The paradox of omnipotence, and Mackie`s solution Essay Example for Free

The paradox of omnipotence, and Mackie`s solution Essay Omnipotence is inexhaustible, unlimited power. The attribute of omnipotence (being all powerful) is generally a quality of the God of monotheistic religions. There exists an argument, however, that the concept of an omnipotent being is paradoxical, meaning that it is logically impossible that an omnipotent being can exist. One of the more well-known renderings of this paradox goes: Can God create a rock that would be too heavy for him to lift? What this question is asking is essentially â€Å"can God can create something that he cannot subsequently control? This question presents a dilemma. If the answer is yes (because God can do anything, after all), it would mean that he is not actually omnipotent, for how could there exist something that an omnipotent being cannot control? If the answer is no (because how could God not be able to lift a stone—he’s supposed to be all-powerful), then he is not actually omnipotent, because here is something he cannot do after all (he cannot create something that he cannot control). Thus, with either answer, the conclusion is that God is not omnipotent. In his answer to this problem, John L. Mackie says that if an omnipotent being creates an uncontrollable thing, then controlling this thing would mean controlling an â€Å"omnipotently-made-uncontrollable† thing, which is logically impossible. Thus even the omnipotent being will not be able to control it, and his failure to control it would actually be an affirmation rather than a refutation of the his omnipotence. Rigid designator and non-rigid designators The concept of rigid and non-rigid designators is somewhat akin to the concept of proper nouns and common nouns. A rigid designator is a term in philosophy that â€Å"designates [or defines] the same object in all possible worlds in which that object exists and never designates anything else† (LaPorte, 2006). Inversely, a non-rigid (or flaccid) designator is a term that does not refer to the same object in all possible worlds. For example, the sentence â€Å"Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon† contains both a rigid designator (Neil Armstorng) and a non-rigid designator (first man on the moon). If events had been different, Neil Armstrong might not have been the first man on the moon, but Neil Armstrong (not just as a name, but as it refers to the man himself) will always be who he is.

Theories of Growth and Debt

Theories of Growth and Debt Basically in economic literature we learn two ways in which a country can grow its economy. It can be growth which has been brought about by innovations in the process of competition, which can well be described by the dynamic completion model (Ellig, 2001). On the other hand according to Solow (1956) neoclassical model economic growth can be achieved by an expansion in the amount of investment. According to this model a country will attain economic growth if it increases its savings and investments. This automatically implies that for the least developed countries to grow economically they need to implement policies that support greater savings that will then increase investment and hence growth. To finance its activities a country has a number of options of raising the funds. It can make use of the internal sources such as taxes and fees or it can borrow if the internal source is not enough to finance the budget deficit. According to Adegbite, E et al (2008) the Dual Gap theory is a better explanation of the reason for opting for external finance as opposed to domestic financing in financing the sustainable development. According to the theory in developing countries the level of domestic savings is not sufficient to finance the needed investment to ensure economic development; since investment is a function of savings it is logical to require the use of complementary external goods and services. However, the relationship between domestic savings and foreign funds gives a guide as to how a country can borrow abroad (ibid). Also since most of LDCs are far from their steady state growth any investment injection could lead then to have accelerated economic growth. The country should borrow abroad if it is anticipated that the return on the borrowed funds will be higher than the cost, therefore we do expect a country to invest in projects having expected returns higher than the cost of foreign debt. Since if not used wisely, debt can amount to impeding the long term growth prospect of the country. External debt does not transform automatically into debt burden when a country optimally make use of the fund. According to Adegbite et al (2008) in an optimal condition, the marginal return on investment is greater than or equal to the cost of borrowing, in this case debt will show a positive impact on growth. According to the neoclassical growth theory, debt has a positive direct effect on economic growth. This is because the amount borrowed if used optimally it is anticipated to increase investment. On the other hand the indirect effect of debts is its effect on investment. The transmission mechanism through which the debt affects growth is its reduction on the resources available for investment by debt servicing. According to debt overhang hypothesis, a certain level of external debt has a direct positive effect to economic growth until a certain point where by an additional debt will have a negative effect to growth. The Debt Overhang Theory According to Krugman (1988), the debt overhang theory shows that if there is some likelihood that in the future debt will be larger than the countrys repayment ability; expected debt-service costs will discourage further domestic and foreign investment because the expected rate of return from the productive investment projects will be very low to support the economy as the significant portion of any subsequent economic progress will accrue to the creditor country. This eventually will further reduce both domestic and foreign investments and hence downsizes economic growth (Krugman, 1988, Sachs, 1989a). Claessens and Diwan (1990) argue that debt overhang is a situation in which the illiquidity effect, the disincentive effect, or both effects are strong enough to discourage growth in the absence of concessions by creditors. This is a narrow definition of the debt overhang where the impact of a high external debt that is linked to the tax disincentives argument, where any success in indebted countrys economic performance is taxed away by creditors and ultimately little is left over for domestic investment and subsequent growth (Hjertholm, 2001). According to Were, M (2001) debt overhang is much wider in that the effects of debt do not only affect investment in physical capital but any activity that involves incurring costs up-front for the sake of increased output in the future. Such activities include investment in human capital (in terms of education and health) and in technology acquisition whose effects on growth may be even stronger over time. As stressed out by Agenor and Montiel (1996), the approach to external debt is motivated by several observations. Most of which policy-oriented discussion of the debt problem were centered on the question of whether the debt crisis was one of solvency or of liquidity problem. Differentiating the two terms we can see that, liquidity