Moral Courage Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Moral Courage - Article Example By exposing the scam, Luy actually risked his life and was allegedly previously held in detention when his cousin suspected that he was already on the verge of exposing the scam. It was eventually revealed that there are apparent links to members of the Congress, who allegedly are using these funds for their own personal interests, with Janet Lim Napoles devising bogus non-government institutions are apparent recipients of the funds (Wenceslao, 2013). As a result, the alleged perpetuator of the scam, Janet Lim Napoles, is currently being held in trial and incarcerated to determine the veracity of the allegations and to pinpoint other cohorts who could have been instrumental in designing the scam. The person, Benhur Luy, is therefore commended for his moral courage in his decision to expose the scam. Despite the fact that it was his cousin who apparently headed the scrupulous transactions, in possible cohorts with some lawmakers, Benhur Luy had decided to reveal the long-time secret. According to the report, â€Å"Benhur Luy said he worked with Janet Lim-Napoles for ten years, from 2002 to 2012. He was therefore in a position to describe the rise of the Napoles PDAF scam ‘business empire’† (Wenceslao, 2013, par. 10). The scam was reportedly described as follows: â€Å"Napoles wheeling and dealing with lawmakers and government bureaucrats (the roles reversed later, with lawmakers wheeling and dealing with Napoles); Luy and other members of Napoles’s staff preparing bogus papers for bogus non-government organizations and ghost beneficiaries and forging signatures; people’s money exchanging hands† (Wenceslao, 2013, par. 8). What was disturbing actually, was the fact that it took such a long time, ten years, before Benhur Luy was able to gather that much moral courage to expose the graft and corruption that had existed and had been perpetuated by his cousin, and including him. The person should have been able to expose the scam at an

Conflict Resolution Styles in Organizational Behaviour Essay Example for Free

Conflict Resolution Styles in Organizational Behaviour Essay Conflict is a process that every one of us has experienced throughout our lifes. There are various definitions of conflicts as described by different authors but generally, conflict is a process whereby one individual’s interests is opposed or negatively affected by the other party (McShane et al. 2010). Workplace and organisational conflicts are usually more complex. Isenhart and Spangle (2000) points out that at the beginning the conflict may start because of improper placement of workers and their responsibilities in a workplace, but it may get worse if they faces unfair rules, ineffective management, unclear responsibilities or too much work assigned. Organisational conflicts can result in many possible outcomes, the negatives ones such as damaged employee relations, violence, increased tension between bosses and employees but it can have positive outcomes too such as increased employee-cohesiveness and increased motivation. How it will be achieved will be discussed through the elements of conflict and will be listed in greater details. Ways in which people approach conflict Avoiding Avoiding is probably the fastest way of resolving a conflict but at the same time it is not the best way because most of the time the avoider will remain unhappy even after the conflict. It does not permanently resolve the conflict (McShane et al. 2010) and in my opinion it is just ‘postponing’ the problem to have it solved at a later date. McCollum et al. (2009) states that the person who is avoiding thinks that confronting the conflict will bring more trouble than it is worth. The avoider also decides to not deal with the conflict because he or she might not have the confidence to do so. This seems like the more popular choice amongst the five ways in which people approach conflict based on my experiences because people simply do not want unnecessary trouble or aggravate the problem, especially if it is a minor issue. Avoiding pays no attention in concerns of either self or others (Kotthoff Spencer-Oatey 2008). This is the least-sought option amongst the five approach es but however, McCollum et al. (2009) suggests that avoiding can be a tactical approach when the other party has more strength and authority over you; and/or the avoiding the conflict will bring little or no devastating consequences. Problem-Solving I deemed this to be the most effective way in resolving organisational conflicts because both parties will benefit if they manage to find a double-win solution to the problem. This is considered to be the most desirable approach to conflict as there are no negative impacts at all. Only positive results will surface. Runde Flanagan (2009) suggests that there might be a link between avoiding and problem-solving. Because many people tend towards avoidance, they often rush through problem solving and immediately use the first solution that they can think of so as to quickly get over the conflict, without any beneficial solutions. The key in using problem-solving as an approach to resolve conflicts lies in having patience to create multiple potential solutions. Careful reflection and consideration will progress into agreements that are both satisfying and successful (Runde Flanagan 2009). Therefore when undergoing problem-solving, both parties must not rush to a solution immediately or else the solution may backfire or do not satisfy both parties’ needs. Three strategies that help people manage conflict Before discussing about the three different strategies that help people to manage conflict, the strategies used are basically divided into three categories and they are interest-based, rights-based and power-based (Jameson 2001). Three different strategies from the three categories will be discussed respectively. Jameson (2001) advises that all resolutions of disputes and conflicts should start with a interest-based strategy, and if it does not resolves the conflict, it is followed by a rights-based strategy and if conflict persists, power-based strategy is then applied. Mediation (Interest-based) Jameson (2001) suggests that mediation is a form of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution). Research has shown that interest-based strategies such as mediation had the best long-termed results such as improved relationship between parties, greater commitment to solutions and reduced future conflicts from happening. This is why involved parties in a conflict should use this approach as it reaps