The Grass Cutting Days

The Grass Cutting Days The pastor called me to come forward. I walked to the pulpit confident and proud. I looked out at my family. Some wore somber expressions. Others had faces still damp with tears. Then I gazed down at the shiny black coffin crowned with yellow flowers.My father, Charlie Lyons, was gone. It was my turn at his funeral earlier this year to pay tribute to the man who taught me so much growing up on the Northside. How do you sum up a lifetime in 10 minutes?I flashed to Dad holding the handlebar and jogging alongside my bike until I felt ready to ride on my own. I saw him pulling up to my broken-down car at night, doing a quick fix and trailing me home. I thought of the hug we shared at my wedding. Then, I started talking about a special moment I draw from now. Dad was always full of advice, but one of the biggest lessons he taught me one summer was about having a strong work ethic. When my brother and I were growing up, we mowed yards during the summer to earn pocket change. Dad was our s alesman. He pitched our service to neighbors and offered a price they could not refuse. My brother and I got $10 per yard. Some yards were a half-acre. I later found out our friends were charging $20 or more for the same amount of work.Every time we headed out to mow lawns, Dad was there to watch. I used to wonder why he came with us. He stood supervising our work in the sticky Florida heat when he could have been inside relaxing with air conditioning and an icy drink.One day we were cutting our next-door neighbors yard. She always waited until the grass was knee-high to call us over. To make matters worse, we had an old lawn mower that kept cutting off as we plowed through her backyard jungle. This particular afternoon, I was finishing up and was tired and sweaty. I pictured the tall glass of Kool-Aid I would gulp in a minute to cool down.I was just about to cut off the lawn mower when I saw Dad pointing to one lone blade. I thought about the chump change I was getting paid for cut ting grass so high it almost broke the mower. I ignored him and kept walking. Dad called me out and yelled, You missed a piece.I frowned, hoping he would let me slide and go home. He kept pointing. So beat and deflated, I went back to cut that piece of grass. I mumbled to myself: That one piece isnt hurting anyone. Why wont he just let it go?But when I reached adulthood, I understood his message: When youre running a business, the work you do says a great deal about you. If you want to be seen as an entrepreneur with integrity, you must deliver a quality product. That single blade of grass meant the job was not done.Other neighbors took notice of the good work we did and we soon garnered more business. We started out with one client, but by the end of the summer we had five, which was all we cared to handle because we wanted time to enjoy our summer break from school.The lesson my dad taught me stayed with me: Be professional. If you say you are going to perform a job at a certain t ime, keep your word. Give your customers the kind of service you would like to receive. It shows how sincere you are and how much pride you take in your work.Before I knew it, my tribute was over. I saw my wife jump to her feet in an ovation. The pastor embraced me. People rushed to shake my hand. Though Dads body lay inside the coffin, I felt his spirit there. I pictured him standing in the sanctuary, wearing the white T-shirt and blue shorts he did on grass-cutting days. Always there for me and always proud.By Patrick A. Lyons

Chapter 10 The Massachusetts Experience - 873 Words

Chapter 10: The Massachusetts Experience The scenario of Massachusetts was one of my favorite readings this week. The main reason is that people from the business, education, politics, parents, teachers and members of the community were involved in the creation of an educational reform in the state of Massachusetts. The system’s lack of clear goals, lack of accountability, uneven performance of school, failures rates in some areas and for some children, are some of the most salient features that impress the business leaders in the late 1980s (Blankstein Noguera, 2015). The program of these business leaders, called â€Å"Every Child a Winner!† â€Å"reshaped the Commonwealth’s public education system with a combination of standards and accountability measures, systems improvements ranging from new executive authority for superintendents to the establishment of charter schools, and a finance system overhaul resulting in a more progressive distribution of school finance.† (Blankstein Nogue ra, 2015, p. 188). Through this program, the educational system of Massachusetts were transformed to be the first in the whole nation by having a diverse, nonpartisan leadership, explicit equity arguments, high expectation, investment in infrastructure, inclusive approach to policy and implementation, and long-term commitment by various partners. (Blankstein Noguera, 2015). However, this system has some errors, like having the emphasis on testing then good classroom teaching, and some ofShow MoreRelatedSettling The Northern Colonies : Big Picture Themes1676 Words   |  7 PagesChapter #3: Settling the Northern Colonies - Big Picture Themes 1. Plymouth, MA was founded with the initial goal of allowing Pilgrims, and later Puritans, to worship independent of the Church of England. Their society, ironically, was very intolerant itself and any dissenters were pushed out of the colony. 2. Other New England colonies sprouted up, due to (a) religious dissent from Plymouth and Massachusetts as with Rhode Island, (b) the constant search for more farmland as in Connecticut, andRead MoreJames Oliver Horton And Lois E. Horton Essay1493 Words   |  6 PagesWar era. The Hortons not only demonstrate the importance of black’s presence throughout the text but some of the contribution and the roles that led to such a vibrant culture in America. 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Comparing Two Articles on Sleep Deprivation Essay - 999 Words

