Appearances :: essays papers

Appearances Looks really do matter, no matter how many people disagree with that statement. The first impression does make that big of an impact, but whoever made up that statement as to, "Beauty being in the eye of the beholder" perhaps they are right. Perhaps beauty is formed in the eye of the beholder. But we, as humans will always be superficial and judge others on their looks. Very few people in life get away with their character and intelligence. I find myself to be beautiful but not drop dead gorgeous, well okay on some days I do. So "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Everyone has their special qualities in life. But what happens to the one born with a disability? As a child I had many friends, being the outgoing person that I am. I have always been friendly with everyone; the attractive and not so attractive. Even the girl who had a crooked face. I always wondered what happened to her and how she got deformed on the side of her face, she looked so monstrous. Everyday I would see her sitting alone at lunch, always the last one to leave the playground, playing alone everyday, and she was so quiet as well. Kids used to make fun of her everyday, which was very sad. I even feel bad, for I was one who cracked jokes on occasion as well and laughed along with others. One day though my parents had me walk home from school, for I didn't live very far and I saw this girl walking in front of me. She was walking very slowly, staring down at the ground. I decided to say hi and we talked while walking home together. After talking for a while I realized that she is no different then any of us, and she is so sweet, perhaps the sweetest person I have ever encountered in my life. How could I ever make fun of someone like that? I felt so horrible and apologized to her for ever making any mean comments and then I invited her over to play. We became the very best of friends after that. It was so hard though in school talking to her, I suppose I was embarrassed to be seen with her, but after becoming good friends I no longer felt the need to hide our friendship and soon others started talking with her as well, I even introduced her to the rest of my friends and started defending her when others made rude comments. I soon even found out why Appearances :: essays papers Appearances Looks really do matter, no matter how many people disagree with that statement. The first impression does make that big of an impact, but whoever made up that statement as to, "Beauty being in the eye of the beholder" perhaps they are right. Perhaps beauty is formed in the eye of the beholder. But we, as humans will always be superficial and judge others on their looks. Very few people in life get away with their character and intelligence. I find myself to be beautiful but not drop dead gorgeous, well okay on some days I do. So "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Everyone has their special qualities in life. But what happens to the one born with a disability? As a child I had many friends, being the outgoing person that I am. I have always been friendly with everyone; the attractive and not so attractive. Even the girl who had a crooked face. I always wondered what happened to her and how she got deformed on the side of her face, she looked so monstrous. Everyday I would see her sitting alone at lunch, always the last one to leave the playground, playing alone everyday, and she was so quiet as well. Kids used to make fun of her everyday, which was very sad. I even feel bad, for I was one who cracked jokes on occasion as well and laughed along with others. One day though my parents had me walk home from school, for I didn't live very far and I saw this girl walking in front of me. She was walking very slowly, staring down at the ground. I decided to say hi and we talked while walking home together. After talking for a while I realized that she is no different then any of us, and she is so sweet, perhaps the sweetest person I have ever encountered in my life. How could I ever make fun of someone like that? I felt so horrible and apologized to her for ever making any mean comments and then I invited her over to play. We became the very best of friends after that. It was so hard though in school talking to her, I suppose I was embarrassed to be seen with her, but after becoming good friends I no longer felt the need to hide our friendship and soon others started talking with her as well, I even introduced her to the rest of my friends and started defending her when others made rude comments. I soon even found out why

Plato on the Existence of Negative Forms Essay -- Plato Philosophy Neg

