Sociological Affects of Child Abuse on Victims - 2031 Words

Running head: Sociological Affects of Child Abuse on Victims: Victims May Become Abusers Sociological Affects of Child Abuse on Victims: Victims May Become Abusers Author: Jenny Bailey Northeast State Technical Community College SOCI 1020 I70 Instructor: Mr. Smith Research Paper July 31, 2009 Research Discovery Process I wrote in my journal 2 to 3 days a week, and most all of the entries were the same: me feeling bad for my children because they have fathers that do not help me raise them financially or emotionally, or thinking of the memories I have shared with my children-good and bad, or the worries I have about my children growing up†¦..until my last journal entry on July 9, 2009, about a young boy named Cody, (whom is a friend†¦show more content†¦These juvenile offenders each had at least two felonies on their criminal records, and most of them have been locked up in a Youth Development Center (prison for juvenile offenders) for years before we got them. These juvenile’s charges ranged anywhere from rape of a child, to vehicular homicide and attempted murder. Only 1 juvenile offender graduated the program in 2007, 10 ran away, and 8 were sent back to a Youth Development Center.† Betsy also said, â€Å"Our statistics show that only 3% of the juvenile offenders that are put into our program make it through the program, live productive social lives, and do not go back into custody, or to prison†. (Betsy Brown, Personal Interview, July 16, 2009) According to White, Donat, and Bondurant (2007, p. 95), in the book ‘Taking Sides Clashing Views in Gender’:â€Å"Children, especially those from abusive homes, have many opportunities to learn that the more powerful person in a relationship can use aggression to successfully control the less powerful person†. Abused children tend to be caught up in damaged relationships and are not socialized in positive, supportive ways. Children in these situations learn defiance, manipulation, and other problem behaviors as ways of escaping maltreatment. Abuse is a pattern that leads the victims to learn to exploit, degrade, or terrorize. They may also come to expect interpersonalShow MoreRelatedThe Sociological Imagination And The Social Issue Of Child Abu se1492 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction The Sociological Perspective was a concept argued by C. Wright Mills was and still is a valuable tool to help people look at, understand and interpret their everyday lives and social world around them (in which they live). The argued perspective will be discussed through the use of the Sociological Imagination with the Personal Problem of Depression and the Social Issue of Child Abuse with what can be done to solve both of these ‘Dilemmas of Youth’. 2. 1. 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Since human individuals Free Essays

