Gangs and Society

Gangs can have a tremendous effect on society. They have existed for hundreds of years, especially in America. Although gangs are usually created from people who intend to offer safety in numbers, this safety is usually done through acts of crime. This book will explain how gangs and their actions affect society. Chapter one is â€Å"Initiation†. This included getting high with the other gang members, then getting beaten by his new comrades, then going out with a 12 gauge shotgun and ambushing a rival â€Å"set†. Sets are subsets of larger gangs like the Crips or the Bloods.Most gang violence occurs within these gangs between neighborhood â€Å"sets†. For example, Kody's gang, the â€Å"Eight Trays† are Crips and mortal enemies to the â€Å"Rollin' Sixties† Crips. Not only must each set fight their neighboring rivals, but also they are expected to respect the larger scale wars. If a group of sets declare war on another group of sets then your set ma y be expected to take a side. This can result in some very awkward diplomatic situations with Crip sets allied with Blood sets against Crip sets and their allied Blood sets.At one point in the book, the Eight Trays found themselves at war with a previously good ally, because of these larger conflicts. Kody took to the violence. He saw it as the step from childhood into manhood. He was good at it and soon received the gang name, â€Å"Monster†. He willingly and joyfully joined â€Å"Fly†, â€Å"Tray Ball†, â€Å"Huckabuck†, â€Å"Lep†, â€Å"Crazy D† and â€Å"Gangster Cool†. These youths were very much aware of the gangster legends, who had gone before them. This older members were mostly either dead or in jail. They seldom appear in the book, but when they do, there is respect and admiration from the younger members.Kody's goal was to build such a reputation. He even had a three point plan to reach his goal. First, he had to build hi s personal reputation by effectively using violence. Second, he had to build his name in association with his set, so that when his name is spoken his set is spoken of â€Å"in the same breath†. Third, he must establish himself as a promoter of Crip. their activities affect society. Weapons were easily obtained from older members. 12 gauge, . 44, 9mm, . 38 were common. A â€Å"banger† seldom moved about without being â€Å"strapped† with his â€Å"gat†. The war was financed by thievery and drug sales.This was before crack and its associated money made full automatic the weapons of choice. Kody would patrol his neighborhood on his bicycle carrying a loaded hand gun. They shot their enemies on sight. I was frightened at times by the fearlessness, heartlessness, and cold bloodedness of some of the armed guiltless homicides. Avenging assaults, initiation attacks and a peppering of random acts of murder accompany this proclaiming of manhood. One gang member, c hallenged to a private duel, responded, â€Å"I'm a killer, not a gunfighter. † Monster's reputation built quickly. He was a very effective killer.Kody found himself the target of older gang members who wanted him dead. He was ambushed, shot six times. He survived and went right back to banging. It all seemed quite normal to him. He couldn't imagine living life as a â€Å"hook†, a civilian, a victim. He was at war for control of the civilians, the hood, their turf. Killing civilians was frowned upon. There was no glory in civilians, too easy. Some civilians even welcomed and protected the hood's bangers as defenders. Later in the book, while in prison, Kody was recruited into an army of bangers, the Consolidated Crips Organization.That's CRIPS, as in Clandestine Revolutionary International Party Soldiers, defender of the C-Nation, unifier of the warring sets with claim to the Crips name. The older gang members were very aware of the need for more unity between gang mem bers to reduce the crippling infighting. There is much talk and effort placed in creating a Gang. The primary motivation to such unity was surviving the larger scale wars. The Crips were allied with gangs of Southern Mexicans against the Aryan Nazis with their Northern Mexican allies. California prison reads like a race war.This causes me to have nightmare visions of a possible Earth, where the racial and tribal lines of loyalty and disloyalty exists on a bloody worldwide scale. I took comfort in the fact that this book is the story of transformation, from a boy killer to a mature man. Gangs of all levels and types usually have a negative effect on society. Gangs, gang violence and gang wars typically suck up a city or town's police resources because of the sheer number of people involved, lack of witness cooperation and types of crimes connected to gangs.Higher-level gangs that are investigated by the FBI sometimes force the agency to utilize very risky and very expensive resources like high-tech surveillance, informants and witness protection programs. Gangs also can bring down the property value of neighborhoods from the violence and vandalism involved with gang life. Big money investors may shy away from places where they feel that their properties and resources will not be used for fear of gang crimes. Gangs can also drive up prices of local groceries and commodities via their intimidating schemes that force businesses to pay them sums of money in exchange for â€Å"protection. Gangs have been threatening the progression of our society due to the fear that has been put into everyone’s eyes. In my own hometown of Fairfax Virginia, now whenever people hear the police car sirens, the first thought that comes into their mind is someone got shot. Gang violence is not just an issue in Fairfax; gang violence is known to be an issue all over the world. Gang violence seems to be increasing all over the world throughout the years, and it’s becoming a major issue. Many people agree that innocent live get taken due to terror and violence that gangs bring to our society.The lives of young people are being put in danger because most gangs recruit young people as members. The younger members are the ones being sent to kill each other just to gain respect by the older people in the gangs, and the gain reputation in the gang too. Innocent’s people’s house get shot at because of the gangs trying to kill a gang member, and sometimes they end up killing an innocent person. Some people feel the criminal justice system is failing to control the growth and strength of gangs in communities and prisons alike.In today’s society, the age of gang members continues to decrease while the number of them continues to increase. As youth continue to age the chance that they will end up in prison increases. There will be focus on the relationship between prison and street gangs and how society is affected as a result of these gangs . It is important to look at how gang violence can be reduced if not prevented all together Mike Torbert â€Å"The Autobiography Of An L. A GangMember† By: Sanyika Shakur Sociology Paper 3/22/12

