Thanksgiving Rituals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Thanksgiving Rituals - Essay Example One might be inclined to think of it as limited to the holiday that everyone looks forward to as the month of November nears. This event does not occur only in a single day every year. It transpires whenever someone chooses to allow it to. There is an abundance of incidents to feel grateful for and extend appreciation to—from the healing of an illness or the beginning of new life with birth to the occurrence of long awaited paydays or simply waking up the next morning. These are all meaningful instances on the accounts of a person. How are thanksgiving rituals carried out? These do vary from culture, religion, beliefs and other personal influences. There is none other practice of gratitude grander and more elaborate than the Thanksgiving day most commonly observed in the North America or particularly the United States. This event happens every fourth Thursday of the month of November. The typical scenario on this day is a family gathering with an extravagant feast of Turkey an d wine before them. It started out as a tradition of the Native Americans who primarily acquire their food from their harvest planted on their own land. As the Natives reap their produce for the season, they hold a ceremony as a symbol of their gratefulness (Schuh 9). In the modern times, things have evolved for the more magnificent difference from before. Every year, they hold a large parade where people crowd to behold large floats and balloons. It is an event both for the young and old as they marvel at the huge and famous cartoon and children’s book characters such as the famous Mickey Mouse as well as Santa Claus. The people behind this thanksgiving parade have been investing a considerable amount of time and effort for the preparation of the renowned event that leads to the doors of Macy’s (Grippo 9). This is the practice of thanksgiving in the United States. Their festivity and grandiose is a signature all over the world. Moving on across a different region in t he United States of America, the indigenous tribes of the Iroquois have a different ritual for thanksgiving. Their religion and beliefs dictate a different method and period of thanksgiving. There are six occurrences annually based on their own calendar. The purpose of this event is to signify their gratitude and the continuance of the spirits providing the natural resources (Pandian 199). It mostly involves a gathering filled with expressions of gratitude and welcome. This is for the purpose of the continuance of the prosperity of their land and the crops that grow in it as well as the life that thrives in it (Roeber 186). The Chinese also have a colorful celebration distinct from those of the American people. It is composed of three phases and called inoko for the locals. This is a festival to commemorate the successful harvest and takes place every year. They first present fruits to the spirits they believe in and then perform the reaping of their crops. The last stage is the rit es of thanksgiving where every person regardless of social standing is signified (Hendry 21). The act of harvest itself is their way of celebrating their appreciation. This bears close similarities to the Japanese method of giving thanks or expressing of gratitude. The sole difference being that their traditional ceremonies are repeated for four times annually (Hendry 21). The modern way of celebrating Thanksgiving in China is called Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival after its timing. It has a considerable popularity all over the world because of their uniquely lavish way of celebrating their prosperous years bearing crops. Instead of the Americans way of feasting with

My brothers cried Essay Example for Free

My brothers cried Essay Originally is a poem set upon the main themes of growing up. By looking at the poem in depth, I have come to a conclusion that Carol Ann Duffy is the persona who is writing with a childs perspective as when she was a child. In verse one, The poet creates a sense of noise and chaos by saying how each member of her family are making noise and moving. Mother singing My brothers cried both of these quotes contribute to the feeling of noise and chaos. Two metaphors, which are found in the poem by Carol Ann Duffy, could be fell through the fields miles rushed back. They show that they were in the countryside. It also shows that they are using some form of transport, which may be train or car. I assumed by reading the poem that the reader was a young girl, and when she is sitting down where on the journey, it feels like you are stationary so it feels as if everything is rushing towards yourself. This demonstrates the Childs prospective. On the last line of the first verse, the metaphor shows that the young girl is looking at one of her toys, which maybe a bear with button eyes, and as she has grown up a fraction more than she was, she may now understand that toys do not have feelings, and they are only buttons as the eyes so they cannot really see things. She makes us feel like a child is commenting here because when youre at such a young age, you think that toys really do live on their own world and they have the same senses as us. I. e. touch, taste, feel, hear, pain etc. I think that the whole poem focuses mainly on sudden interruptions because from each paragraph is a different age section of her life. You can also see by the poem that as each paragraph develops, the way it is written and