The Climb Towards Tenacity free essay sample

It was three in the morning when the black van pulled up to the hotel. A tall man with crazy hair climbed out and greeted us. Half asleep, I clambered into the car, and hours later; I awoke to the sight of the desert and the driver swerving through the barren road. He pulled into a parking lot and I unsteadily got out of the car and stared at the mountain. â€Å"Come on, yalla! Let’s go!† He shoved a water bottle into my hand as we started the climb. I knew the stories and facts about the landmark. In the final accords of the First Jewish-Roman War, a siege of Masada by the Roman army led to a mass suicide of the Jews living on the mountain. It is one of the Jewish people’s great symbols, an ironic icon of survival in the face of adversity. The guide reminded me of the story as I stepped over rocks and stumbled up the narrow stone steps. We will write a custom essay sample on The Climb Towards Tenacity or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As we dragged on, I learned more about the guide. His name was Avi Goren—a medal-winning soldier who fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He drove tanks throughout the war; every tank he drove was attacked and the soldiers inside injured. In many of these instances, Avi was the only survivor of the attack. Injured, he repeatedly left the tank into open fire to retrieve bodies for proper burial. As he told the story, I could see the emotions and hardships he was carrying with him. He is the bravest man I know, for, regardless of what he went through, he continues on with courage and selflessness. He finished his story as we reached the top of Masada and we sat down to watch the sunrise over the Israeli desert. When the sun reached the top of the sky we toured the ruins of the ancient mountaintop fortress. We moved through the beautiful architecture of the bathhouse and the aqueducts and I tried to imagine the difficult choice my ancestors had to make. As the story goes, the Rom ans seized the fortress and instead of allowing themselves to be captured and enslaved, the Jewish people inhabiting the fortress took their own lives as an act of defiance. They realized that to surrender their freedom would be worse than death. By keeping the Jewish flame alive, they became a symbol of triumph of the Jewish spirit. After the tour, we started the grueling walk down the mountain. The sun was at full height, raising the temperature to 110 degrees. With my next step, my ankle rolled and I fell to the ground. I felt the prickle of tears and I nursed the searing pain in my foot as two options flashed before my eyes: turn around and take the cable car, or, continue my pilgrimage regardless of my injury. I thought of the perseverance that the people of Masada and Avi had in the face of adversity, and knew I simply had to continue. After many painful steps, I limped over to the car and replayed the last few hours in my head. Perseverance in the face of affliction: the Jew ish people are always overcoming hardships, and as we move forward and celebrate the Hanukkah miracle or being saved from slavery in Egypt, we must remember the importance of maintaining the Jewish light and spirit. As I finished my climb of Masada, I started a new climb towards strength and courage as my Jewish ancestors and heroes did before me.

What If Your Writers Wont Work In WordPress

What If Your Writers Wont Work In WordPress Your blogging team has writers who dont want to work in WordPress. And this is not good. It really shouldnt matter where people get their writing done, so long as they write. Except that it does matter, at least for the person who has to finalize the posts. When writing in something outside of WordPress, content gets wrapped in rather messy formatting. Writers send you posts in the body of an email, or in  Microsoft Word, for example. Getting rid of the extra formatting so it doesnt blow up your WordPress blog  involves manual copy-paste solutions with an extra step to strip out formatting. Even worse? You cant really create a complete blog post outside of WordPress; someone is going to have to upload the images, make sure the headline tags are correct, and add code for things like . Writing Outside Of WordPress Here, each of our writers has their own preference. Some of us work in WordPress because of the preference of frequent previews. At other times, we prefer Google Drive,  Evernote,  Editorially, or  Draft. Thats our preferences. One of the  most common place where blog posts get written is in  Microsoft Word. Why would anyone write outside of the blogging platform that is ultimately going to do the actual publishing of their work? 1. WordPress can be confusing. Some writers are used to, and most comfortable, writing in the software theyve always used. Dragging them into WordPress and asking them to write as good as ever while learning an entirely new system is counterproductive. Even us longtime users of WordPress have rather negative feelings about the entire writing experience in the system. 2. People dont trust WordPress. The new updates included an autosave that works well, but many bloggers still have that old ingrained fear of writing the Greatest Blog Post Ever only to lose it by accidentally swiping the wrong way on their Apple Magic Mouse or closing the browser tab. Theyve known that possibility, and experienced it, in the past. 3. Getting them to write is the main battle. Sometimes your writers are writing because they have to, not that they want to. Getting them to write is the main battle; why fight another about where they write? If they are more likely to write in Word or Evernote, great. Be happy that they will write. What do you do when your writers wont work in WordPress?Try to Change Their Mind Its worth the attempt to try to get your writers on board with WordPress, and heres how you can do it. 1. Get them training. Whether its in-house or through an online course, you can insist that your writers get training. There are many place online that offer training and tutorials in using WordPress. Theres the popular Lynda.com training site, as well as WordPress.orgs very own tutorials. 2. Give them a contributor account. A contributor account in WordPress allows your writers to write and manage their own posts, but they cannot publish them. You can keep them from having access to anything that might seriously do damage to your blog. Even if they dont know anything about formatting, the writing is happening inside of WordPress and will save you from importing it in. 3. Use a third-party app. Apps like MarsEdit, Live Writer, and Editorially allow your writers to work outside of WordPress, and import what theyve written beautifully into the system. The can choose an interface that is less intimidating to do their work. Remember, you are changing a habit for your writer. They may have been writing in Word their entire life, and this is going to be nothing short of a rebellion for them. Be sure the battle to change the habit is worth it in the long run.

