I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Essay -- I Know Why The Caged Bird Si

In the autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the main character Marguerite Johnson, is influenced by a preponderance of characters including Bailey Jr. , Momma Henderson, and Mrs. Bertha Flowers. One of the primary influences is her older brother, Bailey Jr.. Momma, or Annie Henderson, the parental grandmother, also plays an important role for Maya. Additionally, Mrs. Flowers, the black aristocrat of Stamps, saves Maya during an especially difficult time. All in all, these three characters act as important role models in the development of Marguerite through her juvenile years. First, Bailey Jr. serves as the most significant role in the protagonist’s young life. In the novel, Maya distinguishably states, â€Å" I would be the major loser if Bailey turned up dead. For he was all I claimed, if not all I had.† Bailey is one year senior to the main character, however, it makes no difference, for they both share many of the same interests, such as reading poems and playing games. When Angelou was eight, she and Bailey moved to St. Louis to live with their mother Vivian, and her mother’s boyfriend Mr. Freeman; soon after, Mr. Freeman sexually molests and rapes the young child; after such a horrid experience, the central character only speaks to Bailey who comforts and supports her. To sum up, Bailey gives much confidence to Marguerite throughout their childhood together. Second, Annie Henderson influences her granddaughter as an all powerful role model. For example, â€Å"Mo... I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Essay -- I Know Why The Caged Bird Si In the autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the main character Marguerite Johnson, is influenced by a preponderance of characters including Bailey Jr. , Momma Henderson, and Mrs. Bertha Flowers. One of the primary influences is her older brother, Bailey Jr.. Momma, or Annie Henderson, the parental grandmother, also plays an important role for Maya. Additionally, Mrs. Flowers, the black aristocrat of Stamps, saves Maya during an especially difficult time. All in all, these three characters act as important role models in the development of Marguerite through her juvenile years. First, Bailey Jr. serves as the most significant role in the protagonist’s young life. In the novel, Maya distinguishably states, â€Å" I would be the major loser if Bailey turned up dead. For he was all I claimed, if not all I had.† Bailey is one year senior to the main character, however, it makes no difference, for they both share many of the same interests, such as reading poems and playing games. When Angelou was eight, she and Bailey moved to St. Louis to live with their mother Vivian, and her mother’s boyfriend Mr. Freeman; soon after, Mr. Freeman sexually molests and rapes the young child; after such a horrid experience, the central character only speaks to Bailey who comforts and supports her. To sum up, Bailey gives much confidence to Marguerite throughout their childhood together. Second, Annie Henderson influences her granddaughter as an all powerful role model. For example, â€Å"Mo...

