the last ten years linking higher nurse patient ratios to improved patient outcomes. A consequence of mandating nurse staffing levels is the use of mandatory and voluntary overtime which can lead to increased fatigue and adverse events. The use of overtime is not a solution to maintaining adequate nurse staffing levels and can have detrimental, unwanted consequences. The potential risk to nurses and patients must be explored through quality research. In an attempt to meet staffing ratios many organizations rely on the use of mandatory and voluntary overtime which leads to fatigue and adverse outcomes. P: Overtime I: Limit hours worked by RNs to 12 per 24 hours C: No limit on hours worked O: Decreased fatigue and adverse outcomes Search Strategies with Medline, CINAHL and Google Scholar Medline Using the Medline database the key words RN staffing and hour worked were entered. This resulted in 21,214 articles. To narrow this search the following limits were applied: publication years 2004-2009, English language, patient safety and medical errors. This resulted in 407 articles. To narrow to a manageable number of relevant articles the subheading of staffing: supply and distribution, and personnel staffing and scheduling were added to the previous search terms resulting in 26 current articles. A systematic review was completed using the terms RN staffing, overtime and patent safety, which provided similar results and articles. Final articles chosen were: International Experts Perspectives on the State of the Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes Literature by Van den Heede, et al published in the January 2007 issue of Journal of Nursing Scholarship and Correlates of medication error in hospitals by Wilkins and Shields published in the June 2008 issue of Health Reports. CINAHL Keywords entered into the CINAHL database included mandatory overtime in nursing and patient safety which resulted in 1,597 articles. By setting the parameters to articles published between 2004 and 2009 in the English language and adding the subheading of personnel staffing and scheduling and adverse outcomes a total of 31 articles were provided. Adding the subheading of quality of nursing care along with the keywords systematic review resulted in 17 final articles. The two articles chosen were: Nurse Staffing and Healthcare Outcomes: A systematic review of the International Research Evidence by Lankshear, Sheldon and Maynard published in the 2005 issue of Advances in Nursing Science and Factors Influencing the use of Registered Nurse Overtime in Hospitals, 1995-200 published by Berney, Needleman and Kovner in the second quarter 2005 issue of Journal of Nursing Scholarship. Google Scholar Keywords nurse staffing, medical errors, patient outcomes and hours worked were entered into the Google Scholar database. This search resulted in 1782 articles. Adding the parameters of articles published between 2004 and 2009 and medical, pharmacological and veterinary only yielded 442 articles. The addition of the terms mandatory overtime to the above selections resulted in 180 articles. Other variations of search terms did not yield less than 180 relevant articles. Many of these 180 articles were also found in the final Medline and CINAHL searches. The two chosen from this search included: The working hours of hospital staff nurses and patient safety published by Rogers et al in the July / August 2004 edition of Health Watch. The second article Scott et. al Effects of critical care nurses work hours on vigilance and patients safety published in the January 2006 issue of American Journal of Critical Care. Analysis of Articles from each Database Medline Analysis International Experts Perspectives on the State of the Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes Literature by Van den Heede et al., published in the fourth quarter 2007 issue of Journal of Nursing Scholarship is an article written to assess the variables used in research on nurse staffing and patient outcomes from the perspective of an international panel. A Delphi survey (November 2005-February 2006) of a selected expert panel from 10 countries consisting of 24 researchers specializing in nurse staffing and quality of care and 8 nurse administrators were sent a review of evidence related to 30 patient outcomes, 14 nurse staffing and 31 background variables and asked to rate the importance or usefulness of each variable for research on nurse staffing and patient outcomes. In subsequent rounds the group median, mode, frequencies, and earlier responses were sent to each respondent. The conclusions of this study provided a picture of the science on nurse staffing and patient outcomes researc h as of 2006. The findings showed a connection between human resource issues and healthcare quality based on empirical findings and opinion. While the article did focus on quality of care and