the most benefits. Even though there are many theories and various methods underlying mediation, it is generally defined as an intervention by a neutral third party which facilitates the process but allow participants in the conflict to control the outcome (Jameson 2001). Depending on the severity of the conflict, the mediator is to provide useful information in legal issues, help the participants into perspective thinking, provide a guide in finding the most satisfying and realistic settlement, help to improve the working/personal relationship between participants, or engage in some combination of the above methods. Inquisitorial Intervention (Rights-based) This describes intervention by a person of a higher authority; in most cases is the manager, who will make a final decision. Managers who adopt this strategy allow employees more or less control over presentation of their arguments before deciding on an appropriate solution (Jameson 2001). Because the third party(manager) listens to every party’s arguments before making a judgment, the manager acts as a ‘judge’ and this usually results in a win-lose situation, unlike Mediation which results in a win-win situation most of the time. Employees are given the opportunity to present their arguments and influence the final decision and this result in higher amount of fairness and satisfaction with outcomes. Employees involved in the conflict usually agree that the outcome decided by the third party is fair, but it could be better if they are able to retain the outcome control. Restructuring (Power-based) This is the more realistic popular method amongst power-based strategies because they are efficient (at least in the short run) and it follows a problem-solving procedure that is actually part of the managerial role (Jameson 2001). A powerful third party restructures the work and responsibilities of employees in order to solve problems. For example if employees does not see eye-to-eye with one another and it affects efficiency or quality of work produced, restructuring may simply solve this issue even though parties involved are not satisfied but at least they will not be able to see each other, proving restructuring to be a efficient method in the short run. This method may be efficient if time issues are being involved, such as the organisation needs to achieve a certain target by a certain date. Influence of culture in conflict resolution styles The three cultural values dimensions that are popularly discussed are individualism-collectivism, power distance and high-low context (McShane et al. 2010). Low/high context: refers to the amount of information contained in a clearly-expressed message versus implied message (Adair et al. 2004). Low-context culture is direct and negotiations are analytical and fact-based, while high-context culture is indirect and high-context negotiators tend to use an indirect communication method with usually contains implied meanings. An example of a low-context culture would be the United States of America and a high-context culture will be Japan (Adair et al. 2004). Individualism/Collectivism: Individualism refers to a society where the relationships between people are loose and they are expected to look after themselves or their immediate families only. Collectivism which is the opposite, refers to a society that people focus on being harmonious and emphasize on cohesiveness within themselves. In organisational context, individualism means individuals only care about their own goals and prefer to work alone and collectivism means working harmoniously in a teams and it emphasizes on teamwork. Power distance: McShane et al. (2010) defines power distance as the degree of importance that people place on status and power to control. Basically it means that human inequality may occur in many fields such as status, wealth, power, rules etc. In organisational settings it refers between superiors/managers and employees mainly. In a high power distance working environment, employees tend to just do their work without raising doubts or question their bosses, due to fear in the difference of their power, low power distance means otherwise, where employees and their superiors work hand in hand to resolve issues. A few decades ago, managers can spend up to twenty percent of their time in resolving conflicts. Nowadays, conflicts are generally much more complex and take up more time to resolve due to technological advances, world’s exponential growth rate and globalization which led to increase contacts between people of many different cultures (Kotthoff Spencer-Oatey 2008). This suggests that our modern world has an increase of numbers of cultural conflicts and they are usually hard to resolve due to the extreme range of differences in thinking, values, ethics etc between individuals of different cultures. To further elaborate on this point, Brigg (2008) states that most experts in this field now come to an agreement that culture frames the experiences of conflict of people, their reactions and responses to other people in conflict, and the types of strategies they might consider to manage or otherwise address disputes. Therefore when facing against a cultural conflict issue, one must understand that the other party does not grow up in the same environment as him/her, had not been taught the same teachings and values since young. To put in simpler terms, the definition of what is right and what is correct might not be the same between the two parties. This also explains why it is so difficult in applying conflict resolution styles when it comes to cultural conflicts because it is hard to accept the other party’s â€Å"correct† values which may be the â€Å"wrong† values of one as both of them have been gorged those values since young in their growing up environment. Conclusion Two ways of conflict-handling styles were discussed and avoiding can be a good approach sometimes despite many of its negativity and although problem-solving is the best approach, it cannot be rushed and many potential solutions must be raised in order to finding the best solution. Three strategies from three different categories of conflict resolution styles were discussed and despite the major differences in terms of popularity of usage and way of handling, all the three strategies can produce effective results in organisational settings if they were applied in the correct circumstances. Three cultural values dimensions were discussed and it was also explained that influence of culture in conflict resolution styles remains fundamentally significant and it is currently the most challenging in conflict resolution.