Free Essays - Sanity of Hamlet :: Shakespeare Hamlet

Sanity of Hamlet Is he insane or isn't he? That is the question. What is the answer? Literary scholars have debated that question for over 400 years. Still people wonder. I, for one, don't think Hamlet is crazy at all. I feel that he is very depressed because of his father's death. But especially because of his mother's hasty marriage to his Uncle Claudius one month after his father's death. Hamlet is still in mourning, his mother should be also. He doesn't understand why she isn't in mourning. Upset by his mother unfaithfulness to his father, Hamlet scorns his mother saying, "frailty, thy name is woman" (I.2.46). In act I, we learn that his father's ghost has appeared to Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo. Upon learning that, Hamlet goes with Horatio and Marcellus to speak with the spirit. Besides being depressed, I feel that he is acting like a madman to conceal his motive, revenge for his father's murder. Even though Hamlet barges into Ophelia's room and grabs her by the wrists, without saying a word, sighs and leaves, I believe it's an act to divert suspicion away from Hamlet's true purpose of wanting to kill Claudius, his father's murderer. Ophelia's father, Polonius, believes that Ophelia's rejection of Hamlet's desire has caused Hamlet to go insane. To prove his point, Polonius suggests that he and Claudius set up a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia. I feel that Hamlet is acting strange towards Polonius. He is playing Polonius by telling him he's a fishmonger and acting like he doesn't know him, because Polonius is a weasel and would go back and tell the king. Hamlet might as well give Polonius something to talk about. Hamlet really seems to be sane when he asks the actors to perform a specific act in a play titled Mouse Trap. The scene will resemble the murder of King Hamlet. Young Hamlet expects that if the ghost is telling the truth about Claudius murdering him, then Claudius will react to the scene, admitting his guilt. Hamlet states "The plays the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (II.2.581-82). In my opinion, anyone who can plot that, and thing that far ahead, needs to have a clear head. Free Essays - Sanity of Hamlet :: Shakespeare Hamlet Sanity of Hamlet Is he insane or isn't he? That is the question. What is the answer? Literary scholars have debated that question for over 400 years. Still people wonder. I, for one, don't think Hamlet is crazy at all. I feel that he is very depressed because of his father's death. But especially because of his mother's hasty marriage to his Uncle Claudius one month after his father's death. Hamlet is still in mourning, his mother should be also. He doesn't understand why she isn't in mourning. Upset by his mother unfaithfulness to his father, Hamlet scorns his mother saying, "frailty, thy name is woman" (I.2.46). In act I, we learn that his father's ghost has appeared to Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo. Upon learning that, Hamlet goes with Horatio and Marcellus to speak with the spirit. Besides being depressed, I feel that he is acting like a madman to conceal his motive, revenge for his father's murder. Even though Hamlet barges into Ophelia's room and grabs her by the wrists, without saying a word, sighs and leaves, I believe it's an act to divert suspicion away from Hamlet's true purpose of wanting to kill Claudius, his father's murderer. Ophelia's father, Polonius, believes that Ophelia's rejection of Hamlet's desire has caused Hamlet to go insane. To prove his point, Polonius suggests that he and Claudius set up a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia. I feel that Hamlet is acting strange towards Polonius. He is playing Polonius by telling him he's a fishmonger and acting like he doesn't know him, because Polonius is a weasel and would go back and tell the king. Hamlet might as well give Polonius something to talk about. Hamlet really seems to be sane when he asks the actors to perform a specific act in a play titled Mouse Trap. The scene will resemble the murder of King Hamlet. Young Hamlet expects that if the ghost is telling the truth about Claudius murdering him, then Claudius will react to the scene, admitting his guilt. Hamlet states "The plays the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (II.2.581-82). In my opinion, anyone who can plot that, and thing that far ahead, needs to have a clear head.