nurse patient ratios, it did not provide relevant information regarding the effects of extended work hours on patient care outcomes. Correlates of medication error in hospitals by Wilkins and Shields published in the June 2008 issue of Health Reports examined associations between medication error and selected factors in the workplace of hospital employed registered nurses in Canada. Data was derived from the 2005 National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses in Canada who deliver direct care to hospital patients. Correlates of medication error were considered in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Multiple logistic regression modeling was used to examine medication error in relation to work organization and workplace environment, while controlling for personal factors, including nurses general and mental health, job satisfaction, education years of experience, and clinical area of employment. The results of this study showed that nearly one-fifth of nurses reported medication error involving patients had occurred occasionally or frequently in the past year. In the fully adjusted multivariate model, medication error was positively associated with working overtime, role overload, perceived staffing or resource inadequacy. Working a 12 hour shift, compared with shorter shifts was negatively associated with medication errors. This article provided relevant information pertaining to the initial PICO question of hours worked and adverse outcomes. CINAHL Analysis The 2005 issue of Advances in Nursing Science contained the article Nurse staffing and healthcare outcomes: A systematic review of international research evidence by Lankshear et. al. The authors performed a systematic review of the literature and policy analysis and conducted interviews with key researchers in the filed in both the Untied States and the United Kingdom. The goal was to retrieve research on nurse staffing and healthcare outcomes published since 1990. A combination of electronic databases, internet and organizational web sites, and contacted researchers were queried. For each relevant study data were extracted systematically using a predesigned table to describe the type and feature of the workforce, the setting, the outcomes, the methods used, the results found, the quality of the studies and the limitations. A formal meta-analysis of the results was not able to be conducted due to the studies reporting different outcomes and use of different measure of staffing and w ays of summarizing the association between staffing and outcome. Instead, a qualitative synthesis to explore patterns in the data and possible explanations for inconsistencies such as study design, analysis, context and setting was used. The systematic review found that many of the studies were of poor quality, using data from only one unit or hospital or failing to control for case mix variations. Overall, there was found to be accumulating evidence of a relationship between nurse staffing, especially higher skill mix, and patient outcomes. However, the estimates of the nurse staffing effects are likely to be unreliable. There is emerging evidence of a curvilinear relationship that suggests that the cost effectiveness of using registered nurse levels as a quality improvement tool will gradually become less cost effective. This article addressed staffing issues and quality of care but focused little on the issue of increased work hours of nurses and patient care outcomes. Factors Influencing the Use of Registered Nurse Overtime in Hospital, 1995-2000 by Berney et al published in the second quarter 2005 issue of Journal of Nursing Scholarship, aimed to assess nurse overtime in acute care general hospitals and the factors that influenced overtime among various hospitals. Staffing data from 1995-2000 from 193 acute general hospitals in New York State were used to examine hospital characteristics to determine whether they were associated with nurse overtime. The study concluded that hospitals varied dramatically in their overtime use. Some categories, for example Government owned, used little overtime indicating that management can find substitutes for overtime to meet fluctuating staffing needs. Unionized hospitals worked slightly more overtime than did nurses in nonunionized hospitals. The finding that hospitals with similar characteristics varied greatly in their number of overtime hours also supported this conclusion. Statistical analysis was complete d with bivariate associations between nurse overtime and each hospital characteristic and independent nursing variables. The article provided valuable information on the various uses of overtime by hospitals, but did not specifically address the correlation between hours worked and adverse events. Google Scholar The July 2004 issue of Health Watch contained an article by Rogers et al, The working hours of hospital staff nurses and patient safety. A letter explaining the study and eligibility criteria was mailed to a random nationwide sample of 4,320 members of the American Nurses Association during the winter of 2002. 