Illusions And Reality Essays - Testament Of Pope John Paul II

Illusions And Reality Jules de Gaultier stated, "Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." I think the "war against reality" is the process of aging and imagination is our naivet that shields us from the frightening world. By imagining that situations will never be uncomfortable; girls will never experience heartbreak; men will always have jobs to support their families; and people will never become sick, we are setting our selves up for a slap in the face when, inevitably, we are forced to notice how the real world works. Disillusionment is the acceptance of truth and the understanding or reality. To be disillusioned, one becomes disappointed when his or her opinion or belief is found out to be false. Usually an act forces them to realize the truth when they probably would rather continue in their own beliefs. Santa Clause, for instance, is precisely an illusion. As great and magical it is for a child to believe in the jolly, fat man with a snow white beard sliding down their chimney on Christmas to leave the "good" kids presents, there comes a time when kids learn that Santa is only a spirit; a story told them by the same parents that actually provided the gifts. The naivet of a child who believes this myth is also accompanied by the delight that believing in the myth brings. At some time, each child comes to the reality that there is no Santa Clause, there is only the love of the parents who were perpetuating the myth in order to increase the quality of their child's young life. To find the myth shattered is like bursting the bubble, yet, to replace it with the understanding of the motivation is a comfort and there is joy in learning that something was done only to make one's life better. My naivet in the awesome act of driving a car was somewhat like my belief in Santa. I felt confident that the task was easy, something I had the ability to do, and something that I had no reason to believe I would be anything but excellent at doing. I was so confident, in fact, that I was not even planning to read the driver's manual prior to taking the written test in order to receive my driver's license. It was only the threat by my mother that she would not bring me back to retake the test that convinced me to study. I was too cool to NOT be able to drive. I could drive the bumper cars at Six Flags, couldn't I? I could drive my neighbors go-cart, couldn't I? I was an excellent bicycle rider. What was the big deal about driving a car? I was so cocky that I did not even realize that there was anything to be afraid of. I did not even know that what I didn't know could kill me. I had absolutely no comprehension of the terrifyingly wonderful and frightening responsibility of driving. I had no idea how car accidents happened and no plans to be involved in one. The first step to knowledge is knowing that you are naive. Unfortunately, I was too naive to even know that. My time of crisis came not once, not twice, but three times within six months of receiving a driver's license. When I had been driving only five days, I never questioned my capability of driving down Holcomb Bridge Road with the music playing loud and a very excitable girlfriend as my passenger. What came as a shocking surprise, was that people tend to stop quickly on that particular stretch of road and not give the driver behind them much more than a second's notice. If the driver is a new sixteen year-old who is changing lanes and looking backward, this fact results in a crash. That would be me. Imagine my horror, as I realized I had allowed my car to run into the one in front of me all because I was too confident that nothing like this could happen to me. I was devastated by this turn of events. To add insult to injury, I had to pay the $250.00 deductible charge in order to have my car fixed, had to be without my car for over a month, and had to answer to my parents and friends as to how this could happen to me, a careful driver! Being responsible, broke and without a car will crush naivet. It was only two months later when

Farewell Speech for a Tenth Standard Student Who Is Leaving School Life Essay Example

Farewell Speech for a Tenth Standard Student Who Is Leaving School Life Essay Example Farewell Speech for a Tenth Standard Student Who Is Leaving School Life Paper Farewell Speech for a Tenth Standard Student Who Is Leaving School Life Paper Esteemed Director Sir, Principal, Teacher’s ; my junior Colleagues. Good Morning to all of you. Now it’s time for the moment in all our lives, the moment when we leave our childhood behind and step into the world to forge our own paths in life. Obviously School days are the most memorable days to everyone. I want to share my feelings and attachment with this school with all of you. Firstly, I am thankful to my parents to join me in such a wonderful School where I got the best mentors and amazing group of friends. With the collective effort of all the staff we are all shaping our future and getting ready to play our role in the society. Your kindness and caring for students is the reason that today I am willing to take any risk with smile and courage in my future journey of life. I especially want to thank all of you for the tender care and affection shown towards us. In last .. (time you spent in the school).. Years my teachers taught me several things. Thank you teachers, for all that you have taught me lessons that extended well beyond the four walls of a classroom, for providing me with myriad opportunities for all round development and values in life. Mere saying thanks to the teachers is not enough to express my gratitude. I promise that I will strive to be a successful citizen, so that all my teachers can proudly say that I am the product of the .. (school’s name).. team. Thank you, friends for all the fun, the hilarious laughter and unforgettable moments shared with me. I wish my friends happy adventures, fantastic new friendships, amazing experiences in the future journey of a lifetime. All my teachers took me under their wings and I was always taken care of. : This is the tough day for me to say my final goodbyes to all of you. Although we may be separated by time and distance nothing will diminish the important role of every one played in my life spent here. In future, a short walk down in to memory lane of my school days will definitely strengthen me to face any situation. All teachers ; friends kindly pardon me if anybody got hurt with my behavior during my tenure in the school. And continue to pour love and blessings towards me. Thank you and goodbye.

