Sanctions in Criminal and Civil Law Essay Example for Free

Sanctions in Criminal and Civil Law Essay Answer to Question 1 Sanctioning or Punishment is the act of imposing an unpleasant condition upon a subject in order to stop an undesirable behavior that he has displayed. The main rationale is that if people are harmed for their wrongful conduct, such wrongful conduct will no longer continue in the future.[1]   In law, there are two general types of sanctions – civil and criminal.   A civil penalty or sanction is one that is imposed upon a person who commits a wrong. Its purpose is to compensate the state or the injured person rather than to punish the act committed. (wikipedia, civil penalty). In simple terms, it would be to correct a wrong committed through the payment of damages or compensation.   Penalties can also be agreed upon as in the case of contracts. The parties to a contract can agree that each will pay a certain amount as damages in case a breach occurs. Although this is not a state-sanctioned penalty, this is allowed under the people’s general freedom to contract.   A criminal penalty is one that is imposed to punish a person for his wrongful conduct.   Forms of penalties Fines Persons are punished by making them pay money to the state. Confiscation The objects of the crime are confiscated in favor of the state or the offended party. For example, stolen goods are taken from the offender and returned to the original owner. Demotion In the military and in government offices, persons found to be guilty of offenses against the law may be demoted in rank or even dismissed from service. Loss of civil rights A person convicted of a crime may be stripped of certain rights like the right to vote or the right to run for office. Forced labor / Community service Persons convicted may, instead of serving time in prison, render community service without compensation. In some places, convicted persons are sent to labor camps to perform manual labor for the state. Imprisonment Persons convicted may be separated from society and sent to prison for a period of time. After serving time, he will be released and will then be allowed to rejoin society. Rehabilitation Persons convicted for certain crimes like drug abuse will be sent to specialized institutions for rehabilitation. Banishment In some countries, persons convicted of crimes may be banished or sent away from their localities. Retraining orders   Those convicted of violent crimes can be prohibited from further approaching their victims through a restraining order. Public humiliation For some crimes or undesirable behavior, persons may be punished by making their acts known to the public through publication or announcement. Corporal punishment In some countries, persons may be punished by flogging or whipping. The number of lashes will depend upon the severity of the offense. Capital punishment In many countries, people may be hanged, short, electrocuted or submitted for lethal injection for the most serious crimes.   Specific Reasons for Punishment [2] Deterrence Deterrence means dissuading someone from committing the same acts in the future. It is about sending a message to society that the cost of doing such an act outweighs the benefits and, therefore, it would not be worth doing. By punishing one who violates the law, other will become fearful of committing the same violation. Incapacitation By imprisoning offenders of the law, society is protected from them. For as long as they are placed in confined space and monitored closely, then the community will be safer. This is concerned with keeping violators of the law in control by separating them from the law-abiding members of society. Rehabilitation Some punishments are designed to change or rehabilitate the wrongdoer by making him understand that his behavior was wrong and that he must not commit the same offense again. It is about changing a person’s attitude and making it very clear to him that his actions were harmful to himself and to society and that they must never be repeated. This idea is based on the belief if any real change is to happen, violators of the law must be taught to take responsibility for their own actions and they must be given the chance to undo their mistakes and reform their ways. Restoration For minor offenses, the wrongdoer might be given a chance to â€Å"right the wrong† that he committed. For instance, if a person commits vandalism by spray-painting a wall, he might be punished by forcing him to clean up or repaint the wall. The purpose of this is to offset bad behavior with a corrective act. Retribution Some people continue to believe that the harm inflicted on the wrongdoer is a good in itself even if no person benefits from it in reality. This philosophy emerged from the very old belief of â€Å"an eye for an eye† – meaning that any person who commits a wrong must suffer the same wrong. This philosophy has long been abandoned by the greater part of civilized society. Protection of Values Punishment can be seen as an act of honoring the values of society. By punishing a murder, the state shows that it honors the value of human life. By punishing burglars, we protect the value of property. Current trends Today, experts in criminal justice and corrections are moving towards the idea of reformative or restorative justice[3]. It seeks to use peaceful approaches to rid communities of criminal activity. This theory does away with retribution and revenge. It emphasizes that such violence will only cause society to deteriorate. Communities must participate in the reformation of socially deviant persons by giving them opportunities at a better life. This approach focuses on reconciliation between the victims and the offender. It gives the offender a chance to turn a new leaf and correct the wrongs he has committed. Punishment includes the expression of remorse and restitution for the harm done.   Instead of allowing persons to languish in prison unproductively, theorists argue that those convicted of crimes must be given a chance to look forward to their reintegration into society. Without this hope for reintegration, they will have no incentive to reform their behavior or correct their mistakes. They must be treated with dignity and they must be allowed to work hard to regain society’s faith and trust in them.   There is no single form of restorative justice. Some legal systems give the offenders and the victims opportunities for reconciliation and restitution. Some systems allow offenders to render community service so that they can learn to be more responsible and productive rather than just serving idle time in prison. Some systems use professional counseling as a way to educate offenders and allow them a chance to express their own thoughts and feelings about their actions.   Although many restorative justice initiatives have been found to be very successful with adult offenders, most of the efforts today are focused mainly on juveniles in conflict with the law. Conclusion Different cultures and legal systems in the world continue to debate on the purpose of punishment. There is one thing, however, that is universally agreed upon: punishment is necessary for an orderly society.   