Plato on the Existence of Negative Forms The question of the origin and nature of evil in the world has preoccupied philosophers throughout history. The ancient philosopher Plato does not directly address this question in his writings, but it can be argued that the logic of his theory of forms demands the existence of forms that are negative in meaning, such as the evil and the bad. When discussing his theory of imitation, Plato alludes to the principle that whenever there are many things of the same nature, there is one form for that nature. In several passages, Plato makes mention of many negative things. It can be debated, however, whether or not the negative has a positive ontological character of its own for which there can be a form. The several senses in which an object can be considered negative must first be distinguished before the texts of Plato can be analyzed. It will be shown that, although Plato makes references in the Republic to a common nature amongst many negative things, the supposition of a negative form is not in harmony with the hierarchal structure of forms that depends on the good, which is also presented in the Republic. A solution to this problem will be presented and analyzed. In order to understand why it is argued that negative forms must exist according to Plato's logic, one must first understand the meaning of form for Plato. Plato thinks that forms are separate and eternal entities that exist apart from the sensible world. Plato thinks that objects in the sensible world imitate a particular form and that form makes them what they are. Plato writes, "As you know, we customarily hypothesize a single form in connection with each of the many things to which w... ...rendon Press), 167-9. [4] Ross, 168. [5] Ross, 168. [6] Plato, Statesman, trans. Seth Benardete (Chicage: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 262 d. [7] Plato, Republic, 491 d 3. [8] Plato, Republic, 608 e 3. [9] Plato, Republic, 609 a 4-7. [10] Plato, Republic, 610 b 4-6. [11] Plato, Republic, 382 b. [12] Plato, Republic, 476 a. [13] Plato, Republic, 507 b 10-11. [14] Plato, Republic, 509 b 11-c. [15] Plato, Republic, 508 c-e. [16] Plato, Republic, 508 b ? 509 a 3. [17] Plato, Republic, 509 b 7 - 7 [18] Plato, Republic, 379 a 6 - c. [19] I.M. Crombie, An Examination of Plato?s Doctrines: Plato on Knowledge and Reality (New York: The Humanities Press), 283. [20] Crombie, 283. [21] Crombie, 284. [22] Plato, Statesman, 262 d. [23] Ross, 169. [24] Plato, Republic, 491 d 3. [25] Crombie, 284.

All You Need Is Love

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SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces for Sheng Siong Essay

Introduction Growing up in a pig farm, the CEO Mr. Lim Hock Chee and his brothers have brought Sheng Siong Group Ltd to an over 800million market capital, Singapore Exchange listed supermarket chain. The group’s humble beginning in the year 1985, from its first store in Ang Mo Kio which surrounded by 5 other grocery stores, has now expanded to be the one of the largest supermarket chain in Singapore. Sheng Siong is publicly listed at the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on August 17, 2011. Since then, it grows to become a major supermarket chain in Singapore with a total retail area of 400,000sq ft over 33 outlets island-wide. Sheng Siong’s outlets are designed to provide customers with both â€Å"wet and dry† shopping options ranging from a wide assortment of fresh, live and chilled products, such as meat, seafood and vegetables to processed, packaged and preserved food products as well as general groceries. Over the past few years, they have developed a selection of house brands to offer customers alternatives with at ample savings. Sheng Siong has now over 400 products under their 10 house brands. With the long history and reputation for quality products at competitive prices, the â€Å"Sheng Siong† brand had become an established household name in Singapore. Widely recognized by consumers, Sheng Siong were awarded the â€Å"Superbrand† status by Superbrands Singapore since 2008 (Superbrands, 1994). Mission: We strive to offer communities in which we operate quality products at reasonable prices together with good service in order to create value to our customers Vision: Our vision is to be the preferred retailer in the market, starting from Singapore and then further ashore. SWOT analysis Strengths Weaknesses 1. Strong brand recognition 2. Experienced management 1. Susceptible to rent hikes and labour cost hikes. 2. Lack of a formal succession plan Opportunity Threats 1. Overseas expansion 2. Untapped areas in Singapore 1. Losing market share 2. Supply disruption Strengths Strong brand recognition Sheng Siong is among the top 3 supermarket chain in Singapore. Sheng Siong launched a television show titled â€Å"The Sheng Siong Show† since year 2007 to further raise its profile amongst national audiences, on top of the traditional marketing mediums. Strong recognition by Singapore residents as a value-for-money supermarket chain. Awarded â€Å"Superbrand† status by Superbrands Singapore, a global organization that recognizes the most valued and exceptional brands, every year since year 2008. Experienced management Sheng Siong is founded since year 1985 and focus only in retail business in Singapore. Management of the group since then rests in the hands of the three founding Lim brothers: Mr. Lim Hock Eng (Executive Chairman), Mr. Lim Hock Chee (CEO) and Mr. Lim Hock Leng (Managing Director). They have almost 30 years of experience in grocery retailing, equipped with in-depth knowledge of the industry in Singapore. Weaknesses Susceptible to rent hikes and labour cost hikes The cost of rental and labour takes up 85% of Sheng Siongs’ operating expenses (Maybank KE, 2013) thus it is very vulnerable to hikes on operating cost in order to sustain their low-cost strategy. The Singapore Government had increase the restrictions for hiring foreign labour (Mom.gov.sg, 2013), which pressure Sheng Siong, in which one-third of its 2600 employees are non-Singaporeans, in their operating cost. (Michelle Teo, 2013) In Maybank KE’s research (2013), under the sensitivity analysis, an increase of 5% additional