The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Essay Example for Free

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Essay The book â€Å"The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin† is a decisively written personal story of the one of the most famous Presidents in the US history – Benjamin Franklin. The book is very intimate as the author tells the story of his childhood and his way to future values and beliefs. It is necessary to agree with Franklin’s idea that people should always strive for self-improvement and self-perfection. Therefore, Franklin decided to develop effective communication skills and meaningful techniques of conduct. He seems to be the person to follow. During the years of American Revolution Benjamin Franklin showed himself as an ardent proponent of political and economic independence of the country. Actually, he had all the makings to become a clever President. The autobiography is very rich because Franklin was also one of the Founding Fathers and American ambassador to France. I liked the idea he told about printing trade and â€Å"Poor Richard’s Almanac†. Franklin allowed people to share his fears and hopes to make country powerful and independent. Furthermore, his humility for his country and citizens is to be admired. When reading the book is becomes clear that Franklin is interested in the reading habits of people. Moreover, he notes that such people are provided with poetic souls. He admired this quality in people the most. Apparently, Franklin’s though is marked bys strong pragmatic tendencies because he is less concerned with ideals, rather with functions and work. Such pragmatism results a list of core virtues and values making the book striking and impressive. Nevertheless, Franklin is considered practical men and all those virtues are practical as well. He argues if idea is simple it is easily applied. Franklin wasn’t interested in abstract morality. The mentioned above humility belongs to the list of his virtues. And I agree with him that humility is important for people as it reflects their beings. As for me, the book is brilliantly written and ensures enjoyable reading. References Franklin, Benjamin. (1996). The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. USA: Dover Thrift Publications.

Character Traits of Chris McCandless of Into The Wild Essay -- Into th

Christopher Johnson McCandless is a respectable man in so many ways but, yet such a foolish man in many others. Chris McCandless possessed a seemingly ever-lasting bravery that constantly shined through his unique and matchless character. He was very righteous in himself to the point in which he kept himself from any sin or evil, committing his life to what seemed like an idea of celibacy, not just in refraining from any desire of flesh but also in all lusts of life with his diligent power of will that constantly shined through his exterior. Onto the contrary of his good characteristics, McCandless remained to be very foolish in his decisions and under takings, whether it be by his arrogance of sheer narrow mindedness. Over all he was a boy of many talents and knowledge, with a bright soul and good heart but, still somewhere in the depths of his thoughts he lacked something that made him think things through, and in this his foolishness he would lose his life. As stated previously, McCandless had a deep bravery that protected him from the darkness of fear or negative thought. Never once in this story does he seem frightened in that he might lose his life, grow ill or become hurt, and in one way he proves this by his insatiable habit of hitchhiking, I mean, with all do respect he could have been picked up by a serial killer and that probably would have cut his adventure a little short. In addition, he does not cower to much of anything, his bravery led him to some pretty interesting place such as digging dead rats from farm equipment, diving waist deep in grime, muck, and not to mention stench, that is if you would consider all of that to be brave. Set aside the trivial matter, his true bravery is shown... ...lse in his former life. In review McCandless was a man with boyish and romantic ambitions or maybe he was a boy with an intellectual mind stuck in the body of a man, because that theory would certainly exist as plausible in describing his foolish ways. Let us not forget that Chris did have a truly unique idea with good intention and maybe he did accomplish what he set out for, true inner peace with himself and the world around him maybe he did find himself in this whole ordeal. Yes McCandless was a bright soul but, in the end his foolishness or maybe even it was his bravery lead him to his demise, his lonely death in starvation. With all of this said was McCandless brave or was he foolish and stupid, well, for certain he never acted in any stupid way, but he did act in both foolishness and bravery because in many ways it takes quite some foolishness to be brave.