For any legal system to work, people must be informed of what is right and what is wrong. Punishment makes these lessons clear because it gives teeth to any law that prohibits a certain action. Without punishment, people will do whatever they want with impunity and without any restraint. There is great interest in defining what the acceptable norms and behaviors are in society and these standards can not be preserved unless some form of punishment is imposed upon those who wish to oppose these standards. Social control is always necessary in any civilized society. People have to be kept in line by exercising their rights in the proper way without harming the rights of others. Without penalties, the laws can never be enforced. They will remain as empty statements of ideals without any real coercive value to back them up. If any society is to flourish, undesirable behavior must be punished and good behavior must be rewarded.   The important thing to keep in mind is that any punishment must always be proportional to the wrongful act it seeks to correct. If it is too light, then there is great risk that the behavior might continue. If it is too harsh, then there is blatant injustice and instead of setting a man right, it might destroy his spirit completely and instead of mending his ways and reintegrating into society, he runs the risk of deviating even further from acceptable social behavior.   It is also important that substantial and procedural due process is strictly complied with. A person must be proven and declared to be deserving of a sanction before it is meted out upon him. The person to be sanctioned must be heard and allowed to defend himself in court with all legal means in his disposal. Sanctions and punishments must always be an incident of justice and never against it. People need to know that they will be punished for wrongdoing but they must also be given the guarantee that any person who is accused of wrongdoing will be treated fairly. Just as society becomes more orderly with a fair and impartial justice system, only chaos will result from an arbitrary and oppressive one.   Answer to Question 2 Under The Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005[4], provides that that a person subjects a woman to harassment, including sexual harassment, if: â€Å"(a) on the ground of her sex, he engages in unwanted conduct that has the purpose or effect – (i) of violating her dignity, or (ii) of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her, (b) he engages in any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect— (i) of violating her dignity, or (ii) of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her, or (c) on the ground of her rejection of or submission to unwanted conduct of a kind mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b), he treats her less favourably than he would treat her had she not rejected, or submitted to, the conduct.† It is clear that the offensive remarks and the acts of placing offensive pictures on Nicola’s desk by her male colleagues constitute sexual harassment. Although the act of asking her out to dinner is not, in itself, an act of sexual harassment, when coupled with all these other acts, it may be considered part of the whole group of offensive acts committed against her. Considering that Nicola has already approached her employer who is obliged by law to act on her complaint, it is her right to take the matter to the appropriate government agency. I advise Nicola to make notes on when these instances occurred, who were involved and what happened exactly. She must get her facts straight. She must also get a written copy of the results from the investigation. As to the acts antecedent to the investigation, Nicola must keep copies of the inappropriate emails and organize them according to their date. It would be most wise for her to seek help from her union with regard to advise and representation[5]. With the information in hand, she may now take her complaint to an employment tribunal. It must be noted that Nicola must file her complaint with the tribunal within three months from the time her employer concluded his investigation or from the last instance of harassment[6]. If she is later unsatisfied with the decision of the tribunal, then she can choose to appeal to an employment appeal tribunal. The present law against sexual discrimination will only be effective if the victims themselves assert their own rights. First, they must not be afraid to approach their harassers and tell them that the acts committed are unacceptable. The must not take these acts â€Å"sitting down† but rather, they must send a clear message that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. Second, the victims must keep in mind that it is the legal duty of their employers to act on any sexual harassment complaints. The victims must approach the employers first and make a complaint to them. If it becomes clear that the employer is unwilling or unable to act upon the matter, then the victim must bring the complaint to the employment tribunal within the appropriate period. Third, sexual harassment is a serious concern of employment or labor unions. Victims must be able to approach their unions for assistance. Unions must be able to protect their members especially from serious offenses like sexual harassment. [1] Punishment, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punishment (last accessed July 30, 2006). [2] Specific reasons for punishment, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punishment (last accessed July 30, 2006). [3] Restorative Justice, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorative_justice (last accessed July 30, 2006). [4] Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 2467, The Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005. [5] Sexual harassment: new law in force in UK, at http://www.out-law.com/page-6187 (last accessed July 30, 2006). [6] Sexual harassment, at http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/law/sexualharassment.shtml (last accessed July 30, 2006).

The Adventure of the German Student

The Adventure of the German Student There are multiple ways to analyze a literary work, through the basis of the critical approaches. The reader can select any of them in order to analyze his or her piece of work. Particularly in order to analyze this story I am going to use the Psychological approach. Washington Irving ´s story, The Adventure Of The German Student, was the one that attracted me the most, because of its enrichment content about the functioning of human ´s brain, and also, about the strong influence that an unpleasant environment has in people ´s interpersonal relationships, and how this situation can produce a serious damage in anyone ´s mental health. The Adventure Of The German Student shows us how society and social movements can interfere in peoples normal behavior and personality. As we are by nature a social being, we cannot avoid interactions with others, as well as we cannot avoid being influenced by social events. Irving ´s story tries to focus our attention on a strong socio-political and even religious event which occurred in France between the years (1789-1799) that it is well known as The French Revolution, besides he does not leave behind the reaction of the story ´s principal character Gottfried Wolfgang who was surprised and ready to discover a little more about this new city and that revolution that was on its height. Throughout the story ´s development it becomes evident Wolfgang ´s unreasonable behavior which was accompanied by a degraded state of mind that was increasing at the time the story was developing, finding himself in an awful situation at the end of the story which leads him to spend his life in a madhouse. This story begins giving us a brief orientation about which is going to be the plot in where the story will be developed. This first paragraph gives us important information that will lead us to better understand the story and