Flag Burning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Flag Burning - Essay Example Indeed, the symbolism of the flag is so deeply embedded in national consciousness that Bourne (qtd in Schatz and Lavine, 2007: 329) was prompted to declare that "We reverence not our country but the flag. We may criticize ever so severely our country, but we are disrespectful to the flag at our peril." The difference lies in that the flag is a symbolic representation of all that which the nation is; the flag represents the past, present and future and is not associated with particular policies and governments, as may be the nation at any given time. It is within the context of that which the flag stands for that intolerance towards flag burning should be understood. Americans are intolerant of flag burning because it expresses disregard for those who lost their lives battling under the flag, disrespect for the institutions of the nation and, a symbolic attempt to deny national memories. The 1960s were the heyday of flag burning in the United States and even though many Americans sympathized with the politics which incited the said act, few were tolerant of it. As Boime (1990) notes, countless Americans opposed the Vietnam War and supported the Civil Rights but were enraged by the expression of the aforementioned through flag-burning.

How to succeed at team-building Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

How to succeed at team-building - Essay Example Organisational behaviour encompasses many areas including employee engagement, employee motivation, communication, personality development and so on. This paper will review the article â€Å"How to succeed at team-building† written by Martin Goodwill (n.d.) using some theories and concepts in the area of organisational behaviour. Literature review As the title indicates, the given article specifically focuses on the aspect team building. Team building is a management approach whereby employees are considered as interdependent team members instead of individual workers. As scholars point out, team building encompasses a wide range of activities ranging from simple bonding exercises to multi-day retreat programmes designed for improving the overall performance of the team, and ultimately the organisation. In a business context, the process of team building falls under the framework of organisational development. Majority of the organisations shape their day to day operations in a way team building is enhanced. A strong and efficient leadership is necessary to improve the team dynamics. The article writer strongly says that employee engagement is an integral part of successful team building. ... Tuckman’s model The â€Å"forming, storming, norming, and performing† model of group development was developed by Bruce W. Tuckman in 1965 based on his 50 studies of group behaviour. Tuckman argues that all these stages of group development are essential for any team to address problems, deliver desired results, and to grow further. The Tuckman’s model is particularly concerned with the way individuals would behave when they work together in a group for the first time or when they are assigned with a challenging task like diversity training. This model is greatly helpful for team members to get a clear view of the group dynamics while working in professional contexts. It is also useful for group leaders to monitor their groups’ development when their group members are resistant to change. Forming is the first stage of team building and is initiated for the completion of a particular task; and during this initial stage, team members pay specific attention o n team organisation, work schedules, and meetings (Clements & Jones 2008). They try to collect information about each other and to avoid serious feelings for ensuring smooth flow of the team building process. At this level, individuals’ behaviour may be influenced by their aspiration to be accepted by others (ibid). This is what Goodwill call ‘employee engagement’ in his article. Since team members are extremely focused on themselves at the forming stage, proper employee engagement would bring desired outcomes. In the second stage (storming), the group discusses matter like how individual members can work independently and together to solve various issues and what leadership model they are about to follow. Referring to Goodwill’s views, a leader has an important role to play in

Analysis and Action Plan for a Middle School Teacher of English Essay

Analysis and Action Plan for a Middle School Teacher of English Language Learners - Essay Example In this classroom, Mr. O’Malley tends to use the natural approach and English Language Development (ELD) in Maria’s case even though it was not successfully as she could not interact with others. The ELD strategy involves the use of systematic instructional strategy that is designed to enhance English acquisition by students to whom English is not the primary language (WIDA, 2012). In this case, the learners interact with each other. Mr. O’Malley made sure that Maria’s classmates assisted her and included her in every activity. The natural language acquisition process has the student developing basic communication skills first and focusses on fluency while speaking English in a social context. The heterogeneous grouping of the natural process was through ensuring that Maria got included in every activity. In the case of Mikhail, Mr. O’Malley used the strategy of connecting learning to previous knowledge; though it was unsuccessful as he could not write a good essay without grammatical issues. The strategy comprises providing the student with new topic connections or events from the learner’s background and making them give a connection between the vocabulary in their first language and English. Mikhail had been schooling in the United for two years; thus he does not have a problem communicating in class, but his main problem is in grammatical mistakes. Therefore, linking his knowledge of English learned in the college to his first language can help improve his grammar. After and before reading, students tend to respond to prompts that assist them in linking their experiences to the main theme and characters (Curtin, 2009). The instructional inputs that follow the prompts give oral language practice for the ELLs and assist in deepening the students’ comprehension conceptual framework. Researchers discovered that the instructional input increases comprehension for the ELLs and deepens their