the style of wording develops, as if the child is becoming increasingly mature and adult-like. The Childs vulnerability is shown in verse two by using such words as big boys eating worms and shouting words you didnt understand perhaps this is hinting that maybe the big boys who were eating worms were swearing or saying words which she was too young to have come across. The last word in verse two is italicised because the narrator (who is a daughter) is speaking and it also shows that she is missing where she used to live as a child. In verse three, the child is less vulnerable now she has settled in because she is now used to everything. But then you forget this shows that now the narrator has lived for quite a few years, she tends to forget her past easier. The narrator now speaks in a comforted tone and gives away the idea of being a lot more worried about life in general as compared to when she was younger and slightly unsure about moving. Now that she has fitted in well, she now understands how it feels like to be part of their community. The change is compared to the shedding of a snakes skin. They are compared with each other because it is in conjunction with her voice changing i. e. maybe she has changed language or they use a different accent. Or simply her voice could have just changed with age. Now that she is used to the changes, she feels as if she has completely lost her old voice I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space This could potentially be a good or bad thing but we assume it is for good because she prefers being accepted and fitting in when she didnt think she would ever. The person created in the poem, we could comfortably say that it is a girl, even though no evidence backs up this statement. I assume by reading between the lines that she is around the age of 8-12 because on the journey, she sees thing not as clearly as adults do. My voice in the classroom sounding just like the rest This also shows that she is a school pupil so she must be fairly young. The setting in the poem is created by the feelings shown by the young girl. Fell through the fields This shows that they used to live in the country side, but they moved to a rural area where flats and estates can be found Pebble-dashed estates So maybe the girl is unsure of the area when she realises that where she is moving to is a lot more busy and lively. The use of 3 verses is a very good idea for several reasons. For one, it defines the maturing of her age, which is put across using methods such as different tones of voice, and more complex metaphors and sentences. The whole poem could be mapped out as journey. The first verse demonstrates the beginning of her life and when the family move. Second verse indicating the actual journey, and the becoming older stage, whilst trying to get used to moving. With the last verse when she has settled in her new area, and it has a quote on the last line which demonstrates her socialising with her friends, and seems to have fitted in really well.

Hitlers Foreign Policy :: essays research papers fc

Assignment: Give an account of Hitler’s foreign policy, using the following headings: (A) Defiance of the Versailles Treaty (B) Relations with Italy (C) Territorial Expansion Defiance of the Versailles Treaty After the First World War, Germany signed a peace treaty with France and Britain. Among the 440 Articles were: * Germany lost Posen, the Polish Corridor and part of Upper Silesia to Poland. * Germany lost the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia * Germany lost Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium * Germany lost North Schleswig to Denmark * Germany lost Alsace Lorraine to France * Germany lost all its overseas colonies * Saarland was under LN control and after 15 years the people could vote if they wanted to belong to Germany or France * The Rhineland was to be demilitarised * The army was reduced to 100,000 * Germany could have no submarines, no airforce and no heavy artillery * Germany had to pay major Reparations. In percentages: Germany lost 10% of its land, 100% of its colonies, 12.5% of its population 16% of its coal fields and 50% of its iron and steel industry. The main terms of the Versailles treaty Hitler (like most Germans) hated the Versailles Treaty and he didn’t want to follow the rules made by it. In fact, step by step he broke the laws. The first step he took was to increase the German army. Germany was only allowed to have an army of 100,000 men, no airforce, no tanks and no submarines. But in an interview with the Daily Mail on March 9, 1935, Goering revealed that there was a German airforce. One weak later Germany also announced that it had an army of 500,000 men. France and England didn’t even object to this. In 1936 Germany signed a treaty with England saying that Germany was allowed a navy one third the size of the British navy. Germany was rearming fast. It wasn’t hard thanks to the good economic growth. But the rearmament was so expensive that in 1936 it was clear that Germany was soon to go into an economic crisis if nothing was done. There wasn’t a better time to test the Versailles Treaty because the international situation was very fortunate to Hitler. Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia proved that the League of Nation (LN) was worthless. It also focussed Anglo-French diplomacy on Italy. After some years, Italy became weak because of the economic sanctions from Britain and France and the public opinion in France and Britain was still very anti-war.