to be more familiarized with the events that will be involved on it. At the end of this first paragraph the narrator stops the narration, and there is an intervention of the story ´s writer who considers important to reveal the type of life that the principal character of the story Gottfried Wolfgang had before going to Paris, by saying: -but I should first tell you something about this young German. Gottfried Wolfgang is presented as a young German man of good family also as a visionary and enthusiastic character; these qualities are common in young people, especially in those who are studying and throughout the acquisition of knowledge they also acquire new ways to perceive the world. Studies are productive, but is there any possibility to become nuts after studying so hard? The answer might be relative, but it is important to say that the capacity of human ´s brain is endless, and that there is a discipline named Psychology which its principal role is to analyze human behavior, as well as, motivation, personality and interpersonal relationships. We have to consider that Germany ´s education system was and still is considered admirable for its strict and organized strategies toward teaching, and because of this, students should have an intense dedication, if they really want to succeed. But sometimes that intense dedication to something can produce mental break downs. Now days, the term mental breakdowns is not commonly used by experts in this area, in fact, they see this term as a popular term invent by society, but no matter what the real name is, mental breakdowns are considered mental illnesses, that can lead people to a complete mental disorder, if it is not treated properly. We know that under enough pressure, continued over a long period of time, anyone can be overwhelmed, and bend. All of us have a breaking point (Dr. William C. Menninger, 1959 U.S.A) As it is shown in the second paragraph of the story: His secluded life, his intense application, and the singular nature of his studies, had an effect on both mind and body. A secluded life is not good for anybody; people should have time for everything, especially to enjoy being with others and to share. Eventually, a person who since a young age, like Wolfgang, is situated away from people; this will cause di fferent psychological damages, and if we are not okay mentally is reasonable that our body cannot work in a good way. People who are isolated perceive and make their own deductions of the world around them. In the same second paragraph, Wolfgang is compared with Emanuel Swedenborg, like Swedenborg, he had an ideal world of his own around him. Swedenborg was a Swedish inventor and scientist who lived between the years (1688-1772). Swedenborg entered into a spiritual phase in which he experienced dreams and visions. This culminated in a spiritual awakening, where he claimed he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. He claimed that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that from then on he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, demons, and other spirits. Taking into account the comparison made between Wolfgang and Swedenborg, I can assume that maybe Wolfgang was inspired by Swedenborg ´s literature, and that, if we investigate about this literature we can see that, most of the things that Swedenborg wrote had a strong influence in Wolfgang ´s behavior, at the point that we can find similarities between them. Wolfgang thought that there was an evil influence hanging over him; an evil genius or spirit seeking to ensnare him and ensure his perdition. I am completely sure that, when a person reads something, any literary text, in some way this person is influenced by the text, and psychologically if this person finds something that can be productive or just something that he or she likes, it will be introduced and used by his mind, consciously or not. The truth is that our characters mind started to get weaker rapidly, at the point that Wolfgang ´s friends started to worry about him His friends discovered the mental malady preying upon him, and determined that the best cure was a change of scene. It was evident that Wolfgang ´s friends started noticing his disordered condition, maybe because he was acting differently at the point that his friends could not feel comfortable with him anymore. he was sent, therefore, to finish his studies amidst the splendors and gayeties of Paris. Thinking that the principal problem was the environment in where he was, he was sent to Paris in order to finish his studies, just imagine, to send a young boy to explore a new city by himself without any friends or family. Maybe for him it was a kind of adventure and from what he had heard about that city, it was going to be a fascinating trip for him. Wolfgang arrived at Paris at the breaking out of the revolution The French Revolution (1789-1799) was a period of political and social upheaval in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights. > The French Revolution was a time of complete chaos in Paris. Popular, as well as, military confrontations and decapitations where the principal events of the day. Wolfgang ´s expectations about that new and fascinating city were different from reality. Despite, his enthusiasm was strong enough to become amazed with those radical socio-political changes. But then, his perception of those events, started to change, now he was another citizen who disliked those political movements and was against assassinations. He felt in some way trapped and the only way he had to escape of those horrible scenes was through reading. He is described as a literary ghoul. A ghoul by means represents something disgusting that shows morbid interests in things. This description tells us that his mental faculties were in manner unhealthy, as well as his behavior. He was trying to find a safe place between all the horrible things occurring on the street. He shut himself up physical and mentally. Although, he is described as a boy of ardent temperament, was imagination his reigning ability. Imagination works with the unconscious mind, and leaves aside consciousness and reality, in order to help the person to protect himself of an unwanted situation. In the Psychoanalytic world, was Sigmund Freud the one who first explained and developed this theory. Freud postulated that there were a number of defense mechanisms-including repression, reaction-formation, regression, displacement, and rationalization-that protect the conscious mind from those aspects of reality it may find difficult to accept. > In Wolfgang ´s case, was throughout imagination, where he found a way to repress all the events that were happening around him, in order to be in some way calm and focused in something else. he was a passionate admirer of female beauty, is common that a boy of his age starts admiring female beauty, but results difficult to understand, how he might think about something beautiful in middle of such horrifying events?, maybe he needed a couple or just somebody to talk with. I do not know for sure, but it was evident that Wolfgang started to lose his mind little by little. a dream produced an extraordinary effect upon him. It was of a female face of transcendent beauty. So strong was the impression made, that he dreamt of it again and again. We do not know exactly what Wolfgang ´s age really was, but considering the description made by the narrator at the beginning of the story, he was a young man. Is completely natural for young man to be delighted by a girl, maybe for him it was about time to experience to be with a