string(197) " to different clients or patients, found commonality in his interactions that help facilitate better recovery and congruence as modelled by a therapist eventually gained its place in his approach\." Psychology has made great strides in the development of principles and methods and the discovery of facts which find useful application in various aspects of everyday life. The objectives of psychology are : (1) to understand human behavior; (2) to predict human behavior by means of observation and experiment; (3) to influence or alter the behavior of he individual or group in desirable ways so that he can achieve the goal he desires (McLeod, 1998). Psychology is the scientific of human behavior and mental processes; a study which is of considerable interest to almost all people. We will write a custom essay sample on Since human individuals or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the pursuit of this study is the important feature of understanding the goals or objectives. To describe, explain and predict behavior and if possible control or modify it, are the main objectives of this scientific discipline. These objectives confine as well as broaden student’s approach towards a deeper perspective of the field in the sense that he/she will have a grasp on the variety of subject matters that psychology provides, the advances or breakthroughs it has attained, its inadequacies and shortcomings, as well as forthcoming challenges the discipline faces. Since human individuals are complex and changing, the study is fascinating yet possesses a certain degree of difficulty. Fascinating because it explores all the facets of being human and possessing a certain degree of difficulty because of its multifarious sub-disciplines. Behavior is described and analyzed (McLeod, 1998). On this basis, an attempt to predict behavior is possible, and although this may not thoroughly and completely be accomplished in some endeavours, the basic understanding then is that there are certain expectations concerning how any person would act or decide upon things that are within his conscious awareness. Psychology is of great importance to man since psychological problems are common to group relations, in whatever framework a person or group of individuals come from (McLeod, 1998). The work of a counsellor is a privilege since the counselee or client will be unfolding his life and makes himself vulnerable to a stranger. It is not an easy choice to make hence, all the training and knowledge would be indispensable to help the client reveal and trust himself to another. Counselling is not a very easy job. But it can be facilitated well when there is a clear vision of what and how it unfolds in the relationship that is established with the client (Nelson-Jones, 1988). A healthy personality does not mean it does not have any difficulties at all. It means that a person has the capabilities to withstand any turmoil or stress that come his way. He has learned the skills to make him adjust to the internal and external stresses; minimizing conflicts from within and without but in a healthy and normal functioning way. Personal growth occurs in the context of self-insights; insights concerning the workings of one’s mind in relation to the structures and stimuli around the person. The self-insight is very significant and crucial to the client for him to be able to work well with those who are there to assist in his recovery and eventual personal growth (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). The important thing is that of flexibility and resiliency on the counselor’s part when to apply or implement the theory (i. e. , person-centred in this case) in the context of the client. It starts with the identification of specific problems and especially the root causes (Lishman, 1994). When this is confidently achieved, the therapist is actually midway to attaining his/her goals which includes not only the relief of the symptoms that the sufferer is currently experiencing but especially the reduction of the occurrence if not altogether eliminated. The specific treatment goals are likewise essential and it helps in the remaining aspects or levels of the process. The diagnostic part by itself in most cases is considered therapeutic since many clients have experienced immediate relief. In addition, another important ingredient in the process is to identify effective reinforcers which help people in crisis for instance or those in acute and chronic mental and emotional anguish to sustain their plan for change and control of their disorders. Helping the client set up a kind of self-help management program is a very effective strategy to pursue within the relationship (Smith 1997, 2004). Nature of the therapeutic approach Within the person-centred approach human nature is understood as that of the individual possessing to the innate capacity of man towards growth, health and fulfilment which means that man is basically good and equipped to face many obstacles in life. Client-centred therapy avoids the imposition of goals on the patient or client during therapy. It is the client who takes the lead in the session and of the conversation. It is the job of the therapist to create the conditions conducive to the client’s positive judgment of those experiences that are intrinsically satisfying to the client. The ‘goal’ then is to reach the point where the client desires to be a good and â€Å"civilized person. † Unconditional positive regard enhances this atmosphere however, and although the goal may be difficult to achieve, unconditional positive regard eventually, according to Rogers, encourages even the â€Å"`unbehaved† to conform or even transform (Corey, 2004; Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). Anchored on Carl Rogers’ theory on the person-centered approach of understanding behavior and applying such an understanding to the â€Å"healing† process, the concept of congruence is among the highlights of this renowned theorist’s perspective. It is understood as a concept which usually starts or initiated by the therapist or practitioner and modelled to the client whereby the former displays more of the real person that he/she is and reducing denial of the real struggles or feelings that tend to be kept inside (Smith, 1997; Rogers, 1951; Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). In the process, the client learns to unveil the real self rather than assume a facade which not only masks the real problems, make the therapeutic relationship increasingly difficult (Rogers, 1959). Rogers probably in his long years of exposure to different clients or patients, found commonality in his interactions that help facilitate better recovery and congruence as modelled by a therapist eventually gained its place in his approach. You read "Since human individuals" in category "Papers" Application or Action Point: Case study: â€Å"Mrs. Todd was admitted to an elder care home following the death of her husband and at the request of her daughter, aged 70, who could no longer manage. Six months after admission Mrs Todd refused to get out of bed for a week, saying that there was no point. During the sensitive questioning by the residential social worker revealed that Mrs Todd had never come to terms with the loss of her husband. On top of this she had been unable to put into words her grief, plus the perception that she had lost control independence, despite high-quality care in the home, had resulted in confused thinking, distortion of grief and withdrawal. † There are some â€Å"steps† that had been coined by Rogers to put the theory in â€Å"action, so to speak. However, it is imperative that the progression of the helping relationship is not forced or hurried. The goal in this case is for Mrs, Todd to be â€Å"influenced† by the counsellor’s sense of optimism which means that these positive characteristics must somehow rob off on the client. Roger’s understanding is that helping someone can only be most effective when the person is encouraged or has moved on from a state of despondency to vitality regardless of her/his circumstances. This is the primary reason that Roger’s extensive discussion also revolves around the congruent self (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). One important aspect of the person-centred approach is the empathy that should be exhibited by the counsellor/therapist. Carl Rogers (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980) initiated the model with the premise that within each person is the capacity to eventually surpass any obstacle with the help and support of critical people. The unconditional positive regard which when cultivated by a therapist is believed to be very crucial to the recovery and healing of the patient. There is curative value to the skills which, importantly, shall comprise the approach that the therapist takes in the course of their healing relationship. In the case of Mrs. Todd whose state of discouragement and grief had not been overcome will be a point of reference for the counselling setting. The person centred therapist is a believer that when given time, a patient-listening-ear and other skills, help for Mrs. Todd is to tap the inner strength that she possesses can be had. The goals of therapy include the readjustment of a person’s understanding of himself, becoming aware of the discrepancies of his real experiences and real self versus the projection of other’s viewpoints and rubbing these onto him, thereby affecting the person of the right attitude and perspective of what life is truly all about (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). Because the emphasis is on the uniqueness of the individual, it goes beyond the mere acceptance of the real worth of the self. It also accepts that there are realities in life that need to be accepted but the individual must transcend above these unwelcoming encounters. The importance is to accept as well that one’s choices and decisions are important and the person must accept his responsibility of the consequences of his actions (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). One important aspect of the person centered approach is the empathy that should be exhibited by the counsellor/therapist. Carl Rogers initiated the model with the premise that within each person is the capacity to eventually surpass any obstacle with the help and support of critical people. The unconditional positive regard which when cultivated by a therapist is believed to be very crucial to the recovery and healing of the patient. There is curative value to the skills which, importantly, shall comprise the approach that the therapist takes in the course of their healing relationship (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). The therapeutic nature of the person centred therapy to help this person get the insights, not only to the death and the sense of loneliness and seemingly abandoned feelings at this point in her life, but especially to the fact that other lives are affected as well is not easy as it may seem when one uses this approach. Mrs. Todd must wade through her confusions, her feelings of despondency and the sense of hopelessness. What is actually happening when there is a gradual realization of these issues and the hope that the future may hold for her, is that the practitioner is more than a crutch and a pole that pulls the patient. The therapist with or without the conscious awareness of the patient is her source of strength and resolve to weather the seemingly heavy burden ahead of her. That is why for many, this approach has become widely used; it is to an extent a very successful model in the field of psychotherapy (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). The client or person-centred therapy is persuaded that a person is only understood from the point of view of his or her own perception and emotionality or feelings, also known as the phenomenological world. It takes time to be able for the therapist to look into how Mrs. Todd, in this particular case, experience events not just at the events that Mrs. Todd is experiencing; i. e. , her problems and her seemingly hopeless outlook. Mrs. Todd‘s phenomenological world is a major determinant of behavior and what makes Mrs. Todd’s unique from other patients (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980) The person-centred therapeutic goals attempt to empower the patients or clients to increasingly be made aware and accepting of the real self’s true beliefs and worth and condition the person to realize these –worth and self-acceptance within the therapeutic relationship. The management then is not impossible but neither is this easy. Specifically, the counselee or patient must want to heal or believe that there is going to be curative effects in the process. It presupposes that he/she must learn to trust the therapist in his/her capabilities as well in leading or facilitating the changes or modifications. It is very much essential that (in the perspective of a cognitive-behaviourist) that the client understands ownership to the deeds and choices in thought patterns he/she made are crucial to the recurring or occurring condition that s/he experiences (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980)). Moreover, the identification of specific treatments or interventions according to the diagnosed issue will be accommodated and implemented based on the chosen treatment modalities fit with the therapeutic approach utilized. Another contention of this approach is that the therapist should never attempt to manipulate the circumstances for Mrs. Todd. What is important is that Mrs. Todd should create conditions that will empower her to make decisions of her own. The premise of this approach lies in the belief that when a person like Mrs. Todd is no longer concerned with the evaluations, preferences and demands that others make upon her, she will then be released to spur on and live according to the expected innate tendency to self-actualize or reach her potential self. Many of those who use this approach however, do not usually strictly use the pattern that Rogers indicated in his model. In this case, a counsellor’s personality and disposition must merge well with this approach. This is because, the skills needed are at times individual in nature; the crucial aspect then is how some of the strategies must be patient to put up plain unconditional positive regard (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). There is no hundred percent guarantee that Mrs. Todd will be able to fully heal in every aspect of her struggling life. Her problems can be real as she has to cope with the loss that can no longer be restored. So much so that it is not easy in the individualistic society that America is and become confined in a home or institution whose caregivers may be distant. When a therapist pursues the client with tenacious determination to enable and empower the patient, it is not impossible that the likes of Mrs. Todd will have her life back and find meaning even in the twilight of her years. Conclusions It is always worthwhile to spend ample time thinking and studying the many-faceted dimensions of human persona, from physical to moral and psychological areas among others. It has contributed a lot to my personal understanding of self-awareness and the development of the consciousness and sensitivity of what other humans like me are going through. It caters to a deeper understanding as well as acceptance of people’s frailties, and also their strengths. ~Nature and Importance of therapy Behavior is described and analyzed. On this basis, an attempt to predict behavior is possible, and although this may not thoroughly and completely be accomplished in some endeavours, the basic understanding then is that there are certain expectations concerning how any person would act or decide upon things that are within his conscious awareness Psychology is of great importance to man since psychological problems are common to group relations, in whatever framework a person or group of individuals come from. Although an immediate relief is very helpful, this may not always be the case in most illnesses. The goal as mentioned is to provide long-term reduction of the symptoms and the occurrence of the disease altogether if possible. The management then is not impossible but neither is this easy. Specifically, the counselee or patient must want to heal or believe that there is going to be curative effects in the process. It presupposes that he/she must learn to trust the therapist in his/her capabilities as well in leading or facilitating the changes or modifications. It is very much essential that (in the perspective of a cognitive-behaviourist) that the client understands ownership to the deeds and choices in thought patterns he/she made are crucial to the recurring or occurring condition that s/he experiences (Seden, 1995). ~Promoting therapy Psychotherapists believe that therapy contributes a lot to the improvement of the psychological condition of the client (Seden, 1995). Therapy can come in many varied forms and the use of these or any of these has been proven to be of vital significance to clients from various walks of life and with myriads of problems or mental and emotional challenges. Therapy may be long-termed analytical experiences or encounters or brief problem-oriented treatment/intervention. Whatever the case, these consultations and in-depth interactions and activities between a practitioner therapist and the client in most cases, are beneficial (Burnard, 1992, 1994). The relationship here is that the therapist and client relate in a cordial and friendly manner and the therapist propels the conversation in an energized tone (Hough, 2002). This sets the pace for the client to talk about themselves, how the feel about anything and everything surrounding their lives. More to that, this intricate relationship and dialogue with the therapist assist the client to hear themselves and how they experience themselves, how the therapist experiences them, how they experience the therapist as an individual and friend and so on Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980) Needless to say this kind of therapy can be very tricky to use especially in the case of two opposite sex. It may yield a counter transference and the therapeutic distance. This may impede on the effectiveness of the therapy. It is therefore important that the therapist be very self aware of himself and objective through out the whole process of therapy. He should be in close monitoring of the evolution of the relationship with the client and on the look out for potential obstruction or abuse of power during the sessions of therapy (Smith, 1999, 2004; Rogers, 1980). This is not only a requirement in gestalt psychotherapy but basically in all psychotherapies. It is required by law that the therapist should always keep a therapeutic distance from the client because a breach in observing that distance is tantamount to abuse. This is because in therapy the client is usually vulnerable to the therapist and may feel pressured to please the authority (therapist) although in the real situation, this would be atrocious. This means that if not in the jurisdiction to the therapist to choose for the client what is morally right or wrong since the foundational basic of this therapy is that the client is responsible and is capable of charting his/her own course and behavior. Basically, in this therapy it is not about the ‘should’ and ‘should nots’ so to speak since this impedes on spontaneity and the integration of wholesome self awareness (Brearley, 1996). Reference: Burnard, P. (1994) 2nd ed Counselling Skills for Health Professionals. London: Chapman Hall. Burnard, P. (1992) Effective Communication Skills for Health Professionals. London: Chapman Hall. Brearley, J. (1996) Counselling And Social Work. Buckingham: OU Press. Hough, M. (2002) A practical Approach to Counselling, 2nd edn. London: Prentice Hall. Lishman, J. (1994) Communication in Social Work. Macmillan. McLeod, J. (1998). Introduction to Counselling. Buckingham: OU Press. (Chpt 1) Nelson-Jones, R. (1988) Practical Counselling and Helping Skills (4th Ed). London Cassel Rogers, Carl . R. 1951. Client-Centred Counselling, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. Rogers, Carl . R. 1959. A theory of therapy, personality and interpersonal relationships, as developed in the client-centered framework. In S. Koch (ed. ). Psychology: A study of science. (pp. 184-256). N. Y. : McGraw Hill. Smith, M. K. (1997, 2004) ‘Carl Rogers and informal education’, the Encyclopaedia of informal education. [www. infed. org/thinkers/et-rogers. htm. Seden, J. (1999). Counselling Skills in Social Work Practice. Buckingham: OU Press. How to cite Since human individuals, Papers

