Essays.docx

Narrative Essay 

Childhood experience When I was a child I used to live in Sandpoint, Idaho with my family. Sandpoint is

a small city located on the shore of a lake called Lake Pend Oreille. My family was very fond of spending time together, and since the town offered Schweitzer mountain ski resorts as one of its attractions, we went skiing there quite a lot. 

 I was about ten when a funny accident happened to me there. It was a nice

winter morning when our family arrived at Schweitzer village. We stayed in a cozy hotel called The White Pine Lodge. The breakfast was delicious, the weather – terrific and we all felt like going outside as quickly as possible. Though I was a little child, I knew how to ski and, having put my skis on, bravely rushed to the chairlift. Sitting on a chair, I was dangling my legs and enjoying the fascinating view of a mountain that opened in front of me. When I got up the hill, I did not see my parents anywhere.

 There were crowds of skiers around me; they as though hovered in white clouds

covering the top of the mountain. I was ready to shout joyfully. I leaned forwards and rushed down the slope at full speed. I have always loved skiing, but this time it was like being absolutely free and completely alone – just me and the mountain! It was a feeling I can hardly forget.

 Strangely, when I got to the foot of the mountain, my parents were still there. Gossiping with some old friends of theirs they have not even noticed my disappearance.  As for me, it was another reason to be delightfully happy to have that small secret – the experience of being lonely and free up there on the mountain.

My Unusual Vacation

Travelling has always been a passion of mine. Being a photographer, I find seeing new places, meeting new people and getting to know different cultures, exceptionally inspiring. By the age of 32 I had already been to the majority of exotic places: the Emirates, Ethiopia, Turkey, India, Laos, Thailand, Japan, Egypt, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia and Cuba. So, when a friend of mine who was working as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Ukraine invited me to visit him for a couple of weeks, I thought: “Why not?! I do not know what to expect from this country since I know very little about it. So, it will definitely be an interesting experience!” And I was so right about that.

Ukraine turned out to be completely different from everything I have seen so far. A post Soviet Union country, it is still struggling to build a developed society. But, being a photographer, I was far more interested in nature, people and sites, than in politics.

Ukraine appeared to be a beautiful, even gorgeous country. Being slightly smaller than Texas, it is extremely diverse and is full of natural wonders that take your breath away. Kyiv, the capital city, appeared unexpectedly well-groomed, green and wealthy. Lots of bridges across the Dnipro River, a great number of beautiful parks, a couple of botanical gardens, and many, many flowers everywhere you go. A lot friendlier than you would think. Next we went to the western Ukraine with its own peculiar culture and atmosphere.

The Carpathian Mountains are gorgeous and very authentic, with small distant villages and little country houses that seem like the progress will never reach them. An amazingly romantic place! I had been there in late May, but my friend says these mountains are beautiful all year round – a great hiking spot for spring, a beautiful tent camp landscape for summer and autumn, with tiny fast mountain rivers that amazed me with their pureness, and a couple of perfect skiing resorts that do not yield to the Austrian or Canadian ones even a tiny bit. People of Western Ukraine amazed me as well, especially the elderly – very smiley, very positive and very active. The west was basically the first place to which my friend took me, and it made me fall in love with the Ukraine completely. From the Carpathians we travelled to Lviv – a gorgeous medieval city that is somewhat similar to Prague yet is very special in its atmosphere: 800 year old castles, wooden churches, gothic catholic temples and palaces, flowers at every corner and on every window seal, original block pavement streets of the Old City (Stare Misto), and lots of people in beautiful national clothes – vishivanki (embroidered white shirts). Lviv is a magical city and it fueled me with inspiration to see the rest of the country.

Next my friend took me to Zaporizhzhya – an Eastern city with an impossible to pronounce name and two thousand years of history. The city is built on two banks of the River Dnipro, and has an island in the middle – Khortitsa – the biggest river island in the world. The place is very spiritual – no wonder that so many centuries ago the wild tribes of skiffs and sarmates, and later the cossaks (famous Ukrainian soldiers of 1400-1600’s, that had a long moustache, a long forelock and wore wide red trousers), built their fortifications on the Khortitsa Island. The City itself seemed to me to be still very Soviet-like in its spirit and atmosphere, so it was interesting for me to take photos of their famous dam with the huge Lenin statue pointing at it, and the factories that were once the pride of the USSR and, amazingly, still successfully function for export purposes nowadays.

Our next stop was Crimea – a big heart-shaped peninsula that is washed by two seas – the Black Sea and the Azov Sea (the shallowest in the world, by the way), has beautiful mountains, fantastic crystal caves and scenic deep lakes. It’s a very picturesque place – so green, so virginal, so unlike anything I have seen before. The pictures I took at the Crimea I consider to be one of the best series in my photo collection. We also attended a wine festival in Koktebel, where they make pretty good

local wine, visited Askania Nova – a marvelous biosphere reserve sanctuary established in the nineteenth century. A great chance to get a scope of what the country’s nature was like some twelve hundred years ago, still very much unpopulated and virginal.

There was one thought that didn’t leave my mind, even for a second, during the whole time I spent in Ukraine: “I cannot believe that this country and its fantastic nature, history and culture are so unknown to the rest of the world!” Ukraine was a true discovery for me, and one of those times when your expectations are nothing like what you really see. I have visited this country two more times over the past three years, and every time my impression got fuller and fuller. If you should ask me what place I can recommend to those avid and blasé travellers who seem to have seen it all, I’d say without a second of hesitation: “Go to Ukraine! Whatever you will expect – this will still amaze and astonish you!”

 The Biggest Nightmare

 It was a hot summer’s day. Everything around me was slowly starting to melt: the

trees, the houses, the sky and the pathway to my garage. It seemed that I was about to melt down myself, so there would only be a small puddle of glue-like substance left on the ground. I was walking very slowly. My head felt huge and heavy, and every muscle in my body was sore. My arms and legs were barely responding to the signals that my brain was sending to them. It felt like a slow-motion horror movie, only it was happening live. I finally reached the front door and touched the handle. The path that took only a second for my eyes to see, took about twenty minutes for my body to accomplish. But, I was finally at my goal.

I slowly turned the handle of the door, only to realize it had barely moved. I took all the strength that I had left in my body and pressed the handle again. No success. I turned around, leaned against the door, and slowly slid down to the ground. I felt faint. My head was spinning. I was so thirsty that I could barely think about anything else. I had to get inside; had to pull myself together and open the door. Otherwise, I would faint here, near the front entrance to my own house, which was not the scenario I’d prefer. I pulled myself from the ground and faced the door again. I closed my eyes for a second, took a deep breath, opened them, and pushed the door knob as hard as I could, at the time. It gave way grudgingly. If it wasn’t for the helpless shadow of a man that I was at that moment, I would definitely have screamed in happiness for finally winning, over this stubborn door knob. But, all I could settle for right then was a weak smile, and a deep sigh of relief.

I went inside, and had to wait for a minute before I could make out anything. It was too dark, still very hot and, somehow, very lonely inside. By the time my eyes adapted to the darkness inside, I could tell no one was around. What time was it? And where

was everyone? The house was completely and scarily quiet. The silence was unnatural. There was no sound coming from the working fridge, or ticking clock; nothing. I went to the kitchen to get some water, opened the tap and put an empty glass under it. But there was no water, not even a drop! The glass remained empty. This seemed like a complete nightmare. I must be dreaming! I felt like the world had died out, everything had stopped and, somehow, I was forgotten here all alone, left to die from thirst and heat.

I was having a panic attack. With the anger and strength that came out of nowhere, I ran from one room to another, looking for anyone. Mom, Josh, dad, Charlie – no one was to be seen. The dogs were gone too. What is wrong with the place? Again, for the third or fourth time, I caught myself thinking this was just a bad dream. But, my body still felt very much sore, and I could vividly feel the pain. Having no clue of what else, except the pain, could help me distinguish between dreaming and reality, I had to accept the fact that I was living this nightmare for real.  Suddenly, I heard a sound coming from downstairs. It was a very slight, faint sound that repeated in a second, only louder. I ran downstairs, feeling a little scared, and, at the same time, hoping that it was someone, or something, that could explain to me what was going on.

The living room was empty. The sound was coming from outside the back porch, and it was increasing in loudness with every new cycle. It reminded me of when dad and I went rowing, and every time dad turned over the oars, they made the same whistling sound, cleaving the air. I ran outside the back door, and was almost brought down to the ground by the strength of the wind. It was a helicopter, right above me, coming onto me. I lay on the ground, screaming, but I couldn’t hear my own voice through the noise of the implacable vanes getting closer, and freezing me to the ground.

… “Jason, honey, wake up! It’s just a dream, babe. You look so pale. Are you okay?” My mom was standing next to my bed, trying to calm me down, as I was still screaming and flapping my arms. The air was on, and the fan above my bed was making that particular whistling sound with each turn.

 Memorable Experience

There is a little rhyme by an unknown author that starts out, “I remember the day; I remember the place” that always come to my mind when I think about my friend, Christopher.  I remember the day I met him vividly.

Christopher approached me as I was working in a retail store in the mall in 1999.  He had on a tan suit and the biggest, brightest smile I had ever seen on a white person!  He stuck his hand out formally and cheerfully stated, “Hi! I’m Christopher!  I’m your new co-worker.  I look forward to working with you!”  He shook my hand quickly

and ran off to the next associate to introduce himself in the same manner.  I stood there bemused by his quirky little pace and mouse like appearance and genuinely honest approach.  It was apparent by his facial features and style of introduction that Christopher was very young.  As it turned out, this was his first job.  He had just graduated from high school.

I remember the day I met Christopher so well because we went on to become great friends.  We spent time hanging out after work, and after we both had left the department store, we still found time to go to get beer and hot wings when he was old enough or to chat about life at the café.  We would run into each other in passing and always stop and take time to fill each other in our lives.  We never rushed a conversation, and we always greeted each other and left each other with a hug.

Our friendship was intimate, you could say.  We discussed foods, gadgets, love life …anything close friends would normally open their hearts and minds and talk about.  I was there to hear all about his first love and first kiss.  I learned all about his father abandoning him when he was a baby.  I shared my world with him and offered him advice as well.

The last time I hugged Christopher was in the café directly after our conversation about his joining the Marine Corp.  This was in 2001, a month after the September 11 tragedies.  I said, “You did WHAT?!?  Christopher, you could get killed!”

July 31st, 2005, Christopher was killed in Iraq by enemy fire.  I still see his innocent and beautiful face as the boy who approached me seven years ago, not the face of the thin Marine that headlined our local newspapers.

Christopher’s death didn’t change my life, as I’m sure it has for many.  Meeting him did.  I have never met such an honest and caring person in my life.  Just knowing him had made me view things in a different perspective and in a brighter light.  Now that he is gone, I realize that he was a gift to me and I cherish the time we spent as friends.

Personal narrative essay 

In my younger years, I attended a high-school which was not far away from a small drugstore that nobody from the school ever went to called 'The Pennyway." This battered and obscure place featured an old-fashioned grill and soda counter. The store was musty and cluttered and staffed by three elderly women who looked as though they might have been carrying oxygen tanks under their floral uniforms. The women had probably worked in the drugstore for the entire lives and, though all three of the women were wrinkled and gray, they still wore bright ribbons in their hair, splashes of

rouge and glossy lipstick. The called everyone "Honey" and they smiled at even the grumpiest of the old men who saddled up to slurp soup and argue over their tabs.

 In the back of the store a little old white-haired man shaped like a question mark

sifted pill after pill into prescription bottles. He never smiled but had a manner about him which suggested he found the whole world rather amusing. There was a rack of candy bars next to the checkout and a glass-case of cigars and pipe-tobacco. When you walked into the place, the first thing you smelled was fresh coffee, no matter what time of day -- and steam -- and then you smelled the grill and whatever had been lately cooked on it: a hamburger, a grilled cheese, a grilled ham and cheese, or eggs and a  slab of bacon. As you approached the luncheon counter, you smelled and saw ice-cream in huge vats just below the counter, cherries, whipped cream, sprinkles and whatnot contributed their alluring scents -- which expertly combined with the smells of the candy-counter, pure, dark, heavy smells of chocolate so indelible that paper wrappers couldn't hold it all in.

  I always thought there was something very strange about the combination of

prescription drugs and prescription drug signs in store that smelled of ice-cream and candy -- and the contrast of the stores usual patrons, all of whom seemed to be in their late eighties or early nineties, with the strong carnival smell of chocolate, candy-sprinkles, fried potatoes and the like was somehow comforting as though a "second childhood" awaited all of these kind, elderly people right along with their mounds of vitamins and drugs.

 My best friend at the time and myself, for whatever reason, took to eating at the

lunch counter nearly every day during one school year. I always ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with fries and a chocolate milk-shake; sometimes two chocolate milk-shakes. Eating at the lunch counter made me very happy; I think I liked eating there better than anywhere else in the world. One day, my best friend and I ate a huge lunch and topped off our desert-sundaes with a candy-bar form the candy-rack. We left the place in a satisfied stupor and were halfway down the road before my friend remarked that he'd been eating at the lunch-counter for free for several days now due tot he fact that the ladies working the counter never noticed whether or not he paid. He seemed terrifically satisfied with this small theft of his and I noticed that he told the story to a number of other kids.

Word soon spread around school about the free-lunch capacities of the "Pennyway." On one afternoon, my friend and I went in and I saw a group of guys known as troublemakers whooping it up and ordering a feast for kings, which I assumed they didn't intend to pay for. After ordering my usual grilled cheese and fries with a chocolate milk-shake I sat back enjoying the delicious odor of my food being cooked-to-order and by one of the sweetest ladies I'd ever met. When the food came, I

devoured it with relish and then, after another trip to the candy-counter, and that tasty desert duly eaten, I started to head over to the cashier to pay my bill.

 My friend caught me by the arm. "What are you, stupid? You don't have to pay

here!" He looked at me like I was a complete idiot and I felt a weird sort of shadow come over the old drugstore, At that split-second I actually imagined myself old and maybe a bit infirm or a bit forgetful and I thought "What I'd want is a cool place like this to grow old in and a place that seems almost lost in time. I wouldn't want to live in a world where people like my friend and I stole from people who mean them only friendship."

 But I walked out behind my friend without paying my bill.  A few years later, the

place shut down. I was haunted by the possibly irrational fear that hoards of hungry high-schoolers had driven the place into bankruptcy by copping free lunches and candy-bars. The saddest part of the whole story is that my lunch there would've cost maybe three or four dollars, candy-bar included -- it wasthat kind of place. And for that three lousy, worthless, meaningless dollars, I now carry a memory, I'd pay a thousand times over to be rid of -- and a guilt that even time seems reluctant to erase.

Descriptive Essay 

New York City: A Definite Place to VisitSince I was a child, I have always had a great fascination for New York City.

Although regarded as the “most populated city” in the United States, the whole city has something interesting to offer everyone. Located in the East Side, beside New Jersey, the city was known as one of the major economic centers in the world. It is sub divided into five boroughs, being Queens, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island respectively. Even if the city was small, the landmarks were known all over the world. There was the famous Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street, the sky scrapers, and the World Trade Center.  

 New York City is basically a crowded and small city. With a population of almost

eight million residents, it is actually a mystery how such a big population would fit in such a small city. During the day, the streets and the subways are filled with busy people, with the roads filled with cars and the continuous honking of vehicles. By night, stars are accompanied by the millions of lights that illuminate the busy streets. One of Manhattan's famous landmarks is Times Square. Different kinds of lights are seen, where people are seen partying, having fun, and enjoying life. People from all over the world go to Times Square to have a glimpse of such a beautiful sight. A New York trip will never be complete without a visit to Times Square.

 I have always wanted to visit New York City for all its beauty and wonder. I know

that the experiences that I will have in the city would be extraordinarily special. I guess what would make it more special is when I go there with my family and my friends. I know that in this city, I can learn to live life to the fullest, without setting aside my priorities in life. The place gives me a great sense of confidence, making me appreciate the little things in life, and what I can contribute to the betterment of society.

 I will have this sense of fulfillment when I am given the chance to visit New York

City. I guess this may be attributed to the fact that my favorite city has always been on my mind since I was a child. This would further boost my self esteem, and would make me believe in myself more—knowing that my dreams are not difficult to reach, after all.

 My view of ugliness

 People used to perceive beauty as the ones pleasing to the eyes. Those who

have straight hairs have them curled, while those who have curly hairs have them straightened; yellow and white skins have them tanned while black and brown complexions have them whitened. They never realize that they are just making things really ugly. I believe that we should leave these things the natural way because we are all created naturally beautiful. Altering whatever is natural and innate makes us uglier than we think we are. There is no difference when we alter nature, like bringing the orchids that naturally cling on trees in the forest, at the orchidarium. It is like clearing the forest and converting the area into a golf course. The ugly truth on these is that human’s dominance on the other lives on earth has been abused which makes humans look like ugly monsters in the eyes of nature.

 Looking at another face of ugliness, I cannot help but think of a house, build of

stones, with a real wonderful architectural design, a wide garden of all beautiful and rare flowers, and a pool which makes all the sight seers perceive that the owner has to be of a wealthy class. Guarded by huge gates and high walls, the house’ only occupants are the gardener, the maid, the driver and the lady owner to looks like in her mid fifties. She never goes out in the neighborhood, never entertain guests, never given his workers a vacation, and not even a single cent for any foundation or the beggars she comes across with. Despite her wealth, she continues on grabbing lands, taking away properties of those who cannot pay for the rents and other dues from her countless apartments. With these, I can see that that house is lot uglier than that of a pig pen. The scents of the flowers in the garden stink rather than pleasing to the nose.

 High rise buildings, wide highways and skyways, railways and amazing subways:

these are only few of the features common to well-off cities. At night, the beauty of the lights glimmers along with the stars in the night sky. All day and all night long, prestigious car run across the roads of the main streets, seemingly enjoying the heat of

the sun and the cooling light from the moon at night. Leisure parks, shopping malls, first class hotels mark what kind of life the citizens are enjoying. At first look, nothing seems to be wrong in here, there is nothing unusual. What is really wrong with enjoying the pleasures of life brought about by progress and wealth? Going deeply, one will see the real face of what the few sees as pleasures of life. Behind the high rise buildings and the leisure parks is the ugly truth of environmental injustice. For these projects to be pushed through acres and acres of forest lands have be degraded, native people who originally occupy the area have to be deprived of earning their living and their natural home. The natural habitats of the animals and plants have to crash down to give room for progress. Leisure and pleasure do not define the beauty of life. Countless cars going to and fro are depriving humans and nature of the freshness of the air. These are the ugly things that are just hidden behind the hotels and shopping malls. The ugliness of the lives of other less fortunate ones is just buried under the subways and railways. There is an ugly truth in this world that most people do not seem to see and feel because they have not learned to see through little and simple things. Life is ugly for those who are deprived of their rights to live a normal and clean life. Life is ugly for those who are victims of crimes and abuse of authority. Life will always be as ugly as the ugliest monster on earth until humans learn to respect each other’s rights.

 Mothers are angels

 There is a quote that says: Mothers are angels who teach their children to fly. 

Indeed mothers are angels and although we often think that mothers were sent to torture us especially in our adolescent years when we would rather go out with friends instead of washing the dishes or doing our assignments, our mothers nevertheless become our pillar, not just of faith but also our pillar of strength.  Mothers may often be misunderstood but it does not mean that they do not know better.

 My earliest memory of my mother is that of a very pretty face.  For me she was the

most beautiful woman alive and nothing compares with her. Even if she was unlike the celebrity mothers who wear designer clothes and do not get out eating in fancy restaurants all the time, my mother is very real. My mother was small or petite, but she was a formidable foe if you cross her.  I loved the way she combed her hair getting ready for bed, letting those blonde locks loose and shiny against the glare of the overhead light.  I loved the way she would  lovingly wipe my back for perspiration after playing under  the hot sun all afternoon not minding the fact that I smelled like a baseball glove worn for two seasons.  On the incidents that my siblings and I cross my mother, those big green eyes of her would squint in disapproval, mouth pursed.  But I came to love that about her.  When those green eyes do start to squint, it means I have done something wrong. 

 Even if I was born six years after my brother, this never prompted her to play

favorites.  But rather, she made it a point to be fair and equal among all her children. 

Whenever I commit a mistake, Mom would not hesitate to point it out to me, punish me if needed.  Sometimes, I detested it but over time I came to realize that Mom did that because she only has the best interest at heart. However, she was not one to hold grudges for long. 

 Like most mothers, my mother is very protective of me that often times I resented

her for being so.  I did not understand why she has to constantly ask about my whereabouts: who I am going with and where I was going.  It never occurred to me that this was an essential part of being a mother.  A mother cares and worries for her children.  Mother taught me that getting reprimanded does not mean that she loves me less.  On the contrary, she showed me that when she scolds me, it means that she cares for me and worries about me.  

 Mother has certainly her own flaws but I have come to accept, in fact love every

bit of them.  When mom starts to call or page me non-stop, it is either she misses me or she needs something or  I have irked her again.  Some may call it nagging, I call it loving. For a person to wear her heart on her sleeves is a vulnerable thing, but mother is not all vulnerable.  In fact she is very strong.  She never backs off  in a fight especially if she knows she is right but she also knows how to compromise too.  But compromising for her does not mean that you are wrong.  Comprising is just another way of getting things done – later.

 When I started school, mom was my ally.  To me, school was worlds were ghosts

and bad guys lurk.  Instead of laughing at my fears, mom showed me instead how great school can be. On my first day of school, she prepared my favorite snacks drove me school.  Instead of leaving me at the gates, she came out of the car, knelt down and tenderly cupped my face in both hands and told me: “Don’t worry honey, there won’t be any bad guys today, Mommy made them go away.”  Although these words are pretty naïve, but to a child on her first day of school, these words were more than enough to let her conquer her fears.  I went to school that day knowing that Mom was there for me and I learned to enjoy school.  I made new friends and introduced them to Mom who was more than happy to serve us hot cookies and milk for snacks. Although my mother was not able to achieve her goal of becoming a nurse, this never made her bitter but rather she motivated us to pursue our own education and goals in life. She taught us early on that education is very important that is why she never fails to motivate us in school. 

 Mother also taught us the value of relationships.  This is evident in her relationship

with my Dad.  She has been married for 35 years already and that for me is not just a manifestation of an enduring love for a person but of trust and fidelity as well. I am hoping that I can also do the same in my relationship. Being married to the same person for 35 years is not a mean feat. It takes a lot of patience and understanding to do this every day.  Our generation today does not seem to realize the importance of

maintaining a relationship.  I, on the other hand, would want to be like my mother.  I want to have a long lasting relationship with my partner just like my mother did with my father. 

I know my mother is not perfect.  She has her own flaws too.  But for me, these flaws are just tiny imperfections that make her all the more lovable and perfect.  These flaws are just evidences of her humanity.  Mother is an angel who teaches us to fly and dream.

 Person who has influenced me most of all

 Most people writing about people who have influenced them will choose someone

they admire, a mentor or other important person who has been a role model for them over the course of their lives. My description, on the contrary, will aim to describe someone who influenced me in a totally opposite way: by being an anti-role model, someone I would not like to resemble, if only for some minor points. He is not in any way an extreme villain or anybody with strongly deficient ethics. He is just a person who, in my mind, is going to fail in most life situations.

 We first met when I took a part-time job as a content writer for an Internet project.

I was not particularly impressed with the outlook for this business, but took the job as a way to get my first experience and learn more about the particular sphere on which I was writing. Alex was a relatively young marketing manager, in his late 20s, and being of more or less the same age compared to the rest of the team, we began to communicate a lot. He seemed a highly professional person with great expertise in his area, but his ways of dealing with colleagues struck me as in some way completely wrong. He simply reacted to innocent criticisms with a lot of aggression so that people would pull back, scared by the strength of his reaction. Our boss was a good-natured elderly man, not much from the point of view of knowledge, but comfortable in what was probably his last job and nice to employees. Alex immediately saw an enemy in him and reacted to his comments with some anger for which I had little understanding.

 It was no surprise that Alex’s harshness and what I would call a peculiar sense of

humor evoked widespread resistance. People began to shun him in everyday interactions, negatively respond to his comments during meetings, and evade him on the company’s shuttle bus and in the café. The boss for a long time took his behavior in stride, but was extremely displeased with his attitude shown when Alex was reminded of the deadline for his project terminated him on a short notice. One may wonder why I still communicated with him. The matter is that I can take what other people see as rude with a grain of salt and react with a good joke. Besides, we found plenty of common interests, and with me he was not always gruff.

A little more communication discovered the true cause of his troubles: his wife had left him just before our meeting, and he was reacting to her desertion with anger and pain. This was really sorrowful, but why, I asked myself whether this is a sound reaction. Is it wise to take out your personal troubles on other people? To me, the answer is a clear “No”. Looking at Alex, I could draw a lot of inferences to be used in my personal experience. First, it never pays to be rude to others. No matter what, I told myself, we must preserve human dignity in any situation. Second, I thought, we should perceive communication with other people as a way to gain emotional support when we face a problem, not vice versa. People are there to share our burden with us, not get us deeper into trouble. Even if you do not want to share your problems with them, you can make them help you by distracting you from your concerns.

 I did tell Alex what I thought of his way of dealing with problems. However, the

impact of my thoughts was limited: he would not listen as he was too much engrossed in his own concerns. This was really pitiful, but also helped me develop in one important way: realize that I have to be more mature and convincing to persuade people to change their lives. This was yet another revelation and another insight for the future. Sometimes we indeed learn more from those whom we do not want to imitate than from unattainable role models.

Memories from the Cabana I was born and raised in South America, a continent with a lot of mountain

ranges–ideal for mountain climbing and hiking-long winding rivers, lush forests, wonderful beaches, as well as valleys with breathtaking views.  Based on experience, I can say that it is a tropical country; which was confirmed during my history class in sixth grade.  In a country where it’s hot and humid, my fashion statement is sporting a large white (sometimes blue) t-shirt and a Hawaiian type shorts.  A dark pair of shades is also an important part of my get-up as it protects my eyes from the sun’s harsh rays.  Being born in South America you might think that I have dark hair with brown eyes and a charming smile; a typical Cabana boy.  Well, I am charming yes, but my hair is blonde and the color of my eyes are green; and this is because South America is a melting pot of cultures from Africans to Germans to Japanese, Koreans and many others.

 Music in South America is intense and up-beat.  It makes you want to dance. 

Having been born in a family where every member enjoys music, I too share the same interest.  My favorite music is the music of the ‘80s because it is a classic – never goes out of style.  It’s rhythm and lyrics make you feel and experience music itself through your senses.  Even at 30, when I hear the ‘80s music, it brings back memories from my childhood.  I can still remember, fifteen years ago, when my family and I lived in a backward peaceful town filled with palm and coconut trees, our house was built on wood similar to that of the huts and cottages you see at the beach resorts today.  One afternoon, my friends and I, along with my two younger brothers, sat at the yard to

listen to Caribbean music.  The music traveled throughout the neighborhood on one cool afternoon.  When the sun finally went down upon the fiery sky, the natives joined us.  We were all out in the yard, dancing and singing while some played the Tambores, a percussion instrument similar to that of a drum but you use your hands to make a sound and not sticks.  We all formed this circle and some were dancing in the middle of it.  It was really awesome! I oftentimes dream of going back in time to enjoy the fun all over again.  The allure of a simple, care-free life with Caribbean music you can’t find anywhere else, never fails to mesmerize me.  That night, my brothers, friends and I, along with the friendly brown-skinned natives, shared dance steps, jokes and laughter for many hours; a luxury most of us can’t afford today.

 Many of the world’s beautiful beach resorts are found in this continent.  Clean cool

breeze, white sand, and the charm of the Caribbean itself is the perfect get-away to relax, unwind and enjoy time either alone or with family and friends.  No wonder, it is one of the world’s most romantic hide-away.

 Summer is the most awaited time of the year because the entire family, along with

our relatives and friends, goes to El Playon; a picturesque view of crystal blue waters, cool breeze and a fine-grained white sand beach situated in the center of the rapids of Caura River.  We always spend our entire summer there.  The house where we stay is just a few meters from the shoreline.  You can say that it is a coastal house.  Since we are all boys in the family (except for my beautiful mom), I always race my brothers to the shore in search for crabs; and whoever catches the most number of crabs gets to own the hammock tied between two coconut trees for an entire day.  I was 12 years old then; and because I’m the eldest, I still get to enjoy lying on the hammock by sending them both out into the shore again to look for seashells.  Most often than not, they would gladly oblige.

 Aside from catching crabs and collecting sea shells, my brothers and I play a

game with our friends and cousins.  It is the “sand castle game”.  We group ourselves into three by counting off or drawing lots and then we will build the biggest and strongest sand castle.  Which ever group wins enjoys the cheers and applause.  All of these experiences taught me one thing: Relationships are the most priceless thing that you could ever own which is why we have to keep it in our heart…take good care of it…nurture it; because once you let it go, your life will never be the same again.

Persuasive Essays

Why People Should Connect More with the Nature

 In the twenty-first century, people have practically forgotten how important it is to connect with nature. Despite all the technological advances and scientific inventions that make us believe we have nothing in common with the rest of the animal world, we are still part of the planet’s fauna, whether we realize it or not. Needless to say, back when humanity’s main achievements were the invention of a round wheel, or specific tools for farming agriculture, people were very dependent on nature and paid a lot of attention to the changes of its course. Now, with the technological revolutions and discoveries that made our past history, we seem to pay extremely little attention to nature, getting more and more disconnected from it every day. However, the links that were initially there, couldn’t just disappear and there is a number of important reasons in favor of the statement that people should try to get back to basics and connect with nature more than they do today.

First of all, nature has historically been the home for human beings, just like it remains a home for animals and plants (of course, with the exception of those that are kept in zoos and greenhouses). Nature is able to show us true beauty, without modifications, exaggerations and falseness. After all, isn’t is a little ironic that people go to galleries and exhibitions to look at paintings of colorful flowers, mighty woods, green hills and fast clear streams; those simple things that they can easily observe in real life if they just get outside their urban environment that looms around them? Or the fact that people purchase recordings of calming sounds of nature, like what you’d hear at night in the woods – damped quavering of an owl, ringing flare of crickets and susurrus rustle of bushes. What we are in fact doing is trying to deceive our minds and make ourselves believe that we ARE in the wood, next to those owls, crickets and bushes, while we are instead trapped inside our tiny, well-furnished and packed-with-technology apartment.