problem is the inability of a country to service its debts as they fall due. That means lack of liquidity occurs when a county does not have enough cash on hand to pay current obligations. On the other hand, solvency issue relates to whether the value of a countrys liabilities exceeds the ability to pay at any time; a country is insolvent when it is incapable of servicing its debt in the long run (Ajayi, 1991). Taking this into consideration, we observe that, most of least developed countries were solvent and still they are solvent. As pointed out by Kletzer (1988), the present value of the most of least developed countries prospective resources which were measured by discounted value of the real outflows was way far larger than the debt obligations they have. In answering the question as to why the indebted poor countries had a problem of illiquidity, Jonse G. Leta (2002) in his research on external debt and economic growth in Ethiopia pointed out that although the indebted poor countries have been able to pay i.e. solvent, the willingness to pay decline for a variety of reasons. Among many factors there are domestic and external factors that responsible for this outcome of crisis. The domestic factors often cited include wrong macroeconomic policies such as fiscal irresponsibility and exchange rate misalignment, policies that deter savings such as negative real interest rates, which in turn reduce investment and encourage capital flight and financing long-run projects with short-term credits. External factors include oil shocks, deterioration in the terms of trade and rising foreign interest rates. Essentially the higher the stock of debt to the country, the higher is the current sacrifice for the sake of the future growth. The theory of debt overhang is well explained by the hypothesis of Debt Laffer curve which relates the magnitude of countrys debt and the value of repayment. According to Freytag, A et al (2008) the NPV of the debt repayments increases with stock of debt up to a certain threshold point beyond which a higher face value of the debt will be associated with lower efforts and investments, lower economic growth and lower NPV of expected debt service. According to Clements, B et al (2005) high levels of debt can depress economic growth in low-income countries, external debt slows growth only after its face value reaches a threshold level estimated to be about 50 percent of GDP (or, in net present value terms, 20-25 percent of GDP). Debt overhang depresses growth by increasing private investors uncertainty about governmental action taken to meet the debt service obligations. These include increase in money supply that causes inflation, distortion of future tax policies (Clements et al, 2005). Therefore the debt overhang problem is linked to the transfer of resources from capital scarce to capital surplus countries. The debt Laffer curve argument (which was apparently introduced by Jefrrey Sachs) is derived from the tax laffer curve hypothesis introduced by Arthur Laffer (1981), who argues that if personal tax rates were raised, they generate a dreadful impact on government tax revenue. The reason is that high tax rates either simply discourages investment or leads to tax evasion. Figure 1 presents the Debt Laffer Curve of external debt, expected payments and amortizations. If the stock of external debt is small, such that from the origin to point A, then it is expected that the debtor country will be able to meet the forthcoming debt repayment in full without a problem. Under this situation the marginal expected debt repayment with relation to the debt stock is one. However, after this point the expected debt repayment expands at a lower rate in relation to the debt accumulation. A country under this level of debt stock is expected to have some difficulties in meeting the debt repayment; this can be seen from the marginal expected debt repayment of between 0 and 1 exclusive. The risk of inability to service the debt increases with the increase in debt stock. The risk may vary from country to country according to the level of their debts interest rate. At point B, the expected debt repayment reaches its maximum saturated point and then starts falling, at this point and beyond the marginal impact of debt is negative. A country under this situation is totally unable to service the debts and most of the time declared to be in debt crisis. On extending the debt laffer curve to show the contribution of external debt on economic growth on a country we can have figure 2 below. This shows the non linear relationship of external debt and economic growth as supported by Pattillo, C. et al (2002).. A reasonable level of external debt actually has a positive impact on economic growth while excessive debt stock is destructive. As debt stock increases with time growth decreases and it can sometimes reaches a negative level of economic growth. Combining the two figures we have figure 3. Here we can see that as debt increases, creditors expectations of being paid are distorted. From the figure it is easily seen that when the expected payment of the debt increases proportionally less than the debt stock, the distortions are such that extra amounts of debt start decelerating the GDP growth rate. Moreover, if the debt accumulation achieves higher levels such that the debtor starts diminishing or failing to make its regular amortizations, any extra debt increment will be translated into negative contributions to the GDP growth rate. Claessens et al, (1996) stressed out that, the other channels through which the service of a large amount of external debt obligations can affect economic performance include the crowding out effect, the lack of access to international financial markets and the effects of the stock of debt on the general level of uncertainty in the economy. The crowding out effect occurs when there is a reduction in the current debt service that lead to an increase in current investment for any given level of future indebtedness (Cohen, 1993). If a greater portion of export revenue is used to service external debt, very little is available for investment and growth. Claessens et al (1996) also argues that where foreign assistance is related to the debt and debt service of indebted poor countries, the effects of a debt overhang on economic performance is a more complex question. Debt servicing difficulties lead to a deterioration of relations with creditors, thus reducing the amount of finance indebted poor countries can access (Khan and Villaneuva, 1991). Theoretical Consideration of Impact of Debt Relief From the literature on debt overhang and its effects on growth it is evident that debt relief might have a stimulating effect on investment and economic growth. Since debt overhang exist when a country exceeds its repayment ability, it can be suggested that, expected debt service is an increasing function of countrys output level (Krugmanv1988; Sachs 1989). Therefore in presence of debt overhang, the greater percentage of benefits of an increased output brought about the debt accrues to the creditor while all the costs incurred accrue to the indebted country. The incentive mechanism suggests that, in the presence of debt overhang high debt reduces both public and private investment. In the case of public investment, the incentive to investment is discouraged when a large percentage of the return on the debt accrues