Paradox Leader Behaviors People Management -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Paradox Leader Behaviors People Management? Answer: Introduction An organization continuously thrive to achieve the goals it has set for itself to achieve increased profitability and sustainable growth, but in the path they keep on encountering challenges which come in the path of its success. Conflicts can be seen as an inevitable part of organizational life since the goals of different stakeholders such as the managers and employees are quite often incompatible. Conflict can be understood as an unpleasant fact in any organization as long as people compete for jobs, resources, power recognition and security. Organizational conflict can be understood as the dispute which occurs when interest, goals or values imbibed in an individual or groups differ from others. This eventually leads to a state when they start frustrating each other in an attempt to achieve their objectives. Conflict arises in a group due to scarcity of freedom, position and resources. People who value independence more often tend to resist the need of interdependence and conformi ty, in a similar manner people who seek power struggle with others for position or status within the group (Wallensteen, 2015) The study here will analyse the managerial implications of the conflicts in the organization and the challenges managers face in managing the interface conflict. Concept of Conflict and Conflict Management Conflict has a plethora of definition from different scholars and researchers, but despite multiple definitions there are several common ideas which can be derived from them. Conflict can be understood as processes which begin when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected or is about to negatively affect something that the first party cares about (Kong, Dirks Ferrin, 2014). It is a condition which arises whenever the perceived interests of an individual or a group clash with those of another group or individual in such a way that strong emotions are aroused and compromise is certainly not the solution for it. The above points clearly imply that conflict exists whenever an action by one party is seen or perceived as preventing or interfering with the goals, needs and actions of other party. Conflict can be seen as a perception issue-parties to the conflict must perceive that it exists or it does not exists (Clegg, Komberger Pitsis, 2015) Some people get confused between conflict resolution and conflict management, but there is a good difference between the two. Conflict resolution is an integral part of the conflict management, and conflict management encompasses both conflict stimulation and conflict resolution techniques. Personalitys differences or a clash in the emotional needs is one of the major causes of conflicts .Some of the major causes of conflicts in the organization are: Lack of information-Conflict arises when employees feel that they are less important in the organization and hence less information is shared with them in comparison to other. Lack of resources-Conflict arises when employees feel that management does not provide them with adequate resources to do their job, leading to dissatisfaction and reason for a conflict(Mago, Shemek Sheremeta, 2016) Personal relationship- Workplace is stressful, and when people are not able to cope up with personal differences, conflict arises owing to personal relationships. Incompetent management-At times managers are not competent for the job and hence they cause confusion among the employees leading to stressful situation eventually ending up in causing conflicts(Anderson,Potocnik Zhou,2014) Managerial Expectation-It is the job of the employee to meet the expectation of their managers, but in the case where expectations are not communication or expressed properly, conflict may arise. Breakdown in communication-This arises when one department requires information from another department, and the other department does not respond positively or conceals some information. This results in interdepartmental conflicts. Misinterpreting the information-This is very prevalent in an organization, a person at times misunderstands or misinterprets something said by someone resulting in serious conflicts(Shemla, Meyer, Greer Jehn, 2016) Lack of accountability-This can arise when nobody comes forward to take responsibility and accountability for ones action leading to a bad situation in an organization. This evokes frustration leading to conflict amongst the employees. Challenges faced by managers in managing Interface Conflicts Managers are supposed to manage the employees underneath them and facilitate an environment of sustained learning and growth in the team. Some of the challenges faced by managers are: Limited resources-In an organization resources are limited and scarce, and the team or the individual members fight over the competing resources, which poses a challenge for the mangers in dealing with kind of conflict arising out of limited resources(Strange, Dreher, Fuchs, Parks Tierney,2017) Departmentalization and specialization-In an organization there are multi departments according to their specialization, manager often find it difficult to manage the conflict arising out of the departmental conflicts. Role expectation-It is basically the misalignment between the requirements of the job as described and the actual nature of job, causing resentment among the employees. This is one of the major challenge manager faces on account of managing the job expectations(Hambrick, Humphrey Gupta, 2015) Environmental change-Organization tend to undergo change all the time, the change may be business oriented, process change, technological change, department change and so on. Employees find it difficult to accept the change which leads to conflict with the management. This is one of the major challenges posed to the managers owing to the change in environment. Communication block-This type of challenge is faced by managers when one group has different information than the other and manager finds it really difficult to make a connect between the two. The manager is in a state of mind where he is unsure about which side he has to pick and does not have strong reasons to support his argument, thus leading to a challenge(Albers, Wohlgezogen Zajac, 2016) Doing something unethical or wrong-At times it happens in an organization that managers have to take a morally wrong path or adopt ethically wrong method to achieve an objective or complete a role. This at times does not go down well with the team members resulting in a conflict, further leading to a challenge to managers to handle the same. Team and peer conflicts-Managers want all its team members to collaborate and work in sync with each other creating positive synergies in the team, but employees due to diversity in the workplace get into conflicts disrupting the harmony in the team and resulting in a conflict. Managers thus find it extremely challenging to manage such conflicts(Zhang, Waldman,Han Li, 2015) These are the challenges managers find in managing the conflict, it is the limited control and power in their hands and the huge expectations the employees have on their managers leading to the issues and challenges managers face in managing interface conflicts. Conflict management Strategies These are some proven strategies which managers use while resolving a conflict Accommodating- This is the strategy in which the other party is asking whatever is demanded by them or requests for it. For example if employees want casual dressing in office, the managers can allow a casual Friday to accommodate their demands(Hillman, 2014) Avoiding-This strategy is aimed at putting off a conflict for an indefinite amount of time. The strategy is simple, by avoiding, delaying or ignoring the conflict; an avoider hopes that the problem will get resolved on its own. People who actively avoid conflict have a low esteem and low power. But this conflict management strategy is quite successful, although it has its implications as well(Mulki, Jaramillo,Goad Pesquera,2015) Compromising-This is another useful strategy used by the managers, it involves calling up both the parties in the conflict to give up the elements of their position in order to establish an acceptable, if not agreeable solution. This is the strategy which prevails most in the organization where the parties hold almost equal power. Competing-This can be summed up as a zero sum game. In this one party wins and the other loses. This strategy works best in a limited number of conflicts such as emergency situation. Collaborating-It can be seen as one of the best positive strategy which leads to better outcomes. In this strategy ideas given by several people are collaborated to come at an agreeable solution. Managerial implication of conflicts in an organization Managers often become a part of conflict arising in the organization and even if they try to remain out of it, they are dragged into the situation. Managers serve as connectors between the organization and the employees and hence they are automatically in middle of a conflict, even if they wish for it or not, some of the implication can be: Deteriorated communication- Managers are often the peacemakers or the communicators of the policies and procedures from the top management to the middle and lower level employees, hence they are very important wheel of the organization. It is seen that whenever a manager is involved in managing a conflict the flow of communication between the organization breaks. Manager is often seen in solving conflict and his time gets wasted in resolving the conflict. Communication sustainability is required in the organization, and if this breaks, a lot of business processes gets affected. Deteriorated communication is one of the biggest managerial implications of conflict management(Fotohabadi Kelly, 2018) Ineffective management of time-A manager is a person who is given additional responsibilities because he has proved his mettle in the past and is capable enough to lead his time. He is disciplined, values time and plans his day ahead to effectively utilize his time. Being dragged in conflict arising amongst the team or department, he is unable to manage his time. Most of his time gets wasted in consoling either of the parties and try to come up with strategies to cajole either of them. Due to all these unproductive time wasting activities he finds himself in a position with less time at his hand to work on his KPI/Goals. Decreased productivity- Productivity/KPI is the benchmark against which the performance of the manager is being evaluated. In the atmosphere of conflict he is unable to get the goals of the organization fulfilled which adversely affects his productivity and thus his performance. Every person has the same number of hours to work in the organization, and if most of the time gets wasted in controlling the conflict and visiting each and every aspect of the conflict to arrive at an agreeable or an acceptable solution, the productivity of the manager crumbles down with a high pace. Decreased productivity can further lead to serious implication on the learning and growth of the managers. Negative work environment-Conflict arises when an individual or a party is not comfortable with the other person or a group, this can be due to multiple reasons like; cultural diversity, lack of resources, communication challenges, hiding the information and many more. All this creates a negative work environment and the teams do not find themselves motivated enough to come to work. Negative work environment is one of the biggest demotivating factors for the employees, and in such condition the productivity of the entire team hampers which results in a negative implication on the manager. Manager is then seen to be incompetent and perceived as not a good leader in managing/leading the team. High employee attrition- Conflicts are bad in general, in organization conflicts can be understood as termite which is dampening the pillars of success and growth. Employees work in an organization which facilitates an environment of positivity, learning and growth. When conflict arises in the organization and if not handled properly, leads to grapevine and rumours about the organization or the managers. It is often said that employees never leave the organization, but they leave their managers. Thus employees on seeing that the manager is unable to manage or handle the conflict, starts looking out to switch teams or even move to different companies. This employee attrition has a very negative impact on the performance of the managers. Conclusion Conflicts can be both positive and negative in nature, but the negative effects of conflicts are far worsening than the uplifting effects of positive conflicts. Thus it is always advise to have openness in communication, strengthening the team, team building activities, open forum for employee grievances in the organization so that the conflicts can be reduced as much as possible. Conflict is one of the biggest time wasters for the managers as they eat up on the time and their productivity, also lead to negative work environment. Thus it is highly advised that efforts should be made to reduce the conflicts arising in the organization and conflicts should be handled as and when they arise and not to be ignored. References Albers, S., Wohlgezogen, F. and Zajac, E.J., 2016. Strategic alliance structures: An organization design perspective.Journal of Management,42(3), pp.582-614. Anderson, N., Poto?nik, K. and Zhou, J., 2014. Innovation and creativity in organizations: A state-of-the-science review, prospective commentary, and guiding framework.Journal of Management,40(5), pp.1297-1333. Clegg, S.R., Kornberger, M. and Pitsis, T., 2015.Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice. Sage. Fotohabadi, M. and Kelly, L., 2018. Making conflict work: Authentic leadership and reactive and reflective management styles.Journal of General Management,43(2), pp.70-78. Hambrick, D.C., Humphrey, S.E. and Gupta, A., 2015. Structural interdependence within top management teams: A key moderator of upper echelons predictions.Strategic Management Journal,36(3), pp.449-461. Hillman, D.R., 2014. Understanding multigenerational work-value conflict resolution.Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health,29(3), pp.240-257. Kong, D.T., Dirks, K.T. and Ferrin, D.L., 2014. Interpersonal trust within negotiations: Meta-analytic evidence, critical contingencies, and directions for future research.Academy of Management Journal,57(5), pp.1235-1255. Mago, S.D., Samak, A.C. and Sheremeta, R.M., 2016. Facing your opponents: Social identification and information feedback in contests.Journal of Conflict Resolution,60(3), pp.459-481. Mulki, J.P., Jaramillo, F., Goad, E.A. and Pesquera, M.R., 2015. Regulation of emotions, interpersonal conflict, and job performance for salespeople.Journal of Business Research,68(3), pp.623-630. Shemla, M., Meyer, B., Greer, L. and Jehn, K.A., 2016. A review of perceived diversity in teams: Does how members perceive their team's composition affect team processes and outcomes?.Journal of Organizational Behavior,37(S1). Strange, A.M., Dreher, A., Fuchs, A., Parks, B. and Tierney, M.J., 2017. Tracking underreported financial flows: Chinas development finance and the aidconflict nexus revisited.Journal of Conflict Resolution,61(5), pp.935-963. Wallensteen, P., 2015.Understanding conflict resolution. Sage. Zhang, Y., Waldman, D.A., Han, Y.L. and Li, X.B., 2015. Paradoxical leader behaviors in people management: Antecedents and consequences.Academy of Management Journal,58(2), pp.538-566.