When Things Fall Apart by Chodrun from chapter 1 to 18 Essay

When Things Fall Apart by Chodrun from chapter 1 to 18 - Essay Example Difficulties of life like aging, illness, getting what they do not want and many more are facts. The Buddha also faces these challenges. The teaching goes on stating that what causes unhappiness is when someone wants to avoid the facts of life and try to find happiness (Von Rosenberg 15). Turning upside down enables individuals to think upside down.Pema Chodrun states that suffering has a great role to play in our lives. Suffering will motivate people to look for answers to the problems us facing. Through suffering people, learn to have the feeling of empathy for other people facing the same problem. Through right thinking, we create the feeling of compassion for ourselves. We are compassionate on every part of ourselves that are unwanted. Compassion will create a room of relief and joy in us. It is a fundamental thing for everyone to feel happiness and in any case, when we start feeling unhappy, depressed we think that we lost something or we made a mistake (Von Rosenberg 19). When we incorporate the right thinking, we will appreciate suffering and view pain as a transformation to have the right thinking. When someone faces pain, we always look for happiness and satisfaction rather than having the right thinking and honor the quality of precisely what is happening in your life. It makes people run away from discomfort facing them. The situation makes them disappointed and unhappy Thus, Pema Chodrun urges one to have the right thinking and view situations like this as trying to develop our inner strengths (Von Rosenberg 21). What is more important is considering the inner strength as something that is only available when we are facing discomfort. When certain situation threatens us, we need to view first how we found ourselves at the discomfort. Inner strength will help find why we are in the situation. Pema Chodrun urges that we should accept

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 18

Art - Essay Example Deaccessions of the objects can only take place when the objects to not match the mission of the museum. The re-opening of museum in Bagdad was meant to give political mileage to the politicians. In an open letter addressed to the government by Donny George and Rakowitzs, expressed concerns over shortest duration with which the preparation of the museum under-went for its re-opening. Despite all these efforts, the government through the Minister of Tourism went ahead to re-open the museum. The notion that of the â€Å"strong takes it all† is a common phrase frequently put into practice in Iraq today. This is evident from the creation of the ministry of tourism to oversee the management of the museums. This is contrary to the old system where the ministry of culture had this mandate. The re-opening of the museum was more of an exhibition as stated by Amira Aidan in an email. This is because; 8 out of the 26 rooms were open and a few items on display. Security situation in Iraq prompted a policy of allowing 50% of the staff to make it to work on a single day with the other 50% on the following day. Close to 50% percent of the objects missing from the museum due to security lapses in the country. It is important to note that museums play a significant role in preserving a country’s heritage through generations. Governments should therefore come up with relevant policies to ensure that museums are preserved (Merritt and Reilly 23-25). Regulations that undermine the independent operations of the museum would eventually make them collapse due to loss of objects within the

