Buddhist Monk in Letter Form essays

Buddhist Monk in Letter Form essays Growing up I was very poor and unhappy. I decided very young that the only way to truly understand happiness was to become wealthy. At the age of 12, I went out and got a job as an assistant for a scientist. However, I wanted to make a lot of money. Therefore I chose to work for an evil, rich man. His unethical line of work consisted of terrible studies done on people with physical and mental handicaps. Whenever I would help him with the unethical part of his studies, something bad always happened to my family or me. After multiple mysterious accidents causing death to my family and plenty of injuries to me, I realized money didnt make me happy. I wanted out of the business once I made a connection between my work and my bad luck. I realized I needed change in my life. So I went out and sought knowledge, as you are now. I discovered Buddhism. This is what I found and I hope it will help you. The reason bad things are happening to you and your family/friends is simple. Its called Karma and means the law of moral cause and effect. It includes past and present actions and good or bad karma results from our own actions. Meaning that every time you off someone this is seen as a bad thing and you must receive the bad effects of this. You need to change your life and your occupation. You cannot kill and not expect consequences. Buddhism teaches that the law of karma and the four noble truths, basics of the Buddhas teaching, will help end your suffering. Here are the four noble truths. First, no one can deny that suffering is the conditions of all existence. Buddha understands that everyone suffers. However, he believes that you can end this suffering. The explained reason for this suffering is the second noble truth that general dissatisfaction comes to human beings because they are possessive, greedy! ...

External and Internal Motivation for Homework and Projects

External and Internal Motivation for Homework and Projects Do you know what drives you to get good grades or put that extra bit of effort into your science project? What is it that makes us want to do well- both on tests and in our lives? Our reasons or desires to succeed are our motivations. There are two key types of motivations:  intrinsic and extrinsic. The type of motivation that drives us actually affects how well we do.   Intrinsic motivation is the sort of desire that arises from within us. If you are an artist, you may be driven to paint because it brings you joy and peace. If you are a writer you may write to satisfy the need to create stories from the many ideas swimming around inside your head. These drives stem from an interest in the activity or job itself, without any external influence. Internal motivators often become defining qualities or characteristics of the person acting on them. Extrinsic motivation compels you to act based on some outside force or outcome. The desire is not one that would arise naturally within you, but because of someone or some consequence. You might be motivated to do some extra credit to keep from failing your math class. Your boss might offer an incentive program to make you work a little harder. These external influences can have a great impact on why or how people do what they do, sometimes even things that seem out of character.   While it would seem intrinsic motivation would be better than extrinsic, they both have their advantages. Being internally motivated is most rewarding in that the activity or area of study naturally brings a person pleasure. The desire to perform an action requires less effort than an externally driven motivation. Being good at the activity is not necessarily a factor. Many people are motivated to sing karaoke despite their musical ability, for example. Ideally, people would be intrinsically motivated to do well in all aspects of their life. However, that is not the reality. Extrinsic motivation is good for when someone has a job or an assignment to do that they do not really enjoy for its own sake. This can be beneficial in the workplace, school, and life in general. Good grades and the possibility of getting into a good college are good external motivators for a student. Receiving a promotion or a pay raise incentivizes employees to go above and beyond at work. Perhaps some of the most beneficial aspects of extrinsic motivators are that they encourage people to try new things. Someone that has never tried horseback riding may not know that it is something they might really enjoy. A teacher might encourage a talented young student to take classes they normally would not have, introducing them to a new area of interest.   Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations work in different ways but are equally important. It is really great to feel good about doing something you love and doing it well. However, no one can function in the world acting only on internal desires. Those external influences help people develop in all aspects of life.