staff cost would incurred 9% of shortfall in Sheng Siong’s profit. According to Sheng Siong’s Annual Report in 2012 and 2013, rental expenses had been increased from 1.095million to 1.693million, representing  a more than 50% hike. In order to sustain the low-cost strategy, such rental hike issue had made Sheng Siong Group opened no new store in year 2013, whereby they cannot find suitable and affordable space to rent for expansion. La ck of a formal succession plan The founders, Lim brothers are holding more than 60% of the shares of Sheng Siong Group and also on the top managing positions. (Annual Report, 2013) The lack of a formal succession plan could prove to be a weakness in the long-run. The listing of Sheng Siong in the SGX had made incorporation of some outside talents including Mr. Tan Ling San (Executive Director) and Mr. Wong Soong Kit (Finance Director) into the management ranks, however if the Lim brothers decide to retire or step down before a formal succession plan is put into place, it may lead to a potential loss of strategic direction. Opportunities Overseas expansion Despite the foreign markets are also dominated by major players, Sheng Siong might able to seek chances in overseas expansion, especially in neighbor countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. The benefits of overseas expansion including increase brand value, find new customers, seek for tax incentives and reduce excessive domestic, single market reliance and furthermore enjoy the robust economic development of the region of South East Asia. Especially in Malaysia, Sheng Siong has had various suppliers which relationships had been established for decades, the expansion into the market is not impossible. Untapped areas in Singapore There are still many highly populated areas in Singapore where Sheng Siong has no presence such as Bishan, Tampines, Hougang, Sengkang and Bukit Merah. This means that Sheng Siong still has a lot of room to grow its store network. Furthermore, Sheng Siong had commenced an e-commerce pilot project in December 2013, in the Thomson vicinity to provide customers the convenience of shopping groceries online via the website â€Å"allforyou.sg†. The possible success of this e-commerce project can reduce dependence on human labour, save cost on warehouse management and create new and better shopping experience of customers at their convenience. Threats Losing market share Sheng Siong operates in a highly competitive environment where it faces intense competition from other major super market chains as well as traditional grocery retailers, wet markets and even petrol kiosks. Its existing stores may face competition from new competitor outlets in their operating areas; it may lose market shares in the area where new competitor’s outlets are open where Sheng Siong is absent. Sheng Siong has suffer zero expansion in retail outlets in year 2013, making it a crucial threat of losing market shares due to expansions of its competitors. Supply disruption Supply disruptions arising from harsh weather conditions, force majeure events or natural disasters might hit Sheng Siong because about 30% of its revenue (Ocbc is from the sale of fresh produce. Porter’s 5 forces Competitive rivalry – High Sheng Siong is in tough competition with major direct competitors such as NTUC FairPrice and Dairy Farm’s Cold Storage and Giant, yet there are many other smaller retailers in the market. The 4 major supermarket chain had a dominant market share of more than 85percent (Euromonitor, 2014) (Maybank KE, 2014), making the business to be in a semi-consolidated industry. Supermarkets are having very low level of product differentiation. The retail sectors is growing steadily but slow. (Singstat.gov.sg, 2014) For the full year, retail sales in Singapore contracted by 4.3%, a reversal from the 1.3% expansion in 2012, but supermarket sales grew by 4.3% at current prices and 2.4% at constant prices during the same period, compared with an increase of 7.5% and 5.3% respectively in 2012. (Economic Survey of Singapore, 2013) The increasingly intensive competition may result in lower sales and greater operating costs and have an adverse effect on Sheng Siong. Threat of new entrants – Low The big 4 supermarket chains took up to more than 85percent of the total  market shares in Singapore, thus becomes a huge barrier for new entrants to meet the excessive capital requirements into the harsh competition. A new entrant would have to achieve the economies of scale needed to compete on cost advantage with the major market players, therefore not an easy barrier to cross over. Branding is another barrier to entry. A new entrant would need to differentiate themselves with the big 4 and to attain identity through promotions and advertising which may incur extremely high expenses. The highly responsive to competition of the big 4 supermarket chains to sustain market share also makes the barrier higher for new entrants. New entrant also face disadvantage in lack of expertise and knowledge of consumer trends, as the big players had been in the business for decades. Difficulties in accessing to distribution channels and locations is also an entry barrier for new entrant as Singapore is a matured market. Threat of substitute – High Chains of convenience stores such as 7-eleven and Cheers are emerging in the market. Convenience stores are selling some Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) like dairy