Quit Smoking Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Quit Smoking - Research Paper Example Experimentation with smoking, which can be unpleasant at first for some, is followed by adaptation to the taste and to the pleasurable and rewarding sensations, as well as by behavioral associations experienced by the novice beginner in nicotine dependence, in the later age. Smoking experimentation is often associated with the search for one’s personality and place in the adult world, which occurs just before puberty hits in (NIDA, pp 27-28). Smoking gradually becomes habit and the habit becomes addiction. It also starts as a peer pressure, or having friends who smoke or just liking the second hand smoke. â€Å"In a sense, then, parts of our brains are working against us when we try to overcome bad habits. These routines can become hardwired in our brains,† says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. â€Å"And the brain’s reward centers keep us craving the things we’re trying so hard to resist†, adds Dr Volkov (NIH). Smoking tobacco is both a psychological habit and a physical addiction. The psychological factors associated with smoking are that cigarettes relieve a smoker from stress, depression, loneliness, or anxiety. It becomes physically addicted to the smoker because you need it after every meal or coffee, at party, along with alcohol or gambling or just because your friends are smoking at an outing. Hence, physical habit and psychological addiction, a deadly combination stops you from quitting. Several diseases have been liked to smoking; coronary heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive lung disease are just to name a few. Needless to say, they all bring you closer to death. So the next best thing is to quit, and quit for good. Whether you are a teen smoker or a lifetime pack-a-day smoker, quitting can be tough. There are many things that can assist you in quitting which money can buy, but there is one thing Master Card ® cannot buy: it’s your will