Research Analysis of Barbara Ehrenreich’s Cultural Baggage Essay

Barbra Ehrenreich’s â€Å"Cultural Baggage† essay found in Greene and Lidinksy (2012), expresses the author’s views on traditional values that come from a family’s heritage. Ehrenreich is motivated to write about this subject because her way of being raised was challenged. She was raised to find new things to try, and not succumb to the mindset of just accepting something because it’s always been there. Her Father said, â€Å"’think for yourself’ and ‘always ask why’† (Ehrenreich, 2012, p. ). The purpose of the content is to show Barbra Ehrenreich’s disconnection from holding family traditions, and then argues that it’s not a necessity for every family to pass down traditions. Barbra insists that people from very traditional based religions will be disappointed and appalled that her family is always looking for new things to try (Ehrenreich, 2012). In the author’s opinion, there is nothing wrong for not following, or neglecting to start, family traditions. Ehrenreich’s biggest claim in her essay is that she steadfastly disagrees with recurring traditions and expresses her intent for individuality in her family. She made a statement at the end of the essay saying, â€Å"My chest swelled with pride, as my mother’s would have, to know that the race of †none† marches on† (Ehrenreich, 2012, p. 3). This shines light on the fact that they are a happy family with out traditions and have no intentions of ever adopting any. Also, Ehrenreich (2012) goes on to explain that her Grandmother would suggest that just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s right, or necessary to continue. Barbra is satisfied and proud to announce â€Å"none† as her ethnic background and â€Å"none† for her traditions. Barbra has a tone in the paper that exemplifies an informal conversation among women; particularly mothers. Her intention was to target mothers because she is justifying the guilt she felt when she realized her children weren’t growing up with traditions. Her question then was: Am I doing the right thing by not having any traditions for them? So, Barbra nervously asked her children if they were fine with not having any family traditions, and they eplied, â€Å"yes† (Ehrenreich, 2012). This was a relief for Barbra as it would be for most mothers. My final contention in this matter would be to agree with Barbra Ehrenreich in saying that family traditions are not necessary, and it is important to branch out to new ventures. When Barbra asked her children about traditions they said, â€Å"and the world would be a better place if nobody else did either† (Ehrenreich, 2012, p. 3). The reason they say the world would be a better place is because people would be more interesting from branching out and learning new things. In addition, the reasons there is a lot of conflicts in society, and on a global scale, are from radical people feeling their traditions or belief have been imposed upon by someone else. Examples include: Islamic religion, Al Qaeda, the Civil rights movement, the Civil War, and Gang Violence. Barbra is correct with her position on traditions with calling it â€Å"baggage,† because it weighs down the minds ability to see things in a new light, and that is the most important thing to me.