Gestures and Facial Expressions Experiment Essay

Gestures and Facial Expressions Experiment - Essay Example This paper will study the basis of gestures and facial expressions. Since these gestures and facial expressions have so much to do with a person’s individuality, I wanted to know how it could affect me in different ways. The same happened when I stopped making use of these gestures and facial expressions for a week. I realized that my best friend was unable to understand the change in my attitude. Even though he was listening to what I said but he asked for my confirmation on quite a few issues time and time again. He wanted to know if there was something wrong with me or that if a circumstance has altered my perspectives a little bit. I was not anywhere close to telling him the exact reason. The gestures and facial expressions had become strangers for me for an entire week, and I started to see life from a completely different tangent. It brought about a positive as well as a negative impact on my personality. The point of optimism was that I was willing to forego serious aspects which could trigger positive or negative emotions within me. T hus I was aloof of the world around me. The negativities that came about included the fact that my words were not being taken seriously by the people around me because these gestures and facial expressions were not in line with what I was saying. I believe that the impact of gestures and facial expressions is such that it can make or break a conversation and the same must have happened to me a lot of times but it only came about as a revelation to me during the last few days that I remained quiet and stopped making use of the gestures and facial expressions. It was indeed a very different experience for me to start living my life without getting happy or sad. Most important aspect was that I had to show a straight face at all times. I tried my best to be like this for the entire week and my perseverance paid rich dividends as I kept a low profile during this

Two of Americas Most Wanted and Renowned Serial Killers, Gary Ridgway Essay

Two of Americas Most Wanted and Renowned Serial Killers, Gary Ridgway and Dennis Rader - Essay Example This paper deals with the lives of two of America’s most wanted and renowned serial killers, Gary Ridgway and Dennis Rader. Both of them have caused a great number of grievances and havoc among the people by killing several individuals and were hunted down by the police with an aim to stop murder from taking place. This paper observes a compare and contrast of the lives of these two serial killers, their motives and the way that they went about murdering people. Gary Leon Ridgway and Dennis Rader were both born in the countryside; Ridgeway in Utah and Rader in Kansas, and only have a four-year gap between each other. They both have gruesome nicknames which have made them quite unpopular among the people – Gary is called ‘Green River Gary’, the ‘Green River Killer’ or ‘The Riverman’ whereas Dennis has adorned the nickname of ‘BTK’ or the ‘Bind, Torture, Kill Strangler.’ Both of them have the commonality of strangling their victims and killing them, then dumping their bodies away in order to dispose of them. Both have been subject to life imprisonment without parole and are hated among people for having killed so many people without any reason at all. The police are still trying to understand their reasoning behind the killings. Delving into the personal lives of serial killers always helps a person understand the atrocities of their past and what made them become the way they are in the present. Ridgway had a very troubled childhood because he often witnessed his parents fighting violently with each other. He was dragged into the fight and abused by his mother for whom he began to develop both anger and sexual feelings. (Prothero, Mark; Carlton Smith ) Rader, on the other hand, had a very normal childhood and graduated from high school and then college. As a child, he loved torturing animals and hated them with all his might. He also had a sexual fetish for women’s undergarment s; this was seen in his killings as he often killed women, stole their undergarments and went about wearing them on his own.