Antigone Essay Example for Free

Antigone Essay Remember those people who always thought they were right, and they always ended up in trouble for it? I Sophocles’ play Antigone, the main characters Antigone and Creon show how being so hubris can be tragic to your life. Set back in ancient Greece an epic battle takes place and brothers end up killing each other. One was allowed a proper burial, yet Polyinesis was not. Antigone felt disappointed by this and decided to bury them yet Creon the newly appointed king did not appreciate the rule breaking. Due to the fact that Antigone and creon exhibited excessive pride, their lives were ruined. Antigone’s arrogance and brashness ultimately led to her death. For example, on Creon’s first day as king he made a decree that no one should bury Polyneisis body. When Antigone heard this, she went to Ismene and asked for her help; yet Ismene refused and called her a criminal. Antigone still disagreed, â€Å"But I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy; I shall lie down with him in death†(673,55-57) This proved that Antigone was cocky and she was sort of stating that all her wrong doings are â€Å"holy†; she is referring to herself as always being right. This affected her though distorting her view on life. In addition to her argument with Ismene, Antigone then was caught in the act of burying Polyniesis and was brought in and questioned by Creon. â€Å"And you Antigone, with your head hanging – do you confess this thing†(679, 53) When Antigone didn’t deny her crime and boasted to the king and the elders, It proves how narcissistic that she is. If she would have not been so boastful I doubt that Croen would have been so harsh to Antigone. Furthermore, Creon then calls in Ismene to protest against her crime as well. Creon started o believe that she helped Antigone to plot against him. Ismene then lied and said she did help to Antigone’s surprise. Antigone become outraged and denied her hand in the deed. Ismene is displeased in antigone’s punishment, â€Å"Do you refuse me, Antigone? I want to die with you; I too have a duty that I must discharge to the dead†(681, 138). Antigone was then enraged further and rebelled against Ismene, â€Å"You shall not lessen my death by sharing it†(681, 139) Antigone is showing self centered and concided she was. She believed that she was so important because she did the right thing by the gods that no one should die except her because she was special. However, Antigone was not the only major character with this flaw. This proves how arrogance can really damage anyone’s life just like it did to Antigone and Creons’. Pride and the excess of it played a big role in this play, being the tragic flaw of both main characters; arrogance is not only a big part of this play but also our history, there will always be people who can never be wrong. Many people are just like Creon and Antigone, Always thinking they are right. Is your life headed for a fate just like Antigone’s plot?