Compare/Contrast Two Articles on Sleep Deprivation Many times people think they can accomplish more if they could eliminate so much sleeping time. However, they are only hurting their productivity if they lose sleep. Two articles deal with the issue of sleep deprivation. The College Student Journal published an article about the grade-point average of college students and sleep length, while U.S. News World Report produced an article dealing with the lack of sleep in America and its effects on performance. The articles gave different types of results from different kinds of data with different degrees of definiteness. In spite of their differences, both articles showed that lack of sleep is a cause for decreased†¦show more content†¦At first the volunteers spent nearly eleven hours sleeping to catch up on their accumulated sleep debt, an average of seventeen hours per person. By the end the volunteers were averaging what appeared to be an ideal level of eight hours and fifteen minutes of sleep. Another stud y, conducted by Eve Van Cauter, a sleep researcher at the University of Chicago, published a report in which healthy young people spent three weeks in a sleep lab. The first week they were in bed eight hours, the second week four hours, and the third week twelve hours. During the sleep-deprived second week the patients showed signs of a pre-diabetic state caused by the impaired tolerance of glucose. In addition, the pancreas was less able to produce enough insulin because the central nervous system became more active. Also, sleep-deprived young people can develop hormonal changes that make them look much older than they actually are. Older people have lower levels of cortisol as do sleep-deprived young people. Cortisol normally drops to a low level in the evening to help the body prepare for sleeping. 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Loss of the Creature Outside Analysis Free Essays

