The power of optimism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The power of optimism - Essay Example One also realized that through personal experiences, as well as the experiences relayed by other people, there are valid supports to the contention that the power of optimism is real as it could open more opportunities that could lead to success. First and foremost, one affirms that I am an optimist, by nature. However, I am also a realist. In facing different situations, I assume a positive stance that everything would come out right. If they don’t, I believe that the challenges are made to be encountered to learn something new and good from them – thus, still making us better in the end. I have proven the power of optimism through the experience of my aunt. After a decade of productive career as a bank manager, she lost her job at the midst of a great financial strain since her husband had been diagnosed with diabetes and chronic kidney failure and they have six children to support. Fortunately, she was also an optimist. Rather than being depressed, anxious, and troubled, she sought to find other employment opportunities that would enable her to work at home and attend to both her husband’s and children’s needs. She acknowledged that since more opportunities are being made available through the online medium, she could use her skills in becoming a freelance writer. She eventually found a job as a freelance writer; doubled and even tripled her earnings, and was able to do everything without having to leave the comforts of their home. As such, the loss of one job was viewed, not as an end of a career; but as a blessing in disguise. Through the power of optimism, she did not lose hope in finding a more productive employment which enabled her to address their financial needs, the health requirements of her husband, and the educational support for their six children. Clearly, the power of optimism brings forth new

Work In Health Care Administration Essay Example for Free

Work In Health Care Administration Essay The health care field is one of constant growth and change.   As the face of health care changes, through privatization, the influence of HMOs, and individuals with doctorates of nursing practice challenging medical doctors in some fields of care, the health care profession can be a volatile place indeed.   That volatility not only increases the number of opportunities open to the health care professional, but it also makes the health care industry an exciting place to be in the upcoming decades. Available Opportunities According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2007) a total of approximately 248,000 positions were available to health care administrators in 2004.   Continued rapid growth is expected to continue until 2014 (pars. 24-25). Working as a Health Care Administrator Health care administrators have opportunities largely divided between hospitals and nursing care facilities. These facilities are classified by size.   Administrators in large facilities often have assistant administrators working as direct reports, who handle the daily decision making in their particular areas such as nursing, medical records, and so on.   Administrators of small facilities are more involved in day-to-day activities, including personnel management, admissions, and even in resident care (pars. 4-5). Necessary Education Careers in health care administration require an individual to have at least a bachelor’s degree for entry-level positions in smaller facilities (par. 19).   Larger facilities usually require a master’s degree or higher for these positions.   These same degrees may also be needed for advancing at smaller facilities. Jobs in health care administration health are often open to such individuals or individuals who have risen through the ranks of other areas in the industry and have received special training in administration tasks (par. 19). Pros and Cons Due to the expanding job market in the health care field, in large part due to the aging of the American public, many jobs will be available in the future.   Health care administrators work long hours, in part due to the around the clock nature of the field.   In addition, travel to attend meetings or to inspect other facilities might add to the number of expected work hours.   As with any job in the health care industry, this career path has the possibility of being highly stressful.   Health care administrators may or may not share an office with others of their staff (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007, pars. 14-15). Salary and Benefits According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2007) the annual salaries for health care administrators range from approximately $41,000 to approximately $117,000, with a median salary of about $67,000.   This median varies between facilities and services, starting at about $60,000 for home health care services to about $87,000 for individuals who work for the Federal Government (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007, par. 31). Analysis The health care industry appears to be a good one to enter during the next seven or so years.   The industry will continue to broaden with the introduction of new technology and improvements in drugs and care techniques created by interdisciplinary research.   