1.725 nurses expressed interest by returning the completed demographic questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 393 registered nurses working full time as unit based hospital staff nurses. Logbooks were completed by these participants who revealed they usually worked longer than originally schedule and that 40% of 5,317 work shifts logged exceeded 12 hours. The risk of making an error were increased when shifts were longer than 12 hours, nurses worked overtime, or when they worked more than 40 hours per week. The data from demographic questionnaires and logbooks were then summarized using descriptive statistics and frequency tables. The long and unpredictable hours document ed suggest a link between poor working conditions and treats to patient safety. This article provided relevant information pertaining to the initial PICO question. Scott et. al published Effects of Critical Care nurses work hours on vigilance and patients safety in the January 2006 issue of American Journal of Critical Care. The objectives were to describe the work patterns of critical care nurses, determine if an association existed between the occurrence of errors and the hours worked, and explore whether these work hours have adverse effects on the nurses vigilance. Data were obtained from a random sample of critical care nurses in the Untied States. Nurses eligible for the study were mailed two 14 day logbooks to fill out. Information collected included the hours worked, the time of day worked, overtime hours, days off and sleep wake patterns. On days worked, the respondents completed all work related questions and questions about difficulties in remained awake while on duty. The 502 respondents consistently worked longer than scheduled and for extended periods. Longer work duration increased the risk of errors and near errors and decreased nurses vigilance. The findings support the Institute of Medicine recommendations to minimize the use of 12 hours shifts and limit work hours to no more than 12 consecutive hours during a 24 hour period. This article contained information pertinent to the original PICO question. Article best addressing PICO Question Effects of Critical Care Nurses Work Hours on Vigilance and Patients Safety (Scott et. al., 2006) and Correlates of Medication Errors in Hospitals (Wilkins Shields, 2008) were found to be two articles that provided quality information regarding nursing hours worked and adverse patient outcomes. While the use of subjective measure of drowsiness, self report of errors and the relatively small sample of nurses used in the studies may limit the generalize-ability of the findings, the anonymity provided lends to more truthful responses. The methods allowed the nurses to disclose information that might have been unattainable if the use of standard categories for error reporting had been used. Although 12 hour shifts are popular among nurses, the findings in this study are congruent with previous reports that recommend minimizing the use of 12 hour shifts or at least limiting nurses work hours to more than 12 consecutive hours during a 24 hour period. Experience and extensive research in o ther industries has shown that accident rates increase when workers work 12 hours or longer. However, research pertaining to nurses has been relatively recent and data on accidents in healthcare facilities are not widely available. Conclusion Each database provided relevant articles containing research on the issue of the number hours worked by nurses and the effect of hours worked on patient care outcomes. Keywords nursing hours worked and patient outcomes delivered a large number of results. The methods to narrow results by placing additional parameters can be used across all databases. While there are minute differences among databases, basic search skills are universal by utilizing keywords developed in the PICO question. The final articles chosen provided data on the effects of hours worked by nurses and the potential effect on patient outcomes. While the articles addressed the limitations of the studies, the methods, data analysis and results were presented in a logical, reproducible format. The issue of the effects of long work hours has been studied extensively in other industries, such as air traffic controllers, leading to changes in work environment. Further research needs to be completed in the area of nursing regarding the effects of the long hours. These articles provide a solid basis for other researchers to build upon. The use of nursing informatics can provide databases with universal quality measures to provide more consistent, reliable data across healthcare facilities.