The Perfect Place to Relax free essay sample

The perfect place to relax Everyone has their one special place that he or she can feel clam and relax. For someone, it could be a quiet place, such as bedroom or living room. For another one, it could be the hustling, full of people just like shopping mall. Everyone has a unique place to relax. As for me, bedroom is a place where I can feel more comfortable and relaxed in. When you come into my room, the first sight to catch your attention is a large French window in the right side. It is almost ten feet wider which allow the sunlight to brighten every corner of the bedroom during daytime. Every weekend, I like to sit in front of the French window and read some books during sunset. Sometimes I just sit there and do nothing to enjoy the quiet moment. On the other side of the bedroom is a huge digital TV which set on a wooden table. We will write a custom essay sample on The Perfect Place to Relax or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I watch my favorite movie or listen to some relaxing music. I think the best way to relax is to have a cup of milk while watching TV before I go to bed. It makes me to have a very good sleep. So I really enjoy the time that I spend in the bedroom. In the middle of the bedroom is my king-sized water bed. It is an amazing bed of comfort as you plop down on it.. It is the place where I take many naps and relaxing sleep in the night. Most of the time I lay on the bed to listen music or watch TV. In conclusion, my bedroom is my favorite place because I can get away from stress and completely relax myself especially after get off duty. Everyone needs a place to relax and where is your place?

Water Wars in Bolivia

Water Wars in Bolivia Modernization and development experts in the early 1950s predicted the possibility of future water wars (Rapoport, 1974). Since then, the experts have been on the forefront supporting governments in developing and implementing resource management policies.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Water Wars in Bolivia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More With the aim of enhancing human-environment relations within their regions, most countries have developed and implemented appropriate measures (Rapoport, 1974). However, it is disappointing to note that most governments in the developing countries have paid little or no attention to avert the looming dangers. With regard to the recent resource protests in Bolivia, this paper details the progress achieved in the case study, and outlines recommendations based on modernization theories. Problems In the year 1999, human-environment conflicts broke out in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The conf licts involved water customers, private water service providers, and International Waters Company (Perrault, 2006). We noted that towards the end of the 20th century, Bolivian government was under hyperinflation (Carlos, 2006). To ease the situation, Bolivian government requested for a financial aid from the World Bank (Perrault, 2006). The World Bank accepted their request, and in turn mandated its government to abide by the bank’s provisions. To achieve its development independence, Bolivian government was required by the World Bank to privatize most of its state owned industries (Carlos, 2006). To comply with this requirement, Bolivian government privatized its telecommunication, railways, and hydrocarbon industries.Advertising Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the year 2000, the World Bank advised the Bolivian government to privatize its water service system. Th ey had to abide by the World Bank’s directive to qualify for the 25 million US dollars they had requested from the institution (Perrault, 2006). Through this directive, the World Bank aimed at improving the Bolivian water systems’ effectiveness. They were to achieve it through the introduction of new investors and replacement of corrupt individuals in the water service systems. Upon privatization, the new water service provider, Aguas Del Tunari, raised the water rates to finance the construction of a stalled dam (Perrault, 2006). As a result, some poor people were unable to pay for their water bills. At the beginning of the year 2000, the peasant farmers initiated protests against the water prices (Perrault, 2006). By mid February, demonstrations had attracted factory workers, street children, and state employees. As a result, the Cochabamba’s economy stalled for several days led to massive financial losses. At the beginning of the case study, we identified sev eral causes of Bolivian water and natural gas crystalline protests. We noted that the Water wars in Bolivia were the product of human-environment conflicts. These conflicts depict Bolivia’s weak environmental management systems and corrupt institutions (Perrault, 2006). So far, we have identified that Bolivian environmental management systems and institutions are not only ineffective but also ill equipped. For the last two decades, the country’s environmental authorities have followed the neo-liberal path (Perrault, 2006). In the case study, we noted that the past corrupt Bolivian environmental authorities were not appropriately centralized.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Water Wars in Bolivia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As a result, farming organizations and community associations were formed to manage the country’s water service distribution services (Carlos, 2006). Through the studies, we discovered that NGOs, bilateral agencies, and multilateral agencies were involved in the distribution of water services from rural to urban areas. With all these players in the water service system, it became very difficult for the country to appropriately manage and regulate its water service industries (Perrault, 2006). Upon privatization, Bolivian water systems re-scaled and re-institutionalized Bolivian natural management organizations leading to resource related struggles (Perrault, 2006). We identified that during the Bolivian privatization processes, they excluded the public from participating in important decision-making processes. As a result, the public were convinced that their resources were being taken over by the private companies. Through this, the citizens were motivated to fight for their property rights through strikes and demonstrations. Similarly, the public believed that privatization of public natural resources was going to restrict their access. As a result , they resorted to demonstrations witnessed during the beginning of the year 2000 (Carlos, 2006). Similarly, the studies revealed that Bolivia’s dependence on foreign aid, weak political and economical stability rendered their legal and institutional frameworks ineffectively. Equally, we have noted that the country’s dependence on foreign aid led to the reorganization of the country’s resource management systems to suit the foreign interests rather than the country’s interests.Advertising Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this regard, we identified that Bolivian human-environment conflicts were triggered by concerns over control of resources and implications of scarce natural resources on their livelihoods (Carlos, 2006). By conducting the case study, we noticed that in the last two decades the Bolivian government has been infamous for disrespecting social justice. Bolivian consumers expected their government to shield them from exploitation from local and international firms (Perrault, 2006). Similarly, as noted through Bolivian water wars, Bolivian citizens were concerned with the country’s lack of transparency in handling and distributing its natural resources. For instance, in the protest the demonstrators called on their government to improve its distributive justice (Perrault, 2006). Solutions As we have argued, developing nations require massive investments to expand their water services. In this regard, the World Bank and other international financiers should note that the cost of e xpanding these services is too enormous for most private companies to manage on their own (Bruce, 2011). Similarly, we noted that in some countries the World Bank has subsidized cost recovery to enhance privatization of more state companies (Funder, 2012). Instead, the World Bank should help Bolivia and other developing nations in enhancing their natural resource institutions’ efficiencies rather than subsidizing and expanding their private sectors (Bruce, 2011). Similarly, we urge Bolivian private and public sectors to work together to ensure that water and other natural resources are equally distributed. Similarly, Bolivian government should ensure that its citizens have access to natural resources at fair prices. As witnessed in Bolivia, human competition over scarce resources triggers most human-environment conflicts (Bruce, 2011). To reduce competition over these resources, we urge all Bolivians to adopt responsible behaviors. According to the World Bank, people should a ppropriately utilize natural resources by minimizing their wastage. Similarly, Bolivians should adopt modern scientific technologies that minimize the usage of natural resources. Through this, agricultural farms should use the modern scientific methods of irrigation rather than the rudimentary technologies currently used across Bolivia and other developing nations. Similarly, Bolivian government should improve its economic state. Through this, the government should create more employment and investment opportunities. We believe that with an improved economy, most Bolivians would stop depending on their natural resources as their source of livelihoods, thus reducing cases of human-environment conflicts. By acknowledging the modern thinking concepts, Bolivians should analyze current social factors influencing human-environment conflicts. By doing so, we believe that they would be able to discover the means to avoid and solve these challenges. Bolivian authorities should ensure that ap propriate laws and authorities are put in place to regulate the involvement of the private sectors in participating in the management of the country’s natural resources (Scott, 1998). Similarly, Bolivian government should adopt and develop alternative economic development models. After analyzing the Bolivian economic history, we noted that neo-liberalism has not only enhanced poverty and insecurity, but also resulted in increased social injustices. To solve these issues, the Bolivian private and public sectors should do away with neo-liberalization policies (Scott, 1998). Equally, we urge the country’s resource authorities to outlaw the neo-liberalization of the country’s natural resources. Instead, the resource authorities should acknowledge that they have failed in the distribution of the countrys resources. Thereafter, they should distribute all natural resources fairly focusing more on the previously neglected areas (Scott, 1998). Conclusion Generally, we no ted that the current Bolivian human-environment conflicts might persist for the next few decades. Thus, Bolivian government must acknowledge its citizens grievances. By acknowledging these grievances, government officials should realize that the citizens expect their help in developing political and social systems. Similarly, the government, NGOs, and the private organizations should realize that they have a role to play in the formulation of appropriate educational policies used in public education (Scott, 1998). By adopting the use of modern technologies, Bolivian government can significantly reduce cases of unrests and human environment conflicts previously witnessed. References Bruce, R. (2011). Rights to water and privatization. Environmental Forum, 28(1), 2. Carlos, A. (2006). Crisis in Cochabamba.. Alternatives Journal., 32(4), 2. Funder, M. (2012). Strategies of the Poorest in Local Water Conflict and Cooperation – Evidence from Vietnam, Bolivia and Zambia. Water Alte rnatives, 5(1), 17. Perreault, T. (2006). From the Guerra del Agua to the Guerra del Gas: Resource governance, neoliberalism and popular protest in Bolivia. Antipode, 38(1), 12. Rapoport, A. (1974). Conflict in man-made environment. Harmondsworth, Eng: Penguin Books. Scott, J. C. (1998). Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Economic Geography