Current health care administrators will need to continue in their educational pursuits to remain competent in the field, while the minimum educational requirements for entry-level positions may continue to climb. A career in health care administration may offer a wide variety of potential experiences for a person interested in the field, depending on the size of the facility at which he or she is employed and based on the facility placement in either the public or private sector.   While health care administration field appears to make great demands on individuals interested in working in the field, the potential for good earnings is high.   Jobs are available in many areas of specialization in health care administration, which may open the field to individuals of varied interests, strengths, and skill during years to come.   Reference Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational outlook handbook, 2006-07 Edition, Medical and Health Services Managers.   Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos014.htm

Psychological Analysis of Crash (2004)

Psychological Analysis of Crash (2004) Omar Fawzy Cinema Psychology: Crash The movie Crash explains social psychology concepts through stereotypes and people’s relationships. It touches on many social psychological concepts and theories through the representation of American society’s racial diversity and discrimination. The American community contains many races. This diversity, although culturally beneficial, can in some cases lead to conflict. The movie examines a group of different people living in Los Angeles and the social system, which are their social relationships as they come into contact with each other. The characters are reprehensive of American society as they are chosen to show the diversity in the city and there are people representative of the Los Angeles community. The main themes of the movie, which all the rest of the concepts communicate around are discrimination, prejudice and stereotyping. The movie displays the fundamental attribution error concept, also called the correspondence bias, describes, â€Å"The tendency, in explaining other people’s behavior, to overestimate personality factors and underestimate the influence of the situation. (Wade and Tavris, pg 338) This concept portrays racism from both sides. While White people, represented by Sandra Bullock, assume that all African Americans, as well as Latinos as dangerous, the African Americans, represented by Ludacris, assume that all White people are racist. In both cases, they are stereotyping people’s intentions and their nature because of their race. In addition to race, a person’s physical image can also create stereotypes which is â€Å"a summary impression of a group in which a person belives that all members of the group share a common trait or traits (Wade and Tavris, Pg 352) Ludacris is portrayed as a bald guy with tattoos all over his body. His physical appearance also contributes to Sandra Bullock’s stereotype of him as a gangbanger because that is the mental representation she has of these types of people. The Self-fulfilling prophecy theory is also seen in the movie through Sandra Bullock and Ludacris’s relationship. Self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation that is fulfilled because of the tendency of the person holding it to act in ways that bring it out (Wade and Tavris, Page 493) This was seen when Ludacris noticed that Sandra bullock was afraid of him, and so he attacked her and her husband and hijacked their car. On the other hand, African Americans in the movie, especially Ludacris, assumed that all White people were racists, which is also a fundamental attribution error, as they attributed certain characteristics to people based on generalization. Another social concept that was seen in this example is peer pressure. Ludacris’s friend gave in to peer pressure, the influence exerted by peers upon each other to behave a certain way, when he let Ludacris convince him to hijack Bullock’s car. Another social relationship that portrayed racial stereotypes was Mat Dillon’s Cop character and his partner officer Hansen. While Dillon was portrayed as a racist character, his partner was not racist. That however did not stop him from getting affected by Matt Dillon’s points of view. His automatic thinking led him to hastily shoot a black man hitchhiker because he thought he was pulling a gun from his pocket when he was pulling a small statue of a saint. This was mainly due to priming, which is â€Å"a method for analyzing implicit memory in which a person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see whether the information affects performance on another type of task† (Wade and Tavris, Pg 213) If Mat Dillon had not primed his opinions on Hansen, perhaps he would not have automatically shot the man and assumed bad conduct and threat. Through this storyline we see how stereotypes develop. Although Hansen is not racist, one experience he had with an African American made him think that they are all the same, dangerous. The movie discuses how discrimination becomes a stereotype out of habit. We are shown the evolution of stereotypes throughout the movie. As the stereotype begins initially as just the