to the creditor (Johansson 2010). According to Helpman (1989) the disincentive to private investment occur when a high future debt service acts as implicit tax because more will have to be raised out of the tax to help finance the debt obligations. In this situation projects with quick return will be preferred to long term because there will be high uncertainty on government actions and its policies in meeting the debt obligations (Servà ¨n 1997). High level debt increase governments disincentive to carry out reforms. As supported by Corden (1998) and Johansson (2010) that high level of debt makes economic reforms less advantageous and slows down growth because in the presence of debt overhang the growth-enhancing reforms intensify the pressure to repay foreign creditors than fuelling the growth and improving social services. Therefore when a country suffers from debt overhang, debt relief has the potential to improve economic efficiency. This can be possible by reducing the debt stock; the reduction will then spill-over its effects and reduce the debt overhang. This will then prevent the disincentive suggested. Cohen (1993) suggested that, debt service payments crowd out investments in areas such as education, health and infrastructure development which are direct as well as indirect impact on economic growth. To help in facilitating growth debt relief frees resources which were tied up in debt servicing enabling government to reallocate the freed resources to more productive areas. Looking into resource mechanism in detail it is evident that not just debt relief might bring about the growth due to the freed resources but other factors such as the magnitude of the relief or forgiveness, government investment decisions of the freed resources, revenue collection, new borrowing, and aids have impact on growth. As supported by Cassimon et al (2008) that since the creditors give debt relief to countries facing repayment difficulties, the resource mechanism might not create a greater fiscal space to help investment. The impact of debt relief or forgiveness on growth might be limited due to moral hazard or adverse selection (Johansson, 2010). This is because with the idea that the debt will be forgiven or relieved in future, borrowers will be encourage to take up excessive amounts of new loans, expecting that it will be forgiven when the country is in repayment difficulties (Easterly, 2002). This will push countries to rise up new loans even if there are no productive investment opportunities. In adverse selection case, creditors give relief to countries which face payment difficulties and not the ones that are willing and able to increase their investment. A country in this situation might be faced by factors such as profligate government, political instability or interest group polarization reflecting the high discounting toward the future (Easterly, 2002). He pointed out further, for the debt relief to have a positive impact on growth, good institution and governance is inevitable. This was also supported by Robinson, (2001) and Subramanian, Trebbi, (2004) because countries with better institutions and government invest more in physical and human capital and make efficient use of the resources to achieve higher growth. In absence of good institutions and governance the freed resources would not translate to productive investments. Empirical Literature Review Debt overhang, investment and Growth Milton Iyoha (1999) used macroeconometric model to facilitate the simulation of the impact of external debt in economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. With the use of simultaneous equation models for output and investment demand he was able to conclude that, there is a significant debt overhang and crowding out effect in Sub-Saharan Africa. In other words, the large stock of external debt and heavy debt service payments had a depressing effect on investment in SSA. He went further in simulating the implications of the debt reduction packages on economic growth. Upon simulating at different debt stock reduction levels he found that the hypothesized debt reductions assumed would increase investment and to a lesser extent the GDP on subsequent period. Simulations showed that a 50% debt stock reduction would have raised per capita gross domestic investment by over 40%, and increased GDP growth by over 3%, on average, during the 1987-1994 period. Chowdhury (1994) used a structural simultaneous equation model built to capture the interrelationship between public and private external debt, capital accumulation and production function. The models were constructed basing on the inter-relationship between the variables that is, some of the variables have characteristic of both independent and dependent nature. Using the Granger causality test on the data set for indebted developing countries in Asia and Pacific, Chowdhury showed that, the Bulow-Rogoff (1990) proposition that the external debt of the developing countries is a symptom rather than a cause of economic slowdown is rejected. Also he further found that, the Dornbusch-Krugman proposition that external debt leads to economic slowdown is rejected. But a feedback-type relationship is not rejected for two countries. The estimated results indicate that the overall effects of the public and private external debts on GNP are small and of an opposite sign, where as an increase in the GNP level raises substantially the public and private external debts. He argued that the positive estimates of the indirect effects of the public external debt on GNP obtained indicate that the capital flight generated by tax rise expectations is smaller than the contribution of public borrowing in financing investment in capital stock. Moreover, the direct and hence the full effects of the public external debt on GNP are positive and substantially large. An increase of 1% in the public external debt is likely to directly and indirectly raise the GNP level by 0.240% in the Asia Pacific countries. However, the adverse indirect effects of the external debt on GNP through lowering private investment and the overall level of capital stock are large in absolute value and substantially exceed the direct effect. Thus, the full effects of the private external debt on GNP are negative; a 1% increase in the private external debt is likely to reduce the GNP level by 0.033% during the time of study. In his estimates also, the effect of GNP on capital stock is indirectly amplified by the positive effect of the public external debt on capital stock. The overall effect of GNP on capital accumulation is positive. The marginal product of capital is also positive and there is diminishing marginal productivity of capital. Since aggregating of data across countries imposes and identical structure on all country although sometimes there are greater differences between the studied countries. Therefore it is necessary to consider the case of each developing country separately so as to study the characters deeply and suggest policies specific for that country. It is under this consideration that the study will be conducted specifically to Tanzania to explore specific characters of the relationship between external debt and economic growth and thereafter answer the key question on debt relief and its impact on growth in Tanzania. Odegbite, E et al (2008) used two models to capture both linear and nonlinear relationship