Billy Budd :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   War shapes all moral trajectories in this story in many ways. War defines peace and tragedy due to the use and action of disagreement. In Billy Budd, (The movie), Billy ended up getting hung because he was accused of killing a member on the H.M.S. Indomitable. While these men were on the ship, they had certain rights that were stated under the Articles Of War. Each individual was punished under these statements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ratcliff states, â€Å"Go find the captain and report to him the wind’s abeam. Respectfully suggest we ought to take in topsails.† (Coxe and Chapman page 46). This quote relates to the suffering that these sailors have to deal with while they are out to sea at war. They have to respect the captain’s orders at all times otherwise they will be punished. This kind of life that they are going through is kind of ridiculous because it’s so dull and boring. I would hate to be treated like that because it makes you fell miserable.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  O’Daniel states, â€Å"Ah, I do love to see two Englishmen fighting each other. It’s fonder they are of killing themselves than fighting their proper foes. (Laughs hoarsely) (Coxe and Chapman page 13) The meaning of this quote has to do with the presence of a fight. The main object of war is â€Å"fighting†. If O’Daniel was a good man than he shouldn’t even bring up this statement because he is heating up conflict. I think that he has some inner problems because he tends to be a little stubborn with others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I think that this quote that Billy states is rather fascinating because it has a lot of meaning to it. â€Å"I’d rather be buried at sea than on the beach, when I come to die. Will you stand by the plank, Tom, So I’ll shake a friendly hand before I sink? Oh! But it’s dead I’ll be then, come to think! (All Laugh) (Coxe and Chapman page 29) Billy is telling the reader’s in this quote that he really doesn’t care if he dies or not because he knows that he did the right thing. When he killed the man, he knew in his heart that he had to do what he had to do. He would rather be buried at sea than at the beach because at least he knows that he would be dead somewhere where he feels that he did the right thing in his power.

An Analysis of Human Resources Management at TNT Essay -- Business Hum

An Analysis of Human Resources Management at TNT TNT is the European market leader in global express distribution, logistics and international mail. Wherever a company operates TNT will make sure that their documents, consignments and business mail are delivered safely and on time using their integrated air and road networks. Their international operations are focused on the key areas of world trade in Europe, Asia, North and South America. They also have strong domestic networks in Australia and Europe. Their operational networks are supported by sophisticated technology which as well as ensuring service reliability provides real-time, on-line information on the status of the consignment. Their central philosophy is to put the customer at the heart of their business. They aim to be companies’ business partner devising solutions for all their customers' distribution needs by combining their core capabilities to create new products and services. The HRM of TNT empower employees to provide the fastest and most reliable service which involves upholding the quality principles for the benefit of all stakeholders involved with the organisation thereby enabling them to achieve the vision. The quality principles of TNT are: customer care, leadership, people, communication, resources, suppliers, processes and the impact on society. For each of this principles the HRM makes sure and show how its needs to be carried out: Â · Customer Care: Always listening to and building first class relationships with their customers to help TNT provide excellent standards of service and client satisfaction. Â · Leadership: Inspiring all members of the TNT team to be outstanding achievers and building on their make it happen policy through clear direction, support and accountability. Â · People: Recognising individual and team achievements, promoting from within wherever possible and encouraging everyone to enjoy rewarding careers that provide security and job satisfaction. Â · Communication: Working hard at all times to encourage clear and honest two-way communications which foster teamwork, they must get through attitude and staff involvement through an open management style. Â · Resources: Employing the best people in a first class working environment and supporting them with ongoing training, reliable equip... ...ager or by the job holder’s superior. The performance appraisal gives the managers the chance to reward employees and to thank them for doing a good job. Appraisal normally takes place once or twice a year. In some organisations it happens every month every three months. The more often it is done the better. At TNT appraisals happens every six months. The benefits of performance appraisal for the organisation are: Â · It helps employees to identify training needs. Â · It may reveal other problems – for example, there may be workplace difficulties with other staff (eg it might be caused by sexual or racial harassment). Â · It may untap useful new skills. Â · It improves communications between employees and managers – a few words of encouragement and praise for doing a good job are often highly motivating. Â · It provides disciplinary documentation – if the employer needs to dismiss somebody, the existence of through appraisal records, which identify the person’s inabilities, or lack of effort will be very useful. Â · It helps to fix pay rises – increasingly people get performance related pay which is based upon the appraisal interview.