Business law Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business law - Term Paper Example   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The History of American law can be dated all the way back to when the American colonies first settled, the English system of law was established as the system of jurisprudence.  Once that was established,  the English common law was developed by judges who issued their  opinions when deciding cases.  Ã‚  Hence, these principles in these cases became precedent for later judges deciding similar case.  In any scenario when two sides disagree on what the outcome of a case maybe, common law is utilized. In common law, cases are judged by the jury and are extremely sophisticated since states have different guidelines for conducting cases.  In common law, juries issue a verdict, which the judge typically orders as the judgment in the case. However, judges can issue a  judgment not withstanding the verdict  based on a motion of the losing party  granted bias is present. In addition, judges can declare a mistrial in cas es of misconduct. In order to win in common law, it is essential for the plaintiff to prove to the judge by a â€Å"preponderance of  evidence.† If they fail to prove it by a preponderance of the evidence, the defendant prevails.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As mentioned above, the law of United States is founded upon  statutory law.  The American court system is divided by civil and criminal litigation.  Without a doubt though, the United States Constitution is the foundation of government regulations in United States  under the civil law.  In criminal cases, the lawsuits are brought by government entities such as the government itself, based on violations of criminal statutes but not the common law.  On the other hand, the plaintiff is the party who brings the action in a civil law suit in which monetary damages and equitable remedies become the focal point( Cheeseman 154).  However,  common law expands to civil  lawsuits as well, which makes the common law superior than civil

Project manament Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Project manament - Article Example Before the initiation of a project, a feasibility study is usually conducted in order to assess the viability of the project. The study helps organization understands the potential benefits of a project keeping in view company constraints. The study helps organizations understand the required capital resources for the project and the time it would take to complete the project. It helps them to plan the project more effectively in order to achieve desired results1. The study also helps understand where the project must be initiated, what measures must be taken, and what are the potential benefits of the project for company. Hence, it is very important to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study that helps an organization to achieve the desired goals of the project. Project evaluation is carried out after the completion of project in order to judge the effectiveness of the project. This process is carried out to understand whether the desired objective of the project has been achieved or not. Evaluation helps organizations to be aware of the corrective actions they need to take. There are two main kinds of evaluation 1) Ongoing evaluation and 2) Post project evaluation. Ongoing evaluation is carried out during the course of the project in order to assess whether deadlines are being met and whether interim objectives are achieved or not. On the other hand, post project evaluation assesses the success of project completed. It evaluates whether the laid down objectives before the project were achieved or not. Cash flows are the term used for the expected cash inflows and outflows during the completion of the project and post completion. Cash flows give a clue about the expected revenues and costs for project completion. Evaluating expected cash flows is one of the most important factors of accepting or rejecting a project. Like all other aspects of a project, risk

Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Criminal Justice - Essay Example This dissertation will look into the case of state of Connecticut versus Jeff Jackson, which will outline activities that took place after the appeal in the Appellate court. It will also discuss criminal jurisprudence and honor of defendant’s proof of free from criminal charges beyond any reasonable doubt. The courts, in accordance to criminal justice, conduct justice operations in various ways that give a plaintiff a chance for probation revocation appeal and plea-bargaining that do take place in between the time of arrest warrant and sentencing (Connecticut, 2011). The laws of Connecticut were officially released on a date when a slip of opinion was the operative Appellate petitions and filing of cases was certified as a way acceptance appeals. In that date, Jeffrey Jackson appealed to the Appellate court for conviction of judgment, which was concluded by the jury in the trial court after his trial. Jeffery Jackson was given a warrant of arrest due to possession and use of n arcotic drugs and in violation of General Statutes that resulted to trial by court’s jury. After hearings, the defendant proved his innocence of allegations to a point of reasonable doubt (Connecticut, 2011). This had diluted the burden that required proof to take improper judgment. The Appellate Court on consideration of defendant’s claim, with the reversing of the judgment by the jury of the trial, Jeffrey Jackson requested for a new hearing in the Appellate court. Thereafter, the Appellate court accepted the request on a state’s petition that guaranteed certification to consider appeal, but with limited issues regarding the Appellate court (Katz, 2007). The court’s jury objection to statutory evidence that abided with criteria of operation in the law firm was not to be considered by the Appellate court. The jury objected to requests from the Appellate court regarding determination of overall judgment as per instructions referring to reasonable doubt. T he impermissible burden of proof was diluted improperly according to state of opinion set by the jury upon the Appellate court. While incarcerated at a correctional center, Jeff Jackson underwent strips of searches led by a correctional officer to provide reasonable evidence of possession of the narcotic drugs. The jury ordered a state of carriage of burden that required proofing substantial and empirical evidence. This involved blood tests from samples of blood from Jeffrey Jackson as well as tests for positive result from use of cocaine (Connecticut, 2011). Proof beyond reasonable doubt leaves the plaintiff firmly convinced that the defendant is guilty or not guilty, from the fact that the jury has absolute certainty for siding with the defendant, and not the plaintiff but constituting maintenance of judicial and law ethics. The procedural history was additional facts that were exceptional according to the defendants routines that involved carrying procedural activities most of th em that differed from the presentation given by jury’s ruling. The jury did not ordain a standard charge in the basis of reasonable doubt decision making and ruling as per the plaintiff’s charges (Connecticut, 2011). The reason as to why the jury did not describe reasonable doubt in the case of Jeffrey Jackson was the reasonable prudence that hesitated to perform more weighty cases that awaited the jury’s intervention. The court acknowledged difference in trial and sentencing in the