Salem Witch Craft Hysteria History Essay

Salem Witch Craft Hysteria History Essay The age old question Was the Salem witchcraft hysteria a product of womens search for power? is debated that it whether it was or wasnt a product of their search for power. There are many different examples that it was, but if you think about it most of those are not conclusive, because you could easily have many reasons to why those events happened and were caused. The examples that women were do witch craft because they did unexplained activities such as assume odd postures, writher in agony, necks cracked, and more are not true, because those actions are easily explained. For example cracking your neck is common to people who had a sore neck. More of these action like the ones I name have no logic to it if you think about it. Some people will say yes to this question, due to the fact that when Tituba confessed she was a witch, she also said there were others out there, but no one really confessed to being a witch. Most of the accused were either related to some else who was accused or victims of paranoia that enveloped that community. Also some people will say that they were looking for power because most of the accused were women, but most were being accused due to their gender because most women did not have right back then. When the accused had been accused it was due to the fact that they did something thats was uncommon or unheard of. I say no they were not looking for power, because if they were they would not have been living in fear of being accused and would not wait to be accused, but admit that they were witches without fear. You may say that some women like Tituba, did confessed for more power to women, but they probably only said they were because they did not have an explanation to why those acts of witch craft accrued due to the fact that most of those actions were uncommon back then, but did some accepted the accusation just to rebel a little. Also most women probably only did confess like Tituba so they will not have been subjected to harsher punishments. The fits and rampages that had happened out of nowhere were factors in being accused in this time, but the thing is that these rampages were widely spread to not only the humans, but the livestock too. Even some people said that witch craft were the only explanations to these unexplained actions. People mostly only probably said this because back then people were scared of what they did not know and this was the only way they would know this in this time period. In later years similar events had swept Europe, as time went one all the unknown questions and unexplained event were becoming more and more known, so it would not have made sense that women did those things to gain and show power in their lives. If you look back to what was considered as witchery to now you would see it was fear of the unknown and paranoia that made it seem as womens act of gaining power and not conrisidents. Back to being accusers, they had many problems in their social lives and believe and accusing other was the only way to restore their problems in life and their self-worth. Accusers had gained more power from the witch accusation then the accused women did. With fear from the unknown and uncommon was established unknowingly the only way they became unfearful was to accuse others from these seemingly mysterious actions. Some of the accused were either different or untraditional and that was considered another trait of witchery. You may say that the untraditional women and fee-spirited women were only looking for power, but in reality it was the unconscious start for women to be able to have a little more freedom. Some of the witches like Susannah Roots were also accused for entertaining people late at night or adultery, but just because they did those kinds of things did not mean they were looking for power or attention from the whole town, but from the people they did it with. What we know now that did not know then is that the accused must have had been sick in some way or form. We can conclude this with the fact that the symptoms of witchery are the same symptoms as the Encephalitis Epidemic that accrued in the early 1900s to the mid-1900s. For example the bites made by witches were really red marks that bleed thru the skin. The visions they had were really hallucinations that accrued from ant diseases that they endured. More of the symptom that were cause back then would be perfect examples of the epidemic that will have swept Europe. With no proper heat back then the cold worsened the symptoms that were considered witchery symptoms. The illnesses that cussed these were from insects that might have infected the so called witches in the past. As the years went on less and less accusations stopped probably due to the weather change in which the insects could not live and in return not infect the people. Women had not really wanted to have power because they would have found some way or pretended to have done witchery actions to continue their search of power instead of letting it become only something in the past. We can also conclude that it was not really the womens idea of gaining power because if the events were becoming part of that past most things will not change, but be the same and they will have had continued the search of power. Many more insects had been spread all over Europe witch caused the diseases that were the causes of the witch accusations. If the diseases did not spread people would not have been infected and jugged. Another idea to consider is if the disease causing insects were not common and had not infected the accused will they still be considered witches. That is a question that you should ask yourself and think about. Some of the accused witches were women were highly esteemed members of their church and community. Even their daughters as young as four were accused, from the hysteria. If you think about it, it wound not make sense that the witches were doing godly things. Also this will be no way of trying to gain more power because otherwise they would not be as highly esteemed as they are. Even though women protested against being witches or having family being accused they still were not looking for power. The women were only trying to convince the accusers that they were wrong and that they were indecent the only way they could think of. Sure they got attention and some power, but so did the male members of the community who protested with them. As hysterias spread and more were accused the punishments got worse and so did the deaths. Even though women wanted to get more power they probably would not have gone as far as death, because they most would want to live for their families and not chose power.as time went on with these more and more people were trying to help them from being wrongfully accused like many did. If you were to face death like these wrongly accused women were would you accept death or would you beg to be spared? These women had to decide this question their selves, and they said they will beg because they were not looking for power they were just subjected peoples fear in that time period. with not accepting being witches and begging it will naturally cause less power and the argument that women wanted more power that they had made the witch trials a big deal would be false. Not all the accused were being murdered for being witches. If they had confessed even if they were innocent they will be spared. The women who were confessing to their crime were only doing it to save their lives and ant gain power like some people think. Many were trying to get set free and not die so they did anything to get found not guilty. Women did not want power they wanted to go back to their lives without free of dyeing. Most of the time when women were accused they were not given a fair chance to prove they were not witches which means they did not want the power people said they wanted. So as I we think about the question thats been asked for ages we also should think about how and why the women were accused and why they said and did what they did. There may be people still out there believing that it was womens act to gain power, but it was not because they tried to get free and prove they were not lying. Also they action they did can always have an explanation to them because of what we know today. Even though the accused were trying to prove they were innocent and that they wanted to be free, they were strong and just trying to survive and live their lives no matter what other will think. Soon the trials had become part of the past and an important part that no one will forget.

Social Justice Essay -- Liberation Theology

What is social justice and how does it relate to liberation theology? How do sin, love, grace, and human freedom affect social justice? What restricts freedom and social justice? And how does all of this play a role in the Kingdom of God? Social justice is a concept of a society in which every human being is treated justly, without discrimination based on financial status, race, gender, ethnicity, etc. Grace is a gift from God that we don’t deserve, which helps us choose the good, therefore it promotes social justice. On the other hand, sin, which can be regarded as a lack of love and care for â€Å"others,† distances us from social justice. Therefore, love and grace are essential aspects of social justice and without them there could be no social justice in the world. Liberation theologians, major supporters of social justice, have multiple elements in their beliefs that respond to major social justice issues such as: unfair distribution of wealth, goods and services; oppression of people based on gender, race, and ethnicity; and the unjustness of social structures and institutions towards the underprivileged. Lastly, the ends of God’s kingdom and the ends of social justice are one in the sa me: Humans acting out of love to serve and give everything to those less fortunate and in need. In this idea of social justice is the belief that every human is entitled to specific political, economic, social, and human rights. However, in reality many people are stripped of these rights, leaving them without power and privilege, in other words leaving them less than human. They are subject to political structures making decisions for them, which is unjust because political figures with power, acting on behalf of those without power, ... ...cial justice. Works Cited 1. Haughey, John C. The Faith That Does Justice: Examining the Christian Sources for Social Change. Broadway, New York: Paulist Press, 1977. 2. U.S. Catholic Conference. To Campaign for Justice. Washington, D.C.: The Bobbs Merrill Company, Inc., 1982 3. Gutierrez, Gustavo. A Theology of Liberation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1971. 4. Cory, Catherine. Landry, David. â€Å"Augustine of Hippo.† The Christian Theological Tradition: Second Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003. 5. Boff, Leonardo. â€Å"On Development and Theology.† Introducing Liberation Theology. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1986 6. Dazet, Paul. Love Wins: God Hears the Cries of the Oppressed. January 15, 2008. 7. Wolff, Edward. â€Å"The Wealth Divide: The Growing Gap in the United States between the Rich and the Rest.†