Crash Movie Essay Essay

One must never judge or discriminate a person based on their physical attributes. Prejudice and discrimination directed against someone of a different race is known as racism. It is evident in the movie â€Å"Crash† directed by Paul Haggis, that people misconceive others due to judgement on their physical traits. Throughout the movie, the characters living in Los Angeles face the challenges of fitting in a town populated by people of different colours. The offenders are the â€Å"white† people whereas the victims are everyone else. The presence of racism is the main cause of every conflict that occurs in the movie. The majority of the racism involved in the movie is towards the negro population. They are perceived as thugs, thieves and murderers. In the beginning of the movie, two black friends, Anthony and Peter, are walking in a strictly â€Å"white† neighbourhood feeling discriminated as they chat amongst themselves, being racist towards white people. They mention how they are seen from a white person’s point of view and at that moment, Jean Cabot and her husband walk towards their car. The two pull out their guns and aim at their heads, taking away their vehicle. The two boys are dressed in baggy sweaters, displaying a thuggish style, which provokes Jean’s judgement on them. Anthony has cornrows and Peter is wearing a toque, as they walk with â€Å"swag†. Later on, Jean snaps at her husband and mentions how she was already aware that the two black friends were going to steal their car 10 seconds before it actually happened, based on their physical appearance. Racism towards black people is also highlighted through the character of Officer John Ryan. As Ryan is driving, he is told on the radio, that a car has been stolen, Jean Cabot’s car, and another car of the same model is driving ahead of Ryan. Knowing that the vehicle in front of him isn’t the stolen car, Ryan makes the driver, a black man, pull over and he molests his wife, leaving them humiliated, which creates a drift in the married couple’s relationship. Cameron, the black driver that was pulled over by Officer Ryan, remains quiet while his wife is being touched by the officer because he is afraid. If he speaks up, not only will he put in jail but he will also be humiliated if his colleagues find out. Racism isn’t only towards the black population of the town, it is demonstrated in many other ethnicities as well. Jean Cabot is a woman who believes her race, white, is superior than any other race including black and hispanic. Jean is also very rude towards her maid Maria, and she gets angry at her over the littlest things. She is also convinced that mexicans are gangsters so, when Daniel is changing the locks at her house, she demands that they get redone the next day, fearing that Daniel will sell a copy of her house keys to one of his gangster friends. Farhad, a persian man with a strong accent, is also humiliated by a gun store owner when he’s trying to buy a gun. The victims of racism realize that the behaviour towards them is unfair so they find ways to stand up for themselves. Cameron, with his marriage life a stake, snaps at police officers when he is pulled over once again. Officer Tom Hansen saves Cameron’s life otherwise, the other police officers would’ve shot him. Cameron was once mistreated which shook his family life and created a gap between him and his wife therefore, he didn’t want the white people to take control of his life. Daniel, who was always mistaken for a gangster was finally fed up with it. As he was fixing the locks of Farhad’s store, Farhad calls him a cheater because he thought Daniel didn’t do his job. Daniel doesn’t take the money from Farhad and leaves, having done his job properly, yet Farhad believes that Daniel is a liar. Not only do the victims stand up for themselves but the offenders also realize the grave mistake they were making by judging people based on their looks. Officer Ryan sees an accident and as a police officer, it is his job to rescue the injured people. When he goes to save the person in the car, he sees that it’s Cameron’s wife, the woman he molested earlier. She doesn’t want him touching her because he is the cause of her marital problems. After rescuing her, almost sacrificing his own life, he realizes that he was wrong about mistreating her earlier. Jean Cabot, the egotistical woman, falls down a flight of stairs, spraining her ankle and Maria, her maid she mistreated, helps her and takes her to the hospital. Jean, a lonely woman with fake