girl, but just because of the kind of life he had and all the things that were happening around him, he could not experienced that at the moment. Dreams are an insight into our emotional preoccupations > .This is just one of lots of definitions about what dreams really are. Experts in the psychiatric area and others still cannot find an exact definition for dreams, and this is because the complexity of understanding human ´s brain has not been reached yet, despite all the scientific advances. The way in which Wolfgang ´s dreamed with this female face again and again, shows his desperation for having a couple and maybe for calming down his sexual appetite, in a manner he was obsessed by her or maybe he was sexually obsessed. Obsessives disorders involves obsessions-unwanted thoughts or images that are unsettling or interfere with an individuals life, followed by compulsions-actions that temporarily relieve the anxiety caused by the obsessions >. The unwanted thoughts and images that Wolfgang was having, shows through different psychological studies, that he had an obsessive disorder. Maybe that disorder started some time ago, before travelled to Paris and maybe it could occurred in his childhood, we are not sure, but what it is sure is that this disorder increased since he started to live and experience all the atrocities that took place during the French Revolution. Our sexual function is an important component and indicator of overall health and well-being; sexual problems or dysfunction may result from, or even cause, physical or mental illness or deterioration in important social relationships. >. According to Dr.: Sadie Sheafe sexual problems can cause mental illnesses, maybe this is what was happening with our character, just imaging, being surrounded with all those horrible scenes of death, with nobody to talk with, and if that was not enough being in some way trapped physically and mentally. It was evident that he was starting to lose his mental qualities. At the time you experience a dream, is your unconscious mind the one which works the most, for this reason Wolfgang could not do anything about those dreams that he was having, in fact they were consuming his life and taking possession of him, by the time that he was passionately enamored of this shadow of a dream, can you imagine yourself being in love of a dream?. Results difficult to think about that, but that was Wolfgang ´s situation, and when the narrator says it became one of those fixed ideas which haunt the minds of melancholy men, and are at times mistaken for madness. Here, the narrator describes Wolfga ng ´s personality as a melancholy man, which means that he was sad, and maybe sank into a prolonged depression that was destroying his mental health. One night when Wolfgang was passing through Place de Graà ¨ve which was the square in where executions were performed, he shrank back with horror at finding himself close by the guillotine A guillotine was a machine used to cut people ´s head off, and was used by the times of the French revolution, that was the political movement our character was experiencing. For a person that does not know what a guillotine is, and it is not informed about what was happening in that city, is not going to shrank back with horror, that is for sure, but as Wolfgang did know what was happening there and the purpose of that scary instrument, he felt in that way, and his first reaction was to feel scared and step aside. Obviously his nerves impulses were extremely sensitive. Wolfgangs heart sickened within him, and he was turning shuddering from the horrible engine he was shaking horrified by this monstrous instrument, here is evident the level of nervousness that he had and how tormented he was by all the horrible things that were happening there, the involuntary action of shaking is common in nervous people. At the same square he found a woman seating on the scaffold, He approached, and addressed her in the accents of sympathy even though he was passing through a bad situation, he never lost his well mannered behavior, remember that he was a man of good family, so he knew how to be a gentleman and how to speak with a lady. His surprise was that this woman was the same that have been haunting his dreams; he was amazed and a little bit confused. the very face which had haunted him in his dreams. Trembling with violent and conflicting emotions here is shown again that Wolfgang was a nervous and insecure person. the student, for the first time, blushed at the scantiness and indifference of his dwelling. When a person blushes, shows that he is feeling embarrassed about something, in this case Wolfgang felt ashamed of his shelter, because he was worried about what his female companion might think or say about it. He was fascinating by her beauty, but still he thought of abandoning his chamber to her, and seeking shelter for himself elsewhere, although, his attraction to her was infinite, he knew what was the right thing to do in that case, he was an educated young man and he felt right to give her his dwelling, and find a new place to live. But her beautifulness and the attraction that he felt about her was strong enough to prevent such thing. She is described as an enthusiast like Wolfgang She was evidently an enthusiast like himself, so maybe we can speculate that she had approximately Wolfgang ´s age. No matter the age, any person can be an enthusiast, but this quality is more observable in young people. our hearts are united; in the eye of reason and honor we are as one. Wolfgang did not believe in the liberal theories of the day, but rather, he had his own theory and even his own way to see marriage. We have to considerate that during the French Revolution, was established a new constitution, where the assembly whished that Catholicism should cease to be the religion of the State and that liberty of worship should be established. The Catholic Church was confiscated by the state. It was a complete religious chaos, mean while people were fighting for their religious rights. So, imaging what could a young couple do amid all that confusion. For Wolfgang, the thing that he was doing was reasonable and honorable, maybe in some way he was criticizing the unreasoned strategies that the state was taking against religious institutions. At the end of the story the mind of our principal character returns to reality, when he finds out that his beautiful bride was dead, and that she was already dead from the first beginning. Horrified and frantic, he alarmed the house. A scene of confusion ensued. The student fell into an uncontrolled behavior, which started to get violent The student burst into a frenzy. The fiend! the fiend has gained possession of me! and again he remarks the presence of an evil spirit that was possessing him, that might be the devil. The story never shows us the physical presence of the devil or some other evil figure. All those thoughts were just in Wolfgang ´s mind. Maybe for protecting his consciousness he was imaging the presence of an evil spirit, but at the end he could not do that anymore and is when his degraded mental state is completely reveal. Many people are used to shut themselves away mentally when they are passing through an unwanted situation, but at the end, when they experience a more difficult situation is when the brain cannot protect them anymore, and is when the person collapses. Is important to maintain our brain in good shape, social as well as personal problems are never going to cease, so an intelligent way out is in the use of healthy techniques to improve our mental faculties.   