of external debt in economic growth in the study on the impact of Nigerias external debt on economic development. Based on the modification of Elibadawi, Ndulu and Ndungu (1997) model Odegbite investigated the impact of large external debt stock with its servicing requirements and resulting fiscal deficit on private investment. Analysis showed that the influence of export growth on GDP growth was confirmed with a significant statistics. This has supported what Edwards (1998) claimed on the positive role of export growth process by increasing factor productivity in Nigeria. Due to the existence of debt overhang and crowding out effect result shows that savings compresses output. It was evidenced that, a unit increase in debt burden as measured by the debt service to GDP ratio generates 185 units growth. However the shortcoming of the model used is it considers the public sector gap only and igno res the BOP, it also takes government expenditures and revenue, interest rate and exchange rate as given. Barfour, O (1995), in his study on Ghana, argued that debt repayment inevitably imposes constraints on a debtor countrys growth prospective since it involves the transfer of resources to other countries. Therefore, in order to adequately appreciate the problem of indebtedness, it  is essential to relate the debt with its repayments of some income resources generated by the debtor out of which the repayments could be made. Elbadawi et al. (1997) also confirmed a debt overhang effect on economic growth using cross-section regression for 99 developing countries covering SSA, Latin America, Asia and Middle East. Three direct channels in which indebtedness in SSA works against growth was identified, this include the current debt inflows as a ratio of GDP (which stimulate growth), past debt accumulation (capturing debt overhang) and debt service ratio. The indirect channel works through the impacts it has on the other channels on public sector expenditures. Empirical study shows that direct nonlinear effects of debt on growth was presented in a fixed and random effects panel estimates of a growth regression in which debt to GDP enters both in linear and quadratic form. The results imply growth maximizing debt to GDP ratio of 97 percent, which is quite high considering the average debt to GDP ratio of 70 percent Pattillo, C (2002) By linking debt and growth problem to capital flight in a relatively simple model, Calvo (1998) urged that, high debt is associated with low growth since a higher distortionary tax burden on capital is required to service the debt, leading to a lower rate of return on capital, lower investment and growth. Low debt regimes have high growth for the opposite reasons. In intermediate ranges of debt, however, the effect on growth is indeterminate. The mechanism behind the possibility of multiple equilibria is a reverse causation from growth to the tax burden: if the economy grows more slowly, then the tax rate necessary to obtain enough resources to repay a given debt will have to be higher and vice versa Pattillo, C (2002). Taking in to account the direct as well as the feedback effect of debt in his analysis of the impact of foreign debt on growth in Tanzania Mjema (1996) used simultaneous equation models. In his results he proposed that the impact of the debt service ratio on real growth in GDP is negative. However the effect of external debt found to be positive as it facilitates the growth although the negative force is greater and therefore outweigh the positive effect of debt. Amoating and Amoaku-Adu (1996) urged if a greater proportion of export revenue were used to service external debt, then little foreign exchange would be available for investment and growth. This shows an inverse relationship between debt servicing and investment and growth (Gedefa, J. 2002) A number of other studies have found the existence of debt overhang and crowing out effect in SSA when studying the relationship between debt vis a vis economic growth, investment, capital flight just to mention a few. However, most of the studies are mainly based on data across countries in disregard to each countrys uniqueness. While the findings are quite revealing, there is need for case-by-case in depth studies in view of each countrys unique characteristics. Debt Relief On reviewing a two decades of debt relief Easterly, W (2002) conducted a study aiming at answering the key question as to why did HIPCs became very indebted. Using a sample of 41 HIPCs as classified by IMF and World Bank, he found that despite their poor policies, HIPCs received more than other LDCs. He found that between 1989 1997 a total of US$ 33 billion were forgiven while their respective borrowing was US$41 billion, this shows a close association that the debt relief will be met with an equivalent amount of new borrowing. Upon running the regression for the 40 HIPCs with complete data he found a statistically significant association between average debt relief as a percentage of GDP and new net borrowing as percentage of GDP, one percentage point of GDP higher debt forgiveness translated into 0.34% of GDP new net borrowing. Going further in his analysis Easterly showed that, the average levels of current account deficits, budget deficits, real valuation and other policy indicators were worse for most HIPCs. HIPCs also were worse on the broad measure of policy which includes not only a rating of policy stance but also the institutional quality like the prevalence of corruption. One of explanation of the HIPCs heavily indebtedness is they suffered adverse terms of trade shocks, and wars which destroy countries productive assets. The findings imply that the substantial reduction in external debt projected for the countries participating in the HIPC Initiative would directly add 0.8-1.1 percent to their per capita GDP growth rates. Indeed, the positive effects of debt relief may already be reflected in some of the healthier growth rates achieved by these countries in the past few years relative to their poor performance in the 1990s. (Annual GDP growth averaged 1.2 percent in 2000-02, compared with 0.2 percent during the 1990s.) Clements, B et al (2005). BIBLIOGRAPHY Amoating, K. and Amoaku-Adu, B. (1996), Economic Growth, Export and External Debt causality: The Case of African Countries, Applied Economics, 28, pp 21-27 Barfour. O. (1995), Ghana: The Burden of Debt Service Payment Under Structural Adjustment, African Economic Research Consortium Research Papers, No 8, English press Limited, Kenya. Bulow, J. and Rogoff, K. (1990), Cleaning up Third World Debt Without Getting Taken to the Cleaners, The Journal of Economic Perspective, 4(1), 31-42 Chowdhury Khorshed (1994), A Structural Analysis of External Debt and Economic Growth: Some Evidence of From Selected Countries in Asia and Pacific, Applied Economic, 26 (12). Claessens, S. and Diwan, I. (1990), Investment incentives: New Money, Debt Relief, and the Critical Role of Conditionality in Debt Crisis, The World Bank Economic Review, 4(1). Iyoha, M. A. (1999), External Debt and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan African countries: An Econometric study, African Economic Research Consortium Research Papers No 90, English press Limited, Kenya Mjema, G. D. (1996), The Impact of Foreign Debt Servicing in the Economy of Tanzania: A Simultaneous equation approach, African Journal of Economic Policy, 3(1).