friends, then realizes that the only person who’s true to you is the person who stands by you in the hard times, not the good times. She hugs Maria and tells her that she is her best friend. Throughout the entire movie, the only person who hadn’t discriminated anyone based on physical appearance was officer Tom Hansen. After watching Officer Ryan molest Christine, Cameron’s wife, he no longer wants to work with Ryan. He transfers to a different officer because he couldn’t take the racism Ryan had towards the citizens. Peter, asking for a lift, gets a ride from Hansen off the road. At first, Hansen notices Peter’s dirty shoes and torn sweater. In the car, Hansen is playing country music and Peter admits to liking country music but due to his appearance, Hansen doesn’t believe him. Usually people dressed like Peter enjoy rap or hip hop style. Frustrated Peter remarks a little statue on Hansen’s dashboard, similar to the one he has in his pocket. Peter then starts laughing and Hansen starts worrying and continuously asking Peter what he is laughing about. Peter doesn’t tell Hansen so, he pulls over and asks him to leave his car. Peter, trying to convince Hansen, reaches for his pocket to show the statue and tell him what he is laughing about but Hansen fears that Peter may be pulling out a gun to shoot at him. As Peter takes the statue out of his pocket, Hansen pulls the trigger and kills Peter. It is ironic because Hansen, the person who doesn’t judge anyone throughout the entire film, is the one who kills someone based on their physical appearance. Peter was the only person who died in the movie. Peter’s death was not a mistake. Hansen intended to kill Peter but only because of the way he was presenting himself and the way he was dressed. Anyone could’ve been mistaken but Hansen, amongst all the other characters, was least likely. Racism was one of the main themes that Paul Haggis was trying to show the viewers. Throughout the movie we see how citizens are discriminated, classified and generalized based on their physical traits. We also see how different cultures try to make other cultures inferior to them. Racism also shows a person’s tolerance and how they cope with difficult stages in life and what it takes to make them lose all their patience. People also reach a certain limit of disrespecting others and what triggers their conscience to finally be aware of the way they have mistreated the people around them is also evident in the movie. Racism is an issue that has been going on in the world for over a hundred years and it still exists today. In order to break the cycle of racism, we must seek into ourselves and think before discriminating others because someday, we can also be discriminated. Our world is filled with different cultures, people and colours, but at the end of the day, we are all human.

Consciousness mind Essay

The Psyche, is a culmination of how we interpret the world, all our psychological nature. It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey. The psyches are different paths to knowledge but have the same ending, personal ideas, experiences, emotions, as well as the collective unconscious. Conscious is the only part to the mind that is known directly by the individual, thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting. This is how we grow our consciousness; the attitudes of extroversion and introversion determine how we orient our conscious mind. Individuation, or knowing oneself as completely as possible is how we produce and develop our ego. The Ego acts as the gatekeeper, it determines what perceptions thoughts feeling and memories will enter consciousness. Its what we select to make conscious. The organizational of how we operate. The personal unconscious is the idea of information that we file away in our mind. Its there, but we’re not focusing on it at the moment; it’s below the surface, the storehouse of repressed psychic material Complexes lie in our personal unconscious. They are groups of contents that clump together to form a cluster or constellation. They are separate little personalities within the total personality. They are autonomous, possessing their own driving force, and can be very powerful in controlling our thoughts and behaviors. The collective unconscious is the portion of the psyche, which can be differentiated from the personal unconscious by the fact that its existence is not dependent upon personal experience, composed of contents that were once conscious, but the contents of the collective unconscious