Case Study Analysis Cost Of Capital At Ameritrade Finance Essay

Case Study Analysis Cost Of Capital At Ameritrade Finance Essay Capital Asset Pricing Model is a model that describes the relationship between risk and expected return  and  that is used in the pricing of risky securities. Description: Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) The general idea behind CAPM is that investors need to be compensated in two ways: time value of money  and risk. The time value of money is represented by the risk-free(rf) rate  in the formula and compensates the investors for placing money in any investment over a period of time. The other half of the formula represents risk and calculates the amount of compensation the investor needs for taking on  additional risk. This is calculated by taking a risk measure (beta)  that compares the returns of the asset to the market over a period of time and to the market premium (Rm-rf). The CAPM says that the expected return of a security or a portfolio equals the rate on a risk-free security plus a risk premium. If this expected return does not meet or beat the required return, then the investment should not be undertaken. The security market line plots the results of the CAPM for all different risks (betas). Using the CAPM model  and the following assumptions, we can compute the expected return of a stock in this CAPM example: if the risk-free rate is  3%, the beta (risk measure) of the stock is 2 and the expected market return over the period is 10%, the stock is expected to return 17% (3%+2(10%-3%)). CAPM has a lot of important consequences. For one thing it turns finding the efficient frontier into a doable task, because you only have to calculate the co-variances of every pair of classes, instead of every pair of everything. Another consequence is that CAPM implies that investing in individual stocks is pointless, because you can duplicate the reward and risk characteristics of any security just by using the right mix of cash with the appropriate asset class. This is why followers of MPT avoid stocks, and instead build portfolios out of low cost index funds. Cap-M looks at risk and rates of return and compares them to the overall stock market. If you use CAPM you have to assume that most investors want to avoid risk, (risk averse), and those who do take risks, expect to be rewarded. It also assumes that investors are price takers who cant influence the price of assets or markets. With CAPM you assume that there are no transactional costs or taxation and assets and securities are divisible into small little packets. CAPM assumes that investors are not limited in their borrowing and lending under the risk free rate of interest. How to Calculate the Cost of Equity CAPM The cost of equity is the amount of compensation an investor requires to invest in an equity investment. The cost of equity is estimable is several ways, including the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). The formula for calculating the cost of equity using CAPM is the risk-free rate plus beta times the market risk premium. Beta compares the risk of the asset to the market, so it is a risk that, even with diversification, will not go away. As an example, a company has a beta of 0.9, the risk-free rate is 1 percent and the expected return on the equity investment is 4 percent. Instructions Determine the market risk premium. The market risk premium equals the expected return minus the risk-free rate. The risk-free rate of return is usually the United States three-month Treasury bill rate. In our example, 4 percent minus 1 percent equals 3 percent. Multiply the market risk premium by beta. In our example, 3 percent times 0.9 equals 0.027. Add the risk-free rate to the number calculated in Step 2 to determine the cost of equity. In our example, 0.027 plus 0.01 equals a cost of equity of 0.037 or 3.7 percent. . Combining the risk-free asset and the market portfolio gives the portfolio frontier. The risk of an individual asset is characterized by its co-variability with the market portfolio. The part of the risk that is correlated with the market portfolio, the systematic risk, cannot be diversified away. Bearing systematic risk needs to be rewarded. The part of an assets risk that is not correlated with the market portfolio, the non-systematic risk, can be diversified away by holding a frontier portfolio. Bearing non-systematic risk need not be rewarded. For any asset i: where We thus have an asset pricing model the CAPM. Example. Suppose that CAPM holds. The expected market return is 14% and T-bill rate is 5%. What should be the expected return on a stock with ÃŽÂ ² = 0? Answer: Same as the risk-free rate, 5%. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The stock may have significant uncertainty in its return. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ This uncertainty is uncorrelated with the market return. What should be the expected return on a stock with ÃŽÂ ² = 1? Answer: The same as the market return, 14%. What should be the expected return on a portfolio made up of 50% T-bills and 50% market portfolio? Answer: the expected return should be  ¯r = (0.5)(0.05)+(0.5)(0.14) = 9.5%. Multifactor CAPM In CAPM, investors care about returns on their investments over the next short horizon they follow myopic investment strategies. In practice, however: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Investors do invest over long horizons à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Investment opportunities do change over time. In equilibrium, an assets premium is given by a multi-factor CAPM : Limitations of CAPM Based on highly restrictive assumptions i.e. no tax, transaction costs etc Serious doubts about its testability. Market factor is not the sole factor influencing stock returns. Summary of CAPM CAPM is attractive: 1. It is simple and sensible: is built on modern portfolio theory distinguishes systematic risk and non-systematic risk provides a simple pricing model. 2. It is relatively easy to implement. CAPM is controversial: 1. It is difficult to test: difficult to identify the market portfolio difficult to estimate returns and betas. 2. Empirical evidence is mixed. 3. Alternative pricing models might do better. Multi-factor CAPM. Consumption CAPM (C-CAPM). APT. Other Methods for calculating cost of equity There are 3 methods which are mainly used for calculating Cost of equity other than CAPM Arbitrage Pricing theory 3 factor method Dividend Growth Method Arbitrage Pricing Theory APT assumes that returns on securities are generated by number of industry-wide and market-wide factors. Correlation between a pair of securities occurs when these securities are affected by the SAME factor or factors. Return on any stock traded in a financial market consists of two parts. R = Re + U Where, R = return on any stock Re = Expected or Normal return (depends on all of information shareholders have on the stock for next month.) U = Uncertain or Risky return (this comes from information revealed in the month) U = m +  Ã‚ ¥Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚   Where, m = Systematic risk or market risk (it influences all assets of market)  Ã‚ ¥Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ½ Unsystematic risk (it affects single asset or small group interrelated of assets, it is specific to company) The capital asset pricing theory begins with an analysis of how investors construct efficient portfolios. But in real life scenarios, it isnt necessary that every time portfolios will be efficient. It is developed by Stephen Ross. Moreover, the return is assumed to obey the following simple relationship: Where b1, b2 and b3 are sensitivities associated with factor 1, factor 2 and factor 3 which can be interest rate or other price factors. Noise =  Ã‚ ¥ is event unique to the company. APT states that the expected risk premium on a stock should depend on the expected risk premium associated with each factor and the stocks sensitivity to each of the factors. Thus, formula modifies to: Where, rf = risk free rate is subtracted from each return to give risk premium associated from each factor. Analysis of the formula: If we put value for b = 0, the expected risk premium will be zero. It will create a diversified portfolio which has zero sensitivity to macroeconomic factor which offers risk free rate of interest. Portfolio offered a higher return, investors could make a risk-free (or arbitrage) profit by borrowing to buy the portfolio. If it offered a lower return, you could make an arbitrage profit by running the strategy in reverse; in other words, you would sell the portfolio and invest the proceeds in U.S. Treasury bills. Consider portfolio A and B are sensitive to factor 1, A is twice sensitive to factor1 as then portfolio Therefore, if you divided your money equally between U.S. Treasury bills and portfolio A, combined portfolio would have exactly the same sensitivity to factor 1 as portfolio B and would offer the same risk premium. Steps of Arbitrage Pricing Theory The various steps during Arbitrage Pricing Theory can be stated as: Identify the macroeconomic factors: APT doesnt indicate which factors are to be considered. But there are 6 principle factors which are: Yield spread interest rate, exchange rate, GNP inflation portion of the market return Estimate the risk premium of each factor Estimate the factor sensitivity Net Return = risk free interest rate + expected risk premium 3 factor model It is a special case of APT It considers 3 major factors called as market factor size factor book to market factor. There is also evidence that these factors are related to company profitability and therefore may be picking up risk factors that are left out of the simple CAPM. The practical application of this model is to estimate the betas for the three factors and then use them to predict where returns should fall, much like the CAPM. It was researched by Fama and French. Dividend Growth Method Dividend Discount Model. It is useful when the growth rate of dividend is forecasted constantly. The present value of stocks is given as Where, r = discount rate, g = rate of growth, DIV = annual cash payment, This formula can be used when growth rate g When growth rate = rate of return, the present value becomes infinite. For perpetual growth, r > g. Growing perpetuity formula, Where,P0 in terms of next years expected dividend DIV g = the projected growth trend r = expected rate of return on other securities of comparable risk. We can estimate cost of equity from this formula by re-arranging. Lets understand by an example: Suppose that your company is expected