If you were given one million dollars to spend how would you spend it Essay

If you were given one million dollars to spend how would you spend it you cannot use it for yourself,familymembers or friends - Essay Example What if I have to spend it nonetheless? What would I do and where would I spend it? The question is abrupt and took me by surprise. It was a while before my polished grey cells started to work again. I thought, pondered, mused and laughed. I had numerous thoughts and each thought was powered by another, more distinct idea. Clearly imaginative, my thinking was now starting to bog my rationality. It was time I took a final decision and the decision had to be a wise one. The moment I gave it a thought, my mind stopped churning ideas. A simple decision to spend it on others had simplified the entire procedure and allowed me to slip out of my utopia. The next thought was the execution of my plan. In order to simplify the scenario, the million dollars were to be spent for charitable use. With that in mind, I narrowed my thoughts to select the best charitable option. Even as I pondered, I had a recollection which was nothing but a reflection of my past. It involved a close friend who had spent a majority of his life running in and out of rehabilitation centers. His drug abuse had spilled water on a promising career and his life had been reduced to a human waste. Taking cue from the above example, I set out to locate a suitable property dealer and bought an acre of wasteland. The hundred thousand dollar bill was substantial to transfer the property to my name. The next step involved hiring an expert builder who transformed the wasteland into a fully functional rehab center. I then enrolled the necessary staff and took the required permission to kick start the rehab center. A month later, the rehab had treated over a hundred patients for free, provided employment to fifteen nurses and five doctors besides a dozen maintenance employees. As I had no right over the money, the rehab was transferred under the care of a local non governmental organization. Well, if you thought that I spend the entire amount on the purchase of land, the

Dissertation Proposal to be done on same topic as other proposals and Essay

Dissertation Proposal to be done on same topic as other proposals and previous orders - Essay Example In this way, this study leans towards the end goal of making high school special education students stay in school. Receiving a high school diploma is extremely important to an American’s chances at achieving professional success. This is because Americans’ financial stability and professional achievement have always been mostly dependent on the education they have received (Shore, 2003). Higher education is something that highly enhances the number of opportunities one receives in the professional world and a high school diploma is almost always a prerequisite in being able to climb up the ladder to career success. This fact is augmented by the increasingly competitive market and the ongoing recession that has made getting job a lot harder. As a result, high school dropouts are faced with the negative ramifications of noncompletion throughout the rest of their lives, which includes unemployment and even a prison sentence as they might confront their financial difficulties with criminal activities (Rumberger, 2003). This contributes to â€Å"a pattern of increased economic marginal ization for those Americans with the least education† (Shore, 2003). Dropping out Ð ¾f high Ã'•chool restricts oneÃ'• options Ð °nd labor market opportunities in an economic climate that is becoming more and more advanced and comples; hence, high school noncompletion prompts serious negative conÃ'•equenceÃ'• for both thÐ µ individual Ð °nd Ã'•ociety in termÃ'• Ð ¾f financial ability and future productivity (Ð…trothÐ µr, 2006). These negative ramifications of high school noncompletion are further augmented when it comes to students with disabilities as their disabilities already act as a hindrance that closes many doors of opportunities. Furthermore, statistics show that the dropout rates of special education high school students are at least double and at the most triple that of regular students (Blackorby and Wagner, 2006; deBettencourt, Zigmond and Thornton,

Use of the ‘mise-en-scene’ in TV Shows and Movies

Use of the ‘mise-en-scene’ in TV Shows and Movies The use of the ‘Mise-en-Scene’ in TV shows and Movies during the last 15 years: A Semiotic Comparison The mise-en-scene has been a huge part of film and television throughout the last century and it has vastly improved during the last fifteen years. TV series such as AMC’s the ‘The Walking Dead’ (2010-) and HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011-) have created a cinematic universe, that can actually compete with block buster movies such as, ’28 Days/Weeks Later’ (2002/2007) and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (2001/2002/2003). I am going to identify how the use of mise-en-scene in these two television programs have affected the production values and semiology of recent television