The macroenvironmantal forces affect the banking industry are socia…

Social forces include the demographic features of the population and its value.DemographicAge constructionOne of import tendency is the shifting age construction of the universe ‘s population, as aging is now a phenomenon realized by people around the universe.Families and FamilyThe figure of families has been turning, as the family size has correspondingly been worsening. Besides, there appears to be an addition in the figure of double-income household.Population ShiftsAs a consequence of the over-development and congestion of the metropolis centre, antecedently rural country are been urbanised which caused big proportions of Asiatic population reallocated from metropolis centres to suburbs. Shifts from place to foreign states are besides common.CultureA 2nd societal force, civilization, incorporates the set of values, thoughts and attitudes that are learned and shared among the members of a group.The altering attitudes and Roles of Men and WomenResearch suggests that the bulk or grownups today believe work forces and adult females should every bit portion most duties.Beliefs, Values and HabitsThe values of the population alteration with the demographics of the people who hold these values. Peoples who are more educated live a busy life style which indicates that they place great importance on efficiency and the up-to-date information. The increasing average age population implies the bulk would be more mature when apportioning incomes. The addition in the figure of double-income twosomes consequences in turning accent on the togetherness of a household which implies higher values on leisure clip spent as household. A alteration in ingestion orientation is besides evident. Today, and for the foreseeable hereafter, value consciousness will drive ingestion behaviour.Economic and Regulatory ForcesThe economic system pertains to the income, outgos, and resources that affect the cost of running a concern and family. Regulation consists of limitations that Torahs in different Asiatic states place on concern with respect to the behavior of its activities.Business and Consumer ExpectationsOf peculiar concern at the macroeconomic degree is the inflationary or recessive province of the economic system. During the most recent fiscal crisis started in 2007, the banking industry suffered immense losingss. Although a batch of marks indicate that the economic system is retrieving, people presents are still non so confident about the hereafter.LiberalizationAs a consequence of globalisation, liberalisation in trade and investing is encouraged in order to ease international interactions in economic and societal spheres by diplomatic coordination of ordinances and criterions. As a consequence, the economic system is more dynamic and efficient which becomes easier for states to pull foreign direct investing.Increasing Regulations on Banking IndustryDue to the fiscal crisis, many states are set uping more ordinances that decrease the potency to gain net incomes from investings and other activities at Bankss in order to protect both the clients and the Bankss.Technological ForcesTechnology refers to innovations or inventions from applied scientific discipline or technology research. Each new moving ridge of technological invention can replace existing merchandises and companies.Electronic Business TechnologiesIn the past two decennaries, consumers are going much more reliant on on-line direction of their bank histories as the figure of places and concerns basking broadband entree to the Internet has reached true mass-market range. With the increasing universe ‘s cellular telephone endorser base, the lower phone monetary values and the expand of cellular service, a genuinely radical moving ridge of nomadic phones that can pull off fiscal histories is easy taking root all over the universe. However, with the edification of the Internet has arisen the issue of cyber security, another technological alteration to which the banking industry has had to react.DeductionObviously, the indicant of an aging population has brought about significant growing in nest eggs and retirement programs. Smaller families and double-income households lead to higher discretional incomes that can be saved or invested. Therefore, in the banking industry, sellers should offer more nest eggs and investing history options which enables consumers to choose the most appropriate program that can be personalized to outdo suit themselves. Due to the alone attitudes, lineage, communicating penchants and life styles of different groups harmonizing to coevals cohorts, genders and so on, the banking industry may develop different selling plans. As, the engineering develops, Bankss should see offering a comprehensive scope of services, such as screening and doing minutess, paying measures, online and by cell phone in order to supply convenience for clients so as to derive clients. Furthermore, for clients ‘ histories safety, Bankss should make more unafraid systems and give instructions on how to protect one ‘s history. Sing population displacements, set uping more subdivisions decently with respect to the bank size and mark clients would be a wise pick. One of import scheme can be offering clients foreign currency histories reacting to the addition in foreign currency usage. Another notable scheme would be developing on-line nest eggs histories for the adolescents due to the increasing degree of instruction. From this, Bankss can farther educate the young person and promote fiscal direction, and develop future trueness clients Banks should develop low-risk investing plans as people are still non so confident about the future economic system. An epoch of much lower risk-taking by traditional loaners has begun that will last for old ages. As consumers are going more value witting, the banking industry will go more competitory. Banks have to vie on value of their services in order to acquire clients who are necessitating more transparence when taking merchandise. Greatly increased regulative inadvertence will curtail loaners and investing companies of all types. Alternative loaning beginnings will be used to a turning grade by little concerns and some consumers unable to acquire loans elsewhere. 2.Responses and remarks:Maybank has done the following in response to the macroenvironmental alterations. Deciding whether the response is appropriate or non, we need to see whether there are demands and wants for it, whether it is aiming the right group, whether there are points of difference, and whether Maybank would be more likely to make its end by executing the response. Offering a figure of nest eggs and investing history options such as the Gold Savings Passbook Account and Flexi Plan 2. This response is appropriate as it responded to growing in nest eggs and retirement programs. Furthermore, different options can provide to different group of people which will broaden the bank ‘s mark clients. Pioneering on-line nest eggs histories for the teenage market by developing the â€Å" imteen † history. â€Å" imteen † history is a good thought as through Multi-tiered involvement rate, Passbookless, Convenient ATM entree, Online entree, Free Personal Accident ( PA ) coverage, Academic Cash wagess, Maybank will pull parents who want their kids ( 12-18y ) to larn to pull off their finance with little hazard, and earn future clients. Establishing