have never been conscious within the life time of the individual. Ex: Mans fear of snakes or the dark. Does not learn these fears through experiences with snakes or the dark, although such experiences may reinforce or reaffirm his predispositions. We inherit predispositions to fear snakes and the dark because our primitive ancestors experienced these fears for countless generations. They become engraved upon the brain. Archetypes lie in the collective unconscious, models of our ancestry, it is the endless repetition that has engraved these experiences into our psychic constitution, not in the forms of images filled with content, but at first only as forms without content, representing merely the possibility of a certain type of perception and action. They are universal; everyone inherits the same basic archetypal images. The persona, to take a characteristic that isn’t your own. The persona is the mask or facade one exhibits publicly, with the intention of presenting a favorable impression so that society will accept him. It is necessary for survival, it enables us to get along with people, even those we dislike, in an amicable manner. The anima/animus is the â€Å"outward face† of the psyche because it is that face which the world sees. The â€Å"inward face† he called the anima in males and animus in females. The anima archetype is the feminine side of the male psyche; the animus archetype is the masculine side of the female psyche. Everyone has qualities of the opposite sex. The shadow, is primal and animalistic, it lives in the unconscious. It is projected on the opposite sex and is responsible for the quality of the relationships between the sexes. It is persistent and does not yield easily to suppression. Ex: farmer to poet, burying the idea of being a poet, but an even may trigger that desire. The bigger the personality the bigger the shadow. The self is the organizing principle of the personality. It is the central archetype in the collective unconscious. It harmonizes all the archetypes and their manifestations in complexes and consciousness. It unites the personality, giving it a sense of oneness and firmness. The psyche: a relatively closed system must be dealt with as a unitary system within itself, apart from any other energy system. It is derived from the things we touch, see, smell, taste, feel, or hear. These are the continuous source of stimulation by which the psyche is fed. The psychic energy is the energy by which the work of the personality is performed. Also called the libido, the natural state of appetite, manifested consciously as striving desiring, and willing. Its expresses itself through perceiving, remembering, thinking, feeling, wishing, willing, attending, and striving. It originates from the experiences that a person has. Psychic values, a value is a measure of the amount of energy that is committed to a particular psychic element. When placing a high value on an idea or feeling it can exert a considerable force in influencing one’s behavior. For instance, one who puts a high value on beauty will put forth large amounts of energy to surrounding oneself with beautiful things. This reminded me of my sister in law, whom is obsessed with very beautiful and very expensive things in life. She devotes her time and hard earned money to the material things in life. One might say she’s trying to keep up with the Jones’. She would say she like beautiful and expensive things. Direct observation and deduction, is a complex that does not always exhibit its characteristics in conscious behavior. Ex: The person who says, â€Å"I can’t stand gossips† may be the one who gossips most. Complex indicators are any disturbance of behavior may be indicative of a complex. Ex: when a man calls his wife by his mother’s name, it suggests that his mother complex has assimilated his wife to it. The repressed memory is assumed which has some connection with an unconscious complex so that the memory is swallowed up by it. Emotional Reactions, is the underlying complex. Intuition is the natural and spontaneous capacity every man has to perceive the slightest emotional fluctuation in others. The Principle of Equivalence if the amount of energy cosigned to a given psychic element decreases or disappears, that amount of energy is lost from the psyche; it is simply transferred from one position to another. The principle of Entropy is the direction in which energy flows is conceptualized in physics by the second law of thermodynamics. This principle states, in effect, that when two bodies