Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, If I were any better, I would be twins!He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, I dont get it! You cant be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it? Jerry replied, Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. Yeah, right, its not that easy, I protested.Yes it is, Jerry said. Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: Its your choice how you live life.I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, If I were any better, Id be twins. Wanna see my scars?I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door, Jerry replied. Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.Werent you scared? Did you lose consciousness? I asked. Jerry continued, The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, Hes a dead man. I knew I needed to take action.What did you do? I asked.Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me, said Jerry. She asked if I was allergic to anything. Yes, I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply I took a deep breath and yelled, Bullets! Over their laughter, I told them, I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.By Francie Baltazar-SchwartzLet this really sink in- then choose how you start your day tomorrow.

Domestic Violence And Its Effects - 971 Words

â€Å"Domestic violence can happen to anyone, regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender.†(Domestic Violence. U.S.) While signs of physical abuse can be seen if the victim has visible bruises, there are other forms of domestic violence that are often missed or overlooked. Victims often live in fear and sadly many times, they fear the person they love the most. It has been proven that at least three women are killed a day by their significant other due to domestic violence, in most cases, a male is the perpetrator (Catalano). If that does not tell you anything, then I will. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional or financial and many cases may never be reported. All forms of abuse cause extreme stress to the victim that can lead to lifetime difficulties. According to Sexual Violence Victimization, â€Å"Almost one-third of women experience physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime† (7). And over 80% of women have repo rted that they have been verbally abused by their significant other (Shorey, Zucosky, Brasfield, Febres, Cornelius, Sage, and Stuart 289- 296). Roughly 4 million women a year were found to have suffered physical abuse by their boyfriend or husband (Black, Basile, Breiding, Smith, Walters, Merrick, Chen, Stevens). Sexual Assault is another form of domestic violence; over half of the victims that were raped indicated the abuser was a boyfriend or spouse, said in a National Intimate Partner and Sexual ViolenceShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Violence On Domestic Violence1380 Words   |  6 Pagesobject to violence, because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent†, quoted by Mahatma Gandhi. Violence is defined as an unjust or unwarranted exertion of power or force to intentionally injure, damage, or destroy something or someone. Amongst the various types of violence, there is one in particular that has been causing an ongoing debate wi thin societies across the world; this certain type of violence is known as domestic violence. Domestic violence, alsoRead MoreThe Effects of Domestic Violence1831 Words   |  7 PagesDomestic Violence What effects does domestic violence have on the victim and their families? Domestic violence has a tremendous effect on people lives. It is a terrible crime and is happening each day. It is said that every 9 seconds a women is assaulted or beaten. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury in women. This crime is very common and happens to people that you may even know. â€Å"Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive and threatening behaviors that may include physical, emotionalRead MoreDomestic Violence And Its Effects879 Words   |  4 PagesDomestic violence is a violent confrontation between family or household members involving physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm. (Berry, 1998) Often when we think of domestic violence, we think of a man hitting women but there are many forms of abuse; emotional, sexual, physical and verbal abuse. Domestic violence acts can be committed by men or women, against children or adults. In our society, we are seeing more instances of domestic violence from professional athletes, toRead MoreDomestic Violence And Its Effects913 Words   |  4 Pagesbehaviors then you have been in an abusive relationship or if you know someone who is in that type of relationship that person might the abuser or the victim. Domestic Violence is a violent confrontation between family members, a partner (boyfriend- girlfriend, spouses) involving physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm. Domestic Violence is not always physical like everyone think, it is also emotional, economically and coercion and threats. Many people think that when they are been beatingRead MoreDomestic Violence And Its Effects3294 Words   |  14 PagesExecutive Summary As many people know, domestic violence is a criminal act involving victims and offenders who are related to one another. Domestic Violence includes intimidation and simple, aggravated, and sexual assault. What most people may not be aware of is that domestic violence has become a national dilemma, with a crime of this type occurring every 9 seconds. Family members try to ignore what’s happening and neighbors do not want to get involved. The victim is usually helpless to understandRead MoreDomestic Violence And Its Effects2364 Words   |  10 PagesWhat you imagined was domestic violence. The violent and extremely aggressive behavior displayed in your own home. The very place that should be your sanctuary, is turned into hell. According to the NCADV: Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats, and emotionalRead MoreThe Effects Of Domestic Violence On Domestic Abuse1340 Words   |  6 Pagesunderestimated, domestic abuse rips families apart every single day. Domestic violence comes in mainly five different forms, physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, and economic. This violence ruins families, demoralizes the victims, and the public downplays the household terrorism that goes on every day. Generally thought of as taboo, the public belittles and humorizes domestic abuse as a way to deal with it, that avoidance must come to an end. The five forms of domestic violence are economicRead MoreThe Effects Of Violence On Domestic Violence995 Words   |  4 PagesIn many cases of gender violence there is a physical outburst or unwanted exertion of force. Perhaps the most salient issue which is evident through-out history as a root cause to domestic violence is poverty. Women who are unemployed and become an economic burden to their spouses, who become victims of domestic violence. The individuals in Domestic abuse situations, is battered and abuse by an intimate partner or family member. Domestic violence spreads across social class or race, it can happenRead MoreDomestic Violence And Its Effects1023 Words   |  5 PagesDomestic Violence is an outline of behaviors used to create authority and control over another person through fear and pressure, frequently including the threat or use of violence. There are diverse forms of domestic violence that affect men, women and children. This mistreatment happens in various forms that include physical, emotional and mental. This abuse begins as threats, then they worsen to verbal abuse and then it ends in physical violence. You may think that the physical abuse and injuriesRead MoreDomestic Violence And Its Effects1616 Words   |  7 Pages â€Æ' Domestic Violence Domestic violence is a subject that is known about, but most often left behind. At times victims of domestic violence are not even aware that they indeed are victims. It is also common that when one does know about domestic violence, most often it is a woman that is the victim. That is not the case; there are other populations that are effected as well. When people are victims of such acts, they are more likely to develop some type of disorder as well as other issues. Although