Mel Gibsons The Passion of the Christ Essay -- Reflective The Passion

The Passion of the Christ - The Pathetic Appeal of the Death of Jesus In February 2004, one day after the release of The Passion of the Christ, my girlfriend and I took our seats in the crowded theatre. I came into the night prepared to watch the death of Jesus Christ. However, I had no idea that I would actually be watching the death of Jesus Christ. For ten or more years prior to this night, I had always been told that Jesus had died on a cross for my sins. My parents, my Sunday school teachers, my friends’ parents, and my extended family had, at some time in my youth, told me the story of Jesus from the Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). From the moment I matured enough to understand these stories, I had believed Jesus â€Å"died and rose again† just for me. I took this belief and put it in my dresser drawer so that I could return to use it again in my adult life. As we all know, things do not happen the way we plan. The lights in the theatre faded into a nervous darkness, and scripture, from the Bible that I knew so well, lit up the screen. â€Å"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities . . . Isaiah 53:5.† This was no surprise to me. I had been taught this all my life. Jesus died for me. The movie progressed with Jesus being arrested and sentenced to death. Then, I was punched in the gut with a new perspective of this story. The Roman guards stripped Jesus of his clothes and whipped him several times in an extremely bloody and intense scene. This man’s flesh was ripped off his back and flung into the crowd. It was absolutely disgusting, but it was absolutely effective. Up until this point, Jesus had just been a dignified man who had saved me from my sins. Now he was a beaten and broken man who suffered the most excruciating pain to save me from my sins. I never had a visual image in my mind that showed me what Jesus had gone through for me until this movie. And even though it is just a movie, it painted a picture for me that changed my views about Jesus Christ. He wasn’t the guy in my dresser drawer anymore; he was my Savior. This change of view spawned from the use of rhetoric. The pathetic appeals that the director, Mel Gibson, used were very effective. The images he created on the screen led many people to tears. Almost everyone turned their head away in as... ...something that is wrong. This fear can be a good thing when it comes to talking with other people about their religions, but it can also be a bad thing because it’s harder to trust the most trustworthy people. Discovering rhetoric this semester has changed my view that I can believe the claims of those people I trust. Now I have to convince myself that these people I trust are not trying to lead me astray even if they are using a rhetorical appeal. Most of them probably don’t even know they are using rhetorical appeals. I am not yet sure if I like this revision of myself. It has definitely proved helpful when reading texts for other classes because it separates learning from believing. I can learn something and not necessarily believe it unless I think it’s the truth, as opposed to believing everything I learn like I have done in the past. However, this new understanding of rhetoric has caused me to question everyone. Eventually, something will come along and convince me that questioning everyone is a good thing or an evil thing. One of these opposing views will dominate the other one, but until then, I will have to wait for the appeals of rhetoric to lead me to what is â€Å"right.†

Moving Around as a Child Essay example -- Personal Narratives Courage

Moving Around as a Child So far in my life I have moved eight times and been to twelve different schools. I’m not talking about just moving houses. I’m talking about eight times, packing all of my things and moving to a whole different state. In all this I have learned the most important quality that anyone needs to get through all of the hardships and changes in moving. That quality is courage. Courage is as stated in The New International Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language to be â€Å"the capacity to meet danger or difficulty with firmness.† In my mind courage has always meant doing what you had to do, and dealing with it because you had to. I never had a choice in my life whether I wanted to move to a different city or not. I just would get told one day that I had about a month before I had to pack up all of my things, say goodbye to all of my friends, say goodbye to my school, and leave everything I had know for the last year or so and move to a whole different place that I didn’t know. For a young child this can be hard. I learned early on, that I was suppost to â€Å"stay strong,† as my father always said. He would tell me that I had to be courageous, and a trooper through all of this and that it would be a new adventure. That’s how I looked at it, as another challenge to face. Courage has to be found deep within you. It isn’t always easy to find, as I have learned from experience, and every time a hardship or a difficult situation comes up yo...