to pay a dividend of $1.50 per share next year. There has been a steady growth in dividends of 5.1% per year and the market expects that to continue. The current price is $25. Then cost of equity r is given as: When the growth rate isnt constant but varies from year to year, then average can be calculated. Growth rate for current year is calculated using the formula: For example, Year Dividend (in Rs. Million) Percent change (g) 2000 1.23 2001 1.30 (1.30 1.23) / 1.23 = 5.7% 2002 1.36 (1.36 1.30) / 1.30 = 4.6% 2003 1.43 (1.43 1.36) / 1.36 = 5.1% 2004 1.50 (1.50 1.43) / 1.43 = 4.9% Growth rate is average of all percent changes and equals This model serves the major advantage of being easy to understand and use but has a major drawback total dependence on dividend and it cannot be used where company isnt paying any dividend. Also, it doesnot consider any risk and is highly sensitive to the change in growth rate. Estimating Beta Beta is an important term in Capital Asset Pricing Method. Beta is the non-diversified risk of holding a single stock. But it turns out that companies in similar markets have similar risks. Interpretation of beta Beta = 1,it matches market portfolio Beta > 1, higher risk. Beta Methods for calculation of beta It is calculated as: beta_{i} = frac {mathrm{Cov}(R_i,R_m)}{mathrm{Var}(R_m)} Where, Ri = rate of return of asset and Rm is rate of return of market. Thus, beta is dependent on regression analysis. Beta is found by statistical analysis of individual, daily share price returns, in comparison with the markets daily returns over precisely the same period. We need to gather a lengthy time-series of observations for the market return and the individual asset return. Then required co-variances and variances can be calculated. If coefficient of correlation P is known then The alternative method of calculating beta is (by rearranging terms from CAPM equation): In practice, an additional constant alpha is also added in the above equation which tells how much better (or worse) the funds did than what the CAPM predicted. Alpha is a risk-adjusted measure of the so-called active return on an investment. Here, E(Ri) Rf is estimated return on asset portfolios and E(Rm) Rf is estimated return on market index. In order to check that there are no serious violations of the linear regression model assumptions. The slope of the fitted line from the linear least-squares calculation is the estimated Beta. The vertical intercept of this curve is called as the alpha. For a portfolio of assets, we have the relation: Given that beta is a linear risk measure, the beta of a portfolio of assets as simply the weighted average of all the individual betas that comprise the portfolio. HANU Estimate of Risk Premium We dont have reliable estimate where stock market will move in future. So we are using long term historical spreadsheets for estimate large stock than small stocks because they are more closer to proper estimate of market We are considering all values after Second World War because after that laws became stable in U.S. Risk premium = Rm Rf U.S. government securities rate = 6.69% (20 years bond, Exhibit 3) Average annual return for Large company stocks = 14 % (Exhibit 3) So Risk premium for Ameritrade = 14 % 6.69 % =7.31 %

Men Will Rise From The Dark Depth Of Prejudice To The Majestic Heights :: essays research papers

Men Will Rise From The Dark Depth Of Prejudice To The Majestic Heights Of Brotherhood   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Men will rise from the dark depths of prejudice... What is prejudice? The Websters dictionary defines it as â€Å"a biased opinion based on emotion rather than reason.† This is most certainly the case. Through out history groups of people of the same race, religion, color, etc. have had unspeakable acts committed against them by others who think with their â€Å"...emotions[s] rather than reason.† Because one is a different color they think that that person is odd, or inferior. Or they see some one of a different religion as a person who is rejected by God. These are both examples of prejudice.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many people have seen the effects of prejudice and sought to put an end to it. one such person was Dr. Martian Luther King. By the time Dr. King became involved in civil rights he was already an ordained minister. He had married and he and his wife had four children. His civil rights activities began with the protest of an incident that occurred on a public bus. Rosa parks had broken the law by not getting out of her seat to allow a white person to sit in her seat or row. An organization was formed to boycott the buses and Dr. Martian Luther king was asked to be president of it. In his first, and in my opinion, most powerful speeches Dr. Martian Luther King stated â€Å"First and foremost we are American citizens...We are not here advocating violence...the only weapon that we have...is that of protest...The great glory of American democracy is the right to protest for right.† Dr. King and the organization succeeded. The Supreme Court ordered the city to have equal, integrated seating. This was only the first in many battles lead by Dr. Martian Luther King.