The Conveyance of Emotion in the Writing of Zora Neale...

The Conveyance of Emotion in the Writing of Zora Neale Hurston Sharpening Her Oyster Knife: I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it....No, I do not weep at the world -- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. ___Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston kept busy sharpening her oyster knife not to prepare for any violent confrontations with white society but quite the opposite, to extract the raw materials from her own culture†¦show more content†¦Nannys explanation to Janie about her inheritance in life as a young black woman expresses a theme that Hurston returns to again and again in many of her stories, the harsh realities of black womens lives in a racist, sexist society: ...De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see. Nanny tells her that the white man dumps on the black man and he, in turn, dumps on the black woman. Nanny also enlightens Janie to the unpleasant realities of married life for black women-- the domestic and sexual violence, part of their lives that Hurston depicts honestly in her writing. Yet the humor that she employs to depict these painful situations truly does allow the protagonist here, as well as in the short stories and autobiographical writings, to go on fighting -- strong and alive. In Jump at the Sun, John Lowe reveals three ways in which this humor is utilized in Zora Neale Hurstons work: Humor is a way to convey spirit and sense of community. Laughter can be due to a strong point being made in the story. And comedy conceals the cosmic universal truths embedded in the stories (68, 77-78). Several of Hurstons pieces of writing employ these techniques most beautifully; The characters, particularly the female protagonists, are allowed to go on fighting -- sometimes scarred-- but

Into the Dark Free Essays

Into the Dark A tunnel of light paraded across the ceiling of the dark room then widened as the painted wooden door creaked open. A pitch-colored shadow briskly swept across the Invading gleam then without a moments hesitation disappeared Into the swallowing blackness of the small room. A small girl asleep In her princess pink canopy bed was awoken by the loud sound of heavy breathing. We will write a custom essay sample on Into the Dark or any similar topic only for you Order Now The dog like pant sent a furious chill down her spine, slowly streaking throughout her bones Like tiny pins and needles. Her heart pounded with the heavy beat of a base drum. As she looked up her dark eyes filled with fear. She slammed her eyes shut convinced that It was her Imagination and burled her face into her fluffy, soft, cased pillow, determined to shut out the constant nagging of a disembodied voice. Harshly whispering,it said, â€Å"Come with me, come with me Elena,† The voice retreated to the back of her mind. â€Å"l mean you no harm. † She slowly opened her dry mouth to say something but the words wouldn’t come out. â€Å"The clock has almost run out† whispered the snake like voice. â€Å"Just jump off the bed, I’m in your head but I won’t hurt you. â€Å"Yeah right! Yelled Elena, â€Å"l should Just Jump off my bed for no reason! † â€Å"Just jump,† said the now soothing voice of someone else. Elena knew it was a trick but before she could resist she closed her eyes shut and Jumped. Instead of hitting the floor she kept falling. She snapped her eyes open and didn’t quite proces s what she saw. Darkness rushed past her then opened into a new scene. Bright rays of glittering light streamed through the air coming from an unknown source. Dark grey rock pillars protruded from thin air in unruly shapes and formations. Elena didn’t know whether to be scared or in awe of the beauty. Welcome to my world† whispered the voice In a hushed tone â€Å"Oh goody. † said Elena In her most sarcastic voice,’The snake Is back! † Her voice cracked on the last word for she was still in shock. Frustrated about the embarrassing stutter, she tried to run but found herself moving faster than anyone could sprint. She was flying. A robin’s egg blue cloud burst out from behind one of the stone pillars causing Elena to to a double back In shock of TLS brightness and vibrancy. When she looked closer she saw that the cloud was not in fact a weird looking, unusually colored luster of evaporated water, but a giant wave of beautiful blue settlers jays. One bird landed on her. It opened up its mouth. Instead of letting out the beautiful song that she was expecting, it started screeching, â€Å"BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP†. The dark room then widened as the painted wooden door creaked open. A pitch- colored shadow briskly swept across the invading gleam then without a moments hesitation disappeared into the swallowing blackness of the small room. The lights flicked on and her mom said â€Å"Get out of bed you’re going to miss the bus! â€Å" How to cite Into the Dark, Papers