Problem Based Learning Reflective Account Psychology Essay

Problem Based Learning Reflective Account Psychology Essay The Problem Based Learning (PBL) exercise was entitled The relationship to change. Each Case Discussion Group (CDG), consisting of 7 trainees, had to produce a presentation on this topic. Our CDG decided to look at the relationship of the media in changing attitudes towards mental health, with a focus on the Tripartite Model (Triandis, 1971) to explain attitude formation and Stages of Change Model (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1984, cited in Sarafino, 1998) to think about the process of change. I will reflect on the process of change since starting the PBL for both myself and the group, and how this is reflective of changes that occur in clinical practice, with consideration of these two models. The PBL exercise occurred before we started on placement; as such, there are areas that we did not consider or have time to cover; for example, the relationship of the mental health service and teams in changing attitudes towards mental health, both in the community and within services, and how attitudes about mental health influence therapy. I believe these may be important aspects to reflect upon here. Though we were all of similar ages, we had one male in our group and a variety of different individual characteristics and experiences, although we all shared apprehensions about actually doing the presentation. As the group sessions progressed, there were shifts in the extent of the contributions made by different group members. Initially, I remained relatively quiet and felt quite daunted by the process. As I felt more settled and gained more knowledge about the task in hand, I contributed to a far greater extent and felt able to put my point of view across. I believe as a group we were very respectful of one anothers needs and that this developed as we grew in confidence. There was a general consensus of the title being very vague. I felt that there was a need amongst us to get something done and have something to work on, and we became very task-focused. Having watched the other groups presentations, I realised that we remained task-focused throughout the experience in comparison to other groups who largely reflected on their experiences. This may be reflected in therapeutic interventions whereby time constraints and limited sessions mean that we become more focused on the task at hand and neglect to reflect on the therapeutic process. On reflection, however, our group formed a strong bond at an early stage, perhaps drawn together by the safe environment we created to share ideas and anxieties and the shared goal of wanting to achieve, and this formed the basis of a positive experience of this learning task. As the group evolved and held trust in one another, we felt able to hold different opinions and constructively worked through these until a cons ensus was reached. This is something I feel we would not have achieved so successfully at the beginning due to a need to be liked and please one another and therefore feeling restrained and less willing to share a differing opinion. This may be reflected in clinical practice with clients who may initially feel less able to voice ideas or disagreements with our expressed understandings of their difficulties but are more able to do so as the relationship develops. This can be vital when thinking about formulation and highlights the need to reformulate with new information. Of the six formal sessions that we met together for our CDG, three were attended by our facilitator. This had an impact on the group dynamics; due to this being our first assignment and us being new trainees, there was an inherent need for us to seek reassurance that what we were doing was right and to gain approval from the facilitator when she joined us. I was much quieter when she was present, through anxieties about being evaluated and I noticed as a group, we tended to be more restrained and tentative. Part of the role of a clinical psychologist may be to facilitate groups, both therapeutically and in other settings such as group supervision. The differences that arose in the sessions where we had a facilitator compared with those when we did not may also be reflected in other group settings. Whilst the power differential cannot be removed and the way in which people interact under different circumstances will vary, I have considered how important it is to try to make people fee l as comfortable as they can in such settings, perhaps through sharing experiences and anxieties, where appropriate. This has certainly been a helpful part of my own supervision whereby my supervisor has shared her experiences and mistakes and I have felt more empowered to talk about difficult situations I have faced. However, this is still an area that I need to become more comfortable with; accepting that it is neither required nor desirable to know everything or to get everything right. As a group, we worked productively on the task in hand, setting homework tasks for each of us and to then share these with the group at the beginning of each meeting. This is highly reflective of a CBT framework whereby we were very directive and focused on achieving the goal of getting our presentation written. Through my clinical practice, I have seen how using CBT can fit very well with what some clients want, in terms of them having identified the areas they want to change and wanting practical techniques and homework tasks to enable them to do this. However, there have been other clients I have worked with for whom I have been unsure that a CBT approach was best suited to their needs. One client in particular brought with him each week complex family difficulties. Working within a CBT focused team, I felt constrained to keep to a CBT approach but following supervision and a subsequent consultation with family therapy, alongside the CBT we addressed relational difficulties and th is appeared to bring about change within his system that constituted a shift in his depression. Thinking about how we approached our PBL task, I wonder if we neglected a more holistic approach and in our focus on getting the task done, we missed opportunities to learn from the process and engage with the relationships that were forming and changing. In subsequent CDGs, we have reflected more upon how we have formed and developed as a group but it is perhaps an area we need to remain mindful of due to our apparent need to still remain more task-focused. Models of change Our group decided to look at two models relating to our chosen focus of the relationship of the media in changing attitudes towards mental health. The stages of change model (Procheska and DiClemente, 1992) proposes five stages of change: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance, with relapse also being a feature of the change process. In the service where I am on placement, people are required to be motivated to engage and change, and are thus usually at the contemplation or preparation stage. I was struck by the contrast of these clients and the clients I spent time with when working two shifts on an acute ward as part of my induction. Here, many of the clients were less aware of having difficulties or not wanting to make any changes. I reflected on how different therapy might be with clients at different stages and how different techniques may be employed, such as motivational interviewing, at earlier stages. However, I also considered for whom there w as a problem and whether if the client is not at risk to themselves or others and not in distress, should societys representation of normal mean that such clients are forced to change? In addition, it is important to consider what constitutes significant change. Through working with a client who checks obsessively, I have found that my expectations were different to hers and that she has achieved a reduction in checking that is sufficient for her. This enabled me to consider my own attitudes and beliefs about the distress people experience and how important it is to fully listen to clients and what their goals are. We also looked at the Tripartite model which looks at attitudes and how these are influenced and changed. It suggests that attitudes are comprised of three parts, cognitions, affect and behaviour, and that attitudes can be changed by working on any one of these parts, for example through new information, direct experience or forced behaviour. I was very motivated to look at attitudes towards mental health since I feel there is still a lot of stigma attached to mental distress and was interested in the role that the media plays in both supporting and trying to address this, whilst also being aware that this can vary depending on other factors such as culture. I was surprised during my induction on the inpatient ward by the views held by some staff towards the clients whereby some clients were seen as their diagnosis, rather than as people, and were consequently infantilised and not treated as individuals. I found myself trying to get to know more about the clients than just their diag nosis by engaging with them through activities, such as playing pool. The therapeutic relationship is a vital and influential component of therapy (Roth and Fonagy, 2005). It is interesting to think about how both the therapists and clients attitudes towards mental health difficulties impact upon the therapeutic relationship. When working with clients in a therapeutic setting, I am now more mindful of seeing beyond their distress and thinking more holistically, as well as consideration of our attitudes towards the distress and drawing upon the resources and resilience clients have already. My experiences on the ward also enabled me to think more about staff and team attitudes in general. As the role of clinical psychologists changes and they take on more consultative and leadership roles, team dynamics will be an important factor to consider and thus changing attitudes may be an important factor to consider, through increased training and supervision. Final Reflections It has been interesting to reflect on the dynamics of our group. I feel that as a group we bonded very quickly and that this was significantly aided by a shared goal of getting our presentation done alongside a common theme of feeling quite anxious about getting it right. Through the experience of shared learning, we were able to draw upon a wealth of experiences and construct a presentation that employed humour to get our message across in a format that felt safe and fun for us. This very much reflected our CDG meetings which employed humour but focused on the task at hand. It has also enabled me to think about my own use of humour and how I feel that this can be an important factor in clinical practice to aid the therapeutic alliance and to enable clients to alleviate some of their distress. As a group, I think that we moved from tentative explorations of ideas to being more empowered to express and manage differing opinions and achieving an agreed consensus following discussions. With hindsight, I believe we neglected to reflect sufficiently on the process of change for us as a group during the PBL task but that we are now more aware of our need to develop these skills further. Our presentation focused on attitude change towards mental health difficulties. I believe there is a large role for clinical psychologists, and mental health teams, to consider the attitudes we hold and to consider how we view different client groups, mental health difficulties and diversity. I believe that being aware of such attitudes is an important factor in acknowledging the need for change in some attitudes, alongside training and good supervision. I hope that as my own training and confidence develops, I will feel better equipped to be able to facilitate changes in such attitudes.