Impact of financial crysis into international economy Essay

Impact of financial crysis into international economy - Essay Example In addition, there is a global credit crunch that has paralyzed economic development in the third world countries as well as slowing down the economic growth rates of the developed countries. Furthermore, both the first and third world countries have reported an increase in the rate of unemployment and poverty. There has also been a nosedive in exports, investment and asset markets (Healy and Palepu 13). Therefore, with the aim of studying the impact of financial crisis into international economy this article will outline its causes, consequences and the impact of the credit crunch. CAUSES OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS (GFC) According to most economists, the current economic crunch is the worst kind of financial crisis that the world has faced so far since the Great Depression of the 1930s (BWND ch. 1).. The root cause of the credit crunch is related to the development of the US housing bubble that rapidly occurred between 2005 and 2006. This resulted to an increase in the number of default rates of the adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) and subprime (Calomiris 6-52). This is because the banking institutions were willing and readily gave out loans to investors to purchase real estate property. Investors were encouraged to apply for high loans believing that they would settle them within a short time (BWND ch. 3). Investors applied for loans with ignorance of the interest rates. In fact, investors could easily access a plethora of loans including credit card, mortgage and auto which lured them to apply for the loans without considering the unprecedented load that would be caused by the debt. There were also a myriad of financial agreements including collateralized debt obligations (CDO) and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) which stipulated a more friendly strategy for settling the debt (Salmon ch. 5). This was a marketing strategy that encouraged investors from all over the world to venture in the US housing market. Moreover, the US federal bureau had monitored th e interest rates since 1982 to ensure they were steadily decreasing. The easy access to foreign funds encouraged investors to undertake the loans for fuelling the housing construction projects (Healy and Palepu 13). Come the year 2007, interest rates increased with an outrageous margin resulting to a decrease in the housing prices. Conversely, most investors were adversely affected since raising money became increasingly difficult. Within a short time there was an increase in the number of foreclosed real estate properties. Also most of the global financial institutions that had invested heavily on the financial agreements incurred huge losses. This led to the erosion of financial strength for banking institutions. As a result there was a worldwide drain of wealth which led to an increase in poverty levels. In addition, there were an increased number of loan defaulters and not only in the housing sector but also in other economic sectors resulting to unbearable losses that cost the globe trillions of dollars (Calomiris 6-52). Another factor that resulted to the growth of the credit crunch is the financialization process. The US credit and housing bubble rapidly expanded the international financial stability until it became fragile and susceptible to a wide array of risks. This is because financial institu

Bruce Bodaken, Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bruce Bodaken, Leadership - Essay Example The non-profit making insurance company was receiving a hostile response from the public. Currently, he works as the chairman, President and the CEO for Blue Shield of California, which is a non-profit health insurance company. Under his leadership, the insurance company is ranked as the fastest growing company in California. He also serves in various boards such as the American Association of Health Plans. He influenced the Health Maintenance Organization of California to support free evaluation of doctors who denied health malpractice which was later put in the law. He also mobilized actors in the insurance industry in Washington DC for the adoption of an overall plan that was formulated by Blue Shield (Julie Appleby, 2004). Since he became the CEO of Blue Shield, positive changes have occurred in the company, making it a highly profitable company. Prior to this, he acted as the deputy CEO in the same company in the year 1999. During this time, Blue Shield gathered a net income of $16.9 million as well as a reserve fund of $547 million (Julie Appleby, 2004). There was a rise in administrative fixed costs by 16, but the net income grew by more than three and a half times when he was deputy CEO, to a high of $62 and over time, the net income has risen to $314 million. Under his leadership he has demonstrated management practices that led to a decrease in overhead costs as well as substantial growth in reserve fund. The company enjoys a reserve fund that is close to $1.1 billion (Blue Shield of California, 2008). Blue shield has been categorized as one of the fastest growing insurance company. Last year, Blue Shield registered 392,000 members, raising its total to 2.7 million (Blue Shield of California, 2008). This was as a result of an idea that he raised, of registering members through the public retirement system of California. In 2002, he put forward a particular