Proposed Action Plan to End Police Discrimination Essay

Proposed Action Plan to End Police Discrimination - Essay Example (CNN.com, 1). Tabatabainejad may or may not have been justified in his actions, but from the videotape of the event, it appears that the police were certainly not justified in their actions. Campus police spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein commented, "This is a long-standing library policy to ensure the safety of students during the late-night hours" (CNN.com). But one wonders if this is actually the case. Would the police have treated a white male in the same way We are also seeing this same kind of behavior occurring within our own police force. The only way this problem can be stopped is by creating a plan of action that would require a major overhaul in the way the police officers of this city think about the people in the community, and vice versa. The needs assessment for this plan is described below. Recently, the police department has been under fire for its rough treatment of students of color during protests on the college campus. In fact, this type of police-student interaction has increased almost 75 percent in the past year. On the other hand, police violence against white students during protests has decreased 50 percent in the same period of time. Obviously, there is a disparity here that needs to be addressed. Our officers routinely neglect the investigation of crimes committed against minority groups so that they can spend more time on crimes against white people. They do not even respond to calls from minority neighborhoods in a timely manner. Of the 5,000 emergency calls the department received over the past year, 1,500 were from white citizens, while 3,500 were from minority citizens (black, Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern). Ninety percent of the 1,500 white citizens' calls were responded to within a day, with an average of 50 police work hours going into investigating each of these calls. Only 30 percent of the 3,500 minority calls were responded to within a day, with an average of about 12 work hours put forth toward the investigation of these calls. This represents a serious neglect of duty when it comes to making sure that the safety needs of all citizens are addressed. Problem 3: Police harassment of minority owned and frequented businesses The department gets calls all the time from minority-owned and frequented businesses about the lack of respect, and the amount of grief, they get from the neighborhood officers. Over the past year, these incidents have increased 50-60 percent. It is unclear whether this really reflects a shift in police actions, since the number of minority-owned businesses in the community has also increased significantly. Still, it represents a disturbing trend. Problem 4: Racial slurs directed toward minority communities The officers on this force have, at times, been known to speak to Hispanics and other minority groups using derogatory language and racial slurs. Hundreds of calls have been received from concerned citizens about this issue. These incidents represent an increase of about ten percent over the past year, but this does not even reflect the number of remarks that go unnoticed or unreported. It is likely that there are many such cases. Sadly, this discriminatory

For the New Intellectual Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

For the New Intellectual - Essay Example He says that the conquering of the soul is already happening in the world today as man has been made to believe that altruism is the ideal human state. That way people are encouraged to suffer and personal progress stagnates collectively for the sake of others, that is; the will of all, subjugated to the will of all. According to him, by teaching men to unite, as they are currently being encouraged to do son in form of nation block and other groupings, mankind is being manipulated to morph into a single neck on which they can be collective manipulated and enslaved. He argues that collectivism is designed to subjugate the individual and elevate groups; he postulates that one man is held as evil while society is seen as God, thus through collectives, the soul of the individual are slaughtered and the rest follows meekly. The soul of and individualist is advanced in Roark’s defense before a court He disputes the popular assumption that selflessness and collective ideology is the most beneficial and progressive altitude by saying that it is only through individualism that great achievements and discoveries have been made in retrospect (Rand 71). He uses several analogies of men who made landmark discoveries in history, he speculates that; the man who discovered fire was probably leeched, he says, for the â€Å"evil† he did, yet since then mankind has benefited from fire, the same fate may have befallen the discoverer of the wheel. Speculation aside, he mentions some more verifiable truths such as the fact that Anesthesia which was an important discovery in medicine was initially considered sinful, he also mentions the fact that many scientists and inventors were persecuted for their knowledge which the world came to rely on. Upshot of his argument is that these men were not inspired by the desire to serve their community to do the great things they did, in-fact in most cases they were directly contravening what was expected of them. Yet by following t heir selfish egoistic individual desires and ambition, they came to benefit the society in its entirety. He claims that individualism is responsible for mankind achievement and America’s success and prosperity and greatness and that those who set out to do good for society often ended up causing blood baths. To a great extent, I agree with both arguments of both speakers, quintessentially, both paint individualism as the ideal human conditions, in Tahoohey’s he claims that subjugation of society can only be achieve if men are made to lose their individual identity and ascribe to a collective one. In essence he is saying that an oppression and individualism are mutually exclusive since for one to oppress a people, the needs must first eliminate the individual identity. This is true since even in prison, one is stripped off their name and give a number they also get uniform clothes and in some cases haircuts, this is because the best way to control people is to make them see themselves not as individuals but as members of a larger community. The second arguments paints individualism as being the stuff from which genius and creativity and innovation spawns, this is logical because in essence most people will achieve the greatest success if they are intrinsically motivated; not by the idea of monetary gain or public approval but simply because they personally desire i to do what they