series, compared to the five noughties movies. Semiotics, or semiology is the study of signs and symbols and how they are interpreted by someone (Monaco, 2000). A sign is composed of two things: the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the form of the sign, whilst the signified is the idea or concept in which it is related to (Saussure, 1959). Using a trichotomy of semiotics, Saussure explains how there are three concepts of a signifier: the object – what the sign is, the sign – what we see, and the interpretation – the meaning/ metaphor behind the sign (Saussure, ibid). For example: using the following image from ‘Game of Thrones’ of The Wall (Appendix I), the object would be that the Wall/ and Castle Black from Game of Thrones, the sign would be that is a giant wall, and the interpretation would be that the wall was built there to protect Westeros from The Others, White Walkers and Wildlings beyond it. ‘The Wall’ can be seen both as denotative and connotative. They are the first and second orders of signification. Denotation is the most literal meaning of signs, whilst Connotation is more subjective and interpretive (Barthes, 1977). Furthermore, denotation is what the image significantly represents and connotative is what the image suggests as a symbol. For example: in ‘Game of Thrones’ using denotation the Kings Hand’s pin (Appendix II) represents a very high and important person next to the king. However when connotative, the pin is a circle with a hand in it, which symbolizes the ‘Hand of the King’. Language is a structure of symbols that prompt ideas [3] (Saussure, 1959). Ferdinand de Saussure was a semiotician whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in semiology in the 20th century. His modest yet well-designed idea was ‘to view language as simply one of a number of system of codes of communication’ (Monaco, 2000:58). Semantics, then became merely one area of the more general study of systems of signs. Codes come a number of areas: unique codes, established art forms and cultural codes. Unique codes tend to be a montage of the process of time moving forward. Established art forms are signs and symbols through artwork and theatre performances. Cultural codes is something that is done on an everyday basis, which ends up being the norm for people. Codes are critical constructions systems of logical relationship A great variety of codes combine to form the medium in which film expresses meaning (Monaco, 2000:175). Semiotics are used in television shows and movies to help the audience identify the meaning of what they are watching. For example: In the movie ‘The Lord of the Rings’, audiences can use the mise-en-scene such as, bows, swords, species and costumes to recognise that the film is a sort of medieval fantasy film in a un-real universe. Taken from the French meaning ‘to place in a scene’, the mise-en-scene is everything that appears in front of the camera and its arrangement (Monaco, 2000). For example: shot types, sets, props, actors, costumes, lighting etc. The mise-en-scene helps the audiences to learn about the film and television program without watching much, if not, any of the media. For instance: audiences can discover the genre and production values, just by the decoration of the costumes and sets. In the mise-en-scene, there are two diverse types of shots, the diachronic shot and the framed image. The Diachronic shot is the movement in shot, therefore the emphasis is aimed at the type of shot, focus, angles, and points of views. The framed image is one shot where the emphasis is aimed at colour, aspect ratio, compositional planes, and lighting (Monaco, ibid). Depending on the genre and whether the media is of a film or TV program, the mise-en-scene, furthermore the production values get altered and become completely different (Monaco, ibid). For instance: ‘Lord of the Rings’ is the fantasy/ adventure genre, so it could have a high budget because of the massive use of different locations, props, and special effects. Whilst, ‘The Walking Dead’ is the horror genre, meaning it could have different or less expensive use of the mise-en-scene. ‘Lord of the Rings’ is a film, and ‘The Walking Dead’ is a TV program, so naturally the use of mise-en-scene will be is completely different. The production value/budget of a film is very useful in pre-production. ‘The first phase is preparatory—the script is written, actors and technicians hired, shooting schedules and budgets planned’ (Monaco, 2000:128). Budgets tell a director/producer if the movie will be possible or high quality. Producers set a budget in preproduction, however the budget may increase by the end of the whole production because of un-expected circumstances such as dropped out actors, and expensive use of the mise-en-scene [1] (Monaco, 2000). Similarly, the genre is worked out during preproduction. Genre is useful because it is not only easy to write the story around a certain genre, but it also invites the correct audiences to watch the film, creating the fandom (Monaco, ibid). Research methods are split into two methodologies, primary and secondary. Primary