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dr. Martian Luther King had a dream. A dream to unite all mankind as one. A dream to see an end to prejudice. A dream to reach the promise land. Although many of his goals as far as discrimination have been met, Dr. Martian Luther King never got to see this. He was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. In 1983 congress passed a national holiday in his honor. It celebrated on the third Monday in January. Dr. Martian Luther King Became the second person to have a national Holiday, the first being George Washington, the countries first President. One of his Ideals that has not yet been achieved nor properly addressed is that of brotherhood.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Majestic heights of brotherhood. Anyone who has ever experienced Men Will Rise From The Dark Depth Of Prejudice To The Majestic Heights :: essays research papers Men Will Rise From The Dark Depth Of Prejudice To The Majestic Heights Of Brotherhood   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Men will rise from the dark depths of prejudice... What is prejudice? The Websters dictionary defines it as â€Å"a biased opinion based on emotion rather than reason.† This is most certainly the case. Through out history groups of people of the same race, religion, color, etc. have had unspeakable acts committed against them by others who think with their â€Å"...emotions[s] rather than reason.† Because one is a different color they think that that person is odd, or inferior. Or they see some one of a different religion as a person who is rejected by God. These are both examples of prejudice.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many people have seen the effects of prejudice and sought to put an end to it. one such person was Dr. Martian Luther King. By the time Dr. King became involved in civil rights he was already an ordained minister. He had married and he and his wife had four children. His civil rights activities began with the protest of an incident that occurred on a public bus. Rosa parks had broken the law by not getting out of her seat to allow a white person to sit in her seat or row. An organization was formed to boycott the buses and Dr. Martian Luther king was asked to be president of it. In his first, and in my opinion, most powerful speeches Dr. Martian Luther King stated â€Å"First and foremost we are American citizens...We are not here advocating violence...the only weapon that we have...is that of protest...The great glory of American democracy is the right to protest for right.† Dr. King and the organization succeeded. The Supreme Court ordered the city to have equal, integrated seating. This was only the first in many battles lead by Dr. Martian Luther King.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dr. Martian Luther King had a dream. A dream to unite all mankind as one. A dream to see an end to prejudice. A dream to reach the promise land. Although many of his goals as far as discrimination have been met, Dr. Martian Luther King never got to see this. He was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. In 1983 congress passed a national holiday in his honor. It celebrated on the third Monday in January. Dr. Martian Luther King Became the second person to have a national Holiday, the first being George Washington, the countries first President. One of his Ideals that has not yet been achieved nor properly addressed is that of brotherhood.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Majestic heights of brotherhood. Anyone who has ever experienced

What Does Enlightened Self-Interest Involve?

Enlightened self interest is actually a viewpoint in principles which states that people who act to advance the interest of others eventually they provide their own self interest. It is simply articulated by the certainty that a person, group and even business entity will at all times do well through the doing good. Enlightened self interest in one way or the other is considered to be so unrealistic. Enlightened self-interest as well it has implications for long-term reimbursements as opposed to short-term reimbursements to oneself. When a person pursues enlightened self-interest the individual possibly will surrender short-term interests so as to take full advantage of long-term interests. A person might sacrifice his instant self-interest for the purpose of an affirmative relationship towards a group of people to which he relates (Robert, 45). Enlightened self interest is totally different from pure altruism which calls for individuals to perform in the concern of others frequently at the expense of their own welfare and with no hope of gain for themselves in the prospect. Some supporters of progressive self-interest may argue that pure unselfishness tends to promote inefficiency also. Some people may benefit materially from philosophy of greed but it is supposed by proponents of progressive self awareness that these people constitute a small minority and that the great number of people can be expecting to experience a net individual failure from a philosophy of uncomplicated unenlightened selfishness. Enlightened self interest clearly states that a big business is in due course assisting itself through helping to resolve communal problems. Advocates challenge that social dependability expenditures by business are motivated through the profit that they make.