Analysis of the Liberian Conflict

Analysis of the Liberian Conflict Background to this Conflict Analysis The Liberian conflict began in 1979 with civil unrest and ended in 2003 with the forced exile of the then president Charles Taylor. During this 24years period, Liberia has had a number of significant turning points: two regime-changing coups (1980 and 1990) and with them the assassination of 2 presidents, two civil wars, the first in 1989 90, the second from 1997 2003, and two elections, 1985 and 1997. The period was marred with systemic violence and human rights violations which resulted in the death of 150 250,000 people and 1.5 million people displaced (FRTRCLDP, 2009: 3) this is startling given a pre-war population of 2.8 million. However, if we examine the period from the rice riots of 1979 and the 1980 coup we find a steady escalation in direct violence starting from that period. Furthermore there is substantial evidence of structural violence in pre-79 Liberia. The means of financing the regimes of Charles Taylor, Samuel Doe and the True Whig Party, from 1979 to 2003 were very different during reign (Reno 1999,pp102 103 ), but nevertheless the political, hierarchical structures endured throughout this time, albeit with different leaders. This continued to allow a ruling elite to exploit the subjugated masses as it had done for the previous century. Furthermore, the lack of loyalty towards Taylor, by the wealthy elite, is comparable to the lack of support for Does administration, by the same elite, during Does final years in office. The similarities between Taylors reign, the Doe era and the period of rule prior to 1979 demonstrate a cyclical nature to the conflict. Therefore, unless the period under review in this conflict analysis is based around one of the turning points noted above, the selection of a time is almost arbitrary if chosen during this period. Furthermore, if one tries to analyse the conflict at the time of the first civil war or post 1990, the discourse leads to an examination of the conflict and structures during Does rule, and ultimately, this leads to an analysis of the societal structures and conflict potential prior to the 1979/80 uprising. In order to provide a time frame for evaluation, this analysis will focus on the period of 1979 1989 because what comes thereafter is very much a product of what came before. Conflict Analyses The aim of a conflict analysis is to provide a better understanding of the causes and drivers of a given conflict. Several leading development agencies have designed conflict analysis tools to help them to better target their development work and to ensure that they do not aggravate a conflict situation through that development. A summary of few prominent conflict analyses can be found at Appendix 2 Methodology The aim of this conflict analysis is to gain an understanding of the root causes and manifestations of violence in Liberia over the period 1979 1990, in particular focusing at the country level. The analysis will also identify and analyse sub-national, regional and international actors that affected the conflict. The DfID Strategic Conflict Assessment consists of three parts: Conflict Analysis; Analysis of responses to the conflict; Strategies and options for dealing with the situation; The Conflict Analysis Framework of the assessment examines the following areas: Table 1 DfID Conflict Analysis Framework Conflict Analysis (i) Structures (ii) Actors (iii) Dynamics Analysis of long term factors underlying conflict: Security Economic Political Social Analysis of conflict actors: Interests Relations Capacities Peace agendas Incentives Analysis of: Long term trends of conflict Triggers for increased violence Capacities for managing conflict Likely future conflict scenarios (Great Britain, DfID, p10, Table 1). The DfID framework provides a tool which is easily transferable to analyse the Liberian conflict within the parameters set. A secondary aim of this analysis is to see whether we can shed any light on the greed versus grievance debate and to help assess the predominance of one set of motivating factors over the other in the case of the Liberian conflict. Greed and grievance The principle greed arguments focus on the economic benefit that might motivate an individual, or group, to fight and then continue fighting (Mac Ginty 2006: 69) Three pre-conditions, have been identified, by Collier, as conflict catalysts in greed based theories. These are access to primary commodities, the proportion of young men in society and the amount of education available (Collier 2000, 93). Collier goes so far as to rank the importance of these factors but does not suggest that all three need to be present at the same time. Grievance theories of conflict emphasise arguments of ideology, ethnicity, human needs and inter-group competition (Mac Ginty 2006: 71). Idoelogy and ethnicity are often used by the layperson in explaining conflict causation, but a fuller analysis often identifies these as sustaining a conflict rather than initiating it, leaders might use ethno-religious calls to ‘rally the troops, but this is often not the underlying cause (Barash and Webel, 2002: 15) . Based on statistical research, Collier argues (2000: 96) that grievance theories of conflict causation â€Å"are so unimportant† compared to the prevalence of greed based motives, that, â€Å"grievance based explanations of civil war are so seriously wrong†. However, he does admit that that under the right circumstances (such as following and economic