subdivisions throughout Asia part every bit good as the universe. As Maybank ‘s concerns are chiefly in South East Asia, it is non advisable for it to establish a batch of subdivisions outside Asia as it will non be profitable in the short tally. In add-on, since the universe is still in the shadow of crisis, Maybank should concentrate more on regain trusts from clients alternatively of spread outing its concerns rapidly. Developing the low-maintenance Premier Club history for â€Å" persons who are invariably on the spell † This response is appropriate since it satisfies the demands of people who are busy and in demand of current events and state of affairss. Offering its clients its scope of foreign currency histories which minimize the hazard of foreign exchange rate fluctuations. This action is appropriate as it sets clear targeted sections and attempts to fulfill their demands and wants of interchanging foreign currency easy and often. Offering a comprehensive scope of services that is accessible online while implementing the Transaction Authorisation Code system to make a more unafraid environment. These responses are evidently right as they meet clients ‘ demands and wants of doing minutess and other services online handily and safely. Offering many services accessible by cell phone. Using M-money to carry on services which is promoted to be unafraid and convenient. Maybank needs to be careful when implementing the engineering. Although nomadic banking makes banking services possible everyplace, there are still a batch of challenges. First, Maybank have to happen ways to fulfill clients with different nomadic phones since it is really hard for Bankss to offer nomadic banking solution on any type of device. Second, security of fiscal minutess, being executed from distant locations and transmittal over the air, need to be addressed jointly by nomadic application developers, radio web service suppliers and the Bankss ‘ IT sections. Third, another challenge for Maybank is to scale-up the nomadic banking substructure to manage exponential growing of the client base as Bankss unable to run into the clients ‘ increasing outlooks from the solution may lose client assurance.Other responses:Reacting to the altering attitudes and functions of work forces and adult females, Maybank should develop banking services catering to both genders. As indicated in the text edition, in Singapore, the United Overseas Bank launched a recognition card merely for ladies under the advertisement subject, â€Å" The Men Do n't Get It. † Maybank should spread out its female client group by supplying particular services like publicities on watering place, shopping, dining, and traveling and so on. The tendency of value consciousness leads to Maybank analysing the market more carefully. Maybe it should add low-fee recognition cards in response to this new orientation. In order to gain money and minimise the hazard when loaning, Maybank should seek to develop new ways to do loans to clients. For illustration, enabling loaning by and between members of loaning nines, or between friends and household. 3. Some of the macroenvironmental forces impacting other industries are the similar to those in the banking industry, while some are different.Similarities:For societal environment, demographic forces about affect every industry greatly. For illustration, age construction will act upon vesture industry by make up one's minding what manners of apparels to bring forth, and will impact nutrient industry on their scheme about what facet should they concentrate on, gustatory sensations, Calorie, or eating environment. It will besides impact computing machine industry by clients ‘ demands and wants altering among different age groups. With respect to economic forces, globalisation is an of import tendency. It has led to the rise of monolithic transnational nutrient processing companies, which frequently sell their nutrients under local names in local linguistic communications, after bring forthing them in regional mills worldwide. Due to globalisation, more and more local apparels trade names are known to the universe and design, production, and merchandising can be done in different states. The Computer industry is a genuinely globalized sector, where research, development and fabrication of constituents and systems have grown in the labs and fabrication workss of chiefly Asia states. When it comes to political environment, political hazards matter likewise to about all industries, as they need licences, protection for belongingss in foreign states, and turning away of societal agitation. In footings of engineering forces, about every industry is affected greatly nowadays. In vesture industry, the sweeping alteration in dress retailing is the lifting success of e-commerce which increases efficiency. Meanwhile, in nutrient industry, engineering has revolutionized the manner that we grow, conveyance, procedure, bundle, purchase and cook nutrient. There is no difference in banking industry as indicated above. Most significantly, engineering is indispensable to computing machine industry, non merely because of its ain development, but besides the other matching techniques such as Wi-Fi, and Internet contraptions.Differences:From my point of position, all macroenvironmental forces will impact all industries. The difference lies in to what widen they affect the industry. Some may be bantam and sellers do non necessitate to alter schemes, some may immense which force sellers to react. As for political environment, different Torahs impact otherwise to different industries. On one manus, Patent jurisprudence, copyright jurisprudence and other related Torahs are really of import to many industries as they give discoverers or author the right to protect their rational belongingss. It is particularly of import in computing machine industry, as the nucleus of InfoTech is creative activity and wisdom. Besides, in vesture industry, the increasing accent on right of first publication would forestall others from copying the design. However the consequence would non be so important in banking and nutrient industry. On the other manus, the Torahs and ordinances sing wellness are really important to nutrient industry. Sing societal forces, civilization plays an of import function in many industries. However, they may non be as powerful in banking industries as they are in other industries. For nutrient industry, people ‘s purchases of nutrient mostly depend on their eating wonts. However, as people are paying more attending to wellness and fittingness, it may necessitate to alter its focal point from gustatory sensation to take down Calorie or full nutrition. In vesture industry, civilization chiefly determines what a group of people would have on. Besides, as the addition concern on wellness, people have developed a acute involvement in athleticss dress and exercise cogwheel. On the other manus, for banking and computing machine industries, the consequence of civilization may non be that important.Deduction:Before doing determinations on market schemes, sellers should first transport out a careful environmental scanning analysing the chief forces that affect the industry significantly and t hat should concentrate on. It is besides advisable for sellers to detect all the other undistinguished forces in instance as the society develops, they become important adequate to impact the industry.