research is research that is completed by a researcher, for instance: watching/ reviewing films, and reading newspaper/ magazine articles. Secondary research on the other hand is research that is gathered from an existing primary source, for example: surveys, and academic books/ journals. Content analysis can be both primary and secondary as it relies on a qualitative and quantitative technique. Qualitative research asks, what and why, and it is based off merely the beliefs and attitudes of a subject. Whilst, quantitative research asks, how many, as its data is formed by statistics and facts of the subject (Jensen Jankowski, 2002). As a quantitative method, content analysis’s finding usual are sorted into numbers and percentages (Jensen Jankowski, ibid). For example: the research of the amount of times a character is killed off in ‘Game of Thrones’, will be done using content analysis, by watching how every episode and counting every death, putting the results in categories, such as men killed by men, women killed by men, women killed by women, men killed by women, child death, murder, suicide, and race. This may take a while, but the results will tell the research the statistics of the different deaths in ‘Game of Thrones’. Results of this could look like the following, ‘in the first season 100 people died, 70% was a murder of men by men, whilst, 30% was a murder of women by men’. Some strengths of quantitative content analysis is that it is an inexpensive research method, that doesn’t really acquire much, if not any contact with people. Researchers can lea rn much about a media production’s target audiences and financial support (Macnamara, 2005). Weaknesses of quantitative content analysis is that the study is inadequate by availability of materials and movements in media may not be an accurate reflection of reality (Macnamara, ibid). Content analysis can be used as semiotic research by watching and analysing films and television to come up with facts about the research topic/ question. Semiotic research looks into the mise-en-scene and creates a conclusion by investigating the meaning or metaphors behind a symbol such as a prop, etc (Monaco, 2000). Strengths of qualitative content analysis are that it offers a good interpretation and explanation of a person’s personal experience of a situation. It is useful for studying a limited number of cases in depth, and it can conduct cross case comparisons and analysis (Brennen, 2012). Weaknesses are that researchers find investigating rather difficult to test theories with larger groups and the results of the research are more easily influenced by the researcher’s personal prejudices (Brennen, ibid). Film and television are full of semiotics, that create metaphors and meaning to the programme/movie. As they’re the zombie horror genre, ‘The Walking Dead’ and ’28 Days/Weeks Later’ need to set a certain tone to attract the correct audience and to give the precise symbolism to show history and maybe important information about locations, characters, and props. I’ve researched into this by watching season 1 and 2 of ‘The Walking Dead’ and both ’28 Days’ and 28 Weeks Later’. One of the things that I found is that they both show symbolism through their types of zombies. ‘The Walking Dead’s’ zombies are slow, and they only have one type, which is the typical decayed zombie corpse. This could symbolize that it is an incurable infection, more than an illness. However, the zombies in ’28 Days/Weeks Later’ are more fast paced, deadly, and with a more human look than ‘The Walking Dead’ zombies. This could symbolize that, unlike AMC’s zombies, it could be a mental illness like rabies. The Music of ‘The Walking Dead’ and ’28 Days/Weeks Later’ both signifies the tones of the scenes in the media. While watching the series 1 episode 4, ‘The Walking Dead’ uses fast pace music in a scene where the characters are trying to get a bag of weapons from the streets of Atlanta. Because the rest of the episode was without music, this created an atmosphere of tension for this particular scene, and identified that something bad could happen. Similarly, ’28 Weeks Later’ does the same in the scene where there is a zombie outbreak in the safe zone, and people are running around panicking, and dying. This doesn’t just give a tone of tension, but symbolizes that all hope of survival is lost. As ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ are both a completely different genres, which are Adventure and Fantasy, they will have different uses of signs and symbol. Both the movies and the series have many uses of semiotics, but while watching the media, I was most fascinated by the locations used and the characters. ‘Game of Thrones’ uses up to 26 filming locations to accomplish a cinematic use of the mise-en-scene (IMDB, 2011-). Locations such as the Hverfjall volcano in the Lake Myvatin region of Northern Iceland, which was filmed in most of the icy scenes that was beyond the wall (Appendix III IV). However, unlike ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ only uses the whole of New Zealand to film the movies. One location being