Looking for Ali Brandi Essay- Sanya Dua Essays -

Looking for Ali Brandi Essay- Sanya Dua Malinda Marchetta's Looking for Alibrandi (1992) engages its teenage audience in Josephine's journey to maturation where she endures issues that are still relevant today. Through this the protagonist acknowledges how appearances can be deceiving. Also, she realizes the importance of inherited culture and the complexity of relationships. The text demonstrates that change is an integral part of growing up. Through the experiences of her protagonist Josephine's journey to maturation , Marchetta explores the enduring I dea that appearances don't always equate to reality which connects with the contemporary audience . John Barton appears to be popular', good looking' and possibly have everything in life' but Josephine realises that John faces family pressure and expectations to keep winning' and keep being the best' where the repetition of keep' reinforces the pressure from his family. Yet John reveals that his life is shit' and that he doesn't want to live anymore', a view that sharply juxtaposes with the one he outwardly projects. As Josephine matures she realises that in contrast to the reality of John's situation that she is "the luckiest person in the world' and "felt guilty" for misinterpreting his situation, and exaggerating her own problems. This demonstrates that sometimes keeping up with appearances creates conflict with family members. This can also be seen with Nona who always creates an idealistic image of herself where in reality the truth is completely the opposite as Josephine realises after Christiana's birthday wher e she emotively declares, " You -are-a-liarYou trained us to be respectful so pe ople would think we were perfect." Marchetta e ngages the responders through the complex nature of intercultural relations and the expectations of maintaining inherited culture relevant to a growing multicultural society. I nitially she experiences difficulty reconciling her Italian heritage with Australian values. Josephine is confronted with cultural expectations dictated by her Nonna which negatively affects her potential relationships, as seen through cumulative listing where she dismisses Jacob as a potential partner , '[he's]not going to be a solicitor' and is not Italian'. Her cultural difference is seen again when Jacob says I'v e never gone out with an ethnic girl" to which Josephine replies "don't you dare call me an ethnic girl. This is my country". Josephine struggles within school as she is culturally different, she m ust cope with derogatory labels such as wog' and new Australian' as she tries to find her identity. The protagonist is always pressured by her grandmot her with rules and regulations' such as she will get raped' if she goes out alone and therefore she struggles socially due to these demands her culture and family have as she is not allowed to go out like her friends are. This pressure is further demonstrated when her grandmother states in a sarcastic tone that " she's going to grow up, marry an Australian and her children will eat fish and chips". As she gains confidence and matures Josephine finds a balance between her two cultural influences, " No you can't hate what you're a part of. it will always be a part of me till the day I die". Marchetta explores the complex nature of famil y relationships that can characterize the lives of teenagers. Josephine has a challenging and distant relationship with her father as indicated when she shouts at him in a spiteful tone Only people close to me call me Josie'. Her disappointment and feelings of frustration are inferred from her angry tone " Don't you mock me' or make fun of the way I feel about my mother." The social expectation of emotional connection and care between parent and child is replaced by Josephine's lack of trust and respect for her father as she didactically declares that she doesn't want him near her'. Interestingly Josie is eventually able to reconcile her feelings and her early promise to keep out of' her father's life is later contrasted with he's ultra cool' and I feel like I am Michael ... Andretti's daughter'. Christina has a challenging relationship with her mother founded on the shame she feels about Josie's ill egitimacy this is denoted when Nonna is constantly interfering and criticizing Christina's life reinforcing that she