Boredom †What Can Teens Do About It Essay

I have heard it time and again â€Å"I am bored! â€Å". These words have came from the mouths of many teenagers. Sure, we have the libraries, the parks, the internet cafes, the malls all around us. Yet, we still hear many teenagers around us saying that they long for something completely different than the aforementioned – something that caters more to their interests. So what can we do for these bored teenagers? You see, we have all the facilities etc. From bars to reacreational areas, places offering live music, a countless amount of shopping malls. Yet, teenagers are still bored. Thus I think it is crucial to ask the young people would like to do, then officials can plan their activities and build the venues accordingly. If we don’t, we will face the risk of continually seeing teens loitering around at the back alley or even committing crimes. More town meetings and conferences involving teenagers is vital to planning activities that they will enjoy. To simply assume that these adolescents will benefit from certain activities without asking them first will leave the place with empty centers and businesses that alienate many teens. For example, business catering to teen hobbies could be set up to host events for teenagers. Perhaps they could create some kind of contest, that would offer various skatebored equipments and apparel as prizes. The contest could include what many teenagers would enjoy: Music and Food. This way, instead of wasting money to build expensive venues to provide â€Å"entertainment† to curb teenagers’ boredom, the money could be spent on setting up activities that can guarantee success as they cater to the wants of the teens through the survey, therefore this could be done for these bored teens. As the world grows, the technology advances and companies like Apple come out with creative new devices like iPhones and iPads. When teens get caught up by these addictive trends of using iPad and iPhone, they would love to access them and use the interesting applications everyday. However, eventually their interest does not last as they would get tired of doing the same thing of staring into the iPhone or iPad screen. Instead of investing time into things that are not of much productivity, and does not help them develop any useful skill, they could first try to be creative and explore their artistic side is really great when they have nothing else to do. They could think of what things in life are really exciting or interesting to them, and think of a way they could incorporate some aspect of those things into their alone time. Once they start doing something creative,they can always go back to it, and they will never be bored. For example, they could take some free time to learn how to play a music instrument, in particular an easier one that you could easily learn by themselves at home which would be a guitar. This would help them develop an appreciation for music of they could learn well and it would bring out the more artistic side of them, instead of wasting time and getting bored from blindly following the trends of using electronic devices. Doing anything creative like learning an instrument will be beneficial to your growth as a person, it will broaden your skills and perspective on life, and it will also be fun. It begins with a recognition that every circumstance, every activity, contains within it the potential to yield value, either to us or to someone else. If we insist on always being passively entertained by life, we will find ourselves bored by much of it. On the other hand, if we can transform that expectation into a determination to make an effort to create value at every moment, we can begin to make even the most mundane experience interesting. For example, we can start up a conversation with a friend and know more about them which would enhance the friendship between the both of them. One minute you will be bored ad the next minute you will be busy talking with your friend to kill time. Talking also makes us forget about the time passing without our realisation. This also allows us to be engaged in something rather than staring into space, doing nothing which would benefit them in one way or another. Talking enhances communication skills and at least, one can bond more with her friends which would make one less bored. Engaged in the conversation, new facts about one another rise up to create a stronger bond between them. This would benefit one rather than doing nothing and feeling bored. Another way could be to eliminate boredom by looking for any interesting or purposeful activity in which you will feel energetic and less bored. A question that one may like to consider would be to think of how the activity will benefit one befoe doing something when one feels bored. Communication would make one more open-minded and an extrovert. In conclusion, there are many ways to escape boredom. But the problem here is that teenagers now do not know how to kill time. If they invest enough time to do something worthwhile such as learning how to play a musical instrument or enhancing their communication skills by conversing with a friend, they will not find themselves getting bored. Teenagers should engage in activities that they know will entertain them. For example, an avid reader can find time to visit the library rather than staying at home and watch television or do something unproductive. Thus, teenagers should know themselves and what they like and take part in activities that interest them. This will solve the problem of teenagers being bored all the time.