slump) grievances motives can be explained. Structures Societies that are socially fractionalised along ethnic or religious divides are significantly less prone to conflict (Collier, 2000: 98). Social division in Liberia lay between 17 groups (FRTRCLDP 2009: 51). The first group consists of the original settlers from the US freed slaves who arrived in Liberia in 1822, this group were known as the Americo-Liberians; together with the Caribbean freed slaves they constituted 5% of the population. The remaining groups were formed from 16 separate indigenous tribal groups. There were further splits along religious lines. The US settlers brought with them Christianity which spread amongst the population. Liberia also had an Islamic population from the African-Arabic slavers of the 16th and 17th centuries. By 1980, this provided a blend of approximately 40% Christian, 20% Muslim, 20% indigenous religions (and a number of individuals practicing some form of hybrid religion). According to the hypothesis, Liberia would be very unlikely to collapse into civil war due to its non-homogeneous nature. This was in fact the case rprio to the arrival of the Americo-liberians; A study by Olukujo (as cited in the FRTRCLDP 2009: 51) notes that for hundreds of years the 16 tribes had lived in relative peace with â€Å"intermarriage, modern education and westernised Christianity, Islam and other foreign influences† blurring tribal ethnicity. Furthermore, each family had a family head and each village a council of elders who would resolve conflicts. However, when analysing the Liberian political and economic structures prior to 1980, we find that it is difficult to untangle the two strands; this is because the Liberian system was very hierarchical with a ruling elite and a proletariat; there was limited, if any middle class. The establishment of the Liberian political system, in the 18th century, was based on a US constitutional model (Outram, 1999: 164) with a Senate and a House of representatives. However, only the Americo-Liberians were allowed to vote. The political elite passed laws which kept the indigenous people subjugated, both politically and economically, Evidence of this self-perpetuation can be seen in the fact that the True Whig Party was the only political party that held officer from 1877 until the coup in 1980, even the previous President, President Tubman, remained in office for an unbroken period of 37 years. It is very unlikely that the True Whig Party would have been voted out prior to the coup, as the indigenous population did not have the right to vote, until a constitutional change in 1984. Therefore those who had political positions were also either economically power or financially well connected. Those without money or power were subjugated by this ruling elite known as a patron-client relationship (Outram, 1999: 165). The President had a significant amount of power vested in him, as both the Chief of State and Head of Government. President Tubman consolidated power in his position, just as Doe did 10 years later, and both following unsuccessful coups. So the evidence suggests that the ruling elite in society were able to exploit self interest and so were motivated by greed. We shall now turn our attention to the motives of the subjugated. When a rebel organisation has the potential to gain sufficient size that the prospect of a conflict has a realistic chance of success, then individuals will be more likely to bond together for grievance based reasons (Collier, 2000: 99). So, if Liberia is viewed through the lens of the masses, then the society is much less divided; with split of 95% indigenous population to 5% ruling elite (FRTRCLDP 2009: 5). This allows us to evaluate the grievance theory model due to Liberias homogenous nature and therefore its propensity to civil war for grievance reasons. The following lists examples of laws that were passed that demonstrate the lack of rights tahts wereexperienceed by the indigenous people REFERNCES!!!! Examples of the laws passed by the government included: the 1864 Ports of Entry Act, which restricted foreign trade with indigenous people, the indigenous werent granted citizenship until 1904. In 1926 the government leased 1 million acres of land to the firestone company, land which was inhabited, they then conscripted local labour for the company and other neighbouring countries. In 1931the Government of Liberia was requested to defend its position over allegations from the League of Nations of svaling the indigenous population. . Economic 1864 passed laws baning trade Political US constitiional arrangement Single party from1877, Political eltie Social Access to education forced adoption referred to as barbarians no tribal problems Unification attempts but more for popular support context of the regional issues at the time. Indeed when Samuel Doe rose to power in the 1980 coup he did so onthe back of a wave of local grievances. Dynamics Manifestation of Violence Defintion of direct and structural Violence, definition of peace and conflict Comparison or 1985 Vs 1955 Structural: no right to vote, land taken away, human salvery and conscript labour, not even citizens til 1904 Quotes form TRC Ref topdown and bottom up Mac ginty p 77, 3rd feature of conflict†¦.. Corruption Issues regarding money and support for wealthy elite Issues of 23 million to release Ellen and the 400m in aid. Table 2 Comparison of Violence Pre 1980 Post 1980 †¢ Ruling Elite (Americo Liberian) †¢ No right to vote for masses †¢ Power vested in the President †¢ President is Chief of State and Head of Government †¢ Army used as security †¢ Suppression of uprising 1955 †¢ Huge personal financial incentives to stay in power foreign investment †¢ NO Ethnic tensions (Olukoju 2006) †¢ Ruling Elite (Krahn tribe) †¢ No Right to vote for the masses Voting overturned †¢ Political structure remains the same †¢ Power vested in the President †¢ Army used as security †¢ Harsh suppression of coup by Gen Quiwonkpa 2985 †¢ Huge financial incentives to stay in power †¢ Escalation of Structural violence and direct violence †¢ Inter-ethnic fighting †¢ Corruption increases as a survival mechanism Conclusion Violence escalation table The following table summarises the level of violence during the period and notes the factors that sustain or escalate the violence. Table 3 Violence Manifestation Violence Manifestation and Explanation Initiation †¢ ‘Colonial structures and exploitation in Liberia lead to → Localised grievances and structural violence, Create opportunities for Sustainment †¢ Individual actors greed → nepotism to galvanise own support → fractionalisation leads to ethno-tribalism †¢ No structural change takes place → continued marginalisation / HR violations Which creates: Escalation †¢ Further grievances which fuel the conflict → Direct Violence as a survival mechanism ‘Poverty and lack of opportunity, intensified by the war have helped promote the attractiveness of fighting as a means of survival (Atkinson, 1997) The story of Liberia between 1979 and 1990 is one of action, inaction and reaction: action by the proletariat and ruling governments (pre and post 1979), inaction by the international community and reaction by regional actors to the. The violence during this period escalated from societal structural violence in 1979 to overt direct violence against the civilian population and opposition groups in 1990. This resulted in an increase of displaced persons, frustrating neighbouring countries threatening to de-stabilised the region. The actions by regional countries coupled with the frustrations of the masses provided the circumstances which could lead to a second coup, and the first civil war in 1989. The DfID Conflict Analysis Framework provides a useful tool with which to analyse a protracted conflict such as Liberia. By examining the structures and dynamics in play at both national and local levels it has been possible to see that the Liberian conflict shows signs of greed and grievance motivations with each playing off the other. The ruling elite motivated by the prospects of substantial wealth and pursuing a desperate attempt to hold onto power, and grievance by the oppressed masses with little prospect of anything better unless they rise up and rebel against the elite. Epilogue The greed and grievance cycle, as discussed in the background to this analysis continued to play out during Charles Taylors reign. Taylor has suggested that his motives for staging a coup had been to force regime change of a brutal dictatorship (Ref). That might have been his altruistic outward cry, indeed â€Å"narratives of grievance play much better with this [the international] community than narratives of greed.† (Collier, 2000: 92). It is clear now that Taylors coup was heavily supported internationally, and regionally (Ref). What is also evident now is that within the first 6 months of Taylors charge for Monrovia, he had not only gained control of 90% of the country, but had also amassed a personal wealth of USD 3.6million. It is also estimated that during the period 1991 1994, Taylor had a personal income of USD 420 450 million per year (REF). In this context it of difficult to see how greed rather than grievance was not his motivating factor. The economics of a war torn society, (particularly one which has an abundance of extremely profitable primary commodities) has an ability to sustain conflict. Once the shackles of a oppressive regime are unable to control the population, the rise of strongmen and warlords is possible . Then, fuelled, by the potential of substantial wealth, they will strive to keep the inferno of conflict burning. Conflict Analyses The World Bank Conflict Analysis Framework. This uses 6 variables (social and ethnic relations, governance and political institutions, human rights/security, economic structure and performance, environmental and natural resources and external factors) which are analysed against given criteria. These are graded and then linked to their impact on the conflict and on the countrys poverty level. This framework allows for the extraction of underlying causes and the opportunities for conflict. The US AID Conflict Assessment Framework focuses on Means, Motives and Opportunities and also includes regional and international factors. The framework therefore allows for a holistic approach and also provides an understanding of the prevalence of greed or grievance agendas in conflict zones. Like the World Bank conflict analysis it highlights causes and opportunities for conflict. The Department For International Development (DfID) Strategic Conflict Assessment (Great Britain, DfID) is a tool that was developed by DfID to assess: risks of negative effects of conflict on programmes; risks of programmes or policies exacerbating conflict; opportunities to improve the effectiveness of development interventions in contributing to conflict prevention and reduction. The assessment criteria allow the assessment to focus on programmes or projects, or at a strategic level on a country or region (Great Britain, DfID, p6).