Practice in Using Quotation Marks Correctly

Practice in Using Quotation Marks Correctly This exercise will give you practice in applying our Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks Effectively (U.S. edition). InstructionsInsert quotation marks wherever they are needed in the sentences below. When youre done, compare your answers with those on page two. For several weeks in 2009, the Black Eyed Peas held the top two spots on the music charts with their songs I Gotta Feeling and Boom Boom Pow.Last week we read A Modest Proposal, an essay by Jonathan Swift.Last week we read A Modest Proposal; this week were reading Shirley Jacksons short story The Lottery.In a famous New Yorker essay in October 1998, Toni Morrison referred to Bill Clinton as our first black president.Bonnie asked, Are you going to the concert without me?Bonnie asked if we were going to the concert without her.In the words of comedian Steve Martin, Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.The indie folk band Deer Tick sang What Kind of Fool Am I?Was it Dylan Thomas who wrote the poem Fern Hill?Uncle Gus said, I heard your mother singing Tutti Frutti out behind the barn at three oclock in the morning.Ive memorized several poems, Jenny said, including The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.All our failures, wrote Iris Murdoch, are ultimately failures in love. Answers to the exercise Practice in Using Quotation Marks Correctly For several weeks in 2009, the Black Eyed Peas held the top two spots on the music charts with their songs â€Å"I Gotta Feeling† and â€Å"Boom Boom Pow.†Last week we read A Modest Proposal, an essay by Jonathan Swift.Last week we read A Modest Proposal; this week were reading Shirley Jacksons short story The Lottery.In a famous New Yorker essay in October 1998, Toni Morrison referred to Bill Clinton as our first black president.Bonnie asked, Are you going to the concert without me?Bonnie asked if we were going to the concert without her. [no quotation marks]In the words of comedian Steve Martin, Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.The indie folk band Deer Tick sang What Kind of Fool Am I?Was it Dylan Thomas who wrote the poem Fern Hill?Uncle Gus said, I heard your mother singing Tutti Frutti out behind the barn at three oclock in the morning.Ive memorized several poems, Jenny said, including The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.All our failures, wrote Iris Murdoch, are ultimately failures in love.

Old School Hack

Old School Hack Old School Hack Old School Hack By Maeve Maddox Before computing added new meanings to the word hack, the meaning I associated most commonly with it was â€Å"a writer who churns out unimaginative writing for hire.† This use of the word hack derives from the horse rental industry. Hack is the shortened form of hackney, a word that entered English from French haquenà ©e, â€Å"a small horse suitable for ordinary riding.† In The Canterbury Tales (c.1368), Chaucer describes the Canon’s Yeoman as riding â€Å"a dapple-gray hackney.† From meaning a type of horse, hackney came to mean a rented horse. Because hired horses were overworked, hackney and hack came to mean any person employed in servile, tedious, and tiring work. As an adjective, hackney meant â€Å"worn out by indiscriminate or vulgar use.† One could speak of â€Å"a hackney proverb† or â€Å"a hackney plot.† In modern English, the adjective with this meaning is hackneyed: His [Dreiser’s] hackneyed and clichà ©d diction occurs frequently when he is not engaged in a form of indirect discourse, as in his description of the New York theatre district. By the 18th century, the noun hackney had been shortened to hack and could mean either â€Å"a hired horse† or â€Å"a hired carriage.† In the United States, hack is still used as a word for taxicab. By the 1770s, hack had taken on the meaning of â€Å"a literary drudge, who hires himself out to do any and every kind of literary work; hence, a poor writer, a mere scribbler.† It is still used with this sense by speakers who grew up before the word became associated with computing: There is hack fiction all over the best seller list so nothing new there. [James] Patterson belongs in his own category, reserved for the hacks committed to hacking every day. [Peter] Brown is a lesser hacker. Journalists have long been referred to as hacks because they must produce daily content on a variety of subjects. The application of the word hack to prolific, high-earning novelists scorned by literary critics has produced a backlash against the pejorative use of the word hack. Writing in The Guardian, David Barnett demands â€Å"Whats wrong with being a hack?† He reminds readers that literary giant Samuel Johnson declared â€Å"No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.† Barnett sees nothing wrong with being â€Å"prolific, inventive, writing for a populist mass-market readership† and making money for it. Attempts to redefine hack as it applies to writers of fiction can only be wasted effort. The word has become too closely associated with computer use and new terminology is growing up to describe a new kind of writing: â€Å"Hacker journalists† are computer programmers who assume roles as journalists in order to affect social change. Unlike the traditional hack writer who writes only for monetary gain, â€Å"hacker journalists† pursue non-monetary rewards and seek personal fulfillment through moral interventionism. - â€Å"Muckraking in the Digital Age: Hacker Journalism and Cyber Activism in Legacy Media,† by Bret Schulte, and Stephanie Schulte, Mediac, The Journal of New Media and Culture, Volume 9, Issue 1) I guess we’ll just have to come up with a new term for â€Å"an unimaginative writer who will write any kind of drivel for money.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Handy Expressions About HandsLoan, Lend, Loaned, LentKn- Words in English