Sexual Harassment and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) :: Sexual Harassment Essays

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination. Federal law as well as various state fair-employment laws prohibit employers with 15 or more employees from treating members of one sex or race differently from members of the opposite sex or another race in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. The statutory and regulatory laws govern the entire employment process from pre-employment activities such as recruiting, through an employee's career with the organization, including termination. The prohibition against sex discrimination imposes responsibility upon employers to afford their employees an environment free from sexual harassment and from the fear that it may occur. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) can file lawsuits on behalf of victims of sexual harassment, women who take their accusations to court face even bigger obstacles than mere public disapproval. The legal process is long and cumbersome - it can be years from the first complaint to the final verdict and in the meanwhile, the woman is in a legal, professional and often financial limbo. Women are not entitled to collect damages under the Civil Rights Act - just back pay; so many women don't see this process as worth the trouble. Even those, however, who do file a complaint and win a harassment case, may feel lost. Though, Title VII offers reinstatement to previous job, the individual may be shunned or harassed by co-worker thus making conditions even more uncomfortable than they were beforehand. Common law tort lawsuits, such as intentional infliction of emotional distress and assault and battery, provide a remedy in certain types of sexual harassment cases that is total ly dependent of any of the statutes and governmental agencies. However, the solutions proposed might seem comprehensive in plans to lessen sexual harassment in the workplace and punishment of harassers, women still face formidable obstacles in preventing harassment from continuing. The proposed measures fail to cover all aspects of harassment, though the truth is, it is virtually impossible to formulate a plan to do so.