Economic Geography Economic geography is a sub-field within the larger subjects of geography and economics. Researchers within this field study the location, distribution, and organization of economic activity around the world. Economic geography is important in developed nations such as the United States because it allows researchers to understand the structure of the areas economy and its economic relationship with other areas around the world. It is also important in developing nations because the reasons and methods of development or lack thereof are more easily understood. Because economics is such a large topic of study so too is economic geography. Some topics that are considered economic geography include agritourism, the economic development of various countries and gross domestic and gross national products. Globalization is also extremely important to economic geographers today because it connects much of the worlds economy. History and Development of Economic Geography The field of economic geography continued to grow as European nations later began to explore and colonize different regions around the world. During these times European explorers made maps describing economic resources such as spices, gold, silver and tea that they believed would be found in places like the Americas, Asia and Africa (Wikipedia.org). They based their explorations on these maps and as a result, new economic activity was brought to those regions. In addition to the presence of these resources, explorers also documented the trading systems that the people native to these regions engaged in. In the mid-1800s farmer and economist, Johann Heinrich von Thà ¼nen developed his model of agricultural land use. This was an early example of modern economic geography because it explained the economic development of cities based on land use. In 1933 geographer Walter Christaller created his Central Place Theory that used economics and geography to explain the distribution, size, and number of cities around the world. By the end of World War II general geographic knowledge had increased considerably. Economic recovery and development following the war led to the growth of economic geography as an official discipline within geography because geographers and economists became interested in how and why economic activity and development was occurring and where it was around the world. Economic geography continued to grow in popularity throughout the 1950s and 1960s as geographers attempted to make the subject more quantitative. Today economic geography is still a very quantitative field that mainly focuses on topics such as the distribution of businesses, market research and regional and global development. In addition, both geographers and economists study the topic. Todays economic geography is also very reliant on geographic information systems (GIS) to conduct research on markets, the placement of businesses and the supply and demand of a given product for an area. Topics within Economic Geography Theoretical economic geography is the broadest of the branches and geographers within that subdivision mainly focus on building new theories for how the worlds economy is arranged. Regional economic geography looks at the economies of specific regions around the world. These geographers look at local development as well as the relationships that specific regions have with other areas. Historical economic geographers look at the historical development of an area to understand their economies. Behavioral economic geographers focus on an areas people and their decisions to study the economy. Critical economic geography is the final topic of study. It developed out of critical geography and geographers in this field attempt to study economic geography without using the traditional methods listed above. For example, critical economic geographers often look at economic inequalities and the dominance of one region over another and how that dominance impacts the development of economies. In addition to studying these different topics, economic geographers also often study very specific themes related to the economy. These themes include the geography of agriculture, transportation, natural resources, and trade as well as topics such as business geography. Current Research in Economic Geography Journal of Economic Geography Each of these articles is interesting because they are very different from one another but they all focus on some aspect of the worlds economy and how it works.

Practice skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Practice skills - Essay Example Despite of his conceptual knowledge, he did not practice anything. He only verbalized the ideas. My best manager recorded a different trend from this. He linked the gap that would exist between knowing and doing. Therefore, this manager would focus on the implementation of his ideologies and strategies within the organization. For example, he ensured resilient performance amongst employees through channeling rewards such as salary increment and promotions. This manager also ensured a hiring process that upheld competence of the recruits. He also organized seminars and team-building activities to enhance affiliation amongst the workforce. The key difference is that the worst manager would only verbalize ideas, while the other would implement them. My best and worst managers also differed in their skills. The technical skills of my worst manager were impaired. He did not use tools and equipment competently to attain desirable objectives within the organization. Consequently, processes implementation within the organization was highly impaired. This manager also had an average performance in his interpersonal and problem solving processes. My best manager possessed an ideal capacity to use tools and equipment to implement processes. His interpersonal and communication skills were outstanding. This nurtured healthy relationships amongst the workforce and himself. He portrayed an elevated degree of analytical capability. This would enable him to make feasible recommendations for organizational

Should the Sex Offender Registry be abolished Research Paper

Should the Sex Offender Registry be abolished - Research Paper Example This paper argues for the abolishment of the public sex offender registry by giving concrete reasons against having the practice retained. Reasons why the Public Sex Offender Registry should be abolished Harm to families. Proponents of the public sex offender registry argue that making sex offender information public reduces the rates of sexual offenses by repeat offenders and enable parents to protect their children (IDEA, 2009). However, public notification of sex offenders does not only affect the offenders, but their families as well. This is because despite the fact that states have the discretion to decide on the criteria for disclosing sex offender information, majority of the states implements them to the extreme. Sex offenders get imprisonment sentences and remain incarcerated for a significant amount of time, but their families get to suffer more humiliation, especially when details get disclosed to the entire public, such as being made available on the internet. Hodgson an d Kelley point out that â€Å"highly publicized case have demonstrated a severe and negative impact on the victim’s family and the offender’s family† (2002, p. 229). Cases of mistaken identities after release of offender information to the public have also been witnessed, and the persons incorrectly identified as sex offenders have undergone harassment and assault. Ex-offenders and their families suffer constant instability when their private information such as name, age, place of employment, address, and crime committed is made available to the public. This includes lack of proper employment and challenges accessing suitable housing.... This paper stresses that proponents of the public sex offender registry argue that making sex offender information public reduces the rates of sexual offenses by repeat offenders and enable parents to protect their children. However, public notification of sex offenders does not only affect the offenders, but their families as well. This is because despite the fact that states have the discretion to decide on the criteria for disclosing sex offender information, majority of the states implements them to the extreme. Sex offenders get imprisonment sentences and remain incarcerated for a significant amount of time, but their families get to suffer more humiliation, especially when details get disclosed to the entire public, such as being made available on the internet. The author talks that supporters of the preservation of the public sex offender registry and relevant acts argue that the registration is important in protecting them and their children. They however forget the tax burde n imposed on tax payers, who have to pay the salaries and fund all operations of the staff working in these units. The implementation of additional laws and regulations is also funded by taxpayers. This report makes a conclusion that there are better ways of handling sex offenders, rather than subjecting them and their families to excessive punishment, humiliation and harm, and violating their rights. The main aim of the justice system is reforming offenders and giving them a chance to live normal lives. The use of the public sex offender registry fails to do this.

Tennyson wrote In Memoriam Essay Example for Free

Tennyson wrote In Memoriam Essay Tennyson wrote In Memoriam for a dear lost friend of his. The poems span the length of 17 years. When Tennyson writes of the way of the soul, is most definitely referring to that metaphysical aspect of a person’s spirit – that thing which travels beyond death. Tennyson’s fear however, is that he cannot write about the soul, as he says, â€Å"For words, like Nature, half reveal/And half conceal the Soul within. † (Tennyson lines 3-4 poem V. ) In short, Tennyson writes of the loss of his friend’s soul. Tennyson’s fear becomes that he will not know his friend any longer in his mortal form (perhaps Tennyson fears he will not recognize his friend’s soul should they meet again); such desire is shown in poem XII, ‘Is this the end? Is this the end? ’ (Tennyson line 16 XII). However, Tennyson forgoes his fears and finds a certainty as expressed in these lines, â€Å"And I perceived no touch of change,/No hint of death in all his frame,/But found him all in all the same,/I should not feel it to be strange. † (Tennyson lines 17-20 poem XIV) thereby proving that his friend is not altogether lost to him, nor should Tennyson feel sorrow for one who is not lost. 2. Tennyson wrote Mariana as a character taken from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. In the poem Tennyson illustrates the woman’s waiting for her lover; the ambiance of the poem illustrates the woman’s vain waiting with word choices such as, â€Å"rusted nails† â€Å"broken sheds† and hinges that â€Å"creak† (Tennyson). Such elements of dilapidation reveal the psychology of the main character’s actions; thus Tennyson uses environment as revelation to the person’s psychological makeup. In Browning’s My Last Duchess the reader is exposed to a subjective reality in which the Duke reveals to the emissary that, â€Å"[he] gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together. † (Browning). Thus, the reader is left to believe he killed her, or had the Duchess killed because of her flirtatious (according to the Duke) wanderings. Browning’s use of enjambment instead of the metered revelry of Tennyson’s poem stand as stark contrast to one another: Tennyson’s work is pleasing to the ear, affecting the reader to follow the meter and its revelations of grief and love for the grieved while Browning’s enjambment give the reader a jilted session of reading making the reader disquieted and not all together comfortable in reading the poem, a technique that makes them wonder about the ease with which the Duke mentions that he murdered his wife. 3. Edward Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is a work of hedonistic texture because of its many references to love or lust of earthly delights, as in the lines â€Å"Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,/A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse and Thou/Beside me singing in the Wilderness -/And Wilderness is Paradise enow† (Fitzgerald Quatrain XI). Thus, in order to be human, to feel human, Omar must indulge in earthly pleasures or else what is the point of eating bread? Drinking wine? Reading and singing? It is these components that make up the pleasures of humanity. In Fitzgerald’s translation of the poem, wine is almost a character which comes up and is referenced again and again, supporting the thesis of hedonism being the theme and design of the poem. The poet uses this device to escape the more sordid details of living such as â€Å"punishment and pain† as well as â€Å"dirty wind, fire, and water† (Fitzgerald). 4. Matthew Arnold’s poetry showed a heaviness of doubt: Doubt of self, doubt of love, doubt of God and the ever-after. In To Marguerite—Continued this doubt is plainly illustrated with lines such as, â€Å"†¦then a longing like despair†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Arnold line 13) when speaking about the nightingales who sing sweetly, but their song becomes distorted in the poet’s ears as he feels as though their song is soured because the birds could remember a time when the continents were together instead of separated. This line represents a stance on lovers – how lovers are once together but separated and thus the longing of the past is bred into the poem through the songs of the birds. Also, as much beauty as Arnold places on the importance of the ocean, he overshadows this sentiment by making the ocean a divider with the line, â€Å"Now round us spreads the watery plain—† (Arnold line 17). And of love, Arnold gives no reverence but merely paints love out to be intermittent moments in a bleak world as in the poem The Buried Life he states, â€Å"Alas! is even love too weak† (Arnold line 12). This bleakness spreads into Arnold’s poem Dover Beach in which the sea again plays a vital part in expressing Arnold’s joyless life through the metaphor of a melancholy ocean. 5. One theme that runs through Arnold’s poems is that of doubt, concurrent with this theme is the image of an ocean. This ocean or â€Å"estranging sea† (Arnold line 24) as is described in To Marguerite—Continued is also read in his poem The Buried Life. He uses the ocean as a metaphor of a juggernaut of loneliness and separateness in which his doubt resides. The ocean is used to illustrate how he is alone from humanity as well as love in these two poems and how it is this unnamable force, this feeling as big as an ocean which makes his life miserable. Although he uses poetic metaphors, Arnold’s poems do not illustrate anything of the joyful hedonism of Edward Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. One may postulate that such lack of hedonism is puritanical in comparison to Tennyson’s love illustrated in his In Memoriam however the reader may conjecture that perhaps Arnold had been loved or had loved at one point in his life because the suffering of his soul is in each poem he writes. Arnold’s theme is doubt and loneliness and in this doubt arises the question the reader must ask themselves, Is love worth such misery? For Arnold, perhaps it wasn’t.