Tongariro National Park, which was the main setting of the Land of Mordor (Appendix V). Both ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ use these locations to indicate a realism in a fantasy universe. ‘Game of Thrones’ has a lot of characters with unique personas. The Lannister’s are very unique characters, with their golden hair, and smug looks, they can symbolize a lot of things (Appendix VI) and they have a phrase that could imply two things. ‘A Lannister always pays his debts’, this phrase could mean either a threat to or about enemies, or a sign of loyalty, and however in most cases in the show, it is used as a threat. Cersei Lannister is nothing but a bad person, and by looking at an image of her could imply her personality. In a scene with her, she might raise her eyebrows and stare deep in to person she is talking to eyes. This could symbolize that she is deceitful, and ready for revenge. Similarly, ‘Lord of the Rings’ characters use looks and phrases to symbolize their persona. Golem/Smà ©agol is a sick little creature, who has multiply personality disorder. He constantly talks to him, and has the ongoing phrase of ‘my precious’, as he talks about the one ring. This could symbolize the illness of greed and selfishness that comes with the ring. Golem is obsessed with the one ring and is dishonest and double crossing, whilst Smà ©agol has a more friendly and playful personality. Has both personas have the same appearance, the only way to tell apart is his facial expressions. A creepy and demeaning face will show if Golem is speaking (Appendix VII), whilst when Smà ©agol is speaking, an innocent and approachable face appears (Appendix VIII) [4]. The mise-en-scene effects the production budgets of a film and television programme (Monaco, 2000). The television ‘The Walking Dead’ has its similarities and differences to the film series ‘28 Days/Weeks Later’. According to an article by Anthony Ocasio on Screen Rant, ‘The Walking Dead’s’ production budget in season 1 was $3.4 million for six episodes. The budget was decreased in season 2 to $2.7 million to increase the number of episodes to thirteen (Ocasio, 2013). This of course altered the mise-en-scene majorly, from having season 1 of the show based in many locations such as a city/ forest/ town/ etc, to having season 2 of the show in less locations such as the high way/ farm/ etc. Similarly like AMC’s series, ’28 Days Later’ had a smaller budget from its sequel. According to Box Office Mojo, ’28 Days Later’ had a budget of $8 million with a runtime of 113 minutes (IMDB, 2007), whilst ’28 We eks Later’ had a budget of $15 million with a runtime of 100 minutes (Nash Information Services LLC, 2015). This effects the mise-en-scene by the improvement in the acting and the special effects, however, the budget is still low, so the locations are pretty much the same. ‘The Walking Dead’ and ’28 Days/Weeks Later’ are examples of low budgeting in film and television. The HBO television series ‘Game of Thrones’ and the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies are both highly budgeted. According to an article on ‘Winteriscoming’, ‘Game of Thrones’ had a budget of $60 million in the first season, with 10 episodes, whilst in season 2 it increased by 15% to $69 million with 10 episodes (WinterisComing, 2012). There is not much difference of mise-en-scene in each series, as the budget started high, so the sets/locations were good to begin with. As the production values increased each series, so did the sets, props, and extras. Similarly, the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy’s budget started off high in the first film, but it didn’t increase by much in the other two films. In ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, the budget was $93 million with a 228 minute runtime on the extended edition (IMDB, 2001). ‘The Two Towers’ had a budget of $94 million with a runtime of 235 minutes on the extended edition (IMDB, 2002). Lastly, ‘The Return of the King’ also had a budget of $94 million with a 263 minute runtime on the extended edition (IMDB, 2003). As the budget was high to begin with, the mise-en-scene was barley altered. The only explanation of the $1 million increase is the other two films had huge battle scenes, which needed the extra money for special effects, extras, and expensive camera shots [2]. In conclusion, the use of mise-en-scene has been affected in film and television during the last fifteen years, due to the increase in production values. The movies will always have a greater budget, compared to television, but there are still similarities. In both film and television, the budget can increase/decrease due to the amount of footage of a production, which can alter locations, props, actors, and any other uses of the mise-en-scene [2]. ‘Producers set a budget in preproduction†¦ expensive use of the mise-en-scene’ [1] (Monaco, 2000). Language is used in ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ to symbolize meaning and metaphors for different characters [4]. ‘Language is a structure of symbols that prompt ideas’ [3] (Saussure, 1959). Lastly, ‘The