The Globalization of Sports Essays -- Globalization, Sports

Sport is an ever growing aspect of our cultures, and as the access to different avenues of sport begin to present themselves we question the ability of sport organizations to expand globally. This review of literature will examine different avenues of sport and the research that has been done in regards to their effort to expand on a global scale. Arguably one of the most successful avenues of sport to expand globally is soccer. Soccer is played in more countries(204) than any other sport. (Klein, 2008) A perfect example of soccer as a brand that has expanded globally is Manchester United. In a case study by John S. Hill and John Vincent Manchester United’s Globalization in sport branding is examined through using David Aaker’s Brand Identity model. (Hill & Vincent, 2006) Aaker’s model breaks down what makes up the core and extended brand identities. (Aaker, 1996) These values that make up the core and extended brand identities are brand as product, brand as organization, brand as person, and brand as symbol. (Aaker, 1996) Hill and Vincent throughout this case study explain in detail these key values as they pertain to Manchester United which helps explain why Manchester United as a soccer team has become so successful. According to Hill and Vincent the brand as product is very marketable because t he familiarity of the basic concepts of the sport, the ease to play, the value of the English premier league as a league, and the country of origin for the modern game was invented in England. (Hill & Vincent, 2006) The brand as organization also is marketable due to the traditional club youth program, the adding of household names, and the fast pace of play that was created to increase excitement among fans. (Hill & Vincent... ...g sport: assessing the World Baseball Classic. Soccer & Society, 158-169. Luo, M. (2003, Febuary 9). Rocket's Yao Ming carries Asians in America to new heights. The Miami Herald. Maguire, J., & Bale, J. (1994). The global sports arena. Athletic talent migration in an interdependent world. London: Routledge. Means, J., & Nauright, J. (2007). Going global: the NBA sets its sights on Africa. International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 40-49. National Basketball Association. (2005, April 12). NBA basketball stars reunite for Basketball without Borders Africa. Retrieved from http://www.nba.com/bwb/starsreuniteafrica.html Thibault, L. (2009). Globalization of Sport: An Inconvenient Truth. Journal of Sport Management, 1-20. Wang, C.-M. (2004). Capitalizing the big man: Yao Ming, Asian America, and the China Global. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 263-278.

Hotel Security Essay

Hotel Security Matthew Acevedo July 10, 2011 HTT/200 Hotel Security Security came forcefully to the attention of hotel operators in 1976 when a well-known singer, Connie Francis, was raped at knifepoint in a Long Island motel.(online reading, pg.309) Good security is what makes are breaks a good hotel. To insure that you have great security you have to address where it’s needed the most, where it might be an issue and what are the biggest threats to your guest. According to many different websites identity theft is becoming a major with hackers breaching computers in major hotel chains and gaining access to thousands upon thousands of guests personal information including; home addresses, credit card numbers and personal phone numbers. (Bates, 2008) To help reduce the risk of hackers it would be smart to make sure your database is secured through a well-known and respected company that deals with internet hackers. Though it’s impossible to fully stop hacking you can make sure you minimize the risk significantly with the right resources. A big issue with security would be fraud and theft. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Statistics, identity theft is now passing up drug trafficking as the number one crime in the nation. (Itrc, 2006) To solve some of these solution the easy steps would be to makes sure to check every guests ID and credit card against each other and have a fake ID decoder behind every desk to insure that no one gets away with using someone else’s credit card. Theft is also a big concern with guests that stay in hotels. Many hotels have an open-door policy that lets maids prop open doors for hours on end while they clean that floor. That leaves room wide open for anyone to just walk into a room and take whatever they want or rack up huge bills on movie rental or minibar items. According to a study done in 2003 many hotels have not changes there policies after the attacks of 9/11. Many hotels that were rated higher with security had already established good security and didn’t need to make changes. (Myers, 2003) There is no base-line for hotel security so it’s hard to say if the standard went up after the September 11 attacks of 2001. Conclusion Most of the security issue seems to be that of theft, either of personal items or identity. To help solve the ongoing issue there are dozens of companies working to shut down the cyber-attacks of hotel databases around the world. Until then it is the job of the hotel to take every precaution necessary to insure that guest feel as safe and comfortable as possible while staying in their establishment. References

Loss of Freedom Through Apathy