English-Drama Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English-Drama - Assignment Example erican Dream does have some common elements such as a house, leisure time and the natural result of average effort, yet each individual must realize that their idea of home and their concept of leisure might be vastly different from another person’s. Unless you know what the dream means to you, it remains impossible to attain, but many people fail to provide themselves with that clear sense of definition. In his play, Death of a Salesman, playwright Arthur Miller presents the story of Willy Loman and his last ditch efforts to achieve the American Dream he envisions for himself and his family. This paper argues that Miller’s play illustrates the problem of fuzzy definition, discovers the actual elusiveness of the American Dream and that the play itself argues for an adjustment of our concepts of this term in favor of something more personal. Throughout Miller’s play, Willy Loman continues to compare himself to a vague notion he has of the American Dream. The idea of the house being an integral part of the Dream is brought in almost immediately as Willy observes to his wife â€Å"Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s nobody to live in it† (4). This statement reveals the emptiness Willy has found in the accomplishment of providing his family with a home of their own as his sons prepare to leave again. As Linda tries to soothe him, he reminds her â€Å"some people accomplish something† (4). By making this statement, he is indicating that simply owning a home and raising a family isn’t enough to give him the sense of satisfaction he’d thought he’d have at this point in his life. Willy’s ideas are shown to be flawed as he talks with his boys in several memory scenes. In these scenes, he is seen to be attempting to inflate his own importance and the prestige of his job: â€Å"they know me boys, they know me up and down New England. The finest people. And when I bring you fellas up, there’ll be open sesame for all of