Personal Financial Problem Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Financial Problem - Term Paper Example It is very easy for people to save money on their discretionary costs and use it in their habits like coffee or cigarette. This is because one might see that they are only using few coins to buy coffee. However, if these few coins can be saved for a week or two, they can experience the significance of this saving. If we can make the calculations of the amount we can save if we dont take coffee per day, and project it for 1 year, 10 years and even 20 years to people, some might change their minds about not taking coffee. Especially, those from large families of around ten people, if you save $20 per day, it results to saving $146,000 after 20 years. One would see that this amount of money is too high and can begin to save. However, to save this amount, one can resort to purchasing alternative beverages that cost less by $2 or more like cappuccino. We can make people realize that saving after a period makes a huge saving in the end (Lorenzo, 2013). To make people stop taking coffee even if they say they enjoy it, we can make them realize the cost of taking coffee and compare it with the cost of taking another beverage after a period of time (Richard, 2013). Coffee, first of all, is an addictive beverage with caffeine component that is considered a drug. It, therefore, influences peoples behavior as it has an addictive feeling (Tiago, 2014). However, once one has already begun taking it, it becomes hard for them to stop (Rob, 2013). There are personal problems that such coffee or cigarette addiction bring to us. One will go to an extent of cutting on their budget for basic needs like food to go take coffee. It therefore leads to lack of proper budget planning and following (Scott, Cynthia, & George, 2008). People can also use budgets to help them plan their expenditure. They need to have their financial goals right and put their eyes on the goals to achieve

Marketing plan for COCA COLA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Marketing plan for COCA COLA - Essay Example 5). From the economic perspective, marketers create utility or benefit in forms of time, ownership, place etc (Boone and Kurtz, 2009, p. 5) that produce the want satisfying power for the ultimate users of the products or services in the market. The contemporary marketing environment is highly complex and dynamic due to the influence of technology, competition, and globalization and so on and therefore no marketer would be able to succeed in its market landscape unless it plans better for the future. In order to identify marketing potential and threats for a particular product or service, the marketer has to foresee how different marketing variables can impact its business. Marketing plans in recent years have attracted wider attention of business organizations, because these are found to have helped marketers establish a stronger competitive stance and maintain long term profitability through sustainable competitive advantage. This paper presents a detailed marketing plan for Coca-Co la Company, comprising of major marketing analyses and environmental scan of the company. This paper gives relevant description of marketing objectives and marketing strategies of Coca-Cola, and presents SWOT analysis to analyze both internal and external environments of the company. Introduction Coca-Cola means much more to people than merely something to drink. It has emerged as an American icon with rich tradition and cultural impact among people worldwide (Armstrong & Kotler, 2005, p. 8). A company that started in 1883 has long been successfully keeping its brand relevant for more than 100 years and one among Fortune 500. Coca-Cola has dominated world market for soft drinks and the extent of its brand success can be recognized from the fact that it is recommended instead of normal water in many countries (Johansson, 2009, p. 64). This report presents a marketing plan for Coca-Cola. Planning is an extremely significant element to successfully implementing and performing a marketi ng activity. The main objective of marketing is to sell products or services to the potential customers and therefore a marketing plan should virtually be a strategy to help the marketer gain an advantage over other providers of the similar goods or services in the market (Carpenter and Sanders, 2009, p. 10). Coca-Cola: Company Overview The Coca-Cola Company is world’s largest beverage company that manufactures, distributes and markets non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company licenses and markets more than 500 non-alcoholic beverage brands, mainly sparkling beverages with variety of beverage products such as waters, enhanced waters, juices, juice drinks, ready-to-drink tea and coffee, sport drinks etc (Datamonitor, 2011, Annual Report, 2011). The company owns most famous four brands in beverage, Coca Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. The Coca-Cola Com