We do have freedom in this country but we simply choose to ignore it. We live in a democracy, the most just kind of government, where we the people hold supreme power. It is an institution that is a culmination of revolutions, wars, philosophies and heroes. It is the greatest and proudest government in the world. One reason for this is that Americans have a right citizens of Iraq and China and North Korea only dreamed they could have. It took one of the greatest military epics in history for our Founding Fathers to receive this right. It took the marching of thousands for women to achieve this right. It took 400 years of abuse for blacks to finally to win this right. It is the highest and purest form of freedom of speech and as Americans it is our single most powerful instrument of self government. It is the American vote and in this Presidential election it is a right 250 million chose to ignore. This year I had the great opportunity to volunteer my services to the Democratic party. I was excited to work for the Democrats because it was my first ever experience involved with the election. For 17 years I stood as a common bystander to this great American tradition. Volunteering my hours made me feel ike I was part of something important. Mostly my work consisted of random polling. I would call people up between the hours of 7 and 9 P. M. and ask them a few questions about the election. With every call I hoped for the best, but it seemed that I was calling people at the time they were most irritable. Most would simply hang up, leaving with a polite â€Å"Oh, I’m not interested. † Others acted militantly to my calling, slamming the phone in disgust. It startled and in a way disheartened me, the way many of the people I polled seemed totally apathetic to the political world around us. To me, spending a minute answering questions about the future of politics did not seem like too much to ask at all. Yet it continued. â€Å"Hello I’m calling on behalf of your congressman Bob Toricelli. I’d like to ask a few questions. † â€Å"I’m sorry I’m really busy right now. I can’t talk. † *click â€Å"Hello I’m calling on behalf of your congressman Bob Toricelli. I’d like to ask a few questions. † â€Å"Not interested† *click â€Å"Hello I’m calling on behalf of your congressman Bob Toricelli. I’d like to ask a few questions. † â€Å"I’m tired of hearing about this election. † *click If I was calling from a telephone company or some other corporate monster disturbing people with their propaganda, I could understand how their sheer rudeness could be justified. But I am not calling on behalf of some annoying telemarketing scheme. I am an eager high school student with a fresh infatuation with politics. I am polling people about the leader of tomorrow, who will directly affect the taxes they spend, the wars they go into, and the moral values that they seem to hold so dear. To take a minute did not seem like a lot. In this past election over 52% of the population eligible to vote did not. Many don’t find anything particularly wrong with this. Their logic being that half of the nation voting would be just as effective as the entire nation. The problem with this reasoning is that some groups in America vote in larger numbers than other groups. Take for example the elderly in this country. It has been well documented that senior citizens above 60 have the highest voter turn-out of any age group in this country. Both Presidential candidates this year have appealed strongly for medical reforms with this group especially in mind. For Politicians this is the roup that can make or break their election hopes. They will do whatever it takes to please this group, even if it means stepping all over another group to please them. In contrast the age bracket with the lowest voter turn-out are new voters between 20 and 29. This â€Å"X† generation of voters will have their rap music censored for being too explicit and their action films for being too violent. The Internet that this generation seems to embrace so dearly will be censored by the telecommunications bill and its television programming will include little ratings on the top left of their screens. Politicians will have no problem abusing the rights of this Generation X because simply put, they don’t go our and vote. In this way the government pays more attention to the elderly as compared to the young. They will care more about the trials and tribulations of the rich and middle-class rather than the suffering of the poor. They will support the N. R. A. with it s sinful operations because yes, each and every one of their 2. 5 million members vote. The vote determines who has the power in this country. It is not necessarily the majority. It is those who are dedicated. America is the land of the free. Too many Americans take this for granted. We are not a monarchy. We are not a communism. We are not a dictatorship. We are a democracy and the people have the control. We are different from all the other types of government because the voices that govern us are our own. But when 250 million do not vote, who has the right to say that we control ourselves? When half chooses to hold their mouths, who is to say that we are not a nation of special interests who do not hold their mouths? We have freedom, but it is apathy that is taking it away from us. We have that control we simply don’t use it.