Life Has a Hopeful Undertone

McCarthy follows a father and son who are struggling to survive after some global apocalypse. The father struggles to keep his faith and â€Å"carry the fire,† he starts to question his faith in humanity him believe to have hope in the most difficult of times. Despite civilization falling apart, in the novel The Road by Coral McCarthy hope is revealed to be a major theme by symbolism in the fire and the boy. The man and boy often find themselves in difficult situations.The boy considers that e would be better off dead because his loss of hope. He says he would be better off with his â€Å"mom† (55), who is dead. The man tells him that he has to â€Å"carry the Although it is not directly said in the novel, the fire is implied to be related to hope and goodness. The father and son are some of the few survivors who refused to exploit human beings, because they have not given up and lost faith in their morals. Hope helps them find alternatives from cannibalism. Even when they were â€Å"starving†(129). They still refuse to eat any human flesh.In the novel, the cannibals represent a fallen society that a man and boy have to live through. The boy is a symbol hope and is one of the â€Å"good guys†(77). Those who carry the fire have not given up hope and need to preserve the faith and sake of humanity, because If the two characters decide to eat a charred human Infant (198), everyone on Earth would be killing each other and ending humanity; there would be no hope or love left, there would be nothing or no one left to live for. The man and boy both believe â€Å"nothing ad is going to happen† (83), to them because they are carrying the fire.Ultimately at the end of the novel the man ends up dying, but hope continues to live on In the boy, who meets a new family that Is â€Å"carrying the fire† as well (284). This shows that even In hard times you can still have hope that things will get better. When his son was born the man s ays that the boy was â€Å"beyond the window Just gathering cold, the fires on the horizon† (59). The man found hope when his son was born, and found another reason to live. The mother states â€Å"the boy was all that stood between him and death†(29).The child was an embodiment of hope and salvation; he was a light In the darkness. The man thought of his son as God; he asked Ely noon thought he was an angel? What If I said he was God? â€Å"(172). The man saw his son as a symbol of hope Is a place where hope was no longer relevant. Overall, hope In a ruined society can begin the dullness, but The Road by Coral McCarthy shows that hope can still remain. Hope when a salvation Lies In ruins can easily be forgotten between the fight with death and the desperation to live, but It remains as the only thing that can begin to rebuild humanity again.Life Has a Hopeful Undertone By liable given up hope and need to preserve the faith and sake of humanity, because if the two cha racters decide to eat a charred human infant (198), everyone on Earth would the end of the novel the man ends up dying, but hope continues to live on in the boy, who meets a new family that is â€Å"carrying the fire† as well (284). This shows that even in hard times you can still have hope that things will get better. When his son was death†(29). The child was an embodiment of hope and salvation; he was a light in the darkness.The man thought of his son as God; he asked Ely muff thought he was an angel? What if I said he was The man saw his son as a symbol of hope is a place where hope was no longer relevant. Overall, hope in a ruined society can begin the diminish, but The Road by Coral McCarthy shows that hope can still remain. Hope when a civilization lies in ruins can easily be forgotten between the fight with death and the desperation to live, but it remains as the only thing that can begin to

Burn After Reading Essays

Burn After Reading Essays Burn After Reading Essay Burn After Reading Essay Burn After Reading is a black comedy directed, produced and written by the Coen brothers in 2008. It stars some major actors such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich and Francis McDormand. (Adams 40-42) In this film, all of the characters interweave with one another and they don’t necessarily know so. The film begins with John Malkovich as Osbourne Cox being fired from his position as a C. I. A. analyst. He then decides to begin writing his memoirs which eventually end up in the hands of two HardBodies Gym employees Francis McDormand as Linda Litzke and Brad Pitt as Chad. Chad assumes that Cox must be someone of importance and that the information on the disk is top secret. From there, he involves Linda in black mailing him because she is in desperate need for money to pay for the cosmetic surgeries she desires. Along side of that, Cox’s wife is planning on leaving his and taking off with Harry which is something he knows nothing of. Harry who is also married, and having an affair with Cox’s wife, is also meeting random women through an online dating service and eventually hooks up with Linda as well. Linda falls for Harry, especially since he’s told her that he doesn’t think these surgeries that she needs are necessary. This movie is basically a tangled web of lies, paranoia and false information, making it into one of the Coen brothers most baffling films. One major aspect of this movie is paranoia. What does the movie say about paranoia? Well, that’s a rather difficult answer to come up with considering a lot of this movie doesn’t make sense. Even the ending scene of the movie where Palmer and Gardner Chubb (both C. I. A. gents) are discussing this mess of events that has been going on say that they didn’t learn anything from this. Everyone in the movie seems to believe that someone is someone else leading to the characters to lash out with paranoid violence as if they’re left with no alternative. I think that the movie is probably trying to say about paranoia is that you can’t let it get to you because you will either end up cre ating scenarios leading to even worse paranoia, or you’ll end up dead. Two main focuses in the movie that seemed to harbor the most paranoia were Clooney’s character Harry and Pitt’s character Chad. Harry plays a US Marshall who never seems to actually work (Adams 40-42) and is constantly creating more and more sticky situations. Not only is he married, but he’s having an affair with Osbourne Cox’s wife and meeting women