What is the Role of Financial Strategy within an Organization Assignment

What is the Role of Financial Strategy within an Organization - Assignment Example Within the organization, the different functions compete for the resources. Organizations have to adopt certain financial strategies in order for it to optimize resources that are available for use (Sanwal, 2008). Once the internal allocation is taken cared of, the company can focus on other aspects of the organization to achieve growth. An organization is faced with the dilemma in choosing which finance strategy would best suit their corporate structure. Will it be to adopt a financial strategy driven towards greater efficiency or towards better management of the organization as a whole It is ideal and optimal to achieve both and when an organization is able to do so then it can focus efforts on the remaining functions. Some organizations have tried to standardize the established financial system to be able to replicate the system and apply it in the global spectrum. Many organizations have tried to focus on the enhancement of the financial function to achieve greater efficiency in the bigger picture. To be able to maintain their global positions and to determine which strategies best suit the company, these organizations do the benchmark. Benchmarking is a flexible tool in management which can be used in the various functions of an organization. Companies do industry scans and assess the strengths of their competitors (Ruth, 2006). They use these assessments to determine which areas are weak in their own organizations, which functions need to be given attention and what measures are to be taken to implement changes if there are any. In the organization's venture towards being cost-efficient and at the same time globally competitive, it encounters various problems along the way and it must take note of various risks consequent with the implementation of financial strategies that it has decided to implement. Some points and important matters that the organization has to take into account before deciding which strategy to use are the current corporate structure and the system of the organization. Corporate structure helps determine which processes best contribute to the organization's growth and development. The flexibility of the corporate structure is also very vital especially now in the current dynamic industries we have (Sanwal, 2008). For systems, in an industry scan done by SAP, the two systems that place great weights on finance are transaction processing and decision support system (Patel-Muellers, 2006). Though companies want to focus on decision support and management, they are in truth spending their time on transaction processing. However, progress is little by little evident in the efficiency of the companies' processes as they journey towards being more strategic. Â  

Take home final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Take home final - Essay Example Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis is just one enlightening example among many others which proves the idea that literatures helps people to overcome general differences, media stereotypes, prejudices, and develop interest in empathizing with others. Persepolis is an autobiographical novel by Satrapi which introduces people from foreign cultures to the experience of being raised in a country like Iran. Research also confirms that Persepolis is a ground-breaking novel which instead of dwelling on fictitious accounts narrates real life childhood experiences (Schroeder 6). An important point to be realized here is that people unacquainted with authentic sources of information like Persepolis end up being unable to sympathize and care for others. It is because lack of credible information easily causes them to believe in flawed and misguiding concepts popularized by the biased media. Orientalism is an important concept worth mentioning here because it explains how the western media adopting a highly biased approach portrays the Middle Eastern people as naà ¯ve, backward, and even dangerous. Satrapi herself comments on this subject in her book expressing that the great Iranian civilization has always been discussed by media since the 1979 Islamic revolution â€Å"in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism† (Satrapi cited in Schroeder 14). In times when media acts to deliver mostly stereotyped messages about certain matters, developing a close relationship with authentic literary sources is critically important. This is because such a relationship in addition to enlightening the mind of a person also helps him/her to understand myriad differences between him/her and others which is very important to be able to demonstrate empathy. For example, Satrapi’s account of growing up in Iran helps to convince people around the globe who sit outside the highly closeted social environment of Iran that Iranians

Mgmt 4420 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mgmt 4420 - Essay Example Employees need continual training so that their output remains strong. The 10 Talent Management practices that I will employ in future work are: recruiting online, source work out, take advantage of social media, makes it easier for new employees to integrate into the workplace when they first arrive, establish clear goals across every department of the organization, correspond performance reviews with company objectives, provide on-the-job training, implement a system to track employees’ output, offer pay based on performance, and identify future leaders. Of the above Talent Management practices, I would focus on two main ones: create uniform goals across the organization and to offer pay that is linked with performance. I believe that these two practices are the most vital in any organization because they get overlooked much of the time. Any organization needs to be on the same page, so company goals must be communicated to every employee. Also, employees perform better when their pay is linked to their work. The extra motivation will increase output and result in profit for the