California Culture Essay

California culture has changed a lot over the years. There are new trends coming out all the time. Whether they succeed or not they’re always changing. Fashion is a big deal in California, it’s the way you express yourself. Fashion trends that have been around for a while are jeans, V-neck shirts, and tennis shoes. New trends are TOMS which are shoes that are extremely comfortable, highlighter colors, and body piercings. Highlighter colors are used for clothes, jewelry, nail polishes, hair, shoes, and even make up. Piercings used to be just for your ears and nose but now they’re used for practically any body part like your belly button or back dimples. There are also trends in food restaurants. McDonalds had always been a favorite no matter how unhealthy it is. Some more fast food restaurants are In-N-Out, Chipotle, and Wingstop. A new slang word almost everyone uses is â€Å"YOLO† which means You Only Live Once. There is also a sign for representing the west side where you make a W with your fingers. Some really important problems are unemployment, debt, drugs, gangs, and obesity. There are so many people with big families but don’t have jobs because there aren’t enough being offered. Reasons why people are unemployed are because corporations aren’t using their profit to hire additional workers and state and local governments are continuing to reduce their workforce. A solution to help unemployment rates would be to eliminate unemployment insurance unless it is really needed. This insurance makes people lazy, they stop trying to look for jobs. We are in debt for a lot of reasons but I want to focus on one reason that many people might not think too much about, welfare. Welfare costs a lot for us especially if it’s being wasted on someone who doesn’t really need or deserve it. There are many people who use welfare for drugs and just sit around their house on a couch doing nothing. They learn to live off welfare and then don’t try to even look for jobs. Many people with children still do this as well. A solution to this would be several drug tests at random times and people should have to keep some type of proof to show that they have been looking for jobs and submit them every 2-3 weeks. Drugs, smoking, and drinking is becoming a lifestyle for teenagers. This is a big problem that needs to stop ASAP. It’s dangerous and reckless not only for the teens using but for innocent people around them. Solutions for this would be random searches for drugs in school. Being in gangs is also something popular among teens. Representing or â€Å"repping† colors and hats are cool to teens. Gangs are way too dangerous and frightening and the only solution I can think of is more security and better protection. The last problem is the obvious one, obesity. Obesity is taking over! It’s a huge health problem. 2/3 of US adults are overweight or obese. About a quarter of 2-5 year olds and 1/3 of school-age children are obese. A solution to this would be to have less fast food restaurants and kids should be educated and encouraged to make healthier choices at a young age so it becomes a part of their lifestyle. My prediction for society in 5 years will be that both obesity and debt will get worse. This can harm me because obesity can lead to death and debt can make be broke and homeless if I’m not careful. I also think computer technology will advance rapidly. No one will carry around textbooks at all and we might not even go to class we can all sit at home yet be in a computerized classroom together. That might not happen in 5 years but I do believe it’ll happen soon. This will benefit me because it saves gas, time, and money for fees on books.

A Midsummer Nights Dream Vocabulary