Is Television a Bad Influence on Children Essay

The television has become such an integral part of homes in the modern world that it is hard to imagine life without television. It provides entertainment to people of all ages especially children. Children love to watch TV and prefer to stay â€Å"glued† to the TV screen all day, rather than playing outside. In the USA, 47% of children ages 2 to 18 years have a television set in their bedrooms. On a typical day, they spend on average of 5. 5 hours using media, including television, computer games and the Internet (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2001). TV is the number one after-school activity for 6 to 17 years old. see more:impact of television on children essay Although television is loved by children and has helped them a lot, it has influenced them in a negative way. Some optimistic people can argue that children should be allowed to watch a lot of television because it is educational. Preschoolers can get help to learn the alphabet on children’s programs such as â€Å"Takalani Sesame† and grade scholars can learn about wildlife on nature shows. However, with the increased rate of working parents, most children come home from school and are left alone or with a babysitter who may not care what the children watch on TV. With no supervision nearby, children may end up watching shows with violence, sex and bad language. Children that view such shows are likely to fear that the world is scary or that something bad will happen to them. Furthermore, the children will start to show aggressive behavior or start to behave like what they see on TV. (Bandura & Ross 1963) Television has become such an integral part of homes in the modern world that it is hard to imagine life without one. It provides entertainment to people of all ages, especially children, who, consequently would prefer to stare at the TV screen all day rather than going outside to play anymore. An online journal that I read called Journal of Youth and Adolescence states that television is an easy and inexpensive way to get information, it’s the most popular way for Americans old and young to get informed. Informed on what? With the increased rate of working parents, most children come home from school and are left alone or with a babysitter who may not care what the children atch. With no supervision nearby, children may end up watching shows with violence, sex, and bad language. The journal then goes on to say that TV allows us to create a national culture because it gives people something in common to talk about. I hear it everyday, most people are talking about their comedy shows that they watched the night before rather than what they saw on the nightly news. In this generation we have to many choices. The journal also stated that children have a choice on what to watch and how long they watch television. For me, this argument is unrealistic because most children do not have self discipline. They would rather watch something entertaining rather than a documentary about nature or history for example. They would rather watch the latest â€Å"Transformers† movie which is not suitable for young children. Firstly, children’s thinking skills can be adversely affected if they watch inappropriate television programs for a long period. According to Sharif (1999), short segments with interesting presentation in modern children’s programs and music video clips encourage the development of short attention spans in children. Children may have the wrong thoughts that overwhelming all the difficulties in life will be a piece of cake as they are used to thirty minutes problem-solving programs like ‘Friends’. As a result, they always lose out patience when it is the real time for them to counter the hardship and rigor situations. Moreover, Jones claims that children who are heavy viewers are among the lowest achievers at school because they do not develop imaginative skills to create fictitious characters, situations and make-believe worlds (Leigh 2001). In short, excessive television watching hours may plague the healthy thinking of the children Secondly, the structure of children’s behaviors’ will be less desirable, particularly the emanating of wildness and violence. Television programs and even the news, televised at prime time, depict violence scenes which may cause the children to become desensitized to violence (Sharif 1999). Consequently, they may feel that violence is a plausible and acceptable way in solving problems. Furthermore, some children attempt to imitate the superhero in the television shows they have watched. For instance, there were children jumped out of trees in Superman costumes and got themselves injured (Sharif 1999). Besides, the stereotyped movies showing the narrow roles of characters played by the women and men in society influence the children’s behaviors’ towards themselves and others. These evidences prove that television viewing can be actually harmful by forming disfavor behaviors’ among children. Prolonged periods in front of the television which is a sedentary activity can trigger many health problems such as obesity and related diseases. Nowadays, people, especially the youngsters, become inured to the habits of indulging themselves with snacks while watching television (Rutherford 2002). The elevated number of couch potatoes is intractable as it spreads erratically without control. Meanwhile, extended periods in front of the television mean that children are not being physically active (Sharif 1999). Moreover, children may become autistic as television viewing encourages the development of antisocial behavior. Briefly, obesity will become the most discernible fallout when children consume too much calories, adding to the dearth of physical exercises. In conclusion, I strongly believe that television viewing can bring harmful effects such as underdevelopment of thinking skills, negative forms of behaviors’ and unhealthy lifestyles. The negative effects of television viewing are stark, albeit, some people assert that its pros outweigh the cons. However, I am prone to the stance that television viewing brings more harms than benefits. A balance point on television viewing should be adhered in order to best utilize the television by minimizing its negative effects and at the same time get ourselves refreshed and ready to concentrate on things like homework.

