Little Princes Essay Example for Free

Little Princes Essay If one were to take a survey and ask people around a single question like, â€Å"How was your day? † â€Å"Good†, can be the most popular answer one would hear in response. One would wonder how many of them, really had a satisfactory day. Many people like to stay comfortable in their daily routine and prefer not to change it. However, one can forget that every day and every second of today counts and leaves a mark for tomorrow. What makes the difference in moments are the ones who make it count. Mary Kay, a successful businessperson classifies people in three different categories: â€Å"Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened. † Connor Grennan, the author and narrator of Little Princes, is a good example of a man making things to happen. In the beginning, the reader meets a less mature and self-centered Grennan. Despite the risk of joining a volunteer program during the country? s civil war, he searches for an adventure different from his routine life. The author? character transition throughout the book encourages readers to become a generation that makes things happen—a generation that expresses love, fuels hope, and dreams of a better tomorrow. Grennan? s attitude about volunteering changed as he faced reality in Nepal. In the beginning, the idea of volunteering seemed a perfect way to begin an adventure. His first thoughts about the volunteer service focused on making himself seem altruistic. With this experience, Grennan says that he â€Å"would squash any potential criticism†; he saw this planned three-month journey as his ticket to balance any other life decisions in the future. 7) Moreover, as we see him immerse in a different culture, Grennan? s strategy of survival urged him to become close to the families and embrace their culture. We see his character change as he expresses every experience from having his first meal based on rice and lentils and without using utensils, to learning a squat position to use the bathroom. Although it was only the beginning, we started to see a character that was willing to confront his barriers and come out of his comfort zone. His challenge arrived when he walked across the gate to the orphanage. Grennan became self-conscious of being well prepared and states that it â€Å"seemed ludicrous† to be a volunteer in the orphanage (Grennan 16). At that moment, he could not think of a skill in him when working with kids â€Å"other than the ability to pick up objects from the floor† (Grennan 16). He decided not to waste time wondering about the fact as he was already there. He compared his situation as if he were in Spain during the running of the bulls. This refers to what he does, must be done without over-thinking and reacting quickly. His first experience at the orphanage changed his assumptions about volunteer work. While Grennan continues to involve himself as a volunteer in Little Princes, we sense his expression of emotions, concerns, and joy with these orphans and the Nepalese community. He feels the pain they go through and takes them to the hospital. Grennan takes the word â€Å"brother† very seriously and behaves like a protective old brother to them. When he discovers the truth about the supposed orphans who are actually trafficked children, Grennan is heartbroken. As their ? older brother? , he is concerned for the kids. Later, he realizes that even the other volunteers have not taken any action to help the children. The readers start to see an emergence of leadership from Grennan. Grennan and his friend found a mother of two orphans; they reunited them to their mother as they planned trips to the town where she was staying. Meanwhile, Grennan found seven more kids living there with this mother and survived in extremely poor conditions. He wanted these seven kids to be in a safer place and there is where his mission began. In his first three-month period, he realizes these kids mean more to him. Grennan mentions, â€Å"If walking into the responsibility of caring for eighteen children was difficult, walking out on that responsibility was almost impossible†(p. 54) the meaning of this responsibility is that he wants the kids to get a better life. He cannot finish his work as a simple volunteer when he knows that these kids have a family. He commits himself to the promise of coming back for the children. Grennan becomes an example to these actions as he starts to look for a safer place for these kids. He knocks on every door for help and even he finds many corrupt situations as he digs into the story. When he finally thinks he has found an organization to rely on, everything becomes bad because Golkka, the trafficker finds about Grennan intentions and takes the kids away. In this situation, we see a character that not only tries but also lives with honor. Though he has failed to keep his promise the first time, he refuses to give up. Like in the beginning, he could have acted quickly and taken a plane back to Nepal but he realizes that this time he needed to plan and have a secure place for the kids. His only choice was to open an organization. Again, Grennan tells us about his lack of skills when he says, â€Å"I had no idea how to start a nonprofit organization† (p. 104). In this passage when Grennan recognizes his weaknesses we can identified to those times that we faced obstacles and fear of not knowing what to do. He sets an example to everyone as he becomes eagerly and attained to complete this mission. After some research and advice from his peers, he was able to start. Grennan mentions how desperate he was and how he could not sleep nor relax because the idea of the kids being in danger stressed him. The idea of rescuing the kids seemed like a dream at the beginning and became a challenge. Besides his mature character, we see a man who now acts selfless as he chooses to give himself to this purpose. It seemed ridiculous to him in the beginning because he thought he could have been spending time with friends and meeting girls. Then, Grennan realized that he is doing something that gives him meaning in his life. In the meantime, he has found real friends that encourage him. Connor Grennan reminds us that extraordinary things happen when we unite. Working together has helped and encouraged Connor to continue his nonprofit organization. He has his friend Farid, and finds other networks of friends that can help him economically and emotionally. During his time at home, Grennan gets attention from the media and manages to become a recognized organization. Thanks to a brave man like Connor Grennan, many kids have new lives. We see a man who is persistent, who constantly plans what his next move is. When he comes back to Nepal, every day he insists to look for the children. As he starts to find them, he feels satisfied and happy for the kids. When hard times come, he has his friend Liz who is now a companion. She gives him messages of hope and love. When he goes to the mountains to go look for the families of the children in Little Princes he gets hurt and in poor conditions to continue. Anyone who reads Little Princes, reflects at this point that Connor gives himself in this mission as he continues regardless of his illness. This part of the book is the most touching one as we experience victory when finding the families. Many of the challenges Grennan faced during this journey, allowed his personality to grow and become a responsible human being. Connor sends a more profound message to the people around him. His message to today’s generation is to start being compassionate about stopping corruption and injustice. Moreover, his message is for the coming generations to treasure every day and the people next to us. If there is something that can be challenging but can make a better person, situation, or society, he encourage us to try and do not give up. Grennan story tells us that one can have the whole world against us but when you know that you are capable of pressing forward or have somebody to believe in you, change can happen.

monkeys :: essays research papers

I like monkeys. The pet store was selling them for 5Â ¢ a piece. I thought that odd since they were normally a couple thousand each. I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. I bought 200. I like monkeys. I took my 200 monkeys home. I have a big car. I let one drive. His name was Sigmund. He was retarded. In fact, none of them were really bright. They kept punching themselves in their genitals. I laughed. Then they punched my genitals. I stopped laughing. I herded them into my room. They didn't adapt very well to their new environment. They would screech, hurl themselves off of the couch at high speeds and slam into the wall.Although humorous at first, the spectacle lost its novelty halfway into its third hour. Two hours later I found out why all the monkeys were so inexpensive: they all died. No apparent reason. They all just sorta' dropped dead. Kinda' like when you buy a goldfish and it dies five hours later. Damn cheap monkeys. I didn't know what to do. There were 200 dead monkeys lying all over my room, on the bed, in the dresser, hanging from my bookcase. It looked like I had 200 throw rugs. I tried to flush one down the toilet. It didn't work. It got stuck. Then I had one dead, wet monkey and 199 dead, dry monkeys. I tried pretending that they were just stuffed animals. That worked for a while, that is until they began to decompose. It started to smell real bad. I had to pee but there was a dead monkey in the toilet and I didn't want to call the plumber. I was embarrassed.I tried to slow down the decomposition by freezing them. Unfortunately there was only enough room for two monkeys at a time so I had to change them every 30 seconds. I also had to eat all the food in the freezer so it didn't all go bad. I tried burning them. Little did I know my bed was flammable. I had to extinguish the fire. Then I had one dead, wet monkey in my toilet, two dead, frozen monkeys in my freezer, and 197 dead, charred monkeys in a pile on my bed. The odor wasn't improving. I beca me agitated at my inability to dispose of my monkeys and to use the bathroom.

Why the Illegalization of Marijuana Was a Corrupt Decision

Why the Illegalization of Marijuana was Corrupt For most of human history marijuana has been legal and has actually only been illegal for 1% of the period of time of which it has been in use. Many people assume that marijuana was made illegal through some kind of process involving scientific, medical, and government hearings, and that it was to protect the citizens from what was determined to be a dangerous drug. However, some of the actual reasons that marijuana was wrongly banned include racism, protection of corporate profits, and corrupt legislators along with illegitimate widespread fear among citizens of the United States.Throughout the 20th century racism towards Hispanics, Negroes, and even Mormons greatly influenced the negative outlook on the use of marijuana. In the early 1900’s, western states developed high tensions towards the increase of Mexican-Americans that took business from small American farmers because they worked for cheaper wages. One â€Å"differenceà ¢â‚¬  that many Americans highlighted during this time was the fact that many Mexicans smoked marijuana and brought the plant with them. However, one of the first state laws outlawing marijuana may have been influenced, not just by Mexicans using the drug, but because of Mormons using it.Mormons who traveled to Mexico in 1910 came back to Salt Lake City with marijuana. The church’s reaction to this may have contributed to the state’s marijuana law. In Texas, a senator said on the floor of the Senate: â€Å"All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff (marijuana) is what makes them crazy. † In the eastern states racism was again one of the charges connected to marijuana. Some newspaper editorials in 1934 stated that: â€Å"Marijuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shoes and look at a white woman twice. During heavy tensions between whites and all minorities, racism made people fear anything that affected the social or der, and as a result many people started to blindly connect marijuana to increases of inappropriate conduct between whites and minorities. Along with rising fears of social disorder, the protection of profits for some major corporations also contributed to the increasing belief that marijuana should be illegalized. Many people across the nation were already losing profits because of Prohibition and didn’t need something else to affect their businesses as well.William Randolf Hearst, the owner of a major newspaper company had many reasons to want marijuana to be banned. First, he had invested heavily in the timber industry to support his newspaper chain and didn’t want to see the development of hemp paper in competition. He also was extremely prejudiced towards Mexicans because he lost nearly 80,000 acres of timberland to Pancho Villa. As a result of this, he told lies about Mexicans and marijuana and how they were causing an increase in violence across the country.This yellow journalism enabled him to sell an extremely high amount of newspapers which made him very wealthy. In one column sold nationwide, Hearst stated: â€Å"Users of marijuana become stimulated as they inhale the drug and are likely to do anything. Most crimes of violence in this section, especially in country districts are laid to users of that drug. † Another corporation, Dupont chemical company, wanted to help Hearst outlaw marijuana for two main reasons. For one, Dupont had patented nylon and wanted hemp removed as competition.Also, people could grow hemp themselves and would therefore not have to buy medication from Dupont and other pharmaceutical companies. These companies fearing marijuana competition led to many results, one being the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. A man named Harry J. Anslinger was an extremely ambitious man and saw the Bureau of Narcotics (a new government agency) as an excellent career opportunity. His main goal was to bring the illegalization of mar ijuana to the federal level. After two years of planning, Anslinger brought his plan before Congress where the only opposition was from Dr.William C. Woodward who argued that Harry Anslinger and the Bureau of Narcotics were distorting earlier AMA statements that had nothing to do with marijuana and making them appear to be AMA endorsement for Anslinger’s view. Committee members then proceeded to attack Dr. Woodward, questioning his motives in opposing the legislation. After this yellow journalism won over medical science and the bill was passed on where on the floor of the House an American Medical Association committee member stated that the association supported the bill 100 percent.Thereafter, on the basis of that lie, on August 2, 1937, marijuana became illegal at the federal level. Roger Roffman, a professor of social work at the University of Washington, asserted in July 2009 that â€Å"approximately 3. 6 million Americans are daily or near daily users. † Peter R euter, a professor at the School of Public Policy and the Department of Criminology at the University of Maryland, College Park, said that â€Å"experimenting with marijuana has long been a normal part of growing up in the U. S. ; about half of the population born since 1960 has tried the drug by age 21. A World Health Organization survey found that the United States is the world’s leading per capita marijuana consumer. The 2007 National Survey on Drug Use & Health prepared by the U. S. Department of Human Health and Services indicates that over 100 million U. S. citizens over the age of 12 have used marijuana. The 2008 survey found that 35 million Americans were willing to tell government representatives that they had used marijuana in the past year. In 2009, according to a Zogby poll and an ABC News/Washington Post poll, between 46% and 56% of US voters would support legalization.While many people support the fact that marijuana is illegal, they are uneducated in the histo ry of the process to ban the drug. Even though it is proven to have negative effects, if taken in moderation, marijuana has been proven to be less harmful than alcohol. This shows that the large majority of the population does not realize that in the end, a narcotic was banned for reasons that only appealed to certain people, and that because of ignorant members of legislation, the bill was passed without truly being studied in depth.This was a stupid mistake by our federal government which was backed by people with personal issues without any direct relation to the drug marijuana. Works Cited * Guither, Pete. â€Å"Why is Marijuana Illegal? â€Å". drugwarrant. com. Retrieved 17 January 2011. * â€Å"Senate†. New York Times (New York City). February 15, 1860. * Gieringer, Dale H. (2006-06-17). â€Å"The Origins of Cannabis Prohibition in California†

Sustainability Planning For Sustainable Policies Essay

Addressing the challenges and opportunities in environmental policy making requires the analyses of various interweaving aspects which at times is almost impossible when utilizing a single tool under any given circumstance. The primary reason for sustainability planning in Forest Management, Wildlife Conservation and Rangeland Management lies in ensuring natural resources serve the present as well as future population. However, it is impossible to convince the population that is being driven by economic needs to abide by sustainable policies without concrete reasons; this brings in the notion of science-based decision making. Just in case a significant portion of the resources have been destroyed before the enforcement of the sustainable policies, a marketing solution would be employed to prevent further destruction as restoration is underway. Finally, a collaborative planning model would be applied to prevent recurrence of the incidences that led to destruction with the aim of conserving what is left by involving a larger crowd in decision-making. In summary, sustainability cannot be attained without the input of scientific research, collaborative management, and marketing solution. The focus of this paper is on Public Lands Management, the attention will be given to the challenges and opportunities that lie within. Therefore, this section will concentrate on the collaborative management tool. It will describe the pro’s and con’s in environmental policy making DavisShow MoreRelatedThe Implementation Gap Between Theory And Practice Of Heritage Planning738 Words   |  3 PagesOverview of Topic: Sustainability is somewhat of a contentious issue within heritage planning. It is widely used, but not always well understood. 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