They Can Feel It Too Essay -- Animal Rights

Did you know that domestic violence against an animal as a first offence is only a class B misdemeanor and domestic battery against a human is a Class A misdemeanor? Did you also know that a Class A misdemeanor is about 2 times more severe than a Class B misdemeanor? What makes us humans so special and superior to animals? Why do animals have fewer rights and less protection than us? Animals have feelings too and need to be treated as such so I say it’s time for a change. All this abuse and neglect towards animals needs to stop. Animals can feel pain even though they may not express it the same way that us humans do. Animals need our voices to help close the loopholes in our laws. Someone has to speak up for them since they can’t speak for themselves. In media-reported animal cruelty cases, dogs, pit bulls, in particular, are the most common victims of animal cruelty. In 2007 64.5% of media-reported cases involved dogs, 18% involved cats, and 25% involved other types of animals. The HSUS (The Humane Society of the United States) estimates that nearly 1 million animals a year are abused or killed in connection with domestic violence. About 2,168,000 women and men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner in the U.S. every year. 63% of U.S. households own a pet, and 71% of domestic violence victims report that their abuser also targeted their animals. These statistics are very alarming. So is the fact that many convicted murderers and serial killers tortured animals when they were younger and progressed to killing humans. The other two red-flag behaviors are setting fires and wetting ones bed. Now I’m not saying every child that wets themselves should be put under a microscopic eye but all three of these behaviors together ... ...2383--.html Pristin, Terry. "New Jersey Daily Briefing;Tougher Animal Cruelty Law." New York Times 16 July 1996: 1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=108&sid=58dd2e2a-f77d-4363-99b4-a8f9371ab8ab%40sessionmgr114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=29578437 VanKavage, Ledy. â€Å"Humane Law Enforcement in Illinois†, Petfinder.com. Spring 2002. Web. March 18, 2012. http://www.petfinder.com/how-to-help-pets/humane-law-enforcement-illinois.html Whitcomb, Rachel. "Veterinarian Recounts Zanesville's Tragic Killing Of 49 Exotic, Wild Animals." DVM: The Newsmagazine Of Veterinary Medicine 42.12 (2011): 7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=108&sid=58dd2e2a-f77d-4363-99b4-a8f9371ab8ab%40sessionmgr114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=69711284

Finance and banking Essay

Chapter 1 1. Has the inflation rate in Canada increased or decreased in the past few years? What about interest rates? R/. The inflation rate of CAnada is low. The inflation rate was at 1.10 % in August. And the interest rate was declining. In one news said that on 1915 until 2013, the Canada’s inflation rate 3.2% reaching an all time high of 21.6% in June of 1920 and got a record low at -17.8% in June of 1921. 2. If history repeats itself and we see a decline in the rate of money growth, what might you expect to happen to A. Real output – is going down B. the inflation rate, and – is going down C. Interest rates – is going down All are going to fall. 3. When was the most recent recession? According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of U.S. recessions), there were 10 recessions between 1948 and 2011. And the recent recession started in December 2007 and finished in June 2009. 4. When interest rates fall, how might you change your economic behaviour? I will buy a car and house because the cost of them would fall. I think when the rates fall is good spend more money for get good properties and the future I can duplicate what I spend. 5. Can you think of any financial innovation in the past ten years that has affect you personally? Has it made you better off or worse off? Why? I think all the inventions that the government made, for example the subway and trains. This made me better off, because for me I feel more comfortable with the transportation and for all the population, this made more opportunities for get a job. 6. Is everybody worse off when interest rates rise? When net rest rates rise is not worse off, but for the people who borrow for get a house or a car would be worse off for them, because will cost more to finance their purchase. 7. What is the basic activity of banks? Store money Storing money for customers is the most classic of banking activities. Traditional banks, credit unions and savings institutions offer this service. Customers use bank accounts, such as checking or regular savings accounts, because most provide safe locations to store deposited money that is FDIC-insured, or protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Facilitate Payments Banks and financial institutions enable their customers to pay others. Customers are given checks, both paper and electronic, and other payment tools, such as debit cards. A customer is able to write a check or make a payment to an outside vendor, such as a grocery store, electricity company or other outside individual, with one of their designated payment tools. The financial institution sends money from the customer’s account to their designated payee. Loan Money Lending money allows a bank or financial institution to earn money, according to the FDIC website. This for-profit service involves the bank lending a sum of money to a customer and then charging interest as the loaned amount is repaid back to the institution. Loans are used to purchase or lease automobiles, buy homes, refinance mortgages, perform home repairs and other expensive projects. 12.How does a fall in the value of the pound sterling affect British consumers? R/. This will makes the foreign goods expensive and the British are not going to buy this foreign goods because they are going to choose for the cheaper one. 13.How does an increase in the value of the pound sterding affect American businesses? R/. For American business will be easier for sell their goods and they can sell it in the United States or abroad. 14.When the dollar is worth more in relation to currencies of other countries, are you more likely to buy American-made or foreign-made jean ? Are U.S.companies that make jeans happier when the dollar is strong or when it is weak? What about American company that is in the business of importing jeans into the United States? R/. In the mid-to late 1970s and in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the value of the dollar was low, making travel abroad relatively more expensive; thus it was a good time to vacation in the United States and see the Grand Canyon. With the rise in the dollar’s value in the early 1980s, travel abroad became relatively cheaper, making it a good time to visit the Tower of London. Chapter 2 1.Why is a share of IBM common stocks an asset for its owner and a liability for IBM? The share of IBM stock is an asset for its owner because it entitles the owner to a share of the earnings and assets of IBM. The share is a liability for IBM because it is a claim on its earnings and assets by the owner of the share. 2.If I can buy a car today for $5000and it is worth $10,OOO in extra income next year to me because it enables me to get a job as a traveling  anvil seller, Should I take out a loan from Larry the loan Shark at a 90% interest rate if no one else will give me a loan? Will I be better or worse off as a result of taking out this loan? Can you make a case for legalizing loan-sharking? I should take out a loan from Larry, if I make a case for legalizing that would give problem and can affect the bank. It’s not good make a case. 3.Some economists suspect that one of the reasons that economies in developing countries so slowly is that they do not have well-developed financial markets. Does this argument make sense? Yes, because the absence of financial markets means that funds cannot be channeled to people who have the most productive use for them. Entrepreneurs then cannot acquire funds to set up businesses that would help the economy grow rapidly. 10. If you are an employer, what kinds of moral hazard problems might you worry about with your employees? R/. I would be concerned that they have their own responsibilities and they might steal things or do not good behaviour. 11.If there were asymetwmthe information that a borrower and a lender had, could there stiIl be a moral hazard problem? Yes, because even if you know that a borrower is taking actions that might jeopardize paying off the loan, you must still stop the borrower from doing so. Because that may be costly, you may not spend the time and effort to reduce moral hazard, and so the problem of moral hazard still exists. 14.How does risk sharing benefit both financial intermediaries and private investors? Risk sharing benefits and financial intermediaries are able to earn a spread. Investors benefit are able to invest in good diversified portfolio.