People in society today have influences throughout their life that help structure and dictate their thoughts. Choices are made based on these influences, and when these influences begin to take shape as different labels, no real choices are made. People begin to compromise their right to think on their own and instead turn to the most convenient choice. We will write a custom essay sample on Loss of the Creature Outside Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is how a great deal of society has acts today, choosing the easiest path just so that person can get a given task out of the way and continue on with their life. These influences are frequently seen in politics today. People become so wrapped up in political parties that they become more interested in who is running in which party, instead of which candidate, at any level of government, has the stances that the voter agrees with the most. According to â€Å"The Loss of the Creature† and â€Å"Ways of Seeing†, multiple aspects of having the labels the political parties have inhibit voters from making sovereign decisions. When a candidate is running for an office, they should not have a political party label attached to them because that label can inhibit voters from choosing a candidate who they think will best serve the position to better the region they are running for. Walker Percy constantly reiterates the importance to avoid the beaten track and to not allow experts to control the experiences and dictate the ideas someone may have. Having the labels that political parties have allow different political experts to dictate the way people vote and because of the labels people are losing their ability to make sovereign decisions. These labels are symbolic complexes because they act as pre-made assumptions that get in the way of the voters ability to make a vote based on personal standards alone. â€Å"The highest satisfaction of the sightseer (not merely the tourist but any layman seer of sights) is that his sight should be certified as genuine† (Percy 487). The American voter takes the position of the sightseer, and the voter is losing the ability to have that high satisfaction because the vote is not a genuine vote. This is what Percy refers to as a loss of sovereignty, and the sovereignty is frequently lost due to the impact of the experts. â€Å"He too could use an instructor and a book and a technique, but he would use them as subordinates, just as he would the jackknife† (Percy 489). Percy conveys to the reader that the experts must not be used to form and manipulate any experiences or ideas, but instead used as tools to help guide a person as that person has a genuine experience or forms an idea of their own. Voters who do not take the time to research candidate’s specific views tend to assume that because they belong to a particular party the candidate’s views will align with the voter’s view. If voters aren’t paying attention to specifically who they are voting for and instead voting out of convenience, they aren’t making their vote count and the candidate that the majority of the people share the most views with might not be elected. Similarly to Walker Percy, John Berger stresses the importance of making your own decisions not based on what others endorse; to do so will bring the power back to the people. This comes with the implications that the people are not in complete control, and John Berger uses mystification to show that the art critics are in control of the art world because they are making art less accessible (Berger 103). According to the Campaign Finance Institute, out of a random sample of 100 candidates that were elected to the House of Representatives, 20% of their total campaign finances came from the states party funding. That shows a great representation of how much influence the party label has on politics today. In general, the more funding a campaign had, the more likely that candidate was to win the election (Malbin). The funding of political parties takes away the power from the people because the more a voter who does not research the stances hears about a candidate from different campaign strategies, the more likely the voter will like what he/she hears, base their opinions off of those endorsements, and in turn vote for the candidate. â€Å"A people or a class which is cut off from its own past is far less free to choose and to act as a people or a class than one that been able to situate itself in history† (Berger 118). The voters who do not take the time to research the stances of the candidates are the type of people the Berger is referring to. When the people listen to the critics and choose to not place themselves in the history of politics where they can institute their own decisions of who to vote for, they are not â€Å"acting as a people† as Berger refers to. This is because they are not always basing the decision off of which candidate would represent the individual best, who would in turn represent the people the best. People are being cut off from acting as a people, and this is in part because of the negative influence political party labels have on the overall scheme of politics. As I finish up high school and close into the age to vote, I have become increasingly interested in politics because soon it will be my civil duty to vote. Growing up a fairly independent student, I grew up assessing situations and creating my own opinions like Percy advises people of all ages should do. My parents never forced their political views on me, and because of that I am able to side with candidates based on my own stances. The more I became interested in politics, the more I began to realize that not all candidates at any level shared the same stances as other members of their equivalent political parties. This is where the idea of calling myself Republican of Democratic became incredibly distasteful and unappealing because every year when elections come, stances of certain representatives change and I have found myself siding with both sides of the party. Berger would find these labels unappealing as well because labels can be reproduced through media and what the candidate stands for can be altered because of the party they represent. These political party labels are similar to the camera because they are destroying the uniqueness of the candidates like the camera does to paintings (Berger 106). Only so much personal research could be done, so I decided to turn to others to learn more about politics and about their views and stances and different issues. The more I spoke with adults, the more I began to realize how prominent the influence political parties have in our society. Three different parents of close friends told me they voted either completely democratic or completely republican for the election in 2009 because they were working too often to take the time to research the stances of every single candidate. This is exactly what Percy would not want in this day and age. People are losing their sovereignty as voters because they are following the beaten tracks and following the tour guides without having unique experiences or opinions in this situation. The American voters have the right to have a title that describes the general trend of their political stances. However, those titles should explain how they morally stand in most circumstances, in most cases conservative or liberal, instead of automatically identifying themselves with a particular party. The importance of eliminating the labels that political parties possess will substantially improve the political system in America because it will cause voters to take the time to truly know who they are voting for, and not base their decision off of a mere title. Walker Percy explains that we as a society can not allow symbolic complexes such as these titles stand in the way of having a sovereign experience. In this situation, the sovereign experience would be for a citizen to cast a unique vote based solely on personal stances and how much that person agrees with the candidate in question. John Berger would wish to eliminate the labels as well because eliminating the labels would be one step closer to the people truly being in power. Political party labels need to be removed from the political system in America so that the citizens can truly make what they believe to be the correct choice when voting. How to cite Loss of the Creature Outside Analysis, Essay examples