Napoleon’s Fatal March Essay Example for Free

Napoleon’s Fatal March Essay While immeasurable literature on Napoleonic Wars exists, there are still some mysteries yet to be unveiled on the comprehension of both wars and the circumstances in which they came to. Perhaps the major mystery concerns the role of Russia in international relations in the Napoleonic era, misunderstood both in Russia and in other parts of the world. One of these literatures, Moscow 1812: Napoleons Fatal March analyses the state of affairs during the French Invasion of Russia and subsequent proceedings during Napoleon’s reign, that eventually marked an end to Napoleonic empire whose troop, while trying to access Moscow, were defeated. This history would not have been realized were it not for some influential military leaders at the time. Their leadership strategies influenced the 1812 campaign. One of the leaders was Alexander perhaps meeting him was one thing Napoleon regretted, being one of the most exciting Tsars because he was very contradictory. He was the ruler of Russia during the Napoleonic Wars and was victorious in many military campaigns. His contradictions were evident when, during his tenure, he introduced liberal reforms, after which he revoked them again in the second half of his tenure. The second leader was Bagration. In the wars of 1805 Bagrations achievements were noted at the Battle of Hollabrunn where he resisted and emerged victorious with only a small army, the continuous attacks of forces that were way bigger than his own in numbers. The eventual surrender of the forces helped him secure the major army that was being let by Kutuzov. This army was important in the war against the French and it had to be guarded. Kutuzov, a cunning leader, who was hated by many but adored by his soldiers, commanded the Russian corps in 1805 which did not agree with Napoleon’s encroachment on Vienna. He tried to stop allied generals from going to war on the Austerlitz eve, but the Tsar did not heed to his command, he thus did not take part in the planning arrangements so that he would not be blamed in case they lost. Kutuzov served as governor-general of Lithuania and Kiev from 1806 to 1811. He is honored for the victory the French. The Russian campaign’s outcome was very obvious but in every war they went to, both parties claimed to have won; by the end of 1812, however, it was clear the French had been defeated. Unfortunately for the Russians, they still could not be declared winners. This invasion marked a turning point in the history of Europe and the world as a whole. Approximately 450,000 soldiers were annihilated, reducing the French and its allied military to a very small figure of their original power and this caused a grand change in the politics of Europeans, since the earlier principal position of the French on the continent had been significantly reduced. It is noted that the French invasion failed because of the ambitions of Napoleon who did not consider what Alexander, his Russian ally, thought of him invading Moscow. In his book, Zamoyski has made possible the provision of accounts of the events that took place in Russia at the time. Personal accounts of the characters and in illustrating the attitudes, craftiness and alertness of the soldiers from both sides in the 1812 campaign, he depicts the plans of Alexander as a scheming leader, Napoleon as an ambitious and arrogant one, Kutuzov and Bagration as those leaders who brought liberation to Russia from the French. He also looks into their lives as they endured suffering during that period in futility. Reference: Zamosky A. (2005). Moscow 1812: Napoleon’s Fatal March. New York. HarperCollins