The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 9

Bonnie winced at the nasty metalic taste in her mouth and blinked several times, until the room around her came back into focus. â€Å"Ugh,† she said. â€Å"I hate doing that.† Everyone was staring at her, their faces white and shocked. â€Å"What?† she said uneasily. â€Å"What'd I say?† Elena was sitting very stil . â€Å"You said it was my fault,† she said slowly. â€Å"Whatever is coming after us, I brought it here.† Stefan reached out to cover her hand with his own. Unbidden, the meanest, narrowest part of Bonnie's mind thought wearily, Of course. It's always about Elena, isn't it? Meredith and Matt fil ed Bonnie in on the rest of what she'd said in her trance, but their eyes kept returning to Elena's stricken face, and as soon as they finished tel ing her what she'd missed, they turned away from Bonnie, back to Elena. â€Å"We need to make a plan,† Meredith said to her softly. â€Å"We'l al want some refreshment,† Mrs. Flowers said, rising to her feet, and Bonnie fol owed her into the kitchen, eager to escape the tension of the room. She wasn't real y a plan girl, anyway, she told herself. She'd made her contribution just by being the vision girl. Elena and Meredith were the ones everyone looked to for making the decisions. But it wasn't fair, was it? She wasn't a fool, despite the fact that her friends al treated her like the baby of the group. Everyone thought Elena and Meredith were so clever and so strong, but Bonnie had saved the day again and again – not that anyone ever remembered that. She ran her tongue along the edges of her teeth, trying to scrape off the nasty sour taste stil in her mouth. Mrs. Flowers had decided that what the group needed to soothe them was some of her special elder-flower lemonade. While she fil ed the glasses with ice, poured the drinks, and set them out on a tray, Bonnie watched her restlessly. There was a rough, empty feeling inside Bonnie, like something was missing. It wasn't fair, she thought again. None of them appreciated her or realized al she'd done for them. â€Å"Mrs. Flowers,† she said suddenly. â€Å"How do you talk to your mother?† Mrs. Flowers turned to her, surprised. â€Å"Why, my dear,† she said, â€Å"it's very easy to speak to ghosts, if they want to speak to you, or if they are the spirits of someone you loved. Ghosts, you see, have not left our plane but stay close to us.† â€Å"But stil ,† Bonnie pressed on, â€Å"you can do more than that, a lot more.† She pictured Mrs. Flowers, young again, eyes flashing, hair flying, fighting the kitsune's malevolent Power with an equal Power of her own. â€Å"You're a very powerful witch.† Mrs. Flowers's expression was reserved. â€Å"It's kind of you to say so, dear.† Bonnie twirled a ringlet of her hair around one finger anxiously, weighing her next words. â€Å"Wel†¦ if you would, of course – only if you have time – I'd like you to train me. Whatever you'd be wil ing to teach me. I can see things and I've gotten better at that, but I'd like to learn everything, anything else you can show me. Divining, and about herbs. Protection spel s. The works, I guess. I feel like there's so much I don't know, and I think I might have talent, you know? I hope so, anyway.† Mrs. Flowers looked at her appraisingly for one long moment and then nodded once more. â€Å"I wil teach you,† she said. â€Å"With pleasure. You possess great natural talent.† â€Å"Real y?† Bonnie said shyly. A warm bubble of happiness rose inside her, fil ing the emptiness that had engulfed her just moments ago. Then she cleared her throat and added, as casual y as she could manage, â€Å"And I was wondering†¦ can you talk to anyone who's dead? Or just your mother?† Mrs. Flowers didn't answer for a few moments. Bonnie felt like the older woman's sharp blue gaze was looking straight through her and analyzing the mind and heart inside. When Mrs. Flowers did speak, her voice was gentle. â€Å"Who is it you want to contact, dear?† Bonnie flinched. â€Å"No one in particular,† she said quickly, erasing an image of Damon's black-on-black eyes from her mind. â€Å"It just seems like something that would be useful. And interesting, too. Like, I could learn al about Fel ‘s Church's history.† She turned away from Mrs. Flowers and busied herself with the lemonade glasses, leaving the subject behind for now. There would be time to ask again, she thought. Soon. â€Å"The most important thing,† Elena was saying earnestly, â€Å"is to protect Meredith. We've gotten a warning, and we need to take advantage of it, not sit around worrying about where it came from. If something terrible – something I brought somehow – is coming, we'l deal with it when it gets here. Right now, we look out for Meredith.† She was so beautiful, she made Stefan dizzy. Quite literal y: Sometimes he would look at her, catch her at a certain angle, and would see, as if for the first time, the delicate curve of her cheek, the lightest rose-petal blush in her creamy skin, the soft seriousness of her mouth. In those moments, every time, his head and stomach would swoop as if he'd just gotten off a rol er coaster. Elena. He belonged to her; it was as simple as that. As if for hundreds of years he had been journeying toward this one mortal girl, and now that he had found her, his long, long life final y had found its purpose. You don't have her, though, something inside him said. Not all of her. Not really. Stefan shook off the traitorous thought. Elena loved him. She loved him bravely and desperately and passionately and far more than he deserved. And he loved her. That was what mattered. And right now, this sweet mortal girl he loved was efficiently organizing a schedule for guarding Meredith, assigning duties with the calm expectation that she would be obeyed. â€Å"Matt,† she said, â€Å"if you're working tomorrow night, you and Alaric can take the daytime shift. Stefan wil take over at night, and Bonnie and I wil pick up in the morning.† â€Å"You should have been a general,† Stefan murmured to her, earning himself a quick smile. â€Å"I don't need guards,† Meredith said irritably. â€Å"I've been trained in martial arts and I've faced the supernatural before.† It seemed to Stefan that her eye rested speculatively on him for a second, and he forced himself not to bristle under her scrutiny. â€Å"My stave is al the protection I need.† â€Å"A stave like yours couldn't have protected Celia,† Elena argued. â€Å"Without Stefan there to intervene, she would have been kil ed.† On the couch, Celia closed her eyes and rested her head against Alaric's arm. â€Å"Fine, then.† Meredith spoke in a clipped tone, her eyes on Celia. â€Å"It's true, out of al of us, only Stefan could have saved her. And that's the other reason this whole team effort to protect me is ridiculous. Do you have the strength and speed these days to save me from a moving train, Elena? Does Bonnie?† Stefan saw Bonnie, coming in with a tray of lemonade glasses, pause and frown as she heard Meredith's words. He had known, of course, that with Damon dead and Elena's Powers gone, he was the only one left to protect the group. Wel , Mrs. Flowers and Bonnie had some limited magical ability. Then Stefan amended the thought further. Mrs. Flowers was actual y quite powerful, but her powers were stil depleted from fighting the kitsune. It came to the same thing, then: Stefan was the only one who could protect them now. Meredith might talk about her responsibilities as a vampire hunter, but in the end, despite her training and heritage, she was just another mortal. His eyes scanned the group, al the mortals, his mortals. Meredith, serious gray eyes and a steely resolve. Matt, eager and boyish and decent down to the bone. Bonnie, sunny and sweet, and with a core of strength perhaps even she didn't know she had. Mrs. Flowers, a wise matriarch. Alaric and Celia†¦ wel , they weren't his mortals the way the others were, but they fel under his protection while they were here. He had sworn to prote ct humans, when he could. If he could. He remembered Damon saying to him once, laughing in one of his fits of dangerous good humor, his face gleeful, â€Å"They're just so fragile, Stefan! You can break them without even meaning to!† And Elena, his Elena. She was as vulnerable as the rest of them now. He flinched. If anything ever happened to her, Stefan knew beyond a doubt that he would take off the ring that let him walk in the day, lie down in the grass above her grave, and wait for the sun. But the same hol ow voice inside that questioned Elena's love for him whispered darkly in his ear: She would not do the same for you. You are not her everything. As Elena and Meredith, with occasional interjections from Matt and Bonnie, continued to argue about whether Meredith needed the efforts of the group to guard her, Stefan closed his eyes and slipped into his memories of Damon's death. Stefan watched, foolish and uncomprehending and just not fast enough, as Damon, quicker than him till the last, dashed toward the huge tree and flung Bonnie, light as dandelion fluff, out of the reach of the barbed branches already plummeting toward her. As he threw her, a branch caught Damon through his chest, pinning him to the ground. Stefan saw the moment of shock in his brother's eyes before they rolled backward. A single drop of blood ran from his mouth down his chin. â€Å"Damon, open your eyes!