Analyse and discuss the marketing strategy used by Starbucks

Analyse and discuss the marketing strategy used by Starbucks Marketing is an essential part of a business strategy that can affect people view about a brand and this essay will duly demonstrate the effectiveness of Starbucks marketing strategy, particularly sensory marketing in attracting new young customers. There are numerous marketing techniques in todays business, different companies use different strategies, in order to sell its products to customers. One of the marketing techniques that became an object of discussion in a few companies is sensory marketing. It is important that companies understand sensory marketing for their business and how it will influence their marketing strategies in attracting new customers. Starbucks is a famous coffee company that has been implementing sensory marketing in their strategies for a few years. This essay will begin by, firstly, describing five senses included in sensory marketing and their relations to customer perception. Secondly, case studies in two Starbucks special outlets in creating comfortab le ambience will be introduced. Thirdly, we will discuss the importance of customer service, which can create customers experience through their senses. Fourthly, Starbucks online marketing strategy that matches with the evolution of todays technology. Lastly, we will analyse Starbucks sensory marketing strategy with its effectiveness to attracting new young customers. At the beginning we have to understand sensory marketing, and why it is necessary and how it influences customer perception of a product. Sensory marketing is a technique using five human senses to promote products, which has to be unique, authentic, and people can easily remember your brand (Bhargava, 2008, 208). Five senses which humans have are sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch; these senses can be used for persuading customers to interest its products. The sense of sight is the most seductive senses that humans have and human logic can be persuaded by this sense, therefore it is most widely used by companies in their marketing strategy. The other senses that not less important are taste and smell. These two senses are closely connected, which are very important in food and beverages business, because these senses enable the brain in creating memorable sensation in human minds. The sense of smell can turn-off other senses if customers have bad experience in smell. The last two senses that companies might consider are sense of sound and touch, which can help companies to give more experiences for customer about a product.Therefore, companies can utilise senses for their strategy to maintain customers as well as attracting new customers. One of the key points of Starbucks sensory marketing strategy is the appearance of their outlets that can maintain their customers to have a good perception about the brand as well as attract new customers. Starbucks marketing strategy, most of the time, concern customer experience, which involves customer senses through personal value and meaningful connection (Michelli, 2007, 11). The sound of the barista, who is a coffee preparer, working with the coffee machine and the smell of brewed coffee aroma are memorable moments related to our senses and naturally stored in customers memory. This ambience setting made their customers always visit the outlet and create Starbucks outlet to be the third place between work and home (Michelli, 2007, 103). The new Starbucks outlet concept in Central London, which opened in November 2009 can be a case study. The new concept is to provide a comfortable place in order to meet customer expectations including a beautiful environment and a new Starbuc ks experience Moreover, until 2006 Starbucks had opened four Starbucks Hear Music Coffeehouse, which are special outlets for its segmented customers (Starbucks, 2006). The main idea is to fulfil customers passion about music, i.e. using the hearing sense to reach customer experience with the Starbucks. Consequently, in every business development, Starbucks always tries to use sensory marketing to be their strategy to attract customers. Furthermore, other important part of the Starbucks sensory marketing strategy is customer services, which led Starbucks to be on the top of customers minds when thinking about places to have coffee, and it is created from customer experience with their senses. When customers enter Starbucks outlets they feel that they have a different experience, everybody feels welcome and regulars are normally recognised by the employees. Moreover, some of Starbucks employees try to remember their names, their jobs, and their favourite drinks (Michelli, 2007, 23). This situation made customers feel that they have a special relationship more than just fulfil their needs to buy a coffee. Starbucks have a service motto named make it on your own. This service allows customers to create their own coffee in order to meet their expectation in taste. In food and beverages business, taste and smell are two important parts to be required because different customers have different expectations in their taste and smell. Starbucks carefully considers, understands and delivers this to its customers with customisation in their drinks and provides various sizes of cups. Starbucks has put these strategies into primary strategy by using human senses to meet their needs and expectations. In recent years, technology has become more necessary and Starbucks follows these needs by providing resources, which can create more experience with their customers through sense of touch, sight, and sound.. Nowadays, we can see people using their smart phones, laptops, iPods, and many other smart devices that connect to the Internet during the day on a regular basis., Since first of July this year, Starbucks in America started to provide free Wi-Fi connection for its customers and launched Starbucks Digital Network content, that give enables its customers to access the premium partners such as iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA today, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo!, and Zagat Meanwhile, the growth of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and even Foursquare, forced Starbucks to be a part of these communications evolution in using technologies. Moreover, Starbucks has its own website called My Starbucks Idea, which allows their customers to give their idea, opinion about some ones idea, and join the discussion. These online marketing strategies are still related with their sensory marketing strategy that put together the sense of touch, sight, and sound, in order to meet young customers needs, who might only choose Starbucks to browse the internet, listen to music, or to go on facebook and twitter. Starbucks sensory marketing strategy has succeeded in maintaining its customers as well as attracting new ones, particularly young generations, and matched with the spirit of company innovation to inspire and support young people. The Starbucks website (2010) states that their goal is to engage 50,000 young people, who will in turn innovate, take action, and inspire 100,000 individuals in their communities by 2015; this means that Starbucks combines their strategy with social responsibility, which will be considered as a respectable company amongst the young people. On The Next Web website Noff (2010) discovered that Starbucks has over 705,000 followers on twitter and over 5,428,000 fans on Facebook. You could say that they are doing something right on the web, this fact shows that Starbucks has many loyal customers and most of them are the Internet users, especially young people. Starbucks also runs loyalty programs to attract young customers. Therefore, Starbucks sensory marketing strategy is considered as an effective strategy that has strong relationship with senses to attract new customers, particularly young customers with their spirit and innovative characteristics. In conclusion, this essay has demonstrated the effectiveness of Starbucks sensory marketing strategy to attract new young customers by analysing and discussing its relation the five human senses. Starbucks uses the five senses to make memorable experiences for its customers, particularly through their online marketing strategy, which satisfies young customers needs in adapting technology. Todays technology, such as social media and music content which are mainly used by young people, delivers new experience for customers. In fact, we can see this achievement from the number of fans on their Facebook and followers on Twitter. Starbucks has created emotional connection with its customers, uniqueness in make it on your own coffee, and attentive to details in every aspect of the outlet ambience. In comparison to other companies, Starbucks advertising and promotions expense is relatively small, they have always focused their budget on connecting the customers experience with the five huma n senses. The key point of their success in using sensory marketing is applying it consistently for a long period with passion throughout their everyday services. Customer experience is an intangible asset and very valuable, which made the Starbucks brand become a top operator in the coffee business.