way people perceive each other, it develops into death threats by the end of the movie. Ryan Philippe displays blunt bystander apathy, where in crowds when someone is in trouble, individuals often fail to take action or call for help because they assume that someone else will do so (Wade and Tavris, Page 347). Ryan does that during the search, as does the husband. The bystander apathy is shown through Ryan Philippe who displays altruism throughout the movie apart from the end. The husband, Terrence Howard, has a bystander effect as well during the first encounter with the police. This changes however, the second time where he shows a misattribution of arousal because he has mixed up feelings and nothing had happened where he had done something wrong in front of the police but he was still furious at the police because of the first encounter, which is why he is mad for no reason the second time. The many social psychology concepts in the movie are represented through the characters. For example, the locksmith, Michael Peà ±a, shows an altruistic personality throughout the whole movie. He prefers to help others with no benefit, and sometimes even a cost to himself. Also, Sandra Bullock represents self-awareness by the end of the movie, as she realizes her personality and that gets angry all the time. She becomes more aware of her actions and behavior. The ‘feel good do good’ theory is shown through Ludacris’s when he frees the Asians from the van, and then laughs out of joy. By helping someone else, he put himself in a good mood. Survival instinct is portrayed in the movie through Ludacris and his friend’s accident. After they run over a man, they deliberated helping him at first because they could have gotten into trouble. This act of pro social behavior was done as a result of the â€Å"feel bad, do good† concept. Their guilt because of what they did made them stop and help him, as well as their desire to save themselves from the trouble they could get into if they are caught. Racism is further portrayed through Matt Dillon’s partner when he goes to the African American chief of police to complain about Dillon’s racist actions against black civilians. The chief refuses to take action because he fears that the racist system of the police department would take away his job. Furthermore, the concept of appraisal theory (Wade and Tavris, Pg 457) is portrayed through Sandra Bullock’s fear, and refusal to express it. As a result, she got attacked with a gun and then goes on to m ake a social cognition, which is defined as â€Å"how people’s perceptions of themselves and others affect their relationships and how the social environment influence thoughts beliefs and values† (Wade and Tavris, Pg 338) and another fundamental attribution error about the locksmith changing the key and going to sell it. Works Cited Tavris, Carol, and Carole Wade.Invitation to Psychology. 5th ed. 2011. eBook.

Pen Y Bryn The Princes’ Tower :: British History

Pen Y Bryn The Princes’ Tower Wales has long been known as a country of myth and magic. She hides her secrets in her hollow hills. Pen Y Bryn, The Princes’ Tower is the latest treasure that has come to light and one of the most fascinating. In 1992 Kathryn and Brian Pritchard Gibson bought what they believed to be a thirty-six acre chicken farm with a 17th century Elizabethan manor house and it has changed their lives dramatically. The stone manor and out buildings are nestled against a forested hill in Snowdonia. It is just north of Bangor above the shores of Abergwyngregyn, ‘the mouth of the white shell river’ overlooking the Menai Straights with the mountains forming a protective backdrop behind. Kathryn Gibson says, The locals, it seems, have always called the house Twr Llewelyn, or Llewelyn’s Tower. They told us that’s where the princes lived and that below it there’s a Roman settlement and a bronze age fort. When asked how they came by this knowledge they always answ ered, "Nain (Grandmother) told me." It was only the academics who ignored this local lore that had been handed down for centuries. When you first see the house it is obvious the tower is by far the oldest section. You can also see where windows and doors have been blocked up. There is a distinct difference in the stones or the tower and those of the rest of the house but it has only recently been authenticated that the tower does indeed date back to Llewelyn’s time. Shortly after moving in the Gibsons noticed a hollow sound in a part of the living room floor. Pulling up floorboards they quickly discovered secret stairways, hidden rooms, hollow walls, tunnels, tales of princes and prisoners, lovers and war. As Kathryn Gibson says "We live in the middle of a giant historical jigsaw puzzle." In fact Pen y Bryn is the lost palace of the Princes Llywelyn, Llywelyn Fawr (the Great) and his grandson, Llywelyn the Last, dating back to 1211. It is where Joan, King John’s daughter and wife of Llywelyn Fawr lived and died, and it holds the key to the tragic story of Gwenllian, the first and last true born Pri ncess of Wales. Gwenllian was the only daughter of Llywelyn the Last. Llewelyn had reluctantly been granted the title of "Prince of Wales" in perpetuity by the English crown at the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267.