Steps to Overcoming Depression and Developing Healthy Habits

Steps to Overcoming Depression and Developing Healthy Habits Joyce Mae Alyssa R. Mandanas Overcoming depression have three major steps, these includes understanding your depression, improving your life, and developing healthier habits. Introduction â€Å"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.† John 16:33. This bible verse says that, in our life, we’ll experience a lot of wars, disasters, problems and struggles. Our life isn’t perfect, not all are happy and miserable. God doesn’t wants us feel down, depress or weak. God is just challenging us, that’s why, we are given such problems. Problems that we, ourselves, can solve. We are His sons and daughters, He doesn’t wants us to suffer. But, we are the one who’s giving the reason why we suffer. Just take a look on God’s sacrifices for our sins, it’s like the height of Goliath while our problem is like the height of David, but, He doesn’t give up. He overcome the world. So, it means that, we can solve our problems. Don’t give up. Don’t feel hopeless and depressed, it won’t help you and it ca n’t change everything. Every problem has a solution. God is always with us. Believe, trust, and open our hearts in Him. According to (Kloopers, n.d.), â€Å"Depression is like a black tunnel with no light†. We feel hopeless, unloved, tired, and empty. But, are we just staying on that black tunnel and letting it overrule and destroy our life? Even we know that there’s a hope for every time we feel hopeless, an unconditional love when we feel unloved, and a new beginning for every miserable life. Childbirth, menopause, loss of loved ones, relationship troubles, medical diagnosis, natural disasters, financial difficulties, job problems, genetics and social isolation are life events that cause depression. But despite of those life events, we have steps for overcoming it. Dealing with depression isn’t that easy and quick but also isn’t that hard. It takes a lot of time for us to feel better. A way out for this depression is on ourselves. It needs action and perseverance in order to perform the steps needed for the recovery. Overcoming depression have three major steps, these includes understanding your depression, improving your life, and developing healthier habits. Follow this steps, it will lead us to right way and we will never go wrong. It is definitely challenging because the things that can help you the most are the things that is the most difficult to do. Hard work, patience and perseverance is badly needed. Start by setting small goals, and within that, you’ll build something. It is difficult to do, but it is not impossible. All of your hardships can return to something better. Always think positively so you can go along until you’re recovered already. Overcoming depression have three major steps, these includes understanding your depression, improving your life, and developing healthier habits. Discussion Understanding your depression Understanding your depression is the first major step to overcome depression. You need to recognize first if you are suffering from the symptoms of depression. The following symptoms are: if you feel hopeless, worthless, irritated, tired on everything you do even if it is just simple and easy, and bored on things you love the most. If you eat a lot or lost your appetite, having sleepless nights or excessive sleep, choosing to be alone rather than having social interaction with others and thinking of suicide. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you are prone to depression (Serendipitee, Bawens, Jeff, 2014). If you experienced those symptoms of depression, then go to a doctor and ask for help. Doctors can also recognize if there are health problems or medical causes that can trigger depression like illnesses, genetic causes, and addiction to drugs or alcohols. Illnesses like anxiety disorder can cause you depression because it is a mental disorder and the feeling of worry and fear are constant. Genetics can also cause depression because if someone in your family that is your first degree relative who has depression and left untreated, it has a greater chance that you can suffer depression. It can also pass through your blood or genes. However, most of the people who have depression is not because of family history. Addiction to drugs can also cause depression because of its side effects. Taking drugs or even drinking alcohol won’t help you overcome depression but rather it will worsen it. Maybe when you’re taking or drinking alcohol you’ll forget your problems but af ter that, you’ll think of your problem again. You’re just wasting your time and even your money (Serendipitee, Bawens, Jeff, 2014). If you consulted your doctor and you have decided that you will take, or won’t take any prescription drugs, it is better to search also for a cause that makes you depress, so that you can be alert to prevent those events happen in your life. Here are some events that can worsen your depression: having a fail romantic relationship, trouble in one member of your family, failure on your courses, feeling unhappy and worthless on your job, feeling uncomfortable with your environment, and having financial difficulties. Having a conflict with your partner or with one member of your family can cause depression because you’re not okay. You’re throwing words that can hurt each other. You’re angry that’s why, negative thoughts lead you’re fight. You don’t think about the better way for you to be okay but rather, you think of thoughts that deepen your fight. Pride of each other overrules. Until it came to the point that you hurt each other physica lly and emotionally. After the fight, you’ll remember all the things that your partner or family member did and said, and you’ll feel so down, insulted, bad and you think of negative thoughts like he/she will break me up, we won’t see each other again and he/she might find other better than me. It is usually happening that after the fight, you don’t have communication, but not permanently, and that is added to cause you depression because you’re going to miss him/her and be worried. Failure on your courses can cause depression because the idea of failing is hard to accept. You’ll think that your parents will be angry at you and then you might start comparing yourself to others that pass the course. You’ll feel weak, sad, down and worthless. You might lose your interest in studying and start rebelling. It is also the same if you feel worthless on your job. Experiencing financial difficulties can cause depression because you’re h aving problems in terms of money. Financial problem is the major stressor in our life. And all of us believe that, money is so important in our lives. If you don’t have enough money, you can’t support your basic needs and you can also stop schooling. And it is literally a big impact in our lives. It can also make you stress because of the deadline payment of bills, if you fail on paying it, you’ll have no supply of electricity and water. The demand of the lender wherein you borrow money can also make you stress, if you don’t pay on its due date, you’ll have a bad record and maybe he/she won’t lend money to you again. It can ruin your life and you’ll feel so weak, bad, down, and sometimes, others think of suicide (Beyondblue, n.d.). Styron begins his story in October 1985 when he flies to  Paris  to receive the prestigious  Prix mondial Cino Del Duca. During this trip, the writers mental state begins to deteriorate rapidly. Using a mix of anecdotes, speculation, and reportage, Styron reflects on the causes and effects of depression, drawing links between his own illness and that of other writers such as  Randall Jarrell,Albert Camus,Romain Gary, and  Primo Levi, as well as U.S. President Abraham Lincoln  and activist  Abbie Hoffman. Styron connects the onset of his depression with his sudden termination of his lifelong alcohol use, and argues that his condition was likely exacerbated by careless prescription of the drug  Halcion. His depression culminated in a bout of intense suicidal ideation (though he never made an actual suicide attempt), which led to hospitalization and recovery (Styron, 1990). PARAPHRASE You can write in a journal. Writing in a journal can have peace in your mind. You can write anything about what happen that day. Your journal can be your best friend and listener. You can open what you feel in your journal. But it is better that you’ll write down positive things, so that you’ll never think of negative things. You can also monitor your recovery throughout depression. You can also reflect your improvements in every day (Kloopers, n.d.). Improving your life Improving your life is the second major step to overcome depression. You need to implement some drastic changes. Create a positive atmosphere in your life and start to forget all the negative and undesirable events out of your life. Get rid of unhealthy relationships for you to stop making feel worse. Have a serious talk to your enemy, say all you want to say, let your anger and hatred come out but don’t let them to lead your conversation.. You need to do this so that, there are no bad feelings build in your heart. If you seriously hate your career and studies, it’s time to find and follow what you want. If you can’t stand in your environment with your enemy, find a new place to live (Serendipitee, Bawens, Jeff, 2014). You can also maintain a busy schedule. Keeping