Paul Krugman, in Praise of Cheap Labor Bad Jobs at Bad Wages Are Better Than No Jobs at All.

In Praise of Cheap Labor Bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all. By  Paul Krugman|Posted Friday, March 21, 1997, at 3:30 AM ET For many years a huge Manila garbage dump known as Smokey Mountain was a favorite media symbol of Third World poverty. Several thousand men, women, and children lived on that dump–enduring the stench, the flies, and the toxic waste in order to make a living combing the garbage for scrap metal and other recyclables. And they lived there voluntarily, because the $10 or so a squatter family could clear in a day was better than the alternatives. Advertisement The squatters are gone now, forcibly removed by Philippine police last year as a cosmetic move in advance of a Pacific Rim summit. But I found myself thinking about Smokey Mountain recently, after reading my latest batch of hate mail. The occasion was an op-ed piece I had written for theNew York Times, in which I had pointed out that while wages and working conditions in the new export industries of the Third World are appalling, they are a big improvement over the â€Å"previous, less visible rural poverty. I guess I should have expected that this comment would generate letters along the lines of, â€Å"Well, if you lose your comfortable position as an American professor you can always find another job–as long as you are 12 years old and willing to work for 40 cents an hour. † Such moral outrage is common among the opponents of globalization–of the transfer of technology and capital from high-wage to low-wage countries and the resulting growth of labor-intensive Third World exports. These critics take it as a given that anyone with a good word for this process is naive or corrupt and, in either case, a de facto agent of global capital in its oppression of workers here and abroad. But matters are not that simple, and the moral lines are not that clear. In fact, let me make a counter-accusation: The lofty moral tone of the opponents of globalization is possible only because they have chosen not to think their position through. While fat-cat capitalists might benefit from globalization, the biggest beneficiaries are, yes, Third World workers. After all, global poverty is not something recently invented for the benefit of multinational corporations. Let's turn the clock back to the Third World as it was only two decades ago (and still is, in many countries). In those days, although the rapid economic growth of a handful of small Asian nations had started to attract attention, developing countries like Indonesia or Bangladesh were still mainly what they had always been: exporters of raw materials, importers of manufactures. Inefficient manufacturing sectors served their domestic markets, sheltered behind import quotas, but generated few jobs. Meanwhile, population pressure pushed desperate peasants into cultivating ever more marginal land or seeking a livelihood in any way possible–such as homesteading on a mountain of garbage. Given this lack of other opportunities, you could hire workers in Jakarta or Manila for a pittance. But in the mid-'70s, cheap labor was not enough to allow a developing country to compete in world markets for manufactured goods. The entrenched advantages of advanced nations–their infrastructure and technical know-how, the vastly larger size of their markets and their proximity to suppliers of key components, their political stability and the subtle-but-crucial social adaptations that are necessary to operate an efficient economy–seemed to outweigh even a tenfold or twentyfold disparity in wage rates. A  nd then something changed. Some combination of factors that  we still don't fully understand–lower tariff barriers, improved telecommunications, cheaper air transport–reduced the disadvantages of producing in developing countries. (Other things being the same, it is still better to produce in the First World–stories of companies that moved production to Mexico or East Asia, then moved back after experiencing the disadvantages of the Third World environment, are common. In a substantial number of industries, low wages allowed developing countries to break into world markets. And so countries that had previously made a living selling jute or coffee started producing shirts and sneakers instead. Workers in those shirt and sneaker factories are, inevitably, paid very little and expected to endure terrible working conditions. I say â€Å"inevitably† because their employers are not in business for their (or their workers') health; they pay as little as po ssible, and that minimum is determined by the other opportunities available to workers. And these are still extremely poor countries, where living on a garbage heap is attractive compared with the alternatives. And yet, wherever the new export industries have grown, there has been measurable improvement in the lives of ordinary people. Partly this is because a growing industry must offer a somewhat higher wage than workers could get elsewhere in order to get them to move. More importantly, however, the growth of manufacturing–and of the penumbra of other jobs that