Composition and Structure of Meat

Meat is the flesh of an animal used for food according to â€Å"the little oxford dictionary†. The connective tissue cells are joined together into bundles by two types of connective tissue. White and yellow connective tissue, the white connective tissues are called collagen, is found in all the muscles of the animal; it is dominant in the more tender cuts of meat. Yellow connective tissue; called elastin, it is predominant in the muscles which carry the heaviest load of constant strain and work. The fat on the outside of an animal's muscles is called cover. The fat which lies between the bundles of muscle fibers is called marbling. The positive nutritive value of meat is in the lean tissue and not in the fat. The amount of marbling in the meat and between the connective tissues is a very important factor in meat since it creates the bite or chewability looked for in cooked meat. The white connective tissue breaks up and becomes moist in cooking, whereas the yellow connective tissue requires mechanical means of tenderizing such as pounding, cubing, or grinding. The younger and less exercised an animal is, the less yellow connective tissue it will have and the tenderer its meat will be. Meat is composed of 75% Water, 5-40% Fat, 5% Minor components, Minerals (especially iron), enzymes, and pigments. Grading of beef. The grading of beef is dependent on the Feed, which means that the food the animal was consuming before it was slaughtered, affects outer surface fat and muscle marbling, Age at Slaughter, Breed and breeding History which refers to Hereford vs. Angus vs. Longhorn. Grades of beef * Prime- More Favorable and tender, which has a lot of marbling, * Choice and select- This is the leaner part of the meat * Standard, commercial and utility- An average to good quality, flavor, and tenderness. * Canner and cutter-Used in canned and processed meat purpose. Market forms of meat

Wegmans Swot Analysis

Wegmans Strength Wegmans is not only strong in its presence for exciting shopper's eyes with its great food emporium, but also a company that shows that they care a lot about their employees. It recently early the title of being one of the top Fortune 100 companies to work for due to its great assistance programs and employee benefits. From overseas training in wine, cheese, etc, for department managers to scholarships for their young people.These also apply to the way they serve customers. Other perks received while working for Wegmans include job sharing, compressed workweeks, and telecommuting; thus, offering more flexibility in employee lifestyles. The lesser publicized strengths are their demographic research to build in the right locations,a strong Store Brands program, and their health & wellness initiatives.Wegmans also has a strong and efficient supply chain system, in which it uses the â€Å"farm to market† system thus reducing the company’s inventory holding costs and getting the produce into the stores as quickly as possible. Weakness Still a large amount of people have a preconceived notion that Wegman's prices are consistently higher than those of other chains. Knowing this, Wegmans tried hard to overcome this for the last 10 ten years to acheive the â€Å"everyday low price† seal in many of its high volume products.A strong private label program has accelerated Wegman's effort to keep the prices to low; however, this has ignited an outcry from manufacturers and suppliers who compete for shelf space and claim Wegmans’ house brand is overextended in some areas; thus, causing frustration among customers about the lack of a national brand options. Other internal challenges that Wegmans need to overcome is its pricing policy and margin requirements that creates strained relationship with vendors OpportunityWegmans see an increaseing market potential to meet the growing demand for organics and health food products. The incre ase in square feet of its â€Å"Nature market place† section reflects Wegman's nimble efforts to become the food emporium showcasing the hottest natural food trends in the industry. Another large Wegmans opportunity is business expansion in the U. S, since it still regionally compact and limited to 75 units in the Mid-atlantic and the Northeast coast. Threat There is increasing competition from two fronts: high-end (Whole Foods) and price competitive (Wal-Mart, and Aldi).Giant Foods is also a regional competitor that is currently doing a complete renovation of its stores. Other external threats include an economic downturn that affect core shopper spending habits. With the increasing trend towards convenience, ecommerce giants such as Amazon is also a big contender in competing consumer spending. In this highly competitive low margin grocery industry, Wegmans need to understand their core competencies and focus on what they deliver best: high customer service, strong store br and program, and exciting dining and shopping experience.