Loss of the Creature Outside Analysis Free Essays

People in society today have influences throughout their life that help structure and dictate their thoughts. Choices are made based on these influences, and when these influences begin to take shape as different labels, no real choices are made. People begin to compromise their right to think on their own and instead turn to the most convenient choice. We will write a custom essay sample on Loss of the Creature Outside Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is how a great deal of society has acts today, choosing the easiest path just so that person can get a given task out of the way and continue on with their life. These influences are frequently seen in politics today. People become so wrapped up in political parties that they become more interested in who is running in which party, instead of which candidate, at any level of government, has the stances that the voter agrees with the most. According to â€Å"The Loss of the Creature† and â€Å"Ways of Seeing†, multiple aspects of having the labels the political parties have inhibit voters from making sovereign decisions. When a candidate is running for an office, they should not have a political party label attached to them because that label can inhibit voters from choosing a candidate who they think will best serve the position to better the region they are running for. Walker Percy constantly reiterates the importance to avoid the beaten track and to not allow experts to control the experiences and dictate the ideas someone may have. Having the labels that political parties have allow different political experts to dictate the way people vote and because of the labels people are losing their ability to make sovereign decisions. These labels are symbolic complexes because they act as pre-made assumptions that get in the way of the voters ability to make a vote based on personal standards alone. â€Å"The highest satisfaction of the sightseer (not merely the tourist but any layman seer of sights) is that his sight should be certified as genuine† (Percy 487). The American voter takes the position of the sightseer, and the voter is losing the ability to have that high satisfaction because the vote is not a genuine vote. This is what Percy refers to as a loss of sovereignty, and the sovereignty is frequently lost due to the impact of the experts. â€Å"He too could use an instructor and a book and a technique, but he would use them as subordinates, just as he would the jackknife† (Percy 489). Percy conveys to the reader that the experts must not be used to form and manipulate any experiences or ideas, but instead used as tools to help guide a person as that person has a genuine experience or forms an idea of their own. Voters who do not take the time to research candidate’s specific views tend to assume that because they belong to a particular party the candidate’s views will align with the voter’s view. If voters aren’t paying attention to specifically who they are voting for and instead voting out of convenience, they aren’t making their vote count and the candidate that the majority of the people share the most views with might not be elected. Similarly to Walker Percy, John Berger stresses the importance of making your own decisions not based on what others endorse; to do so will bring the power back to the people. This comes with the implications that the people are not in complete control, and John Berger uses mystification to show that the art critics are in control of the art world because they are making art less accessible (Berger 103). According to the Campaign Finance Institute, out of a random sample of 100 candidates that were elected to the House of Representatives, 20% of their total campaign finances came from the states party funding. That shows a great representation of how much influence the party label has on politics today. In general, the more funding a campaign had, the more likely that candidate was to win the election (Malbin). The funding of political parties takes away the power from the people because the more a voter who does not research the stances hears about a candidate from different campaign strategies, the more likely the voter will like what he/she hears, base their opinions off of those endorsements, and in turn vote for the candidate. â€Å"A people or a class which is cut off from its own past is far less free to choose and to act as a people or a class than one that been able to situate itself in history† (Berger 118). The voters who do not take the time to research the stances of the candidates are the type of people the Berger is referring to. When the people listen to the critics and choose to not place themselves in the history of politics where they can institute their own decisions of who to vote for, they are not â€Å"acting as a people† as Berger refers to. This is because they are not always basing the decision off of which candidate would represent the individual best, who would in turn represent the people the best. People are being cut off from acting as a people, and this is in part because of the negative influence political party labels have on the overall scheme of politics. As I finish up high school and close into the age to vote, I have become increasingly interested in politics because soon it will be my civil duty to vote. Growing up a fairly independent student, I grew up assessing situations and creating my own opinions like Percy advises people of all ages should do. My parents never forced their political views on me, and because of that I am able to side with candidates based on my own stances. The more I became interested in politics, the more I began to realize that not all candidates at any level shared the same stances as other members of their equivalent political parties. This is where the idea of calling myself Republican of Democratic became incredibly distasteful and unappealing because every year when elections come, stances of certain representatives change and I have found myself siding with both sides of the party. Berger would find these labels unappealing as well because labels can be reproduced through media and what the candidate stands for can be altered because of the party they represent. These political party labels are similar to the camera because they are destroying the uniqueness of the candidates like the camera does to paintings (Berger 106). Only so much personal research could be done, so I decided to turn to others to learn more about politics and about their views and stances and different issues. The more I spoke with adults, the more I began to realize how prominent the influence political parties have in our society. Three different parents of close friends told me they voted either completely democratic or completely republican for the election in 2009 because they were working too often to take the time to research the stances of every single candidate. This is exactly what Percy would not want in this day and age. People are losing their sovereignty as voters because they are following the beaten tracks and following the tour guides without having unique experiences or opinions in this situation. The American voters have the right to have a title that describes the general trend of their political stances. However, those titles should explain how they morally stand in most circumstances, in most cases conservative or liberal, instead of automatically identifying themselves with a particular party. The importance of eliminating the labels that political parties possess will substantially improve the political system in America because it will cause voters to take the time to truly know who they are voting for, and not base their decision off of a mere title. Walker Percy explains that we as a society can not allow symbolic complexes such as these titles stand in the way of having a sovereign experience. In this situation, the sovereign experience would be for a citizen to cast a unique vote based solely on personal stances and how much that person agrees with the candidate in question. John Berger would wish to eliminate the labels as well because eliminating the labels would be one step closer to the people truly being in power. Political party labels need to be removed from the political system in America so that the citizens can truly make what they believe to be the correct choice when voting. How to cite Loss of the Creature Outside Analysis, Essay examples

What do you think is the best strategy for existing businesses to adopt in response to the entry of a new large competitor free essay sample