products, soft drinks and packaged food which also sold by supermarkets, thus become a substitute of supermarkets. Restaurants, kopitiams (coffee shop) and food centers are also substitutes for supermarkets. People may want to dine outside rather than purchasing fresh meats, fishes and vegetable to cook at home. Pharmacies which are selling medicine, personal care, and baby care and toilet / pocket papers are also a substitute of supermarket. Traditional wet markets are considered another substitute for supermarket business. Newly emerged online groceries shopping brings threat of substitute to supermarket also. Bargaining power of customer – High Sheng Siong is facing intense competition from traditional grocery retailers such as wet markets, supermarkets and hypermarkets, and from non-traditional competitors such as, petrol kiosk convenience stores, convenience stores and restaurants. Customers have various options when comes to buying groceries. While pricing is one of the keys, convenience also plays a significant role in groceries shopping. People might choose to buy daily groceries from neighborhood grocery store just on their doorstep or buy drinks from the  nearest convenience stores, rather than purposely go to supermarket. Bargaining power of supplier – Low Due to the nature of grocery retailing business, Sheng Siong purchase goods from a large number of suppliers and contract manufacturers. A large network of over 1,000 suppliers and contract manufacturers had been established for Sheng Siong’s business. Some of the supplying relationships had established since the commencing year of 1985. The large and stable supplying relationships have enabled Sheng Siong to have a continuous supply of products without major disruptions and allow them to wield greater bargaining power in terms of the purchase prices of their products. No single supplier or contract manufacturer contributed more than 5.0% of Sheng Siong’s total purchases. (Prospectus, 2011) Summary Competitive rivalry: High Threat of new entrants: Low Threat of substitute: High Bargaining power of customer:High Bargaining power of supplier: Low The analysis above shows Sheng Siong is in a really intensive business environment. Therefore, the management team should act really cautious on their strategy planning for business operations as well expansions in order to stay competitive. Strategic planning As Sheng Siong is implementing low-cost strategy, it is very important for the management to plan their business tightly watch on their operational costs, as they are vulnerable to rental and labour hikes. On the other Hand, not having a succession plan may negatively impacts the operations of company in long run. Thus Sheng Siong should have plans with the goal to train and sustain the dynamic key management team for the company’s future growth. Goals Plans Control operating costs, Sustaining low-cost strategy Reduce dependence of foreign labours. Computerized operations to reduce labour costs. Seek new property rental or purchases opportunity in new high populated resident areas such as Punggol and Hougang. Make optimum utilize of the centralized warehouse cum distribution center in Mandai Link, to achieve economies of scale. Train and sustain the upcoming management team Set up a management training for potential employees from internal or external. Succession plan as well as a contingency plan should be well established as soon as possible to enhance the stability of the long term operations of the company. Organizing Sheng Siong is applying the functional organization where by it divides into different divisions such as Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Purchasing and Retail Operations. It is also a centralized organization since it was originally a family business. Most decisions are made by high-level executives and pass down for implementation. In my opinion, a transition should be made in the organizing system in Sheng Siong if the company wants to sustain in a longer run. Talents from internal or external should be brought up to managerial level through systematic trainings and being delegated in decisions making to cultivate fresh thoughts and ideas for the operations and growth of the company. The company should gradually decentralized in their organization to promote creativity and innovations, as well as act as a pathway for establishing succession plans. Leadership Despite using power of authority, power of rewards has been used in Sheng Siong’s leadership over their employees. 20% of the groups’ profit before tax was distributed in the form of various bonuses to its employees in the past 2 years. Relationship-motivated leadership Having policy such as provides one free meal per workday for every full-time  worker that has become a tradition of the company for 25 years. (Sheng Siong, 2013) The CEO Lim Hock Chee is an authentic and transformational leader. Although featuring at position 35 in Forbes’ Singapore’s 50 Richest list, Lim Hock Chee remains a humble man. He is known as the â€Å"towkay (meaning ‘boss’ in Chinese) who drives a lorry† due to that being his mode of transport for many years. He undertook a two-year car mechanic course and thus stood him in good stead as until recently he was known as â€Å"Mr Fix it† at Sheng Siong, regularly welding trolleys and fixing power outages. (Hunt, 2014) These good traits of leadership styles should be kept on in Sheng Siong to distinguish