of different temperatures are placed in contact, heat will pass from the hotter to the colder body until the temp of the two bodies is equalized. Progression and regression, Progression is defined as a person’s daily experiences, which advance his psychological adaptation. One’s progression is a continuous process since his environment and experiences change continuously, which then adaptation is never completely achieved. Regression is the backward movement of libido. Through the collision and interactions of the opposites, they steadily become deprived of their energy. It subtracts energy from psychic elements whereas progression adds energy to psychic elements. Individuation Jung understood individuation to be something that began in the second half of life, when individuals reach the zenith of their lives and suddenly find themselves facing an unknown vista or some unforeseen upheaval. Sometimes this turning point takes the form of a crisis: such as a financial failure, a health problem, a broken relationship, or a change of residence or profession – something which upsets the status quo. Sometimes this experience assumes the form of a profound self-doubt, a loss of meaning or religious conviction, a questioning of everything previously held so dear. Sometimes it presents itself as a deep yearning or a call to change direction. In essence, one could say that the unconscious, or more specifically, the Self (with a capital â€Å"S†), the central organizing archetype in the human psyche, which has seemingly hidden the greatest measure of its influence while the ego has been busy building a life for itself, suddenly the Self returns full force to claim a significant say, if not a central place, in the overall scheme of things. And for what purpose? To call a person to become â€Å"a psychological ‘in-dividual,’† â€Å"a separate, indivisible unity or whole. † Those personal aspects, which have heretofore been disregarded – be they interests, talents, characteristics, experiences, or issues – now come forth to be acknowledged. That which was fragmented now strives for unity. That which was broken now yearns for wholeness. That which was neglected now seeks expression. That which was previously formless in nature suddenly begins to take a new shape, strangely in keeping with what feels like a unique and deeply ingrained individual patterning. The center of the personality moves from the ego toward the Self, in an attempt to establish a new center of the psyche somewhere between the two. There is something in the human psyche, which in its own fullness of time, struggles to produce the â€Å"true personality. † The individuation is an autonomous, inborn process, which means that it does not require external stimulation in order to come into existence. The personality of an individuation is destined to individuate just as surely as the body is destined to grow. But just as the body needs proper food and exercise for healthy growth, so the personality needs proper experiences and education for healthy individuation. For example in the early stages of childhood, of infancy personalities of the child are a reflection of the parent’s personalities, meaning that the child does not carry his own identity. But when the child separates himself from the parents, as in he starts attending school. He will then start shaping his own personality in unique ways apart from the parents. Three facts about Carl Jung. Jung was an introverted child and found happiness in being quiet and being alone. When he was a child he played by himself, since his sister was not born until he was nine. He spent hours inventing and playing games, then abandoning them to devise new and more complex ones. He did not want anyone to disturb him o tot interfere while he played. Jung had religious conflicts throughout his adolescence. Questions concerning religion were taboo. It produced confusion in jungs’ mind but it was the barrier that made communication with his father virtually impossible. He searched unsuccessfully through books for answers to his questions. Religious discussions with his father invariably ended unsatisfactorily, often with fuss and hard feelings. Jungs father died and made his financial situation worse. This left him responsible for the support of his mother and sister. Some of his relatives urged jung to discontinue his studies and seek employment, fortunately, one unclc offered financial assistance to take care of the family and the other relatives loaned jung money to continue at the university.