Philosophy Essay -- Socrates

There are three different parts of elements in one’s soul called: Reason, physical appetites and spirit due to the inner conflict. Each part of the soul is doing its own job. A man can have two different responses from his inner world when he has a conflict to decide. For example, a man was thirsty. He wants to drink some water because his appetite is telling him that he needs to quench. While his reason part will list out all the rational reasons for avoiding him from drinking, such as the water can make you sick. When the man’s desire was higher than reason then the sprite will appear to support with appetite (138). However there is another situation when the spirit will help reason out. â€Å"When the soul is divided into factions, it is far more ready to be up in arms on the side of reason† (138). Reason can consider as wisdom because it is the leader of the soul. It gives rational orders for spirit to follow, so they could work together to hold the appetite s. Then spirit can symbolize courage because the spirit is not afraid of against enemies in order to carry out its mission for holding the appetites in all circumstances because appetite is like the many-headed of the monster as it mentions in Chapter XXXIV. The many-headed symbolized the divided mind of the monster. It needs the lion to help the man to control the many-headed monster since the power of the man will be weak when there are many desires of the monster. Hence, the man symbolized the reason and the lion symbolized the spirit. Moreover, there shouldn’t be any internal conflict between these three since they are all doing a great job. This phenomenon of performing good cooperation is called temperance. According to Socrates â€Å"the reason for all this is that each part ... ... careful since once people had chosen for the character they want to be such as be an animal or human being, and then it’s their duty to be responsible for their decision. At the end of the story it tells the part when people pass through the River of Unmindfulness. That all the people â€Å"Required to drink a certain measure of this water, and some have not the wisdom to save them from drinking more. Every man as he drinks forgets everything† (359). Which means if a person drinks too much water then he will not remember that there always has penalty for being unjust, thus his moral will not going to be increased because he will keep doing unjust thing and thinks there is no punish for it. In conclusion because of immortality, people understand the concept of being unjust need to bear the punishment, which helps a person, can have better moral understanding. Philosophy Essay -- Socrates There are three different parts of elements in one’s soul called: Reason, physical appetites and spirit due to the inner conflict. Each part of the soul is doing its own job. A man can have two different responses from his inner world when he has a conflict to decide. For example, a man was thirsty. He wants to drink some water because his appetite is telling him that he needs to quench. While his reason part will list out all the rational reasons for avoiding him from drinking, such as the water can make you sick. When the man’s desire was higher than reason then the sprite will appear to support with appetite (138). However there is another situation when the spirit will help reason out. â€Å"When the soul is divided into factions, it is far more ready to be up in arms on the side of reason† (138). Reason can consider as wisdom because it is the leader of the soul. It gives rational orders for spirit to follow, so they could work together to hold the appetite s. Then spirit can symbolize courage because the spirit is not afraid of against enemies in order to carry out its mission for holding the appetites in all circumstances because appetite is like the many-headed of the monster as it mentions in Chapter XXXIV. The many-headed symbolized the divided mind of the monster. It needs the lion to help the man to control the many-headed monster since the power of the man will be weak when there are many desires of the monster. Hence, the man symbolized the reason and the lion symbolized the spirit. Moreover, there shouldn’t be any internal conflict between these three since they are all doing a great job. This phenomenon of performing good cooperation is called temperance. According to Socrates â€Å"the reason for all this is that each part ... ... careful since once people had chosen for the character they want to be such as be an animal or human being, and then it’s their duty to be responsible for their decision. At the end of the story it tells the part when people pass through the River of Unmindfulness. That all the people â€Å"Required to drink a certain measure of this water, and some have not the wisdom to save them from drinking more. Every man as he drinks forgets everything† (359). Which means if a person drinks too much water then he will not remember that there always has penalty for being unjust, thus his moral will not going to be increased because he will keep doing unjust thing and thinks there is no punish for it. In conclusion because of immortality, people understand the concept of being unjust need to bear the punishment, which helps a person, can have better moral understanding.