The Concept Of The Afterlife Religion Essay

The Concept Of The Afterlife Religion Essay Throughout the history of man one of the biggest questions that haunt human existence is the question of the Afterlife. Is there a God? Is there a heaven or a hell? Do we have souls? And what happens to it once it leaves this earth and the physical body? The prospect of the unknown has brought about many different ideas and theories; each religion, culture and era has developed their own notions and set truths in order to explain what will happen once we die. In order to gain some understanding on this subject this paper will exam the four biggest religions; Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism and how they explain the unknown and the divine plane beyond ours. Christianity In the Christian religion they believe in the concept that after physical death the soul maintains consciousness and there is an in-between state between death and the resurrection of the body. Another concept is that until the resurrection, which will happen during the Second Coming or the return of Jesus Christ also known as Judgment day, the spirit sleeps. These two ideas are divided into three main sects; The Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and Protestantism. Although all three of these groups are similar in that they believe that upon death the soul will face judgment for his or her actions while on earth, they each have their different perception of when and how it will happen. These in-between states mentioned above are classified into two planes, Heaven and Hell, within the New Testament. Even though Hades appears in both the New Testament and in the Revelation, to express the concept of hell, the idea of hell does not derive from the place in Greek mythology that is the underworld the place of the dead. This is due to the fact that it is a place that consists of the undead both good and bad. Therefore to better understand hell one talks about Tartarus a place in the underworld even lower than Hades were the wicked go. Hell is described to be a place or state, were souls who have not repented for their sins and/or have rejected Jesus Christ as their savior, suffer eternal damnation. In biblical teachings it is said that the soul passes into hell after God has judged them irredeemable for their actions while on earth. Hades also consist of Elysium, a utopia were those who have lived worthy lives go. This is known as the kingdom of God or Kingdom of heaven, discussed mostly in Revelations in the New Testament. It is considered a place or state that is inherited by the righteous a place of paradise and eternity with god. Although the literalness of heaven is debatable, it is said while on earth, Jesus often preached about the heven as a reward, a final destination, for those who have been virtuous and followed the word of his father. Christians believe that in the end of time Jesus Christ will rise again and all who have died will be resurrected for the Last Judgment. This is when the kingdom of God will be fully established; in Revelation 21 it states that an army of angels will come down from heaven to fight those who oppose God and reestablish Gods eternal reign over all of his creations. It is the final day ware the wicked will be punished and the righteous rewarded. Therefore those who want to be saved must repent for their sins and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ so that they can be with him after Judgment day. The Catholic Church believes that upon death those souls who have been saved do not go straight to heaven but go through a process of purification in purgatory in order to be cleansed before they can be in Gods presence. Souls who have not been saved however go straight to hell to be damned for all eternity. They also believe that those who have not been baptized cannot go to heaven for they commit original sin, but dwell in Limbo, if they have died without moral sin. Waiting for the Day of Judgment when Jesus will come back to earth to bring those souls to heaven. The Orthodox Church believes that both heaven and hell are in the same dimension, and one does not experience either separated from God, hell just like heaven is simply being with God although hell still means living in eternal damnation and suffering. According to the orthodox tradition God loves all human being including the sinners, therefore he does not cut anyone off from himself but instead those who go to hell are t hose who self-exclude themselves from everybody else .The Protestants believe that hell was created by God in order to punish the devil, and his fallen angels. It is believed that after judgment day those souls who did not seek deliverance from God while on earth would be sent to hell to be punished for their sins, which are most people. However unlike Martin Luther who believed that the soul stayed unconscious and slept after death, John Calvin, believed that souls maintain awareness after physical death and went straight to hell upon dying. He based this off of the fact that Protestants believed that because Jesus Christ had already paid for our sins on the cross, there should be nothing stopping ones soul from going straight into heaven or hell. Islam The description for life after death in the Islamic faith comes from the Quran, which states two main concepts for the afterlife or Akhirah, the oneness of God and the unavoidable day of resurrection, the Islamic Day of Judgment. Due to this In Islam human beings experience are broken down into four stages, the first two are mans experience on earth (1. the stage of the womb and 2. The stage of the mortal world). It is in these two stages that man is tested to determine his place in the afterlife. Muslims believe that God holds every human being whether they are Muslim or not accountable for their actions and deed while they live on earth. Therefore it is taught within Islam that the only purpose to life is the preparation for the afterlife and attaining a spot in paradise. In order to do this the Quran teaches that mans has to practice integrity and generosity to others and to devote ones self to Allah, the one and only God. Salvation only comes with the practice of moral and ethica l responsibility while on earth. The last two stages are mans experience once the spirit leaves its earthly body. The stage of the grave, known as Barzakh, is broken down into three events; the first is when the soul leaves the body, the second is the reflection of ones actions and endeavors while alive, and the third is a state of cold sleep where man awaits Judgment day. The final stage, the hereafter or rest of eternity comes after the Day of Judgment, when all human beings have been resurrected and judged in the eyes of God to either spend their eternal lives in Jannah (heaven or paradise) if they were virtuous or Jahannam (hell or spiritual state of suffering) if they were unrighteous or in denial of the truth of Allah. There are two different types of souls that are excluded from these stages and do not have to wait till Judgment day; the first are those who die fighting in Gods name, they are honored by immediately being allowed to rise to paradise by Gods side; and the secon d are those who are the enemy of Islam, they are punished by going straight to the spiritual plane of suffering. However, those who are sent to hell do have the ability to ascend to the spiritual state of heaven once they have been purified by Jahannam unless they are non-muslim or Kafir, then they are punished for eternity. Both Jannah and Jahannam have different levels within their own spiritual plane, each reserved, depending