The Relationship of Drug-Trafficking and Terrorism in the United States Of America :: Essays Papers

The Relationship of Drug-Trafficking and Terrorism in the United States Of America It’s so Important for Americans to know that the traffic of drugs finances the work of terror, sustaining terrorists, that terrorists use drug profits to fund their cells to commit acts of murder. If you quit drugs you join the fight against terror in America. - President George W. Bush Upon recently watching a movie titled â€Å"Blow,† I found myself asking how something like such could be related to the embassy bombing events and others, like the bombing of the World Trade Centers, and I quickly discovered that there are thousands of ways in which this is possible. In fact it is relevant enough that the past two Presidents (Clinton/Bush Jr.) have drawn up plans to stop it and it appears that America has an opportunity to tackle two rather large problems in one fight, killing two birds with one stone per say. The only question left too answer would be what sacrifices will the citizens of America be forced to make? Where will the line be drawn in the security and privacy of citizens. How much are you willing to give up to lower your chances of being the recipient of a terrorist attack? (Drug Enforcement Agency hosts symposium on topic) â€Å"The links between terrorism and narcotrafficking are real and growing, according to current and former U.S. officials who participated in a special symposium December 4 at the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Hosted by the DEA Museum & Visitors Center, ‘Target America: Traffickers, Terrorists and Your Kids’ brought together government officials with the private-sector experts in an effort to educate the American public about what DEA Administrator Asa Hutchingson called the ‘extraordinary link between drugs and terrorism.’ The symposium was part of an effort by the Association of Former federal Narcotics Agents (AFFNA) to develop a museum exhibit and educational program that will explore this theme. In remarks opening the symposium, Hutchinson said there is ‘a strong case to be made that drug trafficking proceeds are being funneled to terrorists organizations,’ such as the Taliban, the FARC group in Colombia and Islamic Jihad. ‘It is clear the bin Laden’s terrorism has been protected by a regime funded by opium trafficking,’ he added. U.S. Representative Mark Souder (Republican, Indiana) told symposium participants that the interrelationship between drugs and terrorism is not new.

Censorship in Literature Essay

The works of J.D. Salinger, Harper Lee, and John Steinbeck are recognized as classic literature masterpieces that have been read by young students across the nation. Books such as the Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and many more have all been banned from schools at one point since being published (Top). The banning of books in schools is considered as censorship. There has been much controversy concerning the offensiveness of the profanity, racial comments, and sexual content these books are said to have. You would expect that readers nowadays be used to these types of elements in the books they read, but many school administrators still continue to censor specific books in hopes of keeping their students away from bad influences. To Kill a Mockingbird, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Huckleberry Finn have all been challenged since the 1970’s because of the racial comments made throughout the books. The Catcher in the Rye, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Red Pony are just a few examples of books that have been challenged because the sexual content these books contain (Censored). If one were to read one of these books nowadays, it would be because a teacher had assigned the book to the student as a reading assignment. Would a teacher demand his students to read the first one hundred pages of a book if they thought the book had vulgar language and disturbing sexual content in it? It is understandable why a school would forbid its students to read books with adult content in it in the early to mid 1900’s because of the sensitive subjects the authors were writing about. Racist language was offensive to all races. The sexual content exhibited by the author in his books was offensive to the people that consider that the sexuality of a person is to remain clean and pure. Now in the 21st century, sensitive subjects such as racism, sexuality and even profanity are the least bit of a readers worries. Our opinions on what should be censored in literature have changed since the 20th century. The reasons for censorship in literature have expanded from racism and profanity to religion and witchcraft as the years have passed. Bless me, Ultima by Rodulfo Anaya, and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling have been banned because it is said that these modern books promote witchcraft, which is beyond offensive to many religions (Banned). In our current generation, all people worry about is how books will harm our religion and way of living. Racism and profanity is not much of a worry because most of our society has grown past racism and has grown used to the fact that profanity is something we encounter everyday. So, why are some of the most popular classic novels still banned from some schools across the nation? It is believe that although our society has matured in the past century, schools still have some sort of policy which states that â€Å"books must be age appropriate and related to [the] school curriculum† (Coatney). Many schools believe that buy censoring literature they are preventing kids from being exposed to adult content, but in reality, what schools believe that specific books should be rated â€Å"R† are really rated â€Å"PG-13† to the minds of their students. Although schools and parents support the idea of censoring books because of their adult content, they do not realize that rather than protecting them, they are keeping them away from what can be valuable lessons. Books such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can contribute to the lesson that racism was never fair to begin with. By reading The Catcher in the Rye, the youth can learn that there is more to life than just violence and sex. Students can truly learn from the books that have been censored throughout these many years because â€Å"high school students are evolving and learning to formulate their own opinions in life†, regardless of the amount of vulgar language, sexual content, and violence that is in the books they choose to read (Censorship). However, there should be limits to how much adult and offensive content there is in books. For example Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf is a book that encourages racism and violence while other books only promote the importance of goodness by exposing the bad. Books such as that are the type of books that can do some harm to the youth of our society. Also, there are some books in present day that should be censored because of their sexual content. Fifty Shades of Grey, written by E.L. James is, for example, too outspoken for the young readers of today. The sexual content in The Catcher in the Rye would be considered to be nothing compared to the work of E.L. James. Although every book cannot be kept away from each student, the books that are labeled as too explicit should at least be the ones to be banned from schools. Censorship has played a large role in literature ever since authors have experimented with the types of stories they can create by using different types of adult content to get their lesson across. Many classic literatures that have been taught in schools for many years have been censored many times since the first time they were published, but people still find a way to make a positive lesson out of those books regardless of the content demonstrated by the author of the book. It is possible that one day books will not need to be censored because of how exposed our future generations will be due to what is exhibited out in the real world for everyday people to see. Works Cited â€Å"Banned & Challenged Books.† Good Reads. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2013. â€Å"CENSORED BOOKS IN THE USA.† Bulletin 43 over Censored Books in the USA. Office for Intellectual Freedom, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2013. â€Å"Censorship: The Negative Effects Parents Don’t Know About.† Yahoo! Contributor Network. N.p., 11 May 2009. Web. 21 Jan. 2013. Coatney, Sharon. â€Å"Banned Books: A School Librarian’s Perspective.† Time.com. N.p., 22 Sept. 2000. Web. 20 Jan. 2013. â€Å"Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009.† American Library Association. N.p., n.d. Web.18 Jan. 2013.