Thing They Carried Essay

Alexandra Berliner Eshoo English 12 11/28/11 Something A Soldier Ignores: Death Fatalities are part of every person’s life. To a normal citizen, death is often followed by sadness and grief. As portrayed in â€Å"The Things They Carried† by Tim O’Brien, a soldier has to deal with the situation much differently. Death is portrayed in a negative light due to the fact that soldiers are greatly fearful of it and that they are forced to be unaffected by death. In order to cope with all the deaths he witnessed, O’Brien uses the retelling of war stories to heal from these traumatic events. Throughout the novel, death is definitely portrayed as being a very negative part of war. Because it is such a negative thing, death tends to instill fear in soldiers. From the beginning of the novel, death is truly portrayed as being a very negative risk that anyone at war deals with: â€Å"Beyond all this, or at the very center, was the raw fact of terror. I did not want to die. Not ever† (44). It is known that death could be the outcome of going to war, and many of these young soldiers do not want to die. Even though many soldiers end up going to war anyway, they are still fearful of death being a possible outcome for them. All of this fear and anxiety associated with war ultimately leads most people to view death in a negative light. It is definitely something that soldiers want to avoid, and even if they are not killed, death still has negative affects on them. In addition to death being portrayed in a negative light from the beginning of the novel, the soldiers are forced to be unaffected by death. As a result, it is seen how war changes people in a negative way. Once the war is all over, the negative affects are still present, and O’Brien deals with them through retelling the past. It is seen that anyone that becomes involved in war eventually learns to be unaffected by death when one of the soldiers’ girlfriends comes to visit. She never leaves because she becomes fully invested in the war: â€Å"She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill† (116). When the girlfriend first came to the war site, she was innocent. Now, she has become part of the war and is ready to kill. One of the most obvious ways that she has changed is that now she can kill people easily and is unaffected by it. The fact that such an innocent woman can be changed so drastically by war shows the negative affects of being unaffected by death. It has become part of life for these soldiers, while most people would see death as a scary thing. Additionally, we see another soldier forced to conform to the guidelines of war in the witnessing of Kiowa’s death: â€Å"The young soldier was trying hard not to cry† (170). This shows that, when first exposed to war, the soldiers are actually upset when they see another person die. This is a normal reaction that most people would have; yet, the others soldiers look down upon this person. When the young soldier is about to cry, they know that he is new to the experiences, and they just ignore him. The experienced soldiers do this because they know that every soldier just has to ignore death. It is just an unavoidable part of war. In war, death is dehumanized, and every soldier is forced to ignore it; yet, it still has lasting negative affects on the soldiers. O’Brien reveals that he deals with the situation through the retelling of war stories. By revealing these stories, it allows O’Brien, as well as the listener, to understand how exactly war works: â€Å"By telling stories, you objectify your own experience†¦You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened, like the night in the shit field, and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain† (160). This shows that all the bad experiences, including the thousands of deaths observed, are clarified through telling stories. Even if the stories are not totally accurate, bringing any part of the situation to light gives O’Brien the closure he needs. It allows him to understand what went on in the war and be able to heal from it. Even though the soldiers are forced not react to death as a civilized human would, it still affects them internally, and the best way for O’Brien to deal with the negativity of death is through talking about it. Death is something that every soldier has to deal with on a regular basis. Thousands of people are killed every day at war, and so, the soldiers are forced to ignore the emotions associated with death. They do not have the time to be upset in the midst of protecting our country. As a result, all of the witnessed death affect them internally and stay with them for many years after the war is over. In order to deal with the negative affects, it is seen that O’Brien uses war stories as a way of healing. It allows him to understand what he experienced and move past it.