on how one was measure during their time on earth. Buddhism Due to the fact that Buddhism was born out of Hinduism it contains some of the same basic principles for the afterlife, such as rebirth after death (individual passing from one form to another) and karma (accumulated sums of ones good or bad deeds), along with the same end goal to escape the never ending cycle of reincarnation because life is suffering. This escape is only obtainable if one lets go of all their desires they hold on the earth using the Buddhist form of liberation or Nirvana. Nirvana is not a place or a state, but the end of rebirth, directly translated it means extinction, referring to the elimination of all ones desires, allowing one to become free from all earthy attachments. Buddhism diverts from Hindu beliefs on the subject of eternal souls, according to Buddha human beings do not obtain a soul. His doctrine of anatta explains that because individuals experience memories, impulses, traditions, desires and so on, they are deceived into thinking that they have souls because these attachments can be perceived as encompassing an ego. However this is not the case, humans are just a container of emotions and habits that are reused over and over again as the body is reincarnated life after life. Therefore in order to escape from the constant suffering that is existence humans need to purge themselves of their false self, leaving nothing to reincarnate hence being free of the cycle(8). The type of rebirth one may have depends on the how moral ones actions were in his or her previous life. For example if one projected negativity such as hatred or greed, committing physical or emotional harm to those around him or her, that person would be reborn into a lower realm (a.k.a animal, ghost, demon etc.). If one were to promote positive and constructive actions based on love, metta (kindness) and peace they would be reincarnated into a happy realm, becoming a person or arising into a heavenly realm in their next life. In death one need to stay aware of the dying process for as long as possible, because as one passes the thoughts that are experienced impacts either the state they are in after death, or if nirvana is not achieved, their next reincarnation experience. According to Tibetan Buddhism after death, the spirit goes through bardos (a limbo like plane were the individual waits till rebirth), this is made up of three different stages spread over forty-nine days. The first stage is called Chikai Bardo or the bardo of dying which can take from a half a day to four, after death, giving the deceased time to realize they have passed. In that moment of realization the spirit experiences a euphoric awareness of a clear white light. For those who are more spiritually intuitive this awareness last longer and will lead to a higher plane of truth. However for the average person this will not happen and their spirit will descend into a secondary state or clear light. In the second stage, Chonyid Bardo or bardo of Luminous mind. The individual will experience the backlash of the karma they had created during their life, facing vision of both serene and wrathful representations of human feelings. In order to achieve nirvana the spirit has to confront and navigate itself through these personifications free of harm. The third stage is the process of rebirth/reincarnation and it is called Sidpa Bardo or the bardo of rebirth. It is only the truly enlightened spirits that have shed all their earthly desires through nirvana that can skip the process of the three bardos and ascend directly to the dimension of paradise. Hinduism Like Buddhism Hinduism believes in reincarnation, however Hinduism sees the soul (atman) as immortal and eternal while the body is the one that undergoes constant birth and death. A soul goes through the process of reincarnation over and over again until it has fully developed and becomes perfect. Perfection however is not an easy feat, a soul has to enter many bodies live many different lives and have many different experiences. Only after this can a soul finally become part of the divine. For those soles that are never able to make the transformation to perfection, they will only be able to be one with god again through the process of great destruction. Destruction is needed in order to end the cycle of creation, which for Hindus only occurs once the individual spirit separates from the source. After the process of creation has occurred and the soul and true self has separated from the One, it conceals itself and becomes part of an uncivilized form that has both a jiva also known a s a false self, and an ego. Because of the ego the form is cursed with earthly attachments such as desires and urges. The Jiva and ego also suffer from delusions and ignorance, the soul having lost all of its knowledge of truth upon separating from God. For this reason they behave in a self-centered manner displaying characteristics that are both selfish and inconsiderate. It is because of this childish behavior, as though they are the only ones in the universe and are completely different from other beings that the soul suffers as it does. Upon death the jiva and soul survive this time period is seen as both a period of recuperation and learning. Before being reincarnated into another physical body the soul has to go through judgment based on its past lifes Karma. Depending on the morality of their past deeds along with how many other past births they have experienced, the jiva either goes to heaven or hell until they have been rewarded or punished enough for its past life actions. Then taking the knowledge that it has gained from this experience and ready to try again the jiva is prepared to be born again. It is through Karma that the true self slowly awakes within the jiva, because it teaches the jiva that good actions bring about positive results and bad actions pain therefore by making mistakes and learning from them the jiva will overcome its ignorance. This however takes time, therefore throughout the cycle of life the individual jiva experiences a limitless number of births and deaths also known as Samsara. The purpose for this is that each time a jiva is reborn it brings a little bit more knowledge from its time in between physical bodies helping it to gradually realize its unity with God and self. Each physical body it is born into, like in Buddhism, depends on its deeds in its previous life; therefore the jiva may be reincarnated into a lesser life or a higher life. It is not until the jiva has gone through a countless number of rebirths and lifetimes that it can begin to gain some awareness to the truths around it and seek higher forms of happiness. It is this self-awareness that will bring completely detached or want of earthly pleasures and desires that the jiva is in search for, because only then can it be completely liberated (moksha)from the constant cycle of death and birth. The afterlife allows for so many possibilities because no one truly knows what will become of them or their soul once they have passed on. Each of these religions explores different theories and philosophies and has come to their own ideas on the subject, however despite their differences one similar tenant does run through them. They all agree that in the afterlife one will be punished or rewarded based on their actions while on earth. Whether it is by a supreme being such as God while existing in another world (heaven or hell) such as the Christians and Muslims believe or through the correction mechanism like Karma that comes through being reincarnated in which the Buddhist and Hindus believe.