yourself busy is also an effective way of overcoming depression so that, you’ll forget things that can make you depress. Distract yourself from overthinking and start to do what you love the most. Entertain yourself. Stay focus on your goals and on what you’re doing. Find a new passion or hobby, so you can have a reason why you wake up each morning. Be active in organizations. Spend time with people who makes you happy. Be generous in helping others because it can increase your self-worth (Kloopers, n.d.). You also need to maintain healthy relationships among your friends and family because it is important. They will help you to cope up with your depression. They will make you feel their unconditional love and priceless support. They are always beside you no matter what happens, that’s why keep in touch with them. Spend time hanging out with them. Have some social interaction. Talk to your most trusted person and open to her your feelings. You can also engage in some social organization, so that you’ll meet new friends and to prevent the sense of isolation. If you know someone that is also suffering from depression, give them advice, help them to get rid of depression and encourage them to follow the steps you’re facing on then think positively (Smith, Saisan, Segal, 2014). Developing healthier habit Developing healthier habit is the last major step to overcome depression. You need to improve your sleeping habits because, it can make a big improvement on your mental health. Getting enough sleep is healthy for our body. Train yourself to start going to bed early and waking up at the same time every day and night. Avoid taking naps longer than an hour because, it can make you feel more tired and make you harder to fall asleep. Avoid also sleeping less than 8 hours because it will lose your energy and you can’t think normally. You’ll have problem in making decisions. Limit food or drinks that contains caffeine because, it will make you harder to fall asleep. Exercise can also help you to fall asleep faster if you finish it at a right time (Healthysleep, 2007). You also need to have regular exercise daily because, it will increase your energy level and decrease the feeling of fatigue. Have a 30 minutes exercise every day and it can have a positive effect on your mood. It doesn’t mean that if you exercise you need to go to a gym a find an instructor. Be practical, just by having a walk and jog every morning is an exercise already. Exercise can also be a hobby or it can be a reason why you are busy. You’ll not just escape from depression but, you can also have a beautiful body figure and be stronger physically (Borchard, 2009). You also need to improve your diet because, it will help you feel less depressed and actively perform your tasks. What you eat has an impact on the way you feel. Don’t skip meals, so that you won’t easily get irritable. If you’re hungry, you’re tired on doing tasks and you’re having a bad mood most of the time. While if you’re fully loaded, you’ll have energy in performing tasks and don’t have a reason to be devastated. Add more fruits and vegetables into your diet, so that it can boost your mood and because it is nutritious. Eat three healthy and balanced meals a day (WebMD, 2005). Challenge negative thinking. If people are negative thinker, they see the world in a negative way. You can’t think right and ignore all the positive things and focus on the negative ones. And when negative people fail, they blame, down themselves and think that it will hold forever. Thinking negative won’t help you, but rather, it can add to your depression. It will be harder for you to recover from depression if you let your negative thoughts surrounds your life. Just think positive and don’t believe to your negative thoughts. This can help you overcome depression and remove the sense of negativity out of your mind (Uy, 2014). References Barbee, J. (1998). Annals of Clinical Psychiatry. Retrieved from Mxed Symptoms and Syndromes of anxiety and depression: Diagnostic, Prognostic, and etiologic issues: www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression Beyondblue. (n.d.). Retrieved from What causes depression?: www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/depression/what-causes-depression Borchard, T. J. (2009). Psych Central. Retrieved from 6 steps for beating depression: psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/07/09/6-steps-for-beating-depression/ Buckner, D. (2014). Depression: Statistics, Causes, Signs Symptoms. Retrieved from The Refuge, A Healing Place: www.therefuge-ahealingplace.com/depression-treatment/effects-symptoms-signs Dickstein, M. (2009). Dancing in the Dark: A Great Depression. New York: W.W. Norton Co. Frank, A., Roosevelt, E., Doubleday, M. (1993). The Diary of a Young Girl. Amsterdam: Bantam. Goldberg, J. (2014). Depression Health Center. Retrieved from WebMD: www.webmd.com/depression/understanding-depression-symptoms Grohol, J. M. (2013). An Introduction to Depression. Retrieved from PsychCentral: psychcentral.com/lib/an-introduction-to-depression Healthysleep. (2007). Retrieved from Twelve simple tips to improve your sleep: healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/getting/overcoming/tips Kenny, D. T. (2014). Depression. Retrieved from Patient.co.uk: www.patient.co.uk/health/depression-leaflet Kloopers, M. (n.d.). Lifehack. Retrieved from Fifteen simple ways to overcome depression and sadness: www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/fifteen-simple-ways-overcome-depression-and-sadness.html Lauren, K. (2013). Teardrop. New York: Delacorte Press. Nordqvist, C. (2003). What is depression? What causes depression? Retrieved from MNT Knowledge Center: www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/8933.php Orwell, G. (1950). 1984. London, England: Signet Classics. Paterson, K. (1996). Bridge to Terabithia. Virginia: Trumpet Club Special Edition. Serendipitee, Bawens, D., Jeff. (2014). wikiHow. Retrieved from How to overcome depression: www.wikihow.com/Overcome-Depression Smith, M., Saisan, J., Segal, J. (2014). HelpGuide.org. Retrieved from Depression Symptoms and Warning Signs: www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/depression-signs-and-symptoms.htm Staff, M. C. (2014). Treatment and Drugs. Retrieved from Depression (major depressive disorder): www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/basics/treatment/con20032977 Styron, W. (1990). Darkness Visible. United States: Random House. Team, H. E. (2013). Signs of Depression. Retrieved from Healthline: www.healthline.com/health/depression/recognizing-symptoms#Overview1 Team, T. H. (2013). What do you want to know about depression? Retrieved from Healthline: www.healthline.com/health/depression Uy, M. (2014). 10 Tips to overcome negative thoughts: Positive thinking made easy. Retrieved from Tiny buddha: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/10-tips-to-overcome-negative-thoughts-positive-thinking-made-easy/ WebMD. (2005). Retrieved from Depression and diet: www.webmd.com/depression/guide/diet-recovery?page=3

Experience in the Workplace :: Language Communication Essays

Experience in the Workplace During the many years of working in the IT (Information Technologies) field, I have dealt with hundreds of people from all over the world, from as far as Asia, to as close as Detroit, and although all the people I have dealt with can speak English to a certain degree, most have what Amy Tan, writer of â€Å"Mother Tongue† would call â€Å"Broken English†. By this meaning, the words they use are the primary words of a sentence that just barely make the sentence itself understandable. To make matters worse, most of those people I deal with are overseas, so the only way of voice communication is the telephone. Even when speaking with friends just across town that have been brought up the same as I, and speak the same â€Å"tongue† as I, there is problems understanding one another because of the phone devices themselves – sometimes having static in the line, the call just breaking up, and even sometimes calls being dropped in the middle of a thought. Now, you put into account all of these factors, then make a business call to someone overseas who speaks with â€Å"Broken English†, and there is defiantly going to be a bit of frustration, trying to understand one another†¦ This applies to people on both ends of the call! Now, when it comes to matters like this and dealing with business, I must agree with Thomas Bray, writer of â€Å"Memorial Day and Multiculturalism†, when he states â€Å"Bilingual education is a bad idea.† I refer to this meaning, if everyone was taught and brought up speaking one language, then doing business matters overseas over the phone would be much easier, because it would be easier to understand one another, in my opinion. There have even been some instances where after dealing with someone on the phone overseas for quite awhile and not being able to get much accomplished, I’ll ask if there is any chance that I can to speak to someone with better English, kind of like the instance where Amani Ammari, a classmate of mine, had to speak for her mother because her mother only had â€Å"Limited English† as Amani stated in one of our discussions online. To now turn this into a complete opposite direction, I agree with Maxine Hairston, writer of "Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing" and all of her ideas on have classrooms being multicultural.