Income Inequality

Currently there are many problems and flaws with the way the Canadian government’s policies deal with healthcare, income inequality and poverty. Time to time changes in policies have been made, perhaps to improve these issues, however, the gap between rich and poor keeps increasing and there is very little improvement in healthcare and the economy. In fact, healthcare keeps on becoming costly. Major issues like income inequality and poverty are not being taken care of by the government. According to Dr. Raphael (2002) poverty is caused by several reasons such as inequality in people’s income, weak social services and lack of other social supports (p. VI). He states, â€Å"Poverty directly harms the health of those with low incomes while income inequality affects the health of all Canadians through the weakening of social infrastructure and the destruction of social cohesion. †(Raphael, 2002, p. VI) Income inequality and poverty are interrelated with the way government structures policy decisions in its social and economic sphere (Raphael, 2002, p. VI). Dr. Raphael (2002) also claims that the health effects of poverty is strongly related to income inequality and poverty because societies that has high levels of poverty is bound to be economically unequal (p. 4). Canada’s government policies are inefficient in preventing income inequality and poverty. We do not get to see the whole picture as to how the Canadian government ignores and/or fails to provide services in all parts of Canada who requires improvement of healthcare, prevent income inequality and poverty. People who are living in urban areas are extensively lacking access to healthcare. The population in rural areas of Canada are lower than the population in urban areas. As a result, the government provides less healthcare in rural, northern and remote areas (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. III). I believe government is able to do this because people in cities knows less and/or cares less about people living in rural and remote areas. And perhaps government purposely ignores these people in rural areas. For decades aboriginal people living in these areas has been deprived of their rights whether it was healthcare, social assistance, jobs and access to daily needs and services. These aboriginal people often face issues such as poverty and occupational hazards (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. III). The reason these problems occur is because government policies are not implemented properly in these areas and the health care professionals in these areas are also not trained properly and there are less staff members workings at these rural areas (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. V). There are shortages of doctors and nurses. There is less community health services in these areas. Also these areas are purposely given less funding by government and private organizations (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. V). The reports are not being prepared accurately for these areas and government does not make enough efforts to evaluate these reports properly (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. V). Some of the major healthcare services are lacking, such as major trauma, mental health services, palliative care, aged care, dental health services and children with special needs. I n most areas these services are not offered and sometimes culturally and linguistically they are not available (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. V). This means that in many cases a patient has to travel a great distance in order to get these services and this means spending a great deal of money from their own pocket and if they do not have it, they have no choice but to receive no services or care (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. 25). Also women's healthcare is a significant issue in rural areas. They have difficulties with giving births as there are not enough medically trained doctors for deliveries in rural areas (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. 25). They often rely on family physicians and physicians trained in anaesthesiology to have deliveries done. Also there has been many closers of hospitals in these rural areas. As a result, now women too have to travel a great distance to have their deliveries done by a professional. Some women have to reach cities 1 month prior to their delivery and pay all their own expenses (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. 25) Because of all these hospital closures and reduced services now there are problems with surgical procedures and pharmacists. Most of the doctors and pharmacists does not stay long in these areas. They leave the community and return to cities (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. 