Walking Dead’, ’28 Days/Weeks Later’ and ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ are all completely different ge nres of film and television, but they all use the mise-en-scene in some way to create meaning and metaphors behind different signifiers of the film or television. References Barthes, R. (1977) Image-Music-Text. London: Fontana Press IMDB. (2007) 28 Days Later. http://www.boxofficemojo.com [Accessed on 13/04/2015] IMDB. (2001) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. http://www.boxofficemojo.com [Accessed on 13/04/2015] IMDB. (2002) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. http://www.boxofficemojo.com [Accessed on 13/04/2015] IMDB. (2003) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. http://www.boxofficemojo.com [Accessed on 13/04/2015] IMDB. (2011-) Game of Thrones Locations. http://www.imdb.com [Accessed on 18/04/2015] Jensen, K Jankowski, N. (2002) A Handbook of Qualitative Methodologies for Mass Communication Research. London New York: Routledge. Monaco, J. (2000) How to Read a Film. New York Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nash Information Services, LLC (2015) 28 Weeks Later. http://www.the-numbers.com [Accessed on 13/04/2015] Ocasio, A (2013) ‘The Walking Dead’: Why Frank Darabont Was Fired The Chaotic Aftermath. http://screenrant.com [Accessed on 13/04/2015] Saussure, de, F. (1956) Course in general linguistics. New York: The Philosophical Library. WinterisComing. (2012) The finances of Game of Thrones. http://winteriscoming.net [Accessed on 14/04/15] Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III Appendix IV Appendix V Appendix VI Appendix VII Appendix VIII Back to Top 223974262014/2015Mark Clintworth

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Essay -- Research Methods

Qualitative and Quantitative study designs both can be beneficial in research design. They both provide valuable options for researchers in the field. These techniques can either be used separately in a research study or they can be combined to achieve maximum information. This paper will define the terms qualitative and quantitative; describe the similarities and differences between each; discuss how qualitative and/or quantitative research designs or techniques could be used in the evaluation of my proposed research; and discuss why linking analysis to study design is important. Quantitative studies are primarily numbers based. They deal with large cohort groups as well as analyze large amounts of data. â€Å"A quantitative researcher typically tries to measure variables in some way, perhaps by using commonly accepted measures of the physical world (e.g., rulers, thermometers, oscilloscopes) or carefully designed measures of psychological characteristics or behaviors (e.g., tests, questionnaires, rating scales)† (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010, p. 94). Qualitative studies are slightly different in that they do not use large cohorts and they are not analyzing large data sets. Qualitative studies also look to answer question â€Å"why†. They use smaller numbers but go more in-depth with the small group they have. â€Å"In contrast, qualitative research involves looking at characteristics, or qualities, that cannot easily be reduced to numerical values. A qualitative researcher typically aims to examine the many nuances and complexities of a particular phenomenon† (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010, p. 94). Qualitative and Quantitative studies can be used separately or together in a mixed methodology. â€Å"Mixed methods research is characterized as research... ... Hughes, C. (2006). Qualitative and quantitative approach to social research. Retrieved fromhttp://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/staff/academicstaff/chughes/h ughesc_index/teachingresearchprocess/quantitativequalitative/quantitativequalitati ve/ Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Practical research: Planning and design (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.-Merrill McKerghan, D. L. (1998). Quantitative versus qualitative research: An attempt to clarify the problem. Retrieved from http://home.comcast.net/~lady.socrates/qvq.html Rocco, T. S., Bliss, L. A., Gallagher, S., & Perez-Prado, A. (2003). Taking the next step: Mixed methods research in organizational systems. Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal. Vol. 21, No. 1. Retrieved from http://www.osra.org/itlpj/roccoblissgallagherperez-pradospring2003.pdf

The Real Facts About Abortions