on the internet. Every day Harry goes out on run and begins to notice what looks like a government car following him. He seems like he doesn’t really know what to make of it and ignores it in the beginning. Once the situation becomes a little more suspicious, Harry takes action and goes out to the man’s car who’s been following him demanding answers. The man worked for a law firm and was hired by Harry’s wife to watch him to find proof that he was cheating on his wife. Little did Harry know, he wife was getting ready to file for a divorce. Harry is also paranoid about killing Chad earlier on in the movie at Osbourne Cox’s home. Him and Linda have been seeing each other and Linda eventually asks Harry if he can help her find her friend since he has no idea where he’s gone. Later in the park, Linda explains the situation a little further about what Chad was doing and where he was going and just like that Harry put the pieces together and finally found out who the person was that he killed. He then begins to ask Linda questions about who she is and who she was hired by, Linda innocent and not knowing what Harry is talking about truthfully tells him that she wasn’t hired by anyone and she’s not after anything. Harry then runs away from Linda never to see her again. Eventually, Harry decides to up and flee to Venezuela to escape from whoever he thinks might be after him. Pitt’s character Chad who seems rather dimwitted, is trying to find a way to black mail Osbourne Cox. Earlier on in the movie, McDormand finds his disk at HardBodies gym, Chad comes up with the brilliant idea to black mail him and Linda goes with the idea thinking that the money they receive from Cox will pay for her surgeries. He begins by making a late night phone call telling Cox that he has his disk and he demands money for the return of it. He later meets up with Cox, trying to look professional by wearing a tuxedo but riding a bike a carrying his helmet. Cox explains to Chad what could legally happen to him if he decided to try and blackmail him, then proceeds to punch Chad in the face and makes him get out of his car. Then they come up with the idea to take the disk to the Russians hoping that they’ll somehow get money out of it that way. Chad later tries breaking into Cox’s home to find more information on him. While Chad’s in the house, Harry walks in. Cox had previously been locked out of his home by his wife who was also getting ready to file for divorce, so Harry has been staying there temporarily while his wife is off for the release of her new children’s book. Once Chad realizes that he is no longer alone in the house, he quickly hides in the closet hoping to eventually escape unnoticed. After Harry gets out of the shower he walks over to the closet Chad is hiding in. He opens the doors and sees him thinking he’s some government spook and immediately shoots him in the head. The character of Osbourne Cox is also another example of paranoia in this film. After he’s fired from his job, gets blackmailed, and told by his wife that she’s divorcing him, he also gets kicked out of his home having to resort to living on their boat. Cox get’s fed up with it one day and decides to return home with a hatchet in hopes to find more liquor. What Cox ends up finding at his house is Ted. Ted also works at HardBodies gym and is Linda and Chad’s boss. He’s down in the basement looking through Cox’s computer to try and figure out what exactly Linda and Chad have been up to since they haven’t exactly told him anything. Cox, who’s in a paranoid state, angrily demands answers and quickly makes the connection between Ted, Linda amp; Chad. Infuriated, he chases Ted all the way out to the streets where he proceeds to kill him with the hatchet out of anger. (Doom 163-174) During the duration of the whole movie Francis McDormand’s character, Linda Litzke, struggles with her own self conscious paranoia’s. This makes Linda completely neglect what’s been in front of her face the whole time. While she’s busy obsessing over recapturing her youth, her boss Ted who obviously has feelings about her is discretely trying to let her know that. She openly speaks with him about the surgeries that’s she’s wanting to undergo and about how she’s meeting men on the internet. He explains to her that she doesn’t need the surgeries, and that online dating can be a very dangerous thing and she could end up with the wrong guy. Everything seems to go in one ear and out the other with her because she never took any of that into account. Poor Ted even end up dead in the end of the movie because he’s trying to figure out what it is that Linda and Chad have been up to and why they say it’s so ‘dangerous’. All in all, this has got to be one of the most bizarre spy films that I have ever seen. Unfortunately in the end the only person that seems to get what they want is Linda. If it wasn’t for her self consciousness, a lot of things wouldn’t have ever happened in the first place. Yes of course Chad being the quirky guy that he is, probably still would’ve tried to blackmail Cox, but maybe he wouldn’t have gone so far with it to the point of being shot point blank in the head. Also, nothing would’ve ever happened to Ted. All along all he was trying to do was figure out what it was that Chad and Linda were up to and once he got so involved, he also ended up dead. It seems to be that the most innocent characters of the movie, ended up getting the short straw in everything. On top of all the organized chaos that the movie entails, I find it rather bewildering that the movie is considered a form of comedy. Though black comedy is more so a darker kind, finding humor in death and despair. In conclusion, I think it’s safe to say that Burn After Reading is quite possibly one of the most meaningless movies I have ever seen. Though it is meaningless, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t entertaining and rather humorous. One thing that I did pick up on in the movie though is to steer clear from paranoia. It won’t get you anywhere but six feet under. At least unless the circumstances of this movie. Citations Doom, Ryan. THE BROTHERS COEN: Unique characters of violence. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2009. 163-174. eBook. Adams, Michael. Burn After Reading. 28th ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Cenage Learning, 2009. Print. Burn After Reading. Dir. Ethan and Joel Coen. Focus Features: 2008, DVD.