26) Also these rural areas do not receive much care for alcohol problems and HIV/AIDS. These services are poorly served. Aboriginals are also not given proper education in how to prevent these diseases (Hay, Varga-Toth, Hines, 2006, p. 26). These are some major issues that government fails to address or as it seems they choose purposely to ignore because these issues has been going on for decades. The government should be a bit responsible with making better policies and taking expert advices constantly to improve the policies. That is why we pay high taxes and high price for goods and services, so that the government should be always on their toe and working hard to make sure we get better and efficient policies. Policies that would help reduce inequalities and poverty in Canada. There are problems in cities too regarding healthcare access. Access such as emergency services, diagnostic equipment and medical specialist are problematic (Soroka, 2007, p. 15). Wait times get longer and longer each year (Soroka, 2007, p. 5). For example, a 50 year old women would have to wait 6 months for her biopsy, a 65 year old man who needs hip replacement has to wait 6-12 months for the surgery (Soroka, 2007, p. 15). There are also delays and lack of service for home care for senior citizens and elderly mentally challenged people. According to author Soroka (2007) 87 percent Canadians claim t hat there is a great amount of lacking in the number of doctors and nurses (p. 16). This happens because government is failing to provide more money to hire more doctors and nurses (Soroka, 2007, p. 16). Yet, the government brings in many immigrant doctors and nurses based on their education who still can not find a job in Canada. So it seems that even when there is qualified doctors and nurses available, they government is failing or not investing enough amount of money to hire them. According to Green and Milligan (2007) the gap between Canada’s rich and poor has increased significantly from year 1980 to 2000 (p. 3). The study shows that rich and poor are heading in different directions at an extreme level where the top 1% earners and CEOs only getting richer while middle and the poor only gets poorer (Green & Milligan, 2007, P. ). As an example Green and Milligan (2007) shows that during 1980 to 2000 top 5% Canadian earners earned about $121,260 disposable income where as the bottom 5% families had only $3,104 as disposable income (p. 3). This means that the top earners had 39 times higher income bottom 5% earners (Green & Milligan, 2007, p. 3). The study suggests that the Canadian government’s used income tax policies in order to widen this gap of inequality between rich and poor (Green & Milligan, 2007, p. 4). Green and Milligan (2007) states, â€Å"In 2000, the top 10% of income earners had a disposable income of approximately $97,000. That’s 16 times more than the average of $5,900 earned by the bottom 10% of income earners. †(P. 7) While top earners income rose, the bottom earners income remained the same (Green & Milligan, 2007, p. 7). Also in a Globe & Mail newspaper article author Tavia Grant (2008) points out that an average earner in the year 2005 earned about $41,401 which is almost the same as an average earner 1980 who earned $41,348 (p. 2). Therefore, it is evident that the poor and less advantaged are being kept at the same level of income and resources, while expenses and prices of goods and services has always gone up. As a result, it is the middle and the poor class who suffers by paying the price unfairly, because their income never increase and also their income stayed at the same level for 20 years. According to Grant (2008) 11. 4 percent lives below low income which is considered a poverty line (p. 3). Also immigrants in Canada earn way less then a Canadian born worker. Statistics show that immigrant men earned 63 cents for each dollar a Canadian-born worker earns (Grant, 2008, p. 3). In general, women earn about 85 cents for every dollar men earn (Grant, 2008, p. 3). Lower income deprives basic needs of human life, it leads to depression and it also leads to poverty sometimes. According to Mikkonen & Raphael (2010) Canada’s richest neighbourhood’s residents on average, live four years more than the poorest neighbourhood (p. 12). Their study finds that the most deprived Canadians had 28% higher death rates than the least deprived Canadians. Also health issues are a major concern because the poor has far more health issues like heart attacks and diabetes (Mikkonen & Raphael, 2010, p. 12). They lack resource and information. The poorest neighbourhoods also have a much higher suicide rate (Mikkonen & Raphael, 2010, p. 12). Therefore, in Canada it is evident that income inequality is not being addressed by government policies, it is depriving and affecting the poor and the immigrants, and it is also making them vulnerable where it becomes really difficult to climb out of their situation. Sweden’s government has a different policy for income inequality and poverty. As author Palme (2006) indicates that Sweden’s government is doing well in promoting reduction in poverty and inequality (P. 16). Swedish government has a universal model of social protection. This social protection plan reaches out to venerable people in both rural and urban areas. This plan protects women’s labour force, aging population, all kinds of workers and salary based employees (Palme, 2006, p. 16). The plan also combines both public and private sector where improvement is necessary. There are three basic parts o this program. First, family support and old-age pension program which comes under citizenship benefits. Secondly, for different sectors of society there is a universal scheme which is the social earning insurance. Finally, there is housing benefits and social assistance in which income is verified and tested for families with elders and children (Palme, 2006, p. 16). By using these tactics the Swedish government has been successful in reducing overall inequalities to some extent (Palme, 2006, p. 16). Our government has somewhat similar policies for social services and assistance. However, Sweden pushes the boundaries in making the policies