Investment Utilization Essays

Investment Utilization Essays Investment Utilization Essay Investment Utilization Essay Profit margin is a good ratio to look at to compare companys profitability in a similar industry. To completely consider return on investment one would need take into account both the companys total investment (assets or liabilities shareholder equity) and its to sales and income. As shown in the above chart, Best Buy and Radio Shack were close in 1999 and 2000, but Radio Shack lost ground in 2001. Circuit City has just been behind the entire period. Best Buy has been involved with many acquisitions and has been aggressively expanding. Best Buy is a clear winner with this type of profit margin in an expansion. Once this stage of expansion is complete shareholders should be pleased with the results (and market share prices). Earnings per share shows how well a company performs on a per share basis. Best Buy has steadily increased its earnings per share probably due to its increasing expansion and even more increasing sales. Circuit City and Radio Shack have been loosing market share from Best Buy and the EPS shows it. The 2001 value would be even higher if the acquisitions were not included. Best Buys stellar EPS performance show why their stock price is much higher than it s competition. The following ratios, Days Receivable, Days Inventory, and Inventory Turnover give investors and idea of how quickly inventory is sold and money for them is collected. The Days Receivable ratio measures the average collection period for goods sold. A low Days Receivable ratio indicates that there is a short period or time between when a customer picks up his or her goods and the time the seller actually receives payment for the sale. A longer Days Receivable period might indicate that a company is subject to higher bad debt risk. In many cases an aging schedule should be created to account for these. For instance we see that Best Buy Days Receivables ratios are short, whereas Radio Shack Circuit City are longer and should be more concerned with bad debt. The other possibility is that Circuit City and Radio Shack have customers who take advantage of paying by credit. Similar to Days Receivable, Days Inventory indicates how many days a company has money tied up in inventory. The shorter the period, the more a company can use the money for other aspects of the business. Both Circuit City and Best Buys Days Inventory are very short compared to Radio Shack. With both of those indicating that Best Buys Inventory is quickly sold and paid, it is no surprise that Best Buys Inventory Turnover ratio is high. Inventory Turnover measures how fast items move through the company. For Best Buy, the high turnover shows that Best Buy either buys just enough merchandise to sell to customers, or that customers are buying inventory quickly off the shelf. These three ratios indicate that Best Buy is a strong company and the consumer favors them. The current ratio is a measure of a companys ability to pay its short-term debt. Since Best Buy is expanding they have been using more of their liquid funds in that effort. Radio Shacks Current Ratio is high compared to the others. Either they are not investing enough, or plan on pleasing shareholders with large dividends. Best Buys number is very close to 1 (1. 08 to be exact). They should investigate before the company has a negative working capital. Financial Condition The Debt/Equity Ratio (or Debt Ratio) measures how much money a company should safely be able to borrow over long periods of time. This number indicates how much a company is leveraged. Best Buy has a low long-term debit equity ratio and a low current ratio. Together that indicates financial weakness. Of course both Circuit City and Best Buy are in expansion so much of the money is tied up in Liabilities. Radio Shack is in excellent financial condition with the high (probably too high) debt/equity ratio. With Radio Shack having lots of liquidity (as seen from the current ratio) and financial strength it could use the leverage to invest and expand. Once Circuit City and Best Buy slow their expansions, these numbers will rise and with continued success regain financial strength.

Personal Response Essay

Personal Response Essay Personal Response Essay In the article, The Price of Happiness: Advertising and Image by The Center for the Study of Commercialism, states that advertisements are influencing what we perceive as valid roles for ourselves in our society. I agree with the statement, because I feel that the images that advertisements present affect the way people perceive normality and desirability. The article also states the concern of the relationship between the images presented in ads and our sense of self. This concern, in my opinion, should be taken seriously, because of the amount of unnecessary suffering of eating disorders, low self-image, and low self-esteem of Americans. The article also states that ads tend to present women and girls in limited roles focusing on their bodies, clothes, homes and the need to attract males. I agree that this is concerning because there are many valid roles for women such as in the workplace as professionals, leaders, law-makers, and business owners. Ads that tend to focus on an Anglo view only also provide a narrow view of the many different and unique images of beauty that are recognized as valid by society. Ads that promote only a very thin body type are presenting an unrealistic image to women that can create an obsession with looking like the women in the ads. I think it is important to present women and girls of all shapes, sizes and colors as beautiful because then women will have more realistic views of beauty and will be more satisfied with their self as unique and beautiful as well. Males as well are shown flawless, but with a limited view of masculinity and attitude. The limited images emphasize men as having power, physical strength, confidence, and dominance. I believe that the images may cause boys and men to think of natural human traits such as sensitivity, vulnerability, and compassion, as something regular males don’t have. As stated in the article, actors in ads tend to be handsome and athletic, which isn’t sensible. Those males who don’t have flawless complexions, athletic abilities, and don’t feel cool and confident may suffer when they watch these