Abortion Abortion is quite a controversial issue in today's government. Many of us refrain from even getting into a discussion over abortion, because it is such a sensitive topic. It is very unfortunate that so many women around the world have to make decisions involving abortion, period. â€Å"One in three women will have at least one abortion by the time she is 45, and these run the gamut of ages, races, backgrounds and beliefs. † (Welch) In one's eye abortion is simply immoral and unacceptable, while in another it is a typical procedure. Often, pro-abortionists are portrayed â€Å"†¦ s merciful and anti-abortionists as close-minded† (Olasky). As an outsider I interpret each group as one extreme to the other, and the purpose of this paper is to inform myself and the reader of both, pro-life and pro-choice sides and perspectives of abortion in the U. S. Somebody that claims to be in favor of the Pro-Life policy is opposed to wrongful death and in favor of life-enh ancing actions. The main argument of a pro-lifer is religious based beliefs. They argue that an abortion is immoral because, â€Å"†¦ all life was created by God and belongs to Him, no one has the right to murder another human being. (Cain) A person in favor of Pro-Life policy believes that having an abortion is a sin, but so is sex before marriage and half of the woman getting pregnant nowadays are not even out of high school. Does that mean that just because they decided to attempt to raise a baby at 15 that they have been forgiven for their original sin? No, either way they will be judged by those in favor of what is acceptable according to their religion. They even disagree on early abortions because they claim â€Å" life begins at conception†¦ † (Lowen). Anti-choice people â€Å"†¦ ant to outlaw abortion, regardless of the woman's situation† (The Problem). They don't see any exception for committing murder. Anti- Abortionists often compare abortio ns to Hitler and the concentration camps, â€Å"One out of every three children conceived in America since 1972 has died a brutal death through abortion—more than six times the number of Jews that Adolf Hitler put to death in his Nazi concentration camps. † (Roe) The cost of abortion is another issue for pro-lifer's, they think that the government shouldn't have to spend so much money to undermine future growth. â€Å"The inistry of health claimed that the 45,000 women treated in public hospitals for incomplete abortions each year is costing the state R19 million† (Cain). They believe tax dollars should not be used to provide women with this type of birth control, it is unfair to those who do not support the pro-choice policy and it is unacceptable. Being Pro-Choice means being in favor of safe and legal abortions, but also in reducing the need for abortions. Their religious beliefs are not a base for their opinions on abortion. Those who are in favor of the Pro -Choice policy argue that person-hood at conception is â€Å"†¦ ot a provable biological fact,† it is simply a religious belief (Choice Matters). Pro-choice supporters give women the benefit of the doubt allow for a logical explanation for an abortion. Abortions are medically necessary for some women, â€Å"Teen girls, whose bodies are not yet ready for childbirth, are five times more likely to die† (Health). In a case like that would it be fair to pass judgment? The same goes for woman who are raped. Pro-choice people argue that instead of trying to prohibit abortion altogether, we should try alternate methods like; safe, affordable contraceptives and comprehensive sex education. Laws against abortion do not stop abortion; they simply make it less safe†¦ the only thing that changes is more women die† (Health). Outlawing it would lead women to turn to unsafe abortions, not conducted in clinics. For some families abortion â€Å"†¦ helps parents lim it their families to number of children they want and can afford, both financially and emotionally† (Choice Matters). Taking away the civil rights of women and/or families by making it illegal to have abortions, will only lead to more poverty in the United States and lead to increasing government spending on welfare.According to the First Amendment, we all have our right to privacy. I am a woman myself and I honestly wouldn't appreciate strangers making decisions for me. What happens in the privacy of one woman's body doesn't belong out in the open for everyone else to critique. I am fully aware that if a woman feels she is mature enough to have sexual intercourse, then she should be prepared to face the possible consequences, but this is the real world and we are only human. Mistakes do happen. I do not support women getting abortions just because they are promiscuous and lazy.Of course the abstinence policy is the best policy, but as long as we are living on planet Earth, th at just won't cut it. Just like Hillary Clinton, I believe that, â€Å"†¦ whatever side you're on in the pro-choice vs. pro-life debate,†¦ we can all agree on a third principle: we would be better off with fewer of them† (Sullivan). I personally think that providing all sexually active women with contraceptives is the smartest thing to do in order to decrease high rates of abortion. In the United states, â€Å"†¦ 74% say having a baby would interfere with work, school, or other responsibilities† (United States).Some women may have to go through with an abortion simply because she has severe health risks that may possibly kill her if she went into labor. She may want a child just as bad as many other women except her body cant support a pregnancy. Or, if a women is raped she shouldn't have to relive the agony of such an event every single day for 9 months. What if she didn't even want kids? Just because she got pregnant from a rapist, doesn't mean she has to raise his child. Some â€Å"†¦ people say an aborted child might have grown up to be President.There's a better chance he would have grown up to be the one who shot the President† (Olasky). It would all really depend on the mother of that child, if she kept the kid and ended up to resent him/her then, that would most likely effect the child in a negative manner; it would make that child have a negative outlook on life. He/she would hate everything and everyone. In that situation in my eyes, the mother would be doing the kid and herself a favor. I'm not saying I would be the one to have an abortion, because in the end I most likely wouldn't have the heart to get rid of something that I partially created.I would think, what if he/she is the only chance I have at ever being a mother? What if I only had one shot and I blew it? On the other hand, I would recap on all the things I could potentially loose out on because I decided to have a child that I wasn't capable of rai sing yet. At the end of the day, deciding to abort a baby depends on the situation a women may be in at that point of her life; it doesn't depend on all of the outsiders who think they have the right to decide for her. Every women has a life and has a choice, and the reasoning behind her decision is completely personal.After conducting all of my research, I noticed that there are strong points on each side of abortion. No matter what position a person takes on this issue, there will always be others critiquing it. I think it is important to accept some woman's reasons for abortion, but at the same time support the fight on lowering the needs for abortion. We need to educate women about their choices and consequences. Birth control methods need to be expressed and easily obtained. Until the Pro-Choice v. Pro-Life fight gets settled, the United States will only get more and more divided as a nation.

Atheism †my personal response Essay

I can’t see how one can claim that atheism is a religion, it is impossible by the very definition. Agnostic would be more apt. A quote from a letter sent to Ruth Crowley seems fitting; â€Å"Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair colour.† It simply cannot be done. I don’t think religion doesn’t have a place in today’s society, I just think that in many cases we would be better off without it. As far as I’m concerned Jesus is just the word of choice, substitute it for any name. It works just like any superstition. While religion at its fundamental core might have some important values, there is simply no need for the complimentary ideals that churches teach. Yes it may be an onerous expectation that schools teach it, but minus parents, they seem the next logical choice. I think it goes without saying, also, that schools and religion should be kept as separate as religion and politics should be. Art has never been, and likely ne ver will be, my forte. Beyond being aesthetically pleasing, for the most part; I see a limited shelf-life for art, as anything more then that, in modern times and would happily go so far as to question its purpose beyond the aesthetic in the past. As to this notion of the afterlife, I hate to say it, but it makes me want to laugh. It is easy to see how the myth evolved. People are reluctant to accept that someone or even something (A pet) they knew and loved is gone. Bernard Shaw sums up the reality of the matter: â€Å"The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.† While you may have learnt skills and acquired knowledge that you have used. From my perspective, in a correct world, religion should be separated to such a degree that those who choose not to partake in it will have no occasion to have to do so. Why must a legal marriage be accompanied with a religious ceremony? Why not have a separate civil union? Allowing for the legalisation of gay unions and also for a separate â€Å"marriage† which is purely religious and confined to the actual places of worship, churches. I can’t fathom this concept of semi belief in religion, and, as of yet, no one has been able to explain it to me in such a way that I can even accept it as a logical belief. Simply, you either believe or you don’t, I can’t see how you can fall in between. If you were to say you were unsure as to which religion then I can concede that. But to simply use religion as a mental appeasement for your actions, I cannot grasp. The capacity for religions to inspire violence between each other is one of the fundamental issues I have with religion. They are at the core reasoning, or at least a participant, of almost every conflict in the recorded history of our existence on this planet. On the idea of butterfly’s being a work of god I think Douglas Adams truly epitomised my beliefs when he said; â€Å"Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?† To end, I can’t but help to agree once more with Douglas Adams when he said; â€Å"I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting. But it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously.† Sorry for the doubly long response.