Introduction To Sony Corporation Commerce Essay

Introduction To Sony Corporation Commerce Essay Sony Corporation has a history of almost more than 60 years. It has a wide sales network and is registered in approximately 200 countries. However, the primary manufacturing facilities of Sony Corporation are located in Asia. Sony Corporation is involved in the developing, designing, manufacturing and selling electronic equipment and devices, game consoles and software. It is also producing and distributing motion picture, home entertainment, television products, and recorded music. In addition to this, it is also rendering its services in the financial services sector which involves insurance operations through the Japanese insurance subsidiaries and banking operations through a Japanese Internet-based banking subsidiary. Sonys products are largely marketed in Japan, the United States, and Europe. Major Problems and Challenges Faced by Sony Corporation Sony is a multinational organization and has to deal with the dynamic industry in which it is operating. It has developed itself by formulating a steady work environment where engineers had thoughtful appreciation of technology and have worked without restraint as they pleased to focus on development of dynamic technologies and creation of products that people have always desired (Mintzberg, 1989). Sony Corporation, which has been a leading corporation once, has reported losses for almost four consecutive years. It declared a record annual net loss of 520 billion yen ($6.4 billion) for the year ends in March 2012. The main strategic problem of Sony Corporation is embedded in its several product lines that provide too many parts of the entertainment value chain. The companys innovation and operations slowed down due to the introduction of the empire-building strategy. It has lead to the weakening of its competitiveness in all of the market segments of its business. In addition to the internal problems faced by the wide product lines by Sony, it is facing other external challenges as well. In late 2000s, global economic crisis caused a significant decline in consumer spending as of recession and resultantly caused a decrease in the profitability of Sony. The overall demand of the products of Sony has declined due to the appreciation of the Japanese Yen as it has lead to negativel y affect the purchasing power of non-Japanese consumers of Sony Products. Further, the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster and its consequences also effected Sonys operations badly and resulted in extensive re-establishment costs. In the presence of these external and uncontrollable challenges, Sony was unable to cope with the increasing competition and it became difficult for Sony to retain its market share within the electronics and game industry. In accordance with such problems the top management team of Sony was comparatively conservative. As a result, Sony lost its competitive edge in the industry due to decrease in its technological innovation. In a nutshell, the primary emphasis of Sony Corporation on restructuring strategies in such alarming and challenging situation leads to enormous and continual losses. Overview of Sony Corporation Strategies and its Implications Sony Corporation is a giant in its industry having well-built core competencies. It has economies of scale and wide scope both in production and research and development because of its huge network in Japan, the United States and other countries all around the world. Moreover, its unique quality, technology and differentiated products are other top strategic benefits that can help it to attain competitive advantage in market. Sonys business operations have been restructured many times in last two decades. Sonys first signs of loss began in early 1990s when it experienced a loss of  ¥ 293.36b in 1995. The reason behind this loss was primarily the unrelated diversification and the dearth of innovation. New products are imitated very soon by the competitors in the digital era because these products can be produced by assembling widely-available parts. So there always remain the dangers of being entangled in price wars (Kusunoki, 2003). This can only be avoided by readily adapting changes in a way that competitors cannot keep up. In reaction to this, Sony put all its efforts into restructuring the corporation considering it as a way towards success as there was general trend of diversification in leading companies (Itami, 2001). It faced heavy restructuring costs in this course but these efforts failed to attain the expected results and outcomes. In 1994, Sony formulated an eight company structure with an a im to create a market-responsive company but the losses prevailed. In 1996, it designed a ten-company structure with a same goal to get the company back to profits. Again, due to unrelated diversifications, heavy decentralization and minimal involvement of board room in major decisions, the losses cannot be reduced. After 1999, the company focused on Internet based products due to dot com burst. This major shift in business focus further worsened the situation. The major reasons for further losses were the lack of consolidation and hence substantial fall in sales. In addition to this, the economic slowdown in the US was also a key reason. Consequently, the focus on core competency was re-established which resulted in regaining profits slightly. Sony must focus on increasing sales immediately so as to meet their short-term goals and attain success in long run. In addition to restructurings among Sonys product lines, it should ensure stable profitable trend to avoid more severe decline. In the past few years, it has been able to reduce it cost. It should maintain this reduction so as to increase gross margin in the long run. Moreover, it should utilize the increased leverage and other assets in the ways that can lead to optimum and efficient boosting of sales. Most importantly, it should try to reduce or mitigate the macroeconomic risk which has been a major cause of unexpected losses in previous years. Critical Evaluation of the One Sony Strategy The most important challenges for Sony are the high competition in industry and the macroeconomic risks. In this regard Sony should re-develop its competitive advantage, regain focus, ensure quality and reduce external factors effect on companys performance and profitability. The chief executive of Sony Corporation has emphasized on the fact that its the time for Sony to change now. He has given a revival plan that elucidates a major shift from the companys unprofitable television business. It also planned to cut 10,000 jobs as well. In the new strategy, it is emphasized that the Sony would concentrate on three businesses namely the mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets; cameras and camcorders; and games. Sony has fruitfully expanded into various business segments (Electronics, Game, Pictures, Music, and Financial Services) since the beginning of the company as a telecommunication company in 1946. It has diversified its product lines and has attained remarkable reorganization in a wide range of sectors. It has enhanced many other resources like research and development, marketing, customer services and even unrelated areas. All this has lead to both positive and negative effects simultaneously. As diversification has lead to the expansion of the company, it has also resulted in decreasing its specialized capabilities. Hence, Sony was unable to keep hold of its competitive advantage in any sector or segment of its business and lost the competitive edge against the highly specialized competitors within each segment. So its the need of the hour that Sony locates a specific segment or sector to focus and specialize in it and then it should restructure the company around that focused segment. