On my drive home…. February 23 2012. Yeah, I can handle that. :)
He waves goodbye to his parents as he pulls out of the driveway. Andrew, a first year college student with dreams, and lofty goals set for himself, heads to his first semester at college full of optimism. Andrew is ready to fill his brain to the rim with all the knowledge he is bound to find wile in college. What Andrew may not expect however, is the fact that this may be a harder task to accomplish than he realizes. There seems to be a trend in students that fall into the party trap every year, which may make learning all the more difficult. In this paper I will discuss three statistics that support this fact. The statistics will include the percentage of students that frequently drink and the number of students that frequently party. I will also look at the contrast between the students social and intellectual self confidence.
From what I have learned from college life, one of the things you hear about most frequently is drinking. It seems that wine, liquor, and beer have become staples of the college life. Perhaps this is due to the amount of stress that students seem to be under these days. As anyone that has ever thrown back a beer or two knows it has a tendency to help you wind down after a long day. Students now have a lot more on their plates than they once did. This leads to more stress, in turn leading to finding ways to deal with stress. A majority of students 79.4% claimed to have ingested wine or liquor frequently. Another 69.6% have claimed they have consumed beer. (2005 College Student Survey, table 8). I think that these two statistics show that drinking has become the norm at the college level.
From fraternities, to sororities it seems there is a party every weekend, even some during the school week. This is an easy trap for students to fall into, because they want to fit in with everyone else. Over one half of students 52.9% claim to party three or more hours a week. (2005 College Student Survey, table 10). This is yet another example of why it may be harder for Andrew to learn as effectively while in college. I agree that there needs to be an outlet for everyone to blow off steam, and just let them selves forget about work. This trend however, could be more wounding to students due to taking a majority of time away from studying.
Finally, a statistic that may be overlooked as co-inciting with the previous statistics is the contrast between social and intellectual self confidence. When answers were compared between freshman year and senior year, there was a 9.2 point increase in social self confidence. Whereas, when it came to intellectual self confidence there was only a 5.5 point increase. (2005 College Student Survey, table 13). This to me states that students, while building a fine social network, and becoming more apt at interacting with others, are spending more time refining this aspect of their lives as opposed to the academic side of college. These are all reasons that, though full of optimism, Andrew may not be able to learn as much as he expected in college, because it seems the typical college student becomes more enthralled with the social aspect of college than the educational.
He lies quietly in the hospital bed. Tears in his eyes from the pain that has become a constant in his life since the cancer became terminal. The morphine has long ago stopped working to comfort him. The night shift nurse comes in to check on the man. He, still with tears in his eyes begs her to just end it all and stop this nightmarish hell that he lives everyday. This is a situation that a lot of medical professionals find themselves in almost daily. It brings up the topic of euthanasia and the debate over whether or not it is murder in disguise. In this essay, I will discuss how these two means of death are similar to one another. The fact that both are frowned upon in religious circles, as well as both require a second party in order to be fulfilled.
Many people, from many different religious backgrounds, believe one person ending the life of another to be wrong. The argument is always used that we, as humans, are not God. We do not have the divine intelligence or insight into future events to make the decision. They can argue that even the harshest of criminals may someday find God, and change their ways to better the world, and that we as humans do not have the ability to see this and end the life of this person. The same rings true for euthanasia. How do we as a race, know that a person will not come out of a terminal situation and live a normal healthy life? I recently read in my Ethics book of a doctor and two nurses who are under investigation. The reason they are now under investigation is because, when hurricane Katrina was about to hit New Orleans, they took it upon themselves to euthanize some of the terminal patients that could not be moved from the hospital. If you take a look at this from a religious stand point, how do these people know that the patients were sure to die? Stranger things in this life have happened and miracles happen everyday.
Another thing, these two acts have in common is the fact that neither murder nor euthanasia can be performed as a solitary act. If, like in my opening example, there is a person dying from terminal cancer, the person can’t euthanize themselves. It takes the act of another person to open the syringe, take the lethal dosage of medication into the syringe, and ultimately inject it into the patient, putting an end to their life. The same is true for a murder victim. This person, sitting at home on the couch watching television, didn’t ask for another person to come into their home and take their life. Yet, as they sit there, another person takes it upon themselves, to end the life of another.
In conclusion, many people may not agree with the reasons I have set forth in this essay, as an argument that both euthanasia and murder are similar. I say to those people, that is what makes this world go around. All people will never agree on any one topic, but in my mind, and the mind of many people, both are one in the same. Consider, if you will, your family, and friends, and ask yourself if you would want someone making that decision for them. Would you, as a friend or family member be able to make that decision for another person? If you can answer, “no” to these questions, then maybe this paper has taken you to a place in your mind and heart that you have yet to venture, and will serve you well.
So I have decided to take my blogs in another direction. Not just random thoughts, and rants about the goings on of today, but I want to focus on my college career as I embark on this journey after 12 years out of school. Mostly the blog will consist of updates of whats happening with school, as well as I am going to post all of my English essays on here for public scrutiny!! So, without building too much suspense, here is my first English Essay. Hope you enjoy!!
The topic was:
Today, as you drive on U. S. 19, the Grim Reaper, scythe sharpened and in hand, comes for you. Before taking you to your final reward, he allows you to release a statement to the living world summarizing your life. Write this statement, arguing that your life has been worthwhile by citing at least three major accomplishments achieved during your short existence.
and here is the paper I came up with:
NAME Aaron Deel
ESSAY NO. 1
GRADE 88
I wake up to see the wreckage of my car beside the road. As I look into the car, I see my physical body still positioned in the driver’s seat of the car. A cold chill races up my spine. I turn around to see the angel of death himself come to take me to the afterlife. Before taking me to the other side, he gives me the opportunity to write a statement to the world summarizing my life. In this paper I will delve into three important events in my life that I feel have made it successful. The events that I feel demonstrate that point the best are, being part of a very close knit family, going back to school, and getting married.
First, I would like to talk about my family. After our parent’s divorce when I was 17 my siblings and I have had to take care of each other. The struggles we faced after the divorce made the bond we all shared even stronger. I was also blessed that even after the divorce both sides of the family stayed strong for my brothers, sister, and I. Now that we are older the family help has come full circle , as now our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins come to us for help. Growing up in the family we did and learning the value of staying close makes it an easy decision to help one another.
The fact that I am writing this paper right now is the perfect demonstration of the next accomplishment in my life. I have always known that I was destined for bigger and better things than your average run of the mill retail job. I knew that in order to do this I had to obtain the knowledge needed to get a better job, as well as to obtain the knowledge for a job that I would love for years to come. This class is just another stepping stone for me on my way to becoming an occupational therapist. A life long goal that wouldn’t be obtainable without going back to school.
Third, and probably the greatest accomplishment in my life was persuading my soul mate to marry me. Within a few months of knowing one another we were engaged to be married. Without my wife the second accomplishment I listed in this paper would probably still not be reality at this point. It is through her help and support that I have found the courage and strength to go back to school. Another reason I feel that this is my greatest accomplishment is the fact that she fits so well with my family, which is very important to me. It’s as if everything I ever wanted was wrapped up with a nice little bow and handed to me. Knowledge, family, and love; these are things some people see as important in life. For me personally this is especially true, because these are things by which I rate my success in life.
Ok, so as I was driving down the road yesterday I was pondering cancer, and why it is affecting so many. One wild notion that popped into my head was “what if it’s a step in human evolution?”
Now, with that being said, I do not believe that humans evolved from apes. Nor do I believe we began as single cell organisms in the water. What I do believe is that EVERY creature on earth evolves in some way to adapt to their environments. Saying I don’t believe we evolved from apes doesn’t mean that I don’t think that we may have looked different thousands of years ago. They uncover human bones from long ago time periods from time to time, and there is no doubt they look different from the way we do now. This is the type of evolution that I think happens. Slight changes in ones anatomy (both internal and external) that help them adapt to a changing environment.
Going back to the cancer thing that I mentioned earlier. Could cancer be the next step in human evolution? I’m not saying we need to let it run rampant and kill everyone that is afflicted with the disease. What I am saying is YES we need to find a cure for it NOW!! That however doesn’t mean that in Gods grand scheme of things that this disease is in some way going to change our children, or our grandchildren, or our great grandchildren’s anatomy in some way that will be beneficial to them in the environment they will be living in many many many years from now????
I firmly believe that God has a plan that is bigger than all of us and SOMEHOW cancer has a part to play in that plan. I’m not saying that I BELIEVE cancer is the next step in human evolution. What I am saying is “hey while I was driving down the road I was thinking about family members and stuff afflicted with cancer and this notion popped into my head.” That is all I’m saying, I do however think it is something that I would like opinions on from others. I know it sounds like Sci-Fi stuff, but who knows maybe I’m on to something. If not at least it is an interesting topic to ponder????