Donor card

â€Å"Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, / Peace after war, death after life, / does greatly please. † This is a phrase by Edmund Spenser, a 16th-century poet. He asserted death to be a â€Å"pleasant† thing. But it is not the case for many of us. Death is not so easy. In fact, we are afraid of its pain. In fact, we are afraid of its loneliness. In fact, we are afraid of its irrevocability. And it is much more scary if we feel all those agonies even â€Å"after† our death. I am not going to write about horror movies however, but a true story of brain death. And through the arguments, I want you to realize the significance of the decision: whether to own a donor card. Donor card†¦ I guess most of you already know about it. Thanks to that card, you can save other people without any special skills by providing your organs. That is wonderful. When you watch a moving story of transplantation on a TV program, you may have a feeling that you, too, want to be like that â€Å"warm-hearted† donor. Especially, in case of heart transplantation, the donor must be a â€Å"brain-dead† person, who can no longer maintain life but still has a beating heart. If you are wanted and cannot live anyway, you may think you have a clear resolution. However, remember that you always have to pay something if you try to save others. So let me remind you that the â€Å"warm-hearted† donor is a â€Å"warm-blood-running† dead body. Into a soft and warm body, a knife cuts in, and organs are taken out. If that is all, it may not be a problem. But, the body moves, sheds tears, and even has a possibility of feeling pain. That is the reality. It may be only a spinal reflex, but may not be, too. And it may be only a possibility, but may not be, too. The diagnosis by doctors may be done in a right way, but any human-made criteria and human-performed examinations must not always be perfect. There is a fact that the donor is often anesthetized during the extraction, so that the body will not disturb doctors by moving around. Once we are misjudged in the court of death, we can never be allowed to appeal again. And even if the judgment is done in justice, the prosecution itself is fatal in this court. Once doctors start to examine if you are brain-dead or not, they will try it again and again literally till your death. Needless to say, during that testing, you cannot receive appropriate treatments for your recovery, which means, you are locked in the death court until your tombstone gets upon you. In old days, death was something absolute. We got it suddenly by divine will and we could easily tell if someone was dead or alive. However, today human beings refuse the will with their well-developed technologies. As a result, now they have got an extremely significant role of defining â€Å"death. If someone's brain is dead but heart is alive, is he or she totally dead or not? At what point do we regard the brain to be â€Å"dead? † More fundamentally, what is death indeed? Actually, we can never be sure of the answers. They are beyond our capacity. But we have decided to make the answers. So, today our death is human-made. Contrary to such an obscure definition of death, I have an obvious vision for death. I do not want my last moment to be in an agony of organ extraction. I do not want to admit my family's death when they are still moving. I do not want to leave my death to anyone's discretion. I want nobody to face any unexpected misery. And I am sure that I am not the only one. I know that I am a human being who should equally be saved as the recipients. To make my death like peace after war, I do deny writing my will to be a donor. But still, that is my opinion. The important thing is that you get interested in the issue. Today, you can easily get a donor card. But the action must not be easy. To be a guarantor of life, you must take the risk it deserves. And after distress and uneasiness, torment and bewilderment, if you still reach a conclusion of saving others, you should be proud of your devotion. If you reach a conclusion of saving yourself, you should be proud of your cautiousness. If you do not reach a conclusion, you should be proud of your sincerity to life. If you have never thought about this issue, you can start thinking from this moment. Do you really want to help others? Can you be responsible enough for your decision? How can you make your death after life most pleasant?