the new export sector creates–has a ripple effect throughout the economy. The pressure on the land becomes less intense, so rural wages rise; the pool of unemployed urban dwellers always anxious for work shrinks, so factories start to compete with each other for workers, and urban wages also begin to rise. Where the process has gone on long enough–say, in South Korea or Taiwan–average wages start to approach what an American teen-ager can earn at McDonald's. And eventually people are no longer eager to live on garbage dumps. (Smokey Mountain persisted because the Philippines, until recently, did not share in the export-led growth of its neighbors. Jobs that pay better than scavenging are still few and far between. ) The benefits of export-led economic growth to the mass of people in the newly industrializing economies are not a matter of conjecture. A country like Indonesia is still so poor that progress can be measured in terms of how much the average person gets to eat; since 1970, per capita intake has risen from less than 2,100 to more than 2,800 calories a day. A shocking one-third of young children are still malnourished–but in 1975, the fraction was more than half. Similar improvements can be seen throughout the Pacific Rim, and even in places like Bangladesh. These improvements have not taken place because well-meaning people in the West have done anything to help–foreign aid, never large, has lately shrunk to virtually nothing. Nor is it the result of the benign policies of national governments, which are as callous and corrupt as ever. It is the indirect and unintended result of the actions of soulless multinationals and rapacious local entrepreneurs, whose only concern was to take advantage of the profit opportunities offered by cheap labor. It is not an edifying spectacle; but no matter how base the motives of those involved, the result has been to move hundreds of millions of people from abject poverty to something still awful but nonetheless significantly better. Why, then, the outrage of my correspondents? Why does the image of an Indonesian sewing sneakers for 60 cents an hour evoke so much more feeling than the image of another Indonesian earning the equivalent of 30 cents an hour trying to feed his family on a tiny plot of land–or of a Filipino scavenging on a garbage heap? The main answer, I think, is a sort of fastidiousness. Unlike the starving subsistence farmer, the women and children in the sneaker factory are working at slave wages  for our benefit–and this makes us feel unclean. And so there are self-righteous demands for international labor standards: We should not, the opponents of globalization insist, be willing to buy those sneakers and shirts unless the people who make them receive decent wages and work under decent conditions. This sounds only fair–but is it? Let's think through the consequences. First of all, even if we could assure the workers in Third World export industries of higher wages and better working conditions, this would do nothing for the peasants, day laborers, scavengers, and so on who make up the bulk of these countries' populations. At best, forcing developing countries to adhere to our labor standards would create a privileged labor aristocracy, leaving the poor majority no better off. And it might not even do that. The advantages of established First World industries are still formidable. The only reason developing countries have been able to compete with those industries is their ability to offer employers cheap labor. Deny them that ability, and you might well deny them the prospect of continuing industrial growth, even reverse the growth that has been achieved. And since export-oriented growth, for all its injustice, has been a huge boon for the workers in those nations, anything that curtails that growth is very much against their interests. A policy of good jobs in principle, but no jobs in practice, might assuage our consciences, but it is no favor to its alleged beneficiaries. You may say that the wretched of the earth should not be forced to serve as hewers of wood, drawers of water, and sewers of sneakers for the affluent. But what is the alternative? Should they be helped with foreign aid? Maybe–although the historical record of regions like southern Italy suggests that such aid has a tendency to promote perpetual dependence. Anyway, there isn't the slightest prospect of significant aid materializing. Should their own governments provide more social justice? Of course–but they won't, or at least not because we tell them to. And as long as you have no realistic alternative to industrialization based on low wages, to oppose it means that you are willing to deny desperately poor people the best chance they have of progress for the sake of what amounts to an aesthetic standard–that is, the fact that you don't like the idea of workers being paid a pittance to supply rich Westerners with fashion items. In short, my correspondents are not entitled to their self-righteousness. They have not thought the matter through. And when the hopes of hundreds of millions are at stake, thinking things through is not just good intellectual practice. It is a moral duty