Martin Buber and The Way of Man Essay

Martin Buber is today’s one of the most important representatives of the human spirit. He was born in Vienna in 1878, studied philosophy and the history of art at the University of Vienna and of Berlin. In 1916 he founded Der Jude, a periodical which he edited until 1924 and which became under his guidance the leading organ of the German-speaking Jewry. Professor Buber has written widely in the fields of philosophy, education, philosophy of religion, community, sociology, psychology, art, Biblical interpretation, Judaism, Hasidism, and Zionism. Buber’s works best known in America include I and Thou, the classical statement of his philosophy of dialogue, Between Man and Man, Eclipse of God, The Tales of the Hasidism and the way of man The way of man is a book by martin Buber which would seem to be simple but a person who read it through and think they have understood it fully, when in fact they have discovered only one or two dimensions of its message. Everything that is in I and Thou is also implicit in The Way of Man, but it is in there in a much more compressed form. I and Thou is compact too, but The Way of Man is much more compact, yet still rich and pregnant with meaning. It almost demands that you read it again and again, its meanings are hidden in between the lines, so people who are meditative in reading could understand the meanings of the book and the wisdom in that little book. And if The Way of Man is short, deceptively simple and heavy with meaning, the recurring dream that frequently came to Buber is even more so. His description of this dream is only one page long, but for those who have a good understanding of how dreams sometimes speak the deeper language of the heart and spirit, this dream is a rich and powerful one indeed. And the fact that it recurred to Buber several times is itself significant. Recurrent dreams are often, according to Carl Jung, our soul’s (or God’s? ) attempt to tell us something extremely important about our deepest well-being, and they have to recur because we are so resistant to hearing whatever the message is that they are trying to teach us. So Buber saw this dream as a particularly significant one. The Influence of Hasidism in The Way of Man Although his existence as a modern Western man has made it impossible for Buber to become a Hasid, it is to Hasidism, more than to any other single source that he has gone for his image of what modem man can and ought to become. For Hasidism, as for Buber’s philosophy of dialogue, one cannot love God unless one loves his fellow man, and for this love to be real it must be love of each particular man in his created uniqueness and it must take place for its own sake and not for the sake of any reward, even the salvation or perfection of one’s soul. Hasidism is a mysticism which hallows community and everyday life rather than withdraws from it, rejecting asceticism and the denial of the life of the senses in favor of the joy that can transform and re-direct the â€Å"alien thoughts,† or fantasies, that distract man from the love of God. According to Buber Despair, to Hasidism, is worse even than sin, for it leads one to believe oneself in the power of sin and hence to give in to it. One must overcome the pride that leads one to compare himself with others, but he must not forget that in himself, as in all men, is a unique value which must be realized if the world is to be brought to perfection. Everyone must have two pockets, said one Hasidic master. In his right pocket he must keep the words, for my sake was the world created, and in his left, I am dust and ashes. Hasidism stresses simple piety and fervor more than intellectual subtlety or the attempt to schematize heavenly mysteries. As every lock has its key which fits it, so every mystery has the meditation that opens it, said a great Hasidic teacher. â€Å"But God loves the thief who breaks the lock opens: I mean the man who breaks his heart for God. According to Hasidism, the very qualities which make us what we constitute our special approach to God and our potential use for Him. There is nothing so crass or base that it cannot become material for hallowing. The profane, for Hasidism, is only a designation for the not yet hallowed. Hallowing transforms the evil urges by confronting them with holiness and making them responsible toward what is holy. It is not in our inward devotion alone or in Freudian sublimation which uses the relation to the outer as a means to inner change, but in essential, mutual relations with others that we are able to serve God with our fear, anger, love, and sexual desire. What God asks of man is that he become humanly holy, i. e. , becomes holy as man, in the measure and in the manner of man. The Relationship of God and Man God asks us questions that He already knows the answer to so as to call us to examine ourselves. This is based on the belief that we are capable of knowing who and what we are by self-examination. The chief did not what to be called to examine himself because he was afraid of what he might find out. Each human being is unique, should seek to discover, then be himself and do what he ought to do in service to God. The way to reach God is revealed when a person comes to understand who and what he or she is in their own individuality in recognition of that absolute which create and stirs those inner desires so leading that person to that absolute, which is God, by being what he or she ought be as God intends. Heart-Searching the Way of Man: Man and Man Relationship The task of man, of every man, according to Hasidic teaching, is to affirm for god’s sake the world and himself and by this very means to transform both. There is a demonic question, a spurious question, which apes God’s question, the question of Truth. Its characteristic is that it does not stop at: ‘Where art thou? , but continues: From where you have got to, there is no way out. This is the wrong kind of heart-searching, which does not prompt man to turn and put him on the way, but, by representing turning as hopeless, drives him to a point where it appears to have become entirely impossible and man can go on living only by demonic pride, the pride of perversity. Every single man is a new thing in the world, and is called upon to fulfill his particularity in this world. Thus the way by which a man can reach God is revealed to him only through the knowledge of his own being, the knowledge of his essential quality and inclination. A man may only detach himself from nature in order to revert to it again and, in hallowed contact with it, find his way to God. Any natural act, if followed, leads to God, and nature needs man for what no angel can perform on it, namely, its following. But just this perspective, in which a man sees himself only individual contrasted with other individuals, and a genuine person, whose transformation helps