themselves from major trends in capitalized world that applies less relationships concerned leadership. However, a family business cannot sustain and grow if it stays only at family style, standardization and formalization should progressively apply and leaders should apply a balanced portion of task performance behaviors in their lead. Control In spite of bureaucratic control, market control is always being well-utilized in Sheng Siong. The plans and strategies in marketing, property renting and purchasing, and invests and divests are set according to close studies of the market. Sheng Siong emerged as Runner-up in the Retail & Household Goods category of the 14th Securities Investors Association (Singapore) (SIAS) Investors’ Choice Award – Most Transparent Company Award (MTCA) 2013. (Annual Report, 2013) This indicates Sheng Siong is having good control of their accounts and audits with optimum information stated in their financial reports. Despite the financial parts, management audits are closely monitored. The evaluations of the the company’s planning, organizing, leading and controlling is always printed in their annual report. It reviews what have been done and what the upcoming plans are, giving a clear picture to investors and business partners. Recommendations Sheng Siong should always prudent in its expansion and execution under the  harsh economic environment. Setting up a clear succession plan of short, medium, and long term to ensure the future operations of the company. Overseas expansion exposes to risks and opportunities, the company should well utilize the connections that it has to expand the business to another level, locally and regionally. Conclusion Sheng Siong had gradually emerged as one of the biggest groceries retailer in Singapore. Nevertheless, there are huge growth opportunity for the company. The company should stay dynamic and improve the weaknesses to keep explore the chances of growth in this competitive environment. Changing is not always a bad idea. From a family business to a listed company, from a small establishment to a corporate, Sheng Siong has gone this far, but be it just the beginning of the future great arms in supermarket operators in the region or even in the globe. Modern management studies will help Sheng Siong to embrace any possible threats in the future. The transition of Sheng Siong should not be stopped at this point but should keep improving, strive to achieve its mission and vision.

Evangelium Vitae or the Gospel of Life Essay

Imagine yourself, man or woman, feeling as though you’re in love with somebody. You feel not only a great obligation, pressured by society, but an urge to be sexually active with this individual. You go along with this urge, and the next thing you know, you’re expected to have a child as a result of your actions. You’re young, naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve, scared, poor; whatever the situation may be. You don’t know what to do. You’ve never thought that you would ever put yourself in this situation and you’re extremely frightened. You have heard about some people that have had abortions before, and they turned out to be fine. You have also heard that you can get an abortion in secret and on top of that for free, while also being completely legal. On the other hand, you have been raised to be pro-life and to never even think about having an abortion. You have to make a choice. Do you have the ethics, morals, and in essence, the faith to make the right choi ce; the right choice of course being the realization that abortion, in actuality, is murder, and to go against that sin and to have the child. I reflected upon these questions and asked myself if I had the faith myself to make the right choice. I wondered if I would really, truly be able to make the right decision. I thought that I could decide on the right thing, but I still didn’t fully understand everything about why the church teaches this. After doing research about this topic I got much better insight about understanding fully why we believe this. I don’t believe this now. Just because I’m supposed to, but I now believe this because I understand the wisdom and knowledge put forth to this subject over thousands of years. I know now that, besides not even getting into the situation itself, but that I would be able to make the right choice if I, or somebody I knew, was ever involved in a situation like that. I would be able to make the right choice and back up my conscience with knowledge. â€Å"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly† (Jn 10:10). These words are the epitome of the revealed truth of God. It reflects all that we believe about life, death, and the power of the sanctifying Spirit. This eternal life, the life in which we are all called to live and protect, is the good news of Jesus Christ. It is at the dawn of our salvation, calling us to live righteously. In the first Chapter of Evangelium Vitae, or the Gospel of Life, written by Pope John Paul II in 1995, we see the good news of Jesus Christ itself. It reflects upon the present day threats to human life. Along with it, there is a parallel with the story of Cain and Abel, which is the root of violence against life. In today’s society, there are extremely numerous amounts of threats to human life, which the Gospel of Life spells out. It is impossible to catalogue the vast array of threats to human life because there are so many different forms. These