Capital Punishment Essay - Benefits of the Death Penalty :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Benefits of the Death Penalty Have you ever thought about if the person next to you is a killer or a rapist? If he is, what would you want from the government if he had killed someone you know? He should receive the death penalty! Murderers and rapists should be punished for the crimes they have committed and should pay the price for their wrongdoing. Having the death penalty in our society is humane; it helps the overcrowding problem and gives relief to the families of the victims, who had to go through an event such as murder. First, people should know the history of the death penalty. The death penalty has a long history dating back to the 16th Century BC. "In 16th Century BC Egypt, a death sentence was ordered for members of nobility, who were accused of magic. They were ordered to take their own life. The non-nobility was usually killed with an ax"(Burns). During the 18th Century BC, King Hammurabi of Babylon had a code that arranged the death penalty for 25 different crimes although murder was not one of them (Burns). The death penalty has been around since the time of Jesus Christ. Executions have been recorded from the 1600s to present times. From about 1620, the executions by year increased in the US. It has been a steady increase up until the 1930s; later the death penalty dropped to zero in the 1970s and then again rose steadily. US citizens said that the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was believed that it was "cruel and unusual" punishment (Amnesty International). In the 1970s, the executions by year dropped between zero and one then started to rise again in the 1980s. In the year 2000, there were nearly one hundred executions in the US (News Batch). On June 29, 1972, the death penalty was suspended because the existing laws were no longer convincing. However, four years after this occurred, several cases came about in Georgia, Florida, and Texas where lawyers wanted the death penalty. This set new laws in these states and later the Supreme Court decided that the death penalty was constitutional under the Eighth Amendment (Amnesty International). The very first legal executions came in the United States was during the Revolutionary War against Great Britain. British soldiers hung the first person to die by the death penalty, Nathan Hale, for espionage (Farrell).

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn :: essays papers

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Francie Nolan, A Questing Hero In the fictional novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith tells the life experiences of one girl growing up in Brooklyn, New York. The main character of the book, Francie, fulfills the pattern of a questing hero. Smith leads the reader through the high points of Francie's life as well as the low. One learns of all the obstacles Francie accomplished and while reading, begins to love and appreciate the girl. The reader is first introduced to Francie when she is at the age of eleven. Francie is an average, normal girl growing up in Brooklyn in the year 1912. She doesn't have many friends and her family doesn't have much money, however she enjoys reading and is constantly finding ways to amuse herself. Being as young and innocent as she is, life seems nearly perfect for Francie. Eventually though, Francie realizes that this isn't the case and, in a sense, looses a bit of her innocence. On her thirteenth birthday, Francie starts to write in a journal. She begins by writing, "Today I am a woman". In just too short years, Francie grew, learned, and changed immensely. She is a completely different person than the one who existed two years earlier, both physically and mentally. Francie learned the serious and nearly devastating news that her father is a drunk, and she begins writing entries in her journal such as 'Jan 10: Papa sick today'. In her journal, Francie also wrote about her curiosity with sex. By this point in the book, Francie is no longer the girl that the reader first met, but she is now a young woman. Although under a fake identity, Francie begins attending school and finds that she truly enjoys it. However, on her way home from school one day, at age fourteen, Francie experiences a horrific moment, one that can never be forgotten. She was molested and nearly raped by a neighborhood sex fiend. As if not traumatizing enough, Francie also watched her mother shoot the man in her defense. Not long after this, an even greater event takes place in Francie's life. She is informed of her father's death, that she is told had been caused of pneumonia. Coping with her father's death is a struggle, yet Francie begins to live life again with the love of her family and by keeping herself preoccupied with other tasks.