Secondly, in the era of absolute informational chaos and noise, it becomes more important than ever to be able to pause from the crazy pace of life and relax. Finding silence and peace in the global vacuum of competitiveness, haste and strain, is very challenging. We go to doctors to treat us for depression, insomnia and anxiety. We ask for prescriptions and pills, while what we should be doing instead is turning to nature for help. What can be more relaxing and stress-free, than a cup of warm herbal tea with fresh honey, on the porch of a cozy wooden country house with a view of a small natural lake, or little green forest, or beautiful mountains? It’s the cheapest, simplest and most accessible treatment one can think of. We laugh at those ‘freaks’ hugging trees in the park, or walking barefoot on the grass. However, these people remember something very important; something, most others have forgotten somewhere along the

race to progress and prosperity: the key to being healthy, emotionally sustained and resistant to everyday stress, is staying connected to nature and allowing ourselves to put all business on hold and take a break.

Nature is about balance and harmony – things we lack most living inside the swirling pit of urbanized cities. Sometimes, we escape, but so rarely and so abruptly, that such escapes can hardly help us re-establish our links with nature. People should seriously consider changing their routine and getting out into nature more regularly. When was the last time you took a walk to the nearby pond, or spent a weekend outdoors doing active sports? When was the last time you went hiking, or fishing, or took your family or friends for a picnic in the nearby park? We should try to move our weekly entertainment, as well as our holiday celebrations, parties and friendly gatherings, from homes, pubs and restaurants to lake shores, mountains, parks, forests, ponds, rivers and groves. The beautiful landscapes of America are incredibly rich and diverse and this is our true natural wealth that we unfortunately often forget about.

Should Vaccination of All Children Be Made Mandatory by Law?

Ever since the invention of the first smallpox vaccine more than two centuries ago, there has been plenty of controversy over the morality, ethics, effectiveness, or safety of vaccination and immunization.  It has recently been argued whether laws should be introduced that render some or all vaccines obligatory for all children. Parents, health care specialists, nurses, teachers and children themselves all have an important stake in this issue. Parents argue that it is they who should have the ultimate decision-making right on whether or not to vaccinate their children. Nurses and health care officials oppose that view on the grounds that by making vaccination rates in children incomplete, we expose all children to contracting the vaccine-preventable diseases, no matter whether or not a child has been vaccinated. If this is a risk some parents are willing to take, but others face unwillingly, there is obviously a propitious platform for debate. The following essay aims at presenting the main arguments in favor of both sides and ultimately concluding with a solution to the debate.

Every parent is concerned with their child’s health. However, this concern can take several directions. While some parents are convinced that vaccines have been invented to prevent the human-to-human transmitted diseases, which otherwise can have serious health implications on children and adults, other parents are certain that it is the vaccines themselves that pose a lot of risk to their children’s health. Both have reasons to believe what they do. It has been known that ever since the vaccines for diseases like diphtheria and measles were introduced in the twentieth century, the number of deaths related to these diseases decreased by more than 500 per cent. On the other hand, the mid-twentieth century was also the time when such indicators as nutrition, sanitation and healthcare, other important factors of spreading vaccine-preventable diseases, have been greatly improved (Pratt, 2008).

It is rather hard to objectively determine what influenced the decrease in the number of deaths – the invention of antibiotics in the 1940’s, the improvement of sanitation and healthcare standards, or the actual introduction of certain vaccines. Those opposing mandatory vaccination choose to believe that it was the first two factors rather than the third one. Obviously, there are facts to support both versions. For example, death rates from the pertussis (whooping cough) declined from 12,000 deaths per year in 1905 to less than 1,000 deaths per year in 1950 – 12 times less. But, as the pertussis vaccine wasn’t widespread until late 1940’s, we can logically assume it obviously wasn’t the vaccine that influenced the mentioned decrease. At the same time, since the vaccine was introduced and popularized, the number of deaths decreased to less than 50 per year, which means the vaccine does help prevent pertussis-caused deaths all the same. Therefore, health care specialists do have their reasons to conclude that “low disease rates have been achieved through high rates of immunization” (Hinman et. al, 2002).

Another important statement that both sides have each provided solid argumentation in favor of, and against, is whether the parent should be the one deciding to vaccinate the child. After all, it is the freedom of choice of every parent to decide how their child should be treated medically and also to refuse to vaccinate their children, if they believe it is too dangerous for them. There has recently been a lot of controversy about the deaths caused by low-quality vaccines or improper vaccination process, as well as the spread of many allergies and chronic predispositions to certain medication, as a result of individual body response to vaccination. These are the risks that, unfortunately, cannot always be foreseen and avoided, so calling vaccination a 100% safe prevention method would be definitely wrong. At the same time, those parents who do decide to take a risk and vaccinate their children, have to still be alerted that they face the same risks of their children getting infected simply because another child in the kindergarten group, or at school, may not have been vaccinated against the same disease and there is always a risk of their kid getting infected.  The fact is: “Unvaccinated children are at increased risk of acquiring and transmitting vaccine-preventable diseases” (Smith, Chu & Barker, 2004). So, here comes the argument of whether those children, whose parents decided not to vaccinate them, should be allowed in the same educational institutions that the vaccinated children attend. But, this can also be objected to by saying that it is plain discrimination to refuse children their education, to which they have every right, simply because their parents are cautious about the vaccination. So, where does the solution lie?

In light of all the arguments presented above, I believe it is important to unify certain rules related to vaccination and not make it the prerogative of a particular public or private school, to decide whether or not to accept an unvaccinated kid. The issue of vaccination is of primary importance due to its direct impact on the quality and duration of the life of every citizen; and exposing anybody to unjustified risk of being infected by

vaccine-preventable diseases is simply inhumane. Vaccination has an incredibly long history – it is believed to have already existed in Ancient Greece, China and Babel (Stern & Markel, 2005). If it has been around for so long and has been so widespread, I believe it is a good enough reason to consider it an effective medical prevention method.

Vaccination today is used all around the world, and there are certain standards that must be observed so that all vaccines remain effective and pose a minimum risk of actually infecting the child. If the person to be vaccinated is not, or has not recently been sick, has a healthy immune system and is vaccinated with a quality product, the risk of having any unwanted consequences is less than 1%. The effectiveness of protection of one’s health as a result of immunization is many times higher, which, in my opinion, makes the risk justified. Therefore, it would only be right to end all debate by passing a binding country-wide law to make certain vaccines (against those diseases that are very widespread in minors, or that may cause very serious consequences for one’s health) obligatory. After all, when it comes to health, there is no place for speculation.

Why People Should Read Books

It is quite a disappointment that people have stopped reading books. Books used to be the only kind of intellectual entertainment just a hundred years ago, but, with the invention of radio, television, cinematography, and, most recently, the Internet and computer games, it seems that reading books is no longer an option of a leisure activity, at least for the younger generation. However, I believe that books are an irreplaceable part of our lives, and the role that good books play on the personal growth and development of a particular person throughout one’s life, is a remarkable one. Books can hardly be replaced with movies, music and interactive TV shows, and there are several reasons for that.

First of all, books expand our knowledge and conception of the world around us. You may argue that movies and TV documentaries do just that too, but I believe that books are a much better alternative, since they allow each reader to experience the same story using one’s own imagination. When a hundred people watch a movie or a TV show, they see the same thing – whatever the director and the operator wish to show. Books are very different. The experience achieved through reading is richer and more personal, since the same description and the same word choice will result in as many different interpretations as there are readers. We are all unique, and books allow us to experience whatever is narrated, in the light of our own personal values, through our ideas and our imagination.

Secondly, books enrich our vocabulary, introduce us to new notions and offer us a wider choice of words. With every book you read, you become more intelligent. Even reading one seemingly more primitive pulp fiction book per month, can enrich one’s personal vocabulary with dozens of new words, help build more concise sentences and express oneself better, make one’s speech more intelligent and sophisticated. Watching certain TV programs and documentary movies can also widen one’s vocabulary, but hardly as effectively as books do, since when reading, we operate with both visual and audial (if reading aloud) receptors, so our perception becomes more effective and our memory works more efficiently. In addition to that, our imagination reproduces mental pictures of what we are reading about, so a new word automatically links to a certain image and a certain feeling that it relates to. Therefore, reading books is a great tool when it comes to learning and developing one’s vocabulary at any age.