forms are, much of the time, hidden. The most obvious is the legal right itself to perform certain procedures that are immoral and against our beliefs. Violence against life does not just include abortion. Violence against life can be a number of differing subjects. Euthanasia, murder of any type, slaughter, war, genocide, etc. are major types of violence against life as well as abortion. Furthermore, there are threats in today’s society, such as children forced into poverty, malnutrition, and hunger because of unjust distributing of resources between social classes. This goes along with violence of wars, which much of the time is bloody. There is also the spreading of death caused by reckless tempering with the world’s ecological balance, by the criminal spreading of drugs, or by the promotion of certain kinds of sexual activity, which is socially unacceptable, but also the many diseases that go along with this is dangerous and a threat to one’s life. The problem with our society today is that the immoral and life-threatening acts which are acted out are no longer considered unjust â€Å"crimes† anymore. They are, in today’s society, considered â€Å"rights†. This example can be shown through the acts of being pro-life or pro-choice. A pro-choice individual may feel that they have a right to choose what is good for them. The truth is veiled and hidden from them. It is not necessarily their fault that they do not know what they’re doing is wrong and sinful, but it can be a problem that lay within our culture. Our culture hides the sin and makes the woman believe that it is her right to choose what she wants. She doesn’t realize that it is really a crime that she is committing. She doesn’t understand that it is not her right to choose what she desires; it is God’s choice to choose what is right for her. By directly disobeying the Lord, She is committing a serious sin. Our culture, through our government, is hiding this and underplaying this sin by disguising it with words that have fallacious euphemisms as â€Å"rights† instead of â€Å"crimes†. At this basis, we find the source of the predicament our society is in today. Our culture openly practices these things, causing the immorality of it to be disguised or hidden. This is an â€Å"eclipse† of sin, which is very alarming in my eyes, to our culture today. We are headed in the wrong direction, a direction where justification, acceptance, and the proliferation of wrongdoings is becoming more and more prevalent from decade to decade. Human beings today attack life as if it were nothing and this spreading can crash our culture into a spiral fall into sin and ultimately spinning out of control into hell. The fact that attacks on life are spreading greatly and are receiving great support from the general culture is a powerfully despondent thought. This is also supported by broad, widespread legal approval of the involvement of certain sectors of health-care personnel. The reality of it is, the twentieth century will have been an era of massive attacks on life, or endless series of war, and a continual tacking of innocent human life, unless we put an end to these sins and make it known the evil, depravity, and corruption of these ideals. The two most flagrant enemies of present day threats to human life are abortion and euthanasia. Abortion is well-known, and is the work of the devil himself. Many have a feeling of constraint when talking about abortion because it is such a touchy subject. The fact of the matter is abortion is killing. It is paralleled with how Cain rose up against his brother and killed him. It is the same as taking a gun and shooting your baby daughter, brother, son, sister, mother, father, anybody. It is a complete sin, attacking God himself. For the Jewish people, blood is the source of life, and life, especially human life, is in the hands of God and belongs to God alone. By this fact, when one attack’s life, he or she in some way is attacking God himself. Just as Cain tried to justify his means of killing his brother and hiding it by saying â€Å"Am I my brother’s keeper?† many justify their means of killing and hiding it by acting naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve toward the subject. Cain does not like to think about his brother that he killed and refuses to accept responsibility for it. This can be the same way that we, in society as a whole, refuse to accept responsibility for our brothers. Again, just as God did not leave the crime of Cain unpunished, he also punishes us, accept our price we will pay in the heavenly kingdom. Euthanasia goes along with these hidden crimes of violence. Euthanasia is murder as well, just as is abortion. Our culture tends to include the lack of solidarity towards the weakest members of society. We sometimes have a misleading thought that pain and suffering should not be associated with death. We think that just because one is able to end a life to avoid suffering that he or she should avoid it. We think that, if the life would require greater recognition or time, that love is considered useless, and is actually considered a burden. This leads to the rejection of the life. A person who, because of a certain illness, being handicapped, or just because they are existing, makes one think that it compromises the well-bring or life-style of those who are living without assistance. This is a lie from the devil and you cannot fall into his trickery. Sometimes, the