better and providing better services to its citizen. Perhaps Canadian government should also look to other countries and/or advices, it does not have to be Sweden, but they should at least try and find different policies that works better for Canadians. One of the major crisis that the Canadian middle and the working class is facing today is coming out of the 2008 world wide recession. Minimum wage is still very low compared to the rising prices of goods and expenses. During the recession people lost jobs, hours were cut and a lot of people were laid off. In order to survive and pay their bills, a lot of low income Canadians had no choice but to borrow and acquire huge amounts of debts. However, most of the top earners and CEOs kept the same paycheques that they were earning before the recession, while the working class took and are still taking most of the financial blow (CBC News, 2011). This makes their lives even more difficult. Therefore, much of countries capital money is circulating at the top, the vast middle and working class does not have the purchasing power to keep the economy flowing. For a short term goal I would like to propose ‘tax reforms’. Tax reforms that is going to reduce taxes for middle and the working class. Also provide a wage support. Increase marginal income tax on the top earners and limit their earnings. There are a lot of elites and CEOs in Canada who are fortunate and skilled enough to earn a very high income. For example, if someone is earning $500, 000 or $5 million a year then they should pay much higher income tax than what they are paying now. Their tax money should be used not only to evenly distribute, but they should be used to better health services, education, social services and transportation. This way it will not only circulate the money back to middle and working class but it will also help families and individual advance in their life. This helps society as a whole. There are several reasons why government should accept my policy rather than accepting others policies. It is common sense that first and the most important basic need for human is being stable mentally and physically. To maintain this stability you need food, shelter, health, clothing and most importantly education. When people are deprived of these basic needs because of poverty or less income, then the outcome might only be negative consequences and there also might be a social crisis. A society cannot function and/or improve without meeting these basic needs. A society also cannot improve without better education, better healthcare and better social assistances. Therefore, government of Canada should look to invest in poor and hard working people with low income, by providing their basic needs and by educating them in different areas of the policies we have and how to get help from different social assistance programs. Perhaps the government should also take public opinions, discussions and ideas into consideration while making major decisions and policies because it’s the people’s problems that they need to address and the only way to address them is to find out first hand what the real problems are, and what are the best means by which the government can provide efficient and helpful service to the public. The government should also improve income distribution and tax policies. I believe there is no better investment than investing in every person in society and government should focus on improving human capital. In the long run, investing in improvement of human capital improves society and mankind as a whole.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki essays

Hiroshima and Nagasaki essays This report is to discuss the dropping of the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. Many people believe that this was the only way to get Emperor Hirohito of Japan to surrender to the United States. Some believe that there were other reasons for dropping the bombs. A couple of those reasons were for revenge on Pearl Harbor and to show the world that we had the power to destroy any country that wanted to intrude on the United States. One of the main reasons though, was to save hundreds of thousands of Americans lives and to possibly save lives of many Japanese. Some veterans of the war were asked about the issue, they quoted I thank God that those atomic bombs were dropped. I wouldnt be here if they hadnt. The dropping of the bombs saved the lives of all of us being held in Japan. There isnt one prisoner who wasnt told they were dead if the Americans invaded Japan. We were looking forward to an invasion, but we knew we might not be around to see it. No one should think that war is humanitarian, that you just shoot the enemy in the legs. I feel sorry for the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who suffered when the atomic bombs were dropped, but can look at all the atrocities the Japanese committed and know these bombs were appropriate means to wage war. We felt little pity or concern for the Japanese then, and we thought the bomb was a wonderful thing to bring the war to an end. I would have been glad to drop the bombs myself. These opinions of many people in the war go to show the attitudes of the soldiers at the time of the war. You cannot change the past and the United States did what they had to do to win the war. For more than four years the Americans sacrificed their lives to the war and they killed thousands of Japanese, but they were not about to give in. The Japanese were not going to gi ...