Decisions Essay

Decisions in 2006 regarding discrimination in the workplace centered largely on a theme of time and evidence. The court regularly held that the evidence of discrimination must be clear and that the legal action must be filed in a timely manner. The idea that a person can have been the victim of discrimination for years and have taken no action was dismissed as untimely. A case alleging racial discrimination was held to have insufficient proof of intent and in another case the court held that a union suing an employer for prejudicial hiring practices also did not submit sufficient proof. Finally, the court held that when an employer takes discriminatory action it does not have to be within the confines of the workplace to be discriminatory. First, in a case against Good Year Tire and Rubber Company, the plaintiff claimed that in her 18 years with Good Year, she had routinely been paid a smaller wage than her male counterparts. A local jury awarded her damages based on a series of wage-related decisions going back 19 years. However, the 11th Circuit Court held that the plaintiff’s lawsuit was untimely in that her complaint was not based on actions taken in the last 180 days according to the summation of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber, 421 F. 3d 1169 (11th Cir 08/23/2005) (Runkel, 2007. The court did not rule on the merit of the case, but held that the statute restricts the time frame in which the alleged discrimination was to have occurred (Runkel, 2007). The plaintiff has appealed the decision to the U.  S. Supreme Court and in May, 2007, Justice Samuel Alito writing for the court, affirmed the lower court’s ruling â€Å"Ledbetter v. Good Year†, 2007). Next, in case versus Tyson Foods the court held that use of the term â€Å"boy† is not enough proof of racial animus to sustain a ruling alleging discrimination, but reverse a portion of the lower court’s ruling which had claimed that a racial descriptor was required to accompany the word to prove animus. In Ash v. Tyson Foods, 126 S. Ct. 195 (02/21/2006), the court wrote, â€Å"†Although it is true the disputed word will not always be evidence of racial animus, it does not follow that the term, standing alone, is always benign. The speaker’s meaning may depend on various factors including context, inflection, tone of voice, local custom, and historical usage. Insofar as the Court of Appeals held that modifiers or qualifications are necessary in all instances to render the disputed term probative of bias, the court’s decision is erroneous. (Runkel, 2007). That means the court needs more information that just a word to determine discrimination. The court ruling says that to prove discrimination, the plaintiff must show more than just a misjudgment by the hiring authority of perceived qualifications. It must show that ‘disparities of qualifications must be or such weight and significance† that a reasonable person could not have made the hiring decision which was made (â€Å"Ash v. Tyson, 2006). This decision dovetails with the court’s decision in IBEW v.  Mississippi Power & Light, 442 F. 3d 313 (5th Cir 03/02/2006). The union had argues that the employer’s standard for employment was discriminatory in that the cut-off point on the standardized tests was inherently discriminatory. The court did not dispute the merit of the claim, but ruled that the burden of proof lies with the plaintiff and that the union had failed to prove that there was another way that the employer could adequately determine employment eligibility. (Runkel, 2007) Finally, the court held that when an employer is accused of retaliatory action, it does not have to be limited to the confines of the work environment. In Burlington Northern v. White, 126 S. Ct. 2405 (06/22/2006), the court upheld the defendant’s claim that her employer had retaliated against her by moving her from one position to another and by initially trying to suspend her without pay, requiring that she file a grievance through the union to receive reinstatement and her back pay. The court held, â€Å"We conclude that the anti-retaliation provision does not confine the actions and harms it forbids to those that are related to employment or occur at the workplace. We also conclude that the provision covers those (and only those) employer actions that would have been materially adverse to a reasonable employee or job applicant. In the present context that means that the employer’s actions must be harmful to the point that they could well dissuade a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrimination. (Runkel, 2007). The court further held that retaliatory practices do not have to include financial loss to be actionable. (Runkel, 2007) The overwhelming effect of these court ruling on future graduates is a trend within employment law toward the defense of the employer. These cases tend to indicate that the court has placed the entire burden of proof on the employee when it comes to discrimination cases and expects that the employee can make a clear case for their claim, rather than relying on vague innuendoes, such as in the Tyson case. For employees, this can be a difficult precedence in that other employees are unlikely to back a person’s claim regarding workplace discrimination especially when they would then have such stringent requirements in proving their own retaliation case. This is also likely to have a chilling effect on employees who feel they are being mistreated because of the burden of proof. The reality is that for any African-American man, the mere use of the word boy is inflammatory, especially in the south. Though the word was not accompanied by any racial descriptor, the court held that intonation and other context can be used to determine the word’s intent. For an African-American in the South, that is the context and proving what his supervisor was thinking places too great a burden on the plaintiff. The Tyson case in particular makes it difficult for a person who is the victim of subtle racism to prove it and the Ledbetter cases reiterates that the person must deal with any perceived discrimination within 6 months of its occurrence, compounding the difficulty in proving a case.

Bah Humbug! Having No One To Share Your Fortune With Essay

â€Å"A fortune is of no use if there’s no one to share it with.† Day after day I hear this saying from my mother yet never think much about it. On the evening of Thanksgiving Day at the Broadway Palm Theatre in Fort Myers, Fl I had the chance to experience the meaning of such a quote in the production of A Christmas Carol, titled after Charles Dickens story. As a central figure in the play, Scrooge’s character development throughout the play acts out a major theme of the power of kindness and cheer in relationships in the production. As the protagonist of the play, Scrooge’s decisions and actions are central to the theme and development of the production as a whole. Throughout the first part of the play it becomes obvious that a cycle of†¦show more content†¦Throughout the first part of the play Scrooge’s misery makes everyone with whom he encounters uneasy, making it difficult for anyone to be close to him. Those who would approach him are fearful and reluctant, as is the case when Mr. Cratchit asks for Christmas day off. Even the aural elements seem to echo caution around Scrooge, as the flowery music of the play stops abruptly when he speaks. Instead it is harsh beats that move with the sound of his harsh voice. Light also seems to creep away the closer any character gets to Scrooge, as if to say that light cannot be in communion with such a dark figure. The cycle continues throughout his life, greed breeding loneliness breeding misery fueling more greed, as Scrooge becomes older and lonelier. As the play moves from on, there is a further development in Scrooge’s character. After the visits from the three spirits of Christmas, Scrooge realizes the error of his ways and his character becomes a total flip of what he was at the beginning of the play. In the after math of his crazy night, Scrooge wakes up and the first boy to whom he speaks receives his first act of kindness. This first random act of kin dness leads him to giving money to a blind woman, buying the prize turkey for the Cratchit family and visiting his nephew’s home for Christmas