Catholic Church is accused of being pro-choice, and pro-abortion, just because it is against the use of contraception. This may be that many people use contraception with a view to stop the temptation of abortion. In fact these thoughts themselves strengthen this temptation when an unwanted life in conceived because of its negative values that go along with it. The pro-abortion culture is especially strong when the Church teaches that contraception is bad. When reflecting on these two acts, the church teaches that contraception and abortion are two different and distinct evils. Contraception is a contradiction to the real truth of sexuality as an act of proper conjugal love of a married man and woman. It is opposed to the virtue of chastity in marriage and it warps the minds of individuals to make them believe that, just because they can have intercourse without being married means that they should. Abortion on the other hand destroys the life of a human being. It directly disobeys God’s commandment â€Å"You shall not kill.† Life starts at the moment of conception, not when the baby starts to grow. But, even though these two ideas are evil, they are still closely connected as â€Å"fruits of the same tree†. Contraception and abortion are practiced with the pressures of your peers, real life situations, and a society that accepts these things are â€Å"normal†. These things have to be taught from the beginning that they are wrong. Another present day crisis that is used against life is the demographic question. There are many different parts of the world with different cultures, but it is still a sin to kill, no matter where the killing is taking place. In some poorer countries over-population occurs. Programs of cultural development and distribution of anti-birth policies are being formed. Contraception, sterilization, and abortion are certainly part of the reason why in some cases there is a very steep decline in the birthrate. It is not hard for these cultures to use the methods that attack lives when there is a situation of â€Å"demographic explosion†. An example of where this is prevalent is China. China has a one-child policy of birth planning. The Chinese government puts it under the pretext of a â€Å"Family planning policy†. It officially restricts the number of children married couples can have to one. A spokesperson of the Committee on the One-Child Policy has said that about 35.9% of China’s population is currently subject to the one-child restriction. The Chinese government introduced this policy to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China. Authorities claim that the policy has prevented more than 250 million births from its implementation to the year 2000.1 This goes against everything we believe. This is because of the negative economic and social consequences the policy introduces, such as forced abortions and female infanticide, which is the probably cause of China’s significant gender imbalance. This shows that the government is a huge concern for the future of our culture. The Pharaoh of the Old Testament did the same thing. He ordered that every male child born of the Hebrew women were to be killed (Ex 1:7-22), due to the increase of children in Israel. These sins are very prevalent throughout our world and for the sake of our future, need to be stopped. God asks Cain, â€Å"Where is your brother Abel?† Cain answers â€Å"I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?† (Gen 4:9). The answer to this is yes. Each of us has a moral obligation to take responsibility for watching over our brothers. This is because God instructs us to watch over our brothers. He gives us the freedom to choose to watch over our brothers. Humanity today is given great freedom, and we need to use our freedom wisely. We cannot waste our freedom by being tricked into sin. We need to watch out for the other side of freedom that we do not know about. This is the freedom that destroys ourselves and becomes the factor leading to the destruction of others. It no longer recognizes and respects its essential link with the truth. When our freedom is used to follow others, our freedom is dead. When our freedom is used to follow the Lord, our freedom is living. If we follow the will of others all the time, we tend to just look for the easy way out of things, and much of the time we look for the thing that will be more helpful to us. This is a selfish way to live, and if we always live in this way, we will not live in eternal happiness with the one who gave us this freedom to begin with. Our life was given to us by the Lord. With this life we are given a freedom to choose and make the right decisions. Sometimes our society and culture may lead us down the wrong path, and hide the truth about what is right and what is wrong. What we don’t understand is that this is really Satan trying to do his work and cause us to sin. He doesn’t want us to achieve total happiness with our Creator. He wants us to suffer with him, so he makes up lies, and covers up the truth to cause us to sin. Our society as a whole needs to realize these things. Our present culture needs to realize that life is not in our hands, but in the hands of God our Creator, and that he wants us to spread the truth about life and the truth about present day threats to human life. 1 1 Rosenberg, Matt. â€Å"China One Child Policy – Overview of the One Child Policy in China.† Geography Home Page – Geography at About.com. 14 May 2009 .