Finally, books are a great source of inspiration. Unlike fine art, architecture or travelling, books help us create our own mental illustration for everything we read on paper. So, in a way, books make us all artists and creators of our own mental cartoon, movie or illustration collection. Every image we create ourselves is automatically allotted a certain emotion, whether a simple or a more complicated one. So, every mental image that a written word causes is vibrant with feelings and emotions. This is what makes books so powerful and so memorable. This is what makes books evolutive for all of us. Books are an endless source of inspiration and motivation to become a better person.

I am certain that creating a system of symbols and eventually an alphabet, words, and books was the greatest invention of humankind. Of course, the books I am talking about are classics, those that do not have an expiration date and will be priceless for any generation. Books like that stay forever, they cannot die and cannot become outdated. They will keep sparking new ideas, inspiring new deeds and enriching the lives of every generation to come. Therefore, I am positive that books will eventually regain their popularity for today’s youth, since, unlike the popular kinds of entertainment in fashion today, books are those roots to which people will always go back, in search of the motivation, inspiration and aspiration, to find the meaning and value of things in life.

Is School Uniform a Good Idea?

School years is the time when teenagers start discovering themselves and realizing their uniqueness. Therefore, it stands to reason that practically every teenager nowadays attempts to stand out in the crowd as much as possible. When it comes to appearance, clothes and style are one of the best and easiest ways to express yourself, and it definitely helps people reach an understanding of who they really are, and why. However, there has been an ongoing debate on whether school uniforms should be completely abolished in all schools, both private and public, or, on the

contrary, uniforms should become a compulsory addition to all middle-level educational institutions. Despite both pros and cons of any uniform, personally I stick to the idea that school uniforms should be introduced in all public and private schools.

There are certainly many factors that should be taken into account when discussing the issue of the school uniform. While most private schools already have established a particular school uniform to be worn within the institution at all times and by all students, public school mostly remain more liberal and only have a more-or-less strict dress code. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that public schools tend to have a more widespread student population and there are kids of different backgrounds. Some have parents with rather high incomes who can afford to buy fashionable and costly clothes for their kids. But there are also those teens who are forced to buy low-cost outfits at discount retail stores. So, from this viewpoint, if all students wear identical clothes, no one will be hurt or humiliated by the comparison.

Another point to consider is, of course, the way teenagers try to express their feelings. There are so many teens wearing fancy or strange and colorful clothes. Some of them, at the age of 16-17, already have piercings or tattoos. If from an early age children get used to paying too much attention to the way people dress and look instead of enriching their inner being, acquiring new skills and knacks, we should expect a very materialistic and emotionally restrained society in the nearest future. Wearing a uniform would help in having people pay more attention to one’s personality, rather than looks. The main idea is to help a child understand that they should develop their inner beauty and not get involved with unsavory company and fake friends.

All in all, school uniform is a great solution to these arguments that arise between teenagers. Wearing the same clothes as your classmates and schoolmates helps to feel better involved into the community and integrate with the groups of children of the same age, helps feel like you belong rather than you don’t fit. Another benefit of school uniforms is that it teaches children a certain discipline and conformity – the qualities they will later in life make a lot of use from when they have to obey by certain social norms and laws.

The Success of a Relationship: Why Individual Growth Matters When two people start a romantic relationship, they at first show their best

features to partners, in order to keep them interested. However, after a while routine sets in and it seems that there is nothing to discover. Thus, passion, that has been holding everything together, fades away and continuing the relationship may become difficult. In most cases love and romance are understood as a kind of merging of individualities of partners, when each of them seeks to fulfill their own needs at the expense of another, instead of trying to grow and develop. When one or both parts of

the couple stop growing, the relationship enters a stage of stagnation that may keep them living an unhappy life, or end in a separation. “Relationships are like a dance, with visible energy racing back and forth between partners. Some relationships are the slow, dark dance of death.” (Dowling, 1979). Therefore, it is important for the success of the relationship that people constantly look for ways for individual growth.

According to recent studies, conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain, a focus on infidelity as the main cause for divorce has shifted onto a phenomenon called “falling out of love”. This phenomenon is reflected in the fact that there is nothing new to discover about the other person and the reasons that made them fall in love fade away as time goes by. Stated succinctly, adhering to a “comfort zone” in the relationship is rather dangerous. A steady relationship makes the importance of personal growth easily forgotten, because it seems that as everything works out on its own, there is no need to make conscious contributions. Still, the truth is that improving and taking care of yourself helps build a better and richer relationship with your partner.

The main reason why it is hard for people to keep relationships that have become insipid is that actually few of them think of personal improvement as one of the key factors in fixing things. Partners need to stay interesting for each other, as when there is nothing new to discover, the relationship breaks more easily. Besides, reality shows us that to be a couple, each partner should possess high self-esteem to cope better with possible issues.

“Partners with low self-esteem read too much into problems, seeing them as a sign that their partner’s affections and commitment might be waning. They then derogate their partner and reduce closeness. Being less sensitive to rejection, however, partners with high self-esteem affirm their partner in the face of any threat. Ironically, a chronic need for acceptance may result in low self-esteem, people seeing signs of rejection where none exist, needlessly weakening attachments” (Murray, Rose, Bellavia, 2002)

However, many people don’t realize that maintaining relationship is a personal work. Unrecognized and unresolved problems may result in a sequence of frustrations in the relationship, that continue until a person realizes the real reasons for failure.

There are several necessary things to remember about a healthy relationship. Many couples feel intimidated when they are afraid, or feel awkward to share problems or discontent that burden them, because of the fear of being misunderstood, laughed at, or even that relationship will break just because something was said. This fear seems unbearable, but the fact is that trust is essential. Individuals with higher self-esteem are more honest about what they need and want from their partners. They talk about what relationship is lacking, instead of cheating and waiting until the partner guesses it.

Another important factor is to have friends. It is extremely harmful for couples to dwell only on each other. New impressions, contacts and acquaintances are crucial for a healthy relationship. Partners should also seek to be interesting to each other, learn new things to have something to talk about and look for new ways to spend time together.

The financial side of the issue also plays its role. When both partners are economically independent, it is less likely that one will feel stressed about being the sole breadwinner and the other will feel insecure because of having no steady income.

Of course, there can’t be any instructions when it comes to such an intimate thing as a relationship. Every couple should search for what works best for them. However, it can be reasonably stated that, in order to build a strong and long-lasting relationship, people should pay more attention to their own personalities. It is very difficult, or even impossible, to improve the relationship itself, or change some features of a partner which one does not like. The key point is to re-invent yourself. Despite being a seeming paradox, actually, the more attention you pay to your own life and development, the richer the relationship will become.

 Expository Essay 

The Internet and Society Modern society has undergone radical development in the last 20 years.

Computers were once just a means to solve mathematical equations. Rapid advances in technology have altered the way in which people interact with computers, as well as the functionality of these smart machines. With the advent of a worldwide and nearly universally accessible web, the way in which we interact with each other has changed drastically. People from all over the world can instantaneously exchange both business and personal information. Internet commerce has become a huge part of the daily lives of millions, as well as social networking and streaming media. Most recently, portable electronics capable of nearly all internet-related tasks have become a common possession for the average middle-aged American. The unlimited free exchange of information has changed, and is continuing to change, in very profound way, society at large.

“The internet is probably most famous for the ability to spread information, fact or fiction.”(Nikolovska, 2007) Despite the many positive influences the internet has had on our society, one cannot ignore the negative repercussions. Many vendors have become faceless, and the examination of goods prior to purchase has been reduced to pictures. While there are many reputable online stores, there are those with less ethical aims. People must be wary of any and all information sharing and purchases conducted

online, to avoid the transfer of funds or personal data to unscrupulous entities. Likewise, information obtained via the internet needs to be scrutinized in order to determine accuracy. According to the 2010 U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Annual Report on Intellectual Property Enforcement “The digital environment… presents enormous challenges to businesses, consumers, governments, citizens, communities, and families, particularly as new technologies and platforms disrupt traditional business models, means of governance and modes of private communication and expression” In essence, the Internet has begun to change nearly every aspect of our lives and shows no signs of stopping.

Personal safety threats related to the popularity of social networks, especially amongst the youngsters, is another huge Internet-related issue. “They are taking us somewhere exciting, but we have to work out how we deal with the fading boundaries these tools have left in their wake, and that means rewriting our social rules as we go along”(Hoover, 2009).  With the human race being a social specie by nature, it was inevitable that new advanced methods of communication would eventually be developed. The Internet has revolutionized interpersonal communication since its inception with advances such as email and instant messaging. More recently, websites devoted entirely to communication have emerged. The most popular example of such social networks is Facebook. Members of various social networks input personal data, upload photographs, and personalize many aspects of their own unique pages within the site. They may then connect and share this information with as many people as they desire. The social networks have gained such popularity that one is nearly certain to find their friends and co-workers via online means.

With so many people uploading personal information, targeted marketing has become very easy and very popular. Because of this very precise demographic-specific marketing capability, social networks are extremely profitable. But there is always the downside, and with social networking it is primarily the issue of trust and safety. Social networking puts its users in danger from those members of the web who may pose as someone they are not and should not be trusted. When you only know a person over a short period of time and have never before met in person, it is very easy for that person to create a desirable self-image in your head, and this image might have nothing to do with reality. When we expose our lives to the Internet community, we become very vulnerable, whether we realize it or not.

Given the degree of impact the Internet has had on society in its relatively short existence, the long term implications are unforeseeable. A world in which all people may communicate openly with one another, regardless of the physical distance between them, was once no more than a very tempting idea, but is now the norm. The world is very much analogous to an organism, and to quote a fictional doctor: “All organisms evolve and develop along patterns only recognized in retrospect.” So, it will

probably be not sooner than until we experience the results of Internet influence on society, that we may be able to evaluate them.

The Influences of Culture and Environment 

It is a commonly observed fact that the environment, as well as culture, has a significant influence on the lives of individuals all over the world. People are born, grow up and die in specific surroundings, which shape out their outlook, resulting in a certain life style, behavior and standards.

People’s attitude towards life and the pathway their life takes, is affected by various factors. Among them, a family, culture, religion, the place where they grow up, their friends, can be mentioned. Thus, the family influences the place where children grow up and what kind of people they communicate with, while maturing. Besides, this affects what food they eat and the external effects to which they are exposed. To a large extent it determines the pathway they take through life, both while living with their family, and as they grow up and leave the family home.

Many specialists talk about the enduring effects of socio-economic circumstances. According to recent research, children born in poor families are more likely to experience financial issues, as adults, than those who were born in wealthier families (Harper et al., 2003). Poor children are also more likely to be less healthy and suffer from various diseases, than their richer counterparts. Research also shows, that even the premature death of adults, can be connected to the socio-economic circumstances of one’s childhood, as well. Children, born in poor households, tended to suffer from premature death more often, than those who were raised in wealthier conditions (Davey-Smith, 2004). Therefore, the environment, in which children grow up, has a great influence on their outlook and the pathway their life may take, through childhood, and into adulthood.

It is also important to consider the cultural context when talking about impacts, and effects, on lives. A variety of cultural norms and demands, existing in countries all over the world, affects individuals in various ways. Stated succinctly, cultural influences on individuals are very specific to the country in which the individual grows up. For example, an Arabic child will be influenced culturally in a totally different manner than an American child, and will possess a different psychological makeup, values, behavioural norms, and so on. Moreover, these influences will most likely determine what children do, how they interact with others, and how they feel about other cultures. Cultural context shapes their world view and the way they perceive themselves, and their environment – their family, community and society.

Therefore, it can be stated that grown-ups live and act in a way that is, in many respects, determined by the environment in which they were raised, as well as by cultural peculiarities. Many socio-economic circumstances tend to endure, so that an adult may experience the same financial, or social, issues as in childhood. Besides, culture also has a significant impact on how persons perceive themselves and the world around them. Finally, both environment and culture interact to influence the lives of individuals, determining their pathways in the early years of their lives.

 The Problem of Obesity in America

 Obesity is a medical term used to describe a state of excessive body weight,

when it is at least 20% higher than the stipulated norm within a specific population category (Simon, 2011). It has long been debated whether obesity is a relative measure and should not be used as a stigma to label overweight people. However, the fact is, when the weight of a person significantly exceeds a certain norm for their age and gender, the health and well-being of that person tend to generally decrease in quality. Obesity might not be a serious disease in the commonly established meaning of this term, since it isn’t contagious like the flu, irreversible, like AIDs, or deadly, like cancer. Yet it has been proven that there are numerous links to a higher probability of heart-related diseases, depression and passiveness, diabetes, and premature aging of body as a whole and brain in particular. Moreover, obesity simply decreases the general quality of life, since it becomes harder for the person to enjoy simple activities, stay energetic and active, succeed in sports and enjoy a full-range diet. Thus, when talking about obesity in a country like America, where the problem is especially acute and critical, we need to consider the most probable causes and factors of obesity, in order to come up with an effective health program to deal with this issue in the United States.

A lot of people may argue that obesity is something to which one can be genetically predisposed and that there is little governments and NGO’s can do about this fact. Well, it is true that some people are born with a higher probability of being overweight and eventually obese than others. However, such predisposition cannot be considered a purely “American problem” since it is almost equally spread amongst different races and ethnicities. Statistically, around 20% of people in the world suffer from obesity. However, this number is significantly higher for the US population. Thus, we need to look at those factors that could explain why the problem of obesity is more serious in America than in, for example, Germany, Australia or Brazil. One of such factors is, undoubtedly, the factor of eating habits.

Americans have a lot of unhealthy eating habits, including fast food popularity and soft drinks consumption. French fries, pizza, cheeseburgers and cold coke are top metabolism inhibitors. By eating such foods regularly, American teenagers, adults and kids slower their metabolism by up to 12 times, as research has proven (Harris & Jenkins, 2008). This means that the same amount of food will be digested and

absorbed 12 times slower by an American teen than by a healthy-eating Russian or African child. Moreover, numerous health issues such as ulcer, dysbacteriosis, cholecystitis and diabetes, which are also directly related to one’s eating habits, all have a negative influence on a person’s weight and amount of fat in the body. Hence, when working towards decreasing the obesity rates, we need to start from completely changing our dietary habits and refraining from eating fast foods or drinking soft drinks.Another point to consider when talking about American dieting habits is the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in their everyday ration. We seem to think that a glass of orange juice, watered down from a concentrate and flavored with artificial sweeteners, or a few grapes on top of a cupcake for dessert, or a bowl of spinach salad for dinner, do the trick and provide the necessary amount of vitamins, microelements and minerals for our body and mind. However, this is far from being true, as dieticians inform. Five different fruits and five different vegetables a day is the minimum requirement for healthy development (Parker et al., 2011). The key is to eat a variety and to eat fresh, garden-grown products. In the United States, there are very few places where fresh, recently picked and naturally grown fruits and vegetables are sold on local markets. In the majority of cases, it is the supermarket chains that distribute such products to Americans across the country. Fruit and vegetables from a supermarket, like Wall-Mart or Safeway, do not supply us with even half of the valuable nutrients compared to fruits and vegetables from one’s own garden , picked right before consumption and grown without using pesticides and fertilizers. Unfortunately, keeping our own gardens and growing our own fruits and vegetables is not something most Americans are able, or willing, to do. Then, is there a solution? Organic food, which many consider to be rather pricy, is in fact much healthier than what we are offered in the regular chain supermarkets. When it comes to health, prevention and precaution are always less expensive than the treatment afterwards. Therefore, the solution that is most suitable for an average American family is to shop organic, fresh, and healthy, choosing vegetables and fruits over unhealthy calorie-booster snacks like chips, pretzels and donuts.

One more important factor that we often forget about when investigating the reasons for high obesity rates in the United States, is the factor of portion size. Comparative studies have often proven that the size of an average serving portion in America is many times higher than that in the majority of other countries. For instance, one portion of pasta in an average American middle-class restaurant can be split into 3.6 Japanese portions, 3.2 Chinese portions, 3.1 French portions, 2.8 Russian portions, 2.3 Polish portions and 2.2 Italian portions (The Davis Report, 2011). Do Americans really eat more than any other nation? It sure looks like that from the statistics. Do Americans need to eat as much? Well, we are not the tallest or the most active nation in the world, but, for some reason, we consume twice as much as the Dutch, who ride bicycles while we drive cars, or the Russians, who walk by foot an average of 2.9 miles a day while we barely do half a mile. Americans are getting used to eating a lot more than their body needs since early childhood and need to change. Next time we go to a

restaurant to order a full bowl of salad followed by a huge plate of spaghetti and a glass of ice tea, we need to remind ourselves that our stomachs are only the size of an average man’s fist, but, of course, not if you stuff it with all that food.

Whether we like to admit it or not, obesity is a problem for American society. It causes so many health issues that the quality of life and the state of health of Americans, is much lower than it could have been. Some may argue that they try to live an active life, do sports and participate in community activities, but they still have weight problems. This is the case for many Americans, who forget that along with changing their lifestyle, going to a gym and running in the mornings, they need to cardinally change their eating habits, consume more of fresh and healthy natural foods, stop eating junk food, lessen the potions by half and start eating smart.

 International Education and Foreign Languages as Crucial Elements of

Education in American Society 

Learning new languages had always been considered an investment in one’s success. There are various examples of folklore sayings, such as, ‘you are as many times a man, as many languages you speak’ (Slavic proverb), or that you live as many lives as many languages you know (Czeck folk song). These days such opinions can be considered truer than ever. It isn’t just diplomats and interpreters who are obliged to learn languages. In the twenty-first century, the process of globalization has expanded further than ever, and people all over the world are becoming more and more interconnected. Whether one is working for a big international corporation, or frequently travels abroad for leisure, enjoys watching foreign movies with the original soundtrack, or simply wants to widen ones horizons, learning a second, or third language, is always a wonderful decision.

However, while most of the developed and developing world is very keen on learning more than just the native language of their home country, Americans tend to skip this part of education, or learn foreign languages rather perfunctorily. Davidson & Johan, having conducted a country-wide research on the issue, report that only 17.8% of adult Americans, across the country, can fluently speak, and correctly write, in one or more foreign language (2011). This number is extremely low for a developed society. To put this into perspective, 86.1% of Germans, 74% of Swedes and 59.6% of Russians are fluent in at least one foreign language. This number is even higher amongst some of the Asian population.

While Americans also have Spanish, German, French and Japanese classes in their high school and college curricula, the quality of knowledge that American children and teenagers get, is considerably lower. One of the major reasons that researchers cite, is lack of motivation. While the rest of the world finds it a necessity to know a couple of other languages than your native one, many Americans see no point in

learning any other language since, in most cases, their English will be understood anyway, whenever they travel (Sallick, 2008). Sure, we all realize that English is unofficially the modern-day international and business language, but it does not mean that Americans should use this advantage against themselves.

Learning languages, at an early age, is good for several reasons. First, it helps a child to effectively develop their organs of articulation and speak more clearly, including, in their native tongue (Jesse et al., 2010). Secondly, learning another language means widening one’s mental outlook, becoming more adept and knowledgeable about the world’s various cultures and perspectives. Finally, learning a language greatly contributes to the general brain development, especially at an early age, but also at any age. It helps make our minds more flexible, our articulation more adaptable, and our memory more retentive (Sallick, 2008).

Furthermore, taking into consideration the specifics of American society, it would only be logical that Americans should speak more than one language. With the United States being a melting pot of cultures, nationalities and ethnicities, being diverse in every way they can is what being an American is all about (Frank & Preston, 2012). Americans are so interested in other cultures, cuisines and costumes, but do not show any particular attention to the folklore, songs and languages of the people whose national restaurants, they frequently visit. If we also remind ourselves how much Americans travel, including travelling abroad, it is surely a shame that so few people, in the United States, know and speak a language other than English. Identifying yourself, not just as a citizen of the United States of America, but also, as a world inhabitant, together with the Chinese, Russians, French and Nigerians, means broadening one’s perspective and integrating into the global social medium.

Depriving American kids and teenagers from learning another language, automatically means neglecting their future development. While creating favourable conditions for learning languages at schools, and stimulating the child’s motivation towards it, means, on the contrary,  investing in the future of our children’s overall success. Showing interest in another culture, language and tradition, does not, in any way, mean withdrawing from your own background. Quite the contrary, it shows one’s respect and tolerance, intelligence, and refinement. Therefore, I see no reason why American society should be at the tail position, when it comes to speaking foreign languages. Getting American children interested, and motivating them to learn languages, is what both school environment, and parents, should focus on.

 Occupational Therapy

 Recently, the world has seen an immense change, as far as the health sector is

concerned. An overwhelming statistical revelation has indicated that Canada, for instance, has witnessed a great many changes in the health and social needs of its citizens. Owing to this realization, several aspects have been prompted to change. This

has given rise to what is referred to as ‘emerging trends’. This particular paper seeks to take a keen overview of occupational therapy, one of the most distinguished fields affected by the current trends in the Canadian health care system. Analyzing current trends of health in Canada plays a pivotal role in placing occupational therapists abreast of the new changes. As a result, occupational therapists are in a position to identify opportunities, as well as challenges, which are a threat to their profession, and thus embark on effective means to counter them.

As we speak, occupational therapy in Canada has expanded in order to incorporate home and community care. This is a bit different when compared to the traditional approaches, when occupational therapists were only found in a hospital setting. However, this is not the only reality we encounter in the modern Canadian health sector. Actually, it is regarded as just one of the major consequences, of the emerging trends, in Canadian health care. First and foremost, Canada has made great advances in biology, particularly advancement in genetics, notwithstanding the growing prospect of personalized health care.

This is such a major emerging trend that it has directly affected the profession of occupational therapy. Critiques have reported that a senior leader of the Canadian health sector has flagged biology as the current most exciting and fast moving science, in comparison with the others. This has seen Canada realize a lot of changes, such as individualized medicines and new diagnostics. The implication underlying this particular trend is practically obvious.

Intensification of knowledge owing to great levels of knowledge in the medical field has played a keen role in the realization of new therapies, such as the ones mentioned above. From this knowledge, several projections are subject to be made and which are likely to depict a true and fair view, of Canada’s future health status. A major probability is that the heath care system is likely to become individualized, whereby people will be in a position to indentify and treat what is ailing them. This implies that the role of occupational therapy, in Canada’s health system, is bound to change greatly with individuals becoming their own health care givers.

Secondly, immigration and diversity are also identified as a major emerging trend facing the Canadian heath sector. Just like the initial one, the effects of immigration and diversity are not subject to neglect, as they have major consequences on overall occupational therapy. Sources report that the birth rate in Canada is ranked as one of the world’s slowest. This has an obvious implication, as a great portion of Canada’s population is comprised of immigrants. This has serious implications in the long term analyses of health care. On one parameter, this will mean that a considerable portion of Canada’s heath care work force will be immigrants.

As a result, meeting supply and demand will be made even harder where Canadians, situated in say rural areas, may be required to travel to larger centers to receive this crucial service. Elsewhere, a large number of immigrants in Canada will call for a large labor force to serve people. This may call for diversification of heath care centers, and even changes in roles of occupational therapists.