Easter Island’s End

2013-04-16 ENGL 102 Essay #1 Longer summery In the article, â€Å"Easter Island’s End† by Jared Diamond, he states that the overpopulation and overusing the natural resources can affect and destroy our environment. Easter Island can be used as a warning that cultural and environmental dangers exist due to overexploitation. Although, civilizations have vanished from the island it still has a remaining mystery and history to its untouched landscape. Easter Island was formed out of an ancient volcanic eruption; the island is only sixty-four square miles with habitable land and subtropical weather that makes the soil fertile.Easter Island is famous for its tight-lipped statues that stand across the island, which were erected by the native Rapa Nui people. These are ancient wonders of the world that are still being studied to get a full understanding of how and why these statues were created. From written history, the explorer’s first impression of the island was that it has nothing but a sand island, there were nothing left on the island except for hundreds of the Rapa Nui statues. According to Diamond, the climate and location of the Easter Island should create abundance of trees, soils and other natural resources.Many questions have arisen to Easter Island’s current existence. After many years of research, scientists and sociologists have come to a conclusion that the natural resources of the island were used by the islanders to survive their daily life, they cut down woods to transport those Rapa Nui statues and build canoes in order to find food. As time goes by, the population of Easter Island increased rapidly, and these islanders started to utilize all the natural resources abusively until the last tree was cut down.With today’s rising population around the world, we have been exhausting our limited natural resources, if we do not learn to conserve all the limited natural resources, we will have nothing left for our future generations. Longer summery reflection I was very interested in the Easter Island topic when I first saw the title of the article. I have always seen pictures of the statues on Easter Island and wanted to visit there someday. I thought this would be good information to know about, so I started to read the article â€Å"Easter Island’s End† by Jared Diamond.After I finished reading it the first time, I think I understood most of the article. But I still didn’t understand how the islanders collapsed the Easter Island. So I went on google and did some research. I found a Ted talk by Jared Diamond about how human collapsed the natural and civilization. After watching the video, it helped me a lot in understanding how human are slowly destroying our own planet, similar to what happened on Easter Island. After viewing the video, I went back to read the article again, and started to write down notes.I divided my long summery into five sections, the first section consis ting of the main idea of the article, over population and over using the natural resources lead Easter Island to an end. The second section is about the history of Easter Island, and what was on the island before it was destroyed. The third section is about the condition of Easter Island after it was destroyed. The fourth section is the conclusion of the summery, we can see that Easter Island is the miniature version of our earth, if we don’t stop over using our limited natural resources, our earth will end up like Easter Island. Shorter SummeryIn the article, â€Å"Easter Island’s End† by Jared Diamond, he states that the overpopulation and overusing the natural resources can affect and destroy our environment. Easter Island can be used as a warning that cultural and environmental dangers exist due to overexploitation of natural resources. The local inhabitants of Easter Island over-utilized the island's natural resources to the point of a complete extinction o f those very resources that were sustaining them. Easter Island can be thought of as a small scale model of the earth, and what could hypothetically happen if we do not exercise natural resource sustainability and management.Shorter summery reflection I found that writing a short summery is much harder than writing a longer summery, especially on keeping it under 100 words. At the beginning, I didn’t know how to start with the shorter summery, but I thought a good way to do it is to condense my longer summery and make it into 100 words. So I start with filtering out the least important information from the longer summery. First thing I took out was the history and introduction of Easter Island. Then I filtered out the information about the gigantic statues. Finally, I deleted the example of how they waste the natural resources.After I have the edited version of the summery, I read it again, and thought that the most important part is the author’s thesis, which is †Å"he states that the overpopulation and overusing the natural resources can affect and destroy our environment. † So I decided to keep the same sentence. In the article, the author clearly illustrate that the cause of the ending of the Easter Island is because of the islanders didn’t use their resources wisely. He wants to warn us that the Easter Island is a lesson for us and if we don’t want to end up like the islanders, we should stop abusing our limited natural resources.I expanded the information what I think I have learned from the article, and then make them into a academic form. This is how I put my shorter summery together. Critique and essay In â€Å"Easter Island’s End†, published by Discover Magazine in 1995, written by Jared Diamond, a professor of geography and physiology at UCLA, has shown us the beginning till the end of the former heaven, the Easter Island. In the article, Diamond illustrates that overpopulating and overusing natural resources will result in destroying our natural environment. Easter Island is located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.When the European explorers reached the island in 1722 they found a desolate landscape with less than 2,000 people existing there. They noticed that the islanders lived in caves and had a very limited supply of food. And they also found these gigantic statues that were carved out of stone. Those were evidence which proves that refined civilization once existed in Easter Island. Because of the unique location of the Easter Island, it has very good climate that creates abundance of natural resources. â€Å"In theory, this combination of blessings should have made Easter a miniature paradise, remote from problems that beset the rest of the world. (165) However, when explorers discovered Easter Island, it was a completely opposite of the â€Å"paradise†. It makes us wonder what happened in this Island. The first hypothesis the researchers considered was the fo rest was lost because of climate change, but evidence quickly pointed to the hypothesis that the people had gradually destroyed their own island. Researchers predicted that the trees provided wood, building material for houses and canoes, fruit to eat, fiber for clothing. Most importantly, lots of woods were used as the first resource to move the stone statues.These statues are 33 feet tall, and weighed up to 99 tons. Some of them are very far from where they were constructed in the quarries to the coastal sites where they were positioned. With the trees slowly been cutting down, rain would have eroded the soil away. Population raised rapidly over generations, people started to unmanageably use the limited natural resources on the overpopulated island. As a result the islanders turned against one another because of the shortage of food. â€Å"Gradually trees become fewer, smaller, and less important.By the time the last fruit-bearing adult palm tree was cut, palms had long since ce ased to be of economic significance. †(173)The life of paradise Easter Island has come to an end. In the article, Diamond has point out that we can consider our planet as a large version of the Easter Island. We have a potentially non-sustainable eco system. If we look at our progression over the last 300 years that we have inhabited North America, we will notice that we have removed many natural resources. Such as Trees in the Northwest, plains in the Midwest, the marshes of Florida, all of which have been devastated by humans in the past centuries.Our great grandparents did not notice the destruction, nor will I ever be able to actually notice some of it myself. We must learn from the lesson of the Easter Island and start to use our natural resources wisely. If we don’t preserve our environment by recycling, saving trees, and protecting land, we will be forced to face the same ending as the islanders. Natural resources are important and limited, if we don’t pro tect them, the nature will pay back to us and there will be nothing left for our future generation. Citation Diamond, Jared. â€Å"Easter Island's End. † Science and Society (2007): 164-74. Print.