towards the transformation of the world, co rains the fundamental error which Hasidic teaching denounces. The essential thing is to begin with oneself, and at this moment a man has nothing in the world to care about than this beginning. Any other attitude would distract him from what he is about to begin, weakening his initiative, and thus frustrate the entire bold undertaking. ‘Our sages say: Seek peace i your own place. You cannot find peace anywhere saves in your own self. When a man has made peace within himself, he will be able to make peace in the whole world. Human Beings as Treasures In their true essence, the two worlds are one. The goal here is integration. As Buber stated earlier, it is man’s work to hallow creation, and here in section 6 to draw God into the world since God wants to come into the world through man. So the theme of The Way of Man comes together, integration. My life is a gift so any ‘treasure’ I have is not of my own making. I have a wonderful wife, two beautiful children, and my health, live in freedom, and have a good job and financial stability. Any of these wonderful gifts could be taken from me at any time, so I must be careful as to what I put my trust in and what I value as my ‘treasure. To have any lasting, ultimate value I must store up treasures that are imperishable and of eternal significance. My relationships and the priorities I place on them will be of eternal significance, which the most important relationship being with God. It is when I put my relationship with God first that all my other relationships begin to be what they ought to be. As somebody think of their marriage and their relationship with God functions like a triangle, the closer you both draw to God, the closer you will draw to each other. ’ So ‘treasuring’ the eternal has earthly value as well. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. †(Matthew 6:19-21) I would say this means God gives man freewill; He is a perfect gentleman who will not enter where He is not invited, but will gladly enter where He is. Body and Soul as Conflicting Entities There is a conflict between body and soul where the person is not ‘all of one piece. When one aspect attempts to lord over the other or tries to bring the other into submission, this is what is referred to as patchwork since there is disunity in the person. Resolution occurs when the core of the soul, the divine force is allowed to bind the conflicting desires of body and soul to act in concert as it is intended to be. When the desires of both body and soul are unified in purpose and action, in absence of conflict, a person is being what he or she ought to be. In order to make peace with the world you must first be at peace with yourself. Often times we preach hardest against that which we struggle with ourselves. In previous years in struggled with atheism so Buber gravitated toward atheists seeking debate and argument because I myself wanted answers; doubt is very disintegrating. A couple of years ago he struggled with the issue of free-will, despite the fact that he despises the implications of determinism Buber listened to and studied prominent Calvinists. He is not comfortable with only listening to what he wants to hear because Buber views that as a form a self-brainwashing. As it is mentioned The way of man brings about and rather learns through conflict and antithesis. Relationship to God and Man Leads to Development Human beings are basically social beings who mingle each other for their daily needs and livelihood. Buber has given more importance to the relationship to god and man where one becomes authentically human by fulfilling their existential nature. Both these relations are essential for a human being for his personal development as well as the development of the society. In a society where the individuals nourish their behavior and character through firm relations, obviously the society also would flourish in all the dimensions. According to Buber, if person could nourish the relation with God and is not able to contact with human beings his life will be a failure and vice versa. But as far as the new age is concerned, we are becoming more self-oriented in character and in nature. Often time’s human beings relate with God and man in order to gain something, or to secure their lives in this world. Our culture has changed from the rich traditions, where people lived in harmony with each other, helped each other, obviously that was an ‘other oriented’ era. Once there were villages where cultures had grown, people lived in faith and relations sprout like the tree in the river side. But nowadays there are concrete villages where people live in broken relations, fake faiths and comforting life styles. Here Buber’s thoughts are revolutionary to change the heart of the people. The way of man could bring about a paradigm shift in people, where only through healthy relationship human develops their behavior and character. Thus the philosophy of development could be a fruit of the relations with God and the fellow beings. Conclusion Most systems of belief the believer considers that the can achieve a perfect relationship to God by renouncing the world of the senses and overcoming his own natural being. Not so the Hasid. Certainly, cleaving unto God is to him the highest aim of the human person, but to achieve it he is not required to abandon the external and internal reality of earthly being, but to affirm it in its true, God oriented essence and thus so to transform it that he can offer it up to God. Hasidism is no pantheism. It teaches the absolute transcendence of God, but as combined with his conditioned immanence. The world is an irradiation of God, but as it is endowed with an independence of existence and striving, it is apt, always and everywhere, to form a crust around itself. Thus, a divine spark lives in everything and being, but each such spark is enclosed by an isolating shell. Only man can liberate it and re-join it with the Origin: by holding holy converse with the thing and using it in a holy manner, that is, so that his intention in doing so remains directed towards God’s transcendence. Thus the divine immanence emerges from the exile of the shells. But also in man, in every man, is a force divine. And in man far more than in all other beings it can pervert itself can be misused by himself. This happens if he, Instead of directing it towards its origin, allows it to run direction less and seize at everything that offers itself to it; instead of following passion, he makes it evil. But here, too, a way to redemption is open: he who with the entire force of his being turns to God, lifts at this his point of the universe the divine immanence out of its debasement, which he has caused. The task of man, of every man, according to Hasidic teaching, is to affirm for God’s sake the world and himself and by this very means to transform both.