What do you think is the best strategy for existing businesses to adopt in response to the entry of a new large competitor? Justify your answer with reference to the UK bottled water market and/or other markets that you know. Almost all business operates in competition with other businesses, whether this is Sainsburys competing with Asda for customers at a local, national and international level or two local hairdressers competing for clients in a single town. Competition is usually between firms supplying the same product. For example, British Gas compete not just with other suppliers in the gas provision market but also with the suppliers of other types of fuel, including coal, electricity and oil. The managing director of Waterman Pens is famously quoted as saying: We are not in the market for pens, but executive gifts. Therefore he redefined the companys competitors as Dunhill and Rolex, rather than Parker and Bic. We will write a custom essay sample on What do you think is the best strategy for existing businesses to adopt in response to the entry of a new large competitor? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Competition is generally regarded as being positive, bringing benefits in particular to customers. The advantages of competition are based on the fact that, in order to gain market share, firms need to offer the cheapest or the best quality products to customers. This requires them to operate as efficiently as possible, in a cost effective way while at the same time improving the quality of products and services as much as possible. However, competition also has some negative. Where competition is based solely on price, product quality might be sacrificed because resources that are devoted to competing with other firms, such as the huge amounts spent on advertising and packaging, could be directed to producing cheaper or better products. Also, competition between firms means that, inevitably, some businesses will be forced out of the market, with the economic and human consequences of redundancy and unemployment. Finally, the competitive process tends to mean that successful established businesses gradually take over, for example Nestle and Danone – or merge with unsuccessful ones. This in turn leads to the existence of a smaller number of larger and larger businesses. This has happened, for example, in the supermarket sector. In very competitive markets, such as those that can be described as monopolistic competition, new competitors enter all the time. For example, a new hairdresser or a new cafe might set up on the high street. In order to compete, existing businesses will need to ensure that their product or service is of an appropriate quality, is priced and promoted appropriately and has its own USP. For example, in order for Nestle and Danone to give their bottled water a USP they could introduce different size bottles, and different flavours. In some industries, barriers to entry prevent or deter new firms from entering. They thus enable existing firms to continue relatively unchallenged and, in effect, protect them from new entrants and allow them to earn higher profits than they might in a more competitive environment. This is the case in monopoly or oligopoly markets such as car manufacturers, supermarkets and banks. However, from being a relatively small player in a market, a business can develop into a dominant business as a result of a takeover or a merger. This can have a significant impact on the competitive forces for existing firms that are now faced with a more powerful competitor. For example, in 2003, Morrisons, a medium sized bust fast growing supermarket chain, took over Safeway and became a much more significant competitor for Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys. The more competitive the market, the less opportunity there is for profit as firms try to cut costs and prices in order to attract customers. Where there is little competition but a strong demand, supernormal profits may be made. Such profits are often a sign of unfair competition. To retain a good reputation, Nestle and Danone must make sure their actions are fair competition. Fair competition is where firms compete on equal terms in a way that offers consumers the best choice of products and prices. An example of unfair competition would be Danone only supplying retailers that promise not to stock Nestle or Coca Cola or that agree to stock the whole range of Danones products.

Fall Back On Fitness Essays - Physical Exercise, Self Care, Holiday

Fall Back On Fitness Essays - Physical Exercise, Self Care, Holiday Fall Back On Fitness Fall Back On Fitness As we head into the cooler autumn months, we undoubtedly expect that the upcoming holiday seasons surrounding Thanksgiving, Halloween, and (yes, already) Christmas will lead to our spending more and more time indulging and less and less time keeping ourselves healthy and fit. This doesnt have to be the case. We are not bears, and regardless of what one may think, we do not need to store up extra fat so that we may hibernate for the winter! Awareness of the potential pitfalls of the holiday season can prevent the pounds from sneaking up on you. Treat yourself to an early gift by purchasing a journal in which you can keep a daily record of your eating, exercise and stress behaviours. Keep an eye on your journal entries so that youll notice your less than healthy behaviours and make changes before you get overwhelmed. One suggestion is to weigh yourself once a week during the holiday season. One study of weight loss over a 50-week period found that some study participants gained 500 percent more weight per week during holiday weeks as compared to non-holiday weeks. But the good news: Participants who consistently monitored and recorded their own behaviours were able to lose weight during the holidays. (Published in Health Psychology, July 1998.) The next suggestion is to remember that your body needs movement more than ever during the holiday season. Exercise releases tension, expends the calories of those holiday goodies, increases your energy levels so you can shop til you drop, elevates your mood so you can combat holiday-related depression and be the life of the party, and gives you the gift of time for yourself. Here are some great ways to fit exercise into the busy fall season: Exercise first thing in the morning before you begin your busy day. Try to plan holiday activities around family and friends, instead of around food. Tell family and friends to bring walking shoes and comfortable clothes to your celebration. Then take a 30-minute walk together. You can do it in shifts so someone's always basting the turkey! Get into a routine now, before the holidays strike! Those who have previously developed a solid exercise habit will make the time to exercise even when they feel like they are too busy to find the time.