† Elena was screaming. There was a rough tone in her voice, an agony Stefan had never heard from her before. Her hands jerked at Damon's shoulders, as if she wanted to shake him hard, and Stefan pulled her away. â€Å"He can't, Elena, he can't,† he said, half sobbing. Couldn't she see that Damon was dying? The branch had stopped his heart and the tree's poison was spreading through his veins and arteries. He was gone. Stefan had gently lowered Damon's head to the ground. He would let his brother go. But Elena wouldn't. Turning to take her in his arms and comfort her, Stefan saw that she had forgotten him. Her eyes were closed and her lips were moving soundlessly. All her muscles were taut, straining toward Damon, and Stefan realized with a dull shock that she and Damon were connected still, that a last conversation was being carried on along some private frequency that excluded him. Her face was wet with tears, and she suddenly fumbled for her knife and with one swift, sure movement, nicked her own jugular vein, starting blood flowing across her neck. â€Å"Drink, Damon,† she said in a desperate, prayerlike voice, prying his mouth open with her hands and angling her neck above it. The smell of Elena's blood was rich and tangy, making Stefan's canines itch with desire even in his horror at her carelessness in cutting her own throat. Damon did not drink. The blood ran out of his mouth and down his neck, soaking his shirt and pooling on his black leather jacket. Elena sobbed and threw herself on top of Damon, kissing his cold lips, her eyes clenched shut. Stefan could tell she was still in communion with Damon's spirit, a telepathic exchange of love and secrets private between them, the two people he loved most. The only people he loved. A cold tendril of envy, the feeling of being the outsider looking in, the one who was left all alone, curled along Stefan's spine even as tears of grief ran down his face. A phone rang, and Stefan snapped back to the present. Elena glanced at her cel and then answered, â€Å"Hi, Aunt Judith.† She paused. â€Å"At the boardinghouse with everybody. We picked up Alaric and his friend from the train.† Another pause and she grimaced. â€Å"I'm sorry, I forgot. Yes, I wil . In just a few minutes, al right? Okay. Bye.† She hung up and got to her feet. â€Å"Apparently at some point I promised Aunt Judith I would be home for dinner tonight. Robert's getting out the fondue set and Margaret wants me to show her how to dip bread in cheese.† She rol ed her eyes, but Stefan wasn't fooled. He could see how delighted Elena was to have her baby sister idolizing her again. Elena went on, frowning, â€Å"I'm not sure I'l be able to get out again tonight, but someone needs to be with Meredith at al times. Can you stay here tonight, Meredith, instead of at home?† Meredith nodded slowly, her long legs drawn up under her on the couch. She looked tired and apprehensive, despite her earlier bravado. Elena touched her hand in farewel , and Meredith smiled at her. â€Å"I'm sure your minions wil take good care of me, Queen Elena,† she said lightly. â€Å"I'd expect nothing less,† Elena answered in the same tone, turning her smile on the rest of the room. Stefan got to his feet. â€Å"I'l walk you home,† he said. Matt rose, too. â€Å"I can drive you,† he offered, and Stefan was surprised to find that he had to suppress the urge to shove Matt back into his seat. Stefan would take care of Elena. She was his responsibility. â€Å"No, stay here, both of you,† Elena said firmly. â€Å"It's only a few blocks, and it's stil broad daylight out. You look after Meredith.† Stefan settled back in his chair, eyeing Matt. With a wave, Elena was gone, and Stefan stretched out his senses to fol ow her as far as he could, pushing his Power to sense whether anything dangerous, anything at al , lurked nearby. His Powers weren't strong enough, though, to reach al the way to Elena's house. He curled his hands into tight, frustrated fists. He had been so much more powerful when he al owed himself to drink human blood. Meredith was watching him, gray eyes sympathetic. â€Å"She'l be okay,† she said. â€Å"You can't watch her al the time.† But I can try, thought Stefan. When Elena strol ed up her walk, Caleb was clipping the glossy green leaves of the flowering camel ia bushes in front of the house. â€Å"Hi,† she said, surprised. â€Å"Have you been here al day?† He stopped trimming and wiped the sweat off his forehead. With his blond hair and healthy tan, he looked like a California surfer transplanted to a Virginia lawn. Elena thought Caleb seemed just right on a perfect summer day like this one, a lawn mower humming in the distance somewhere, the sky blue and high above them. â€Å"Sure,† he said cheerful y. â€Å"Lots to do. It looks good, right?† â€Å"It real y does,† she said. And it did. The grass was mowed, the hedges were perfectly trimmed, and he had set out some daisies in the flower beds near the house. â€Å"What've you been up to today?† Caleb asked. â€Å"Nothing as energetic as this,† Elena said, suppressing the memory of the desperate race to save Celia. â€Å"My friends and I just picked someone up at the train station and hung out inside for the rest of the day. I hope the weather holds, though. We want to take a picnic up to Hot Springs tomorrow.† â€Å"Sounds like fun,† Caleb said agreeably. Elena was tempted for a moment to invite him along. Despite Stefan's reservations, he seemed like a nice guy, and he probably didn't know many people in town. Maybe Bonnie would hit it off with him. He was pretty cute, after al . And Bonnie hadn't real y been interested in anyone for a while. Anyone other than Damon, a secret little voice said in the back of her mind. But of course she couldn't invite Caleb. What was she thinking? She and her friends couldn't have outsiders around while they talked about what supernatural entity had it in for them now. A little pang of longing hit her. Would she ever be a girl who could have a picnic and swim and flirt and be able to talk to anyone she liked, because she had no dark secrets to conceal? â€Å"Aren't you exhausted?† she asked, quickly changing the subject. She thought she saw a flicker of disappointment in his eyes. Had he realized she was thinking of inviting him along on the picnic and then changed her mind? But he answered readily enough. â€Å"Oh, your aunt ran me out a couple of glasses of lemonade, and I had a sandwich with your sister at lunchtime.† He grinned. â€Å"She's a cutie. And an excel ent conversationalist. She told me al about tigers.† â€Å"She talked to you?† Elena said with surprise. â€Å"She's usual y real y shy around new people. She wouldn't talk to my boyfriend, Stefan, until he'd been around for months.† â€Å"Oh, wel ,† he said, and shrugged. â€Å"Once I showed her a couple of magic tricks, she was so fascinated she forgot to be shy. She's going to be a master magician by the time she starts first grade. She's a natural.† â€Å"Real y?† said Elena. She felt a sharp shift in her stomach, a sense of loss. She had missed so much of her little sister's life. She'd noticed at breakfast that she looked and sounded older. It was like Margaret had grown into a different person without her. Elena gave herself a mental shake: She needed to stop being such a whiner. She was unbelievably lucky just to be here now. â€Å"Oh, yeah,† he said. â€Å"Look, I taught her this.† He held out a tanned fist, turned it over, and opened his hand to reveal a camel ia blossom, waxy and white, closed his hand, then opened it again to reveal a tightly furled bud. â€Å"Wow,† said Elena, intrigued. â€Å"Do it again.† She watched intently as he opened and closed his hand several times, revealing flower then bud, flower then bud. â€Å"I showed Margaret how to do it with coins, switching between a quarter and a penny,† he said, â€Å"but it's the same principle.† â€Å"I've seen tricks like that before,† she said, â€Å"but I can't figure out where you're hiding the one that isn't showing. How do you do it?† â€Å"Magic, of course,† he said, smiling, and opened his hand to let the camel ia blossom fal at Elena's feet. â€Å"Do you believe in magic?† she said, looking up into his warm blue eyes. He was flirting with her, she knew – guys always flirted with Elena if she let them. â€Å"Wel , I ought to,† he said softly. â€Å"I'm from New Orleans, you know, the home of voodoo.† â€Å"Voodoo?† she said, a cold shiver going down her spine. Caleb laughed. â€Å"I'm just playing with you,† he said. â€Å"Voodoo. Jeez, what a load of crap.† â€Å"Oh, right. Total y,† Elena said, forcing a giggle. â€Å"One time, though,† Caleb continued, â€Å"back before my parents died, Tyler was visiting, and the two of us went to the French Quarter to get our fortunes told by this old voudon priestess.† â€Å"Your parents died?† Elena asked, surprised. Caleb lowered his head for a moment, and Elena reached out to touch him, her hand lingering on his. â€Å"Mine did, too,† she said. Caleb was very stil . â€Å"I know,† he said. Their eyes met, and Elena winced in sympathy. There was such pain in Caleb's warm blue eyes when she looked for it, despite his easy smile. â€Å"It was years ago,† he said softly. â€Å"I stil miss them sometimes, though, you know.† She squeezed his hand. â€Å"I know,† she said quietly. Then Caleb smiled and shook his head a little, and the moment between them was over. â€Å"This was before that, though,† he said. â€Å"We were maybe twelve years old when Tyler visited.† Caleb's slight Southern accent got stronger as he went on, his tone lazy and rich. â€Å"I didn't believe in that stuff back then, either, and I don't think Tyler did, but we thought it might be kind of fun. You know how it's fun to scare yourself a little sometimes.† He paused. â€Å"It was pretty creepy, actual y. She had al these black candles burning and weird charms everywhere, stuff made of bones and hair. She threw some powder on the floor around us and looked at the different patterns. She told Tyler she saw a big change coming for him and that he needed to think careful y before he put himself in someone else's power.† Elena flinched involuntarily. A big change had certainly come for Tyler, and he had put himself in the vampire Klaus's power. Wherever Tyler was now, things hadn't turned out the way he'd planned. â€Å"And what did she tel you?† she asked. â€Å"Nothing much, real y,† he answered. â€Å"Mostly just to be good. Stay out of trouble, look out for my family. That kind of thing. Stuff I try to do. My aunt and uncle need me here now, with Tyler missing.† He looked down at her again, shrugged, and smiled. â€Å"Like I said, though, it was mostly just a load of crap. Magic and al that nutty stuff.† â€Å"Yeah,† Elena said hol owly. â€Å"Al that nutty stuff.† The sun went behind a cloud and Elena shivered once more. Caleb moved closer to her. â€Å"Are you cold?† he said, and reached a hand out toward her shoulder. At that moment a raucous caw burst from the trees by the house, and a big black crow flew toward them, low and fast. Caleb dropped his hand and ducked, covering his face, but the crow angled up at the last minute, flapping furiously, and soared away over their heads. â€Å"Did you see that?† Caleb cried. â€Å"It almost hit us.† â€Å"I did,† Elena answered, watching as the graceful winged silhouette disappeared into the sky. â€Å"I did.†