Criminal law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criminal law - Essay Example I believe that more than the definition of crime, citizens are more concerned on what makes an act or omission a crime. The latter keeps them out of trouble and out of the ambit of criminal justice system. Crime is relative. An act may be a crime in the UK but is legally permissible in another country. It all depends on the sovereign state’s law-making body whether or not to declare certain actions or inactions as crime. Although there are acts which are declared as crime in all jurisdictions, for instance, murder, there will never be a universal consensus as to what constitutes a crime. As a necessary consequence, there will never be a universal benchmark in measuring crime levels in each country. In the UK, I am of the opinion that our criminal laws and changes thereon does not necessarily result in changes in UK crime levels. This is because the Home Office has developed its own method of counting crimes and arriving at an annual crime statistics which is rather independent of our criminal laws. Noteworthy of this method is the â€Å"one crime per victim† and â€Å"no victim no crime† policy followed by the police force in recording crimes (â€Å"Overcoming Barriers†, 24). This policy departs from the principles of criminal law which tells us that a single act may result in one or more crimes. However, insofar as the police and its recording is concerned, when two or more crimes result from a single act, then only the most serious crime is recorded. It therefore, undermines the influence of our criminal laws in addressing crime levels in the country. More penal laws which mean more act or omission are declared as crime does not necessarily mean higher crime levels. Conversely, decriminalizing some crimes will not necessarily result in lower crime statistics in the UK. There is therefore an imperative for the official crime statistics to reflect the criminal laws enforced in the country. This will ensure that when citizens read the Home Office’s newly release crime statistics, it does reflect the true state of crime and security situation in the country. 2. Criminal offences usually require actus reus and mens rea, although some crimes are crimes of strict liability.   (i) Explain, using examples, the meaning of the term actus reus.   The term actus reus refers to the malfeasance and nonfeasance which must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict the accused. Stated otherwise, actus reus means the overt act or the failure to act which when coupled with material circumstances and consequences produces a crime. It may also include a particular state of affairs which may come in combination with the act or omission. Actus reus is a material element of a crime. In order to incur criminal liability, an act must be voluntary. It must not be coerced or performed involuntarily as in the case of being in a state of hypnotism and automatism. However, when the accused came under the aforementio ned state of involuntary movements under their own fault or will, these will not serve as exculpatory circumstance in favor of the accused. Needless to state, self-induced intoxication will never be a defense and will never bar prosecution for the crime committed while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Actus reus as an omission must stem from a lawful duty which may be established from statute, contract or relationship. A concrete example of

Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Research Paper - Essay Example Rate of Incarceration The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population, but incarcerate roughly a quarter of all the prisoners in the world. According to a report released by the Bureau of Prison Statistics, one out of every 32 adults in the United States was in prison, in jail, on probation, or on parole at the end of 2005. In fact, imprisonment has become the immediate response to far too many of the social problems that burden people who are ensconced in poverty. These problems often are veiled by being conveniently grouped together under the category "crime" and by the automatic attribution of criminal behavior to people of color. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages. This system cannot last much longer, it’s stretched to the breaking point. There are too many prisoners for the system to be sustained. The only results are more violence, riots, racism. The system is failing because it was not designed to succeed. The criminal justice system disproportionately occupies people of color in the United States (Abramsky, 2008). According to Angela Davis, â€Å"Almost two million people are currently locked up in the immense network of U.S. prisons and jails. More than 70 percent of the imprisoned population are people of color. It is rarely acknowledged that the fastest growing group of prisoners is black women and that Native American prisoners are the largest group per capita.† We can see the impact socioeconomically by examining information from the Department of Justice itself, Irwin and Austin report that "Between 1980 and 1995, the prison population ballooned from 329,821 to 1,104,074--a rise of 235%" (Irwin & Austin, p.1). Zimring and Hawkins write "Never before has a prison system grown by so much in so short a time during a period of political and social stab ility" (Zimring & Hawkins, 1994 p.83). The incarceration rate in the U.S. increased from 138 per 100,000 in 1980 to 403 in 1995. "We now imprison at a higher rate than any other nation in the world, having recently surpassed South Africa" (Irwin & Austin, p.1). What we clearly see here is that mass imprisonment in local communities is continuing to grow faster and faster over time. The impact of this is astonishing when you consider the amount of individuals and families of non-caucasian decent who are harmed psychologically and physically because of a system clearly designed for the purpose of turning profit under the guise of helping the population. There are now about 1.5 million children in the U.S. who have a parent in prison. According to a report by Marc Mauer, â€Å"African American children, 1 of every 14 has a parent behind bars on any given day. Over the course of a year or an individual’s childhood, the figures would obviously be much greater. For these children, the experience of shame, stigma, and loss of financial and psychological support becomes a profound aspect of their life experience. The effect on these communities is compounded by the fact that imprisonment has become an almost inevitable aspect of the experience of growing up as a black male in the U.S. Government figures now show that a black male born today has a one in three chance of spending at least a year in prison at some point in his life. Thus,