Soooo…. the company I’m now working for has all the earmarks of a fledgling company that has no clue as to what they are doing. I’ve been with the company for a little over a month and have come to the conclusion that if I am to be successful in this position I have to take matters into my own hands. As such I decided to send an email to the operations supervisor, my area manager, and the Head Honcho of the company letting them know where I stand with them, and where they stand with me. I can’t merely quit the company because upon being hired I signed a 3 month contract stating that if i didn’t stay with the company for 3 months they would hold $1,200 of my pay and I would just be out that money. They say this is so they make their money back on the money they paid to train us. So without further delay….. here is the Email I sent them.
I just got your voicemail. I have called the customer with work order number ending in 3005 I had just forgotten to update the stop code. As far as working the Wytheville area, the reason ******* was running those calls is because I had already told ****** I couldn’t do it anymore? It’s not feasible for either one of us to run calls in that area. It is 2 hours or more away, and after 2 days of running calls in that area our fuel assistance checks are gone and we are then PAYING to work….. that’s not what I signed on for. When I was hired I was told that the Wytheville thing was temporary until someone was hired in that area, and to my understanding someone has been hired. I don’t make it a habit to pay to work that’s not how it’s supposed to go. Something has got to give because this is ridiculous. Also, that is only 2 tickets in that area, and per ******* I’m not to go into that area for anything less than 3 tickets, because again I will pretty much be paying to work! I’ve had nothing but headaches since starting here, I’m not going to quit because I need the job, but I am VERY frustrated that nothing that I was told when I was hired seems to be true.
1) I would be held back 3 weeks on my pay. (that was wrong, found out it is 4 weeks after running 1st week of calls)
2) I wouldn’t have a problem scheduling my calls around school (that was wrong because if i have to work in Wytheville and surrounding areas that is IMPOSSIBLE)
3) I would get paid extra for jobs outside my 60 mile radius (wrong because we were hired in at a higher pay rate, we won’t get that…. which means we are still being cheated out of money in that process especially since the rules can be bent in such a way that because we are helping cover the Wytheville area we will not get the extra pay because it counts as our area)
These are reasons I took this job in the first place. The fact that school starts Aug. 23rd and I WILL make time for my classes is of upmost importance to me and my family, because like I said, I was TOLD during the pre hire process that I could schedule my appts. around my school no problem. That is one very major reason I wanted this job, because where I was working before I couldn’t do that! Listen, I am a very intelligent, and hard working person that has worked their way into management in MANY companies 2 of which are MAJOR U.S. Companies. I am an asset to any company, and will work my fingers to the bone to get done what needs to be done. The way things have gone with me and this company so far however, make it hard for me to do that?
As far as the pay being held 4 weeks I should have gotten an actual paycheck last week….. when I received it however it was no good because the account number was on the perforated line. I tried numerous times through email to reach ****** only to get no reply. I finally had to call and talk to her, and still have not gotten a reply as to whether or not those checks were re-mailed. ******* had a check from the company bounce and he had to owe his bank $100, these are not things that instill trust and loyalty to a company????????
Also another thing I was told during pre-hire was that my already planned vacation wouldn’t be a problem since it was planned pre-employment. So just in case that didn’t get passed on or I was lied to with that situation as well I will not be taking calls from July 30-August the 8th. I was told someone would be made available to take my calls for me while on vacation.
Thank you,
So there is the Email…. currently I’ve gotten a voicemail from my area manager saying she will call me this evening and fix things so that I am not so stressed and will make everything right. I also got copied on an email sent from the Head of the company telling the area manager to work with me because “he is a good tech and I like him”. So…. years of me letting people walk all over me may have been wasted now that I have found telling people what you really think gets results??
the names in the email were withheld as I am trying to be as professional as possible.
OOOOKKKKKK!! This really gets me going. This area was founded on Coal mining, and yet this stuff happens.
http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2010/06/07/coalfield-group-delivers-fail-award-to-coal-hugging-regulatory-agency/
I really don’t understand where these people get off? I mean like I said this area was founded by coal mining. So the very people in this video I’m sure have friends and family that are employed in some way by the coal mining industry, hell in this area if you are employed at all you owe it to coal mining. Also the people in this video live in, COAL CAMPS where do they think their forefathers worked? How do they think they came to live in this area? I worked at Lowes of Wise for over 2 years, before going to the job I now have. In that two years you could always tell how well the coal mining industry was going by the sales we did in our store, and the amount of deliveries we had to make. If you work at a gas station, Wal Mart, ANYWHERE around here you ARE BEING PAID by the coal mining industry because THAT is what keeps this area alive! I don’t want to keep going on and on about this, I just saw the video and thought I’d say my piece.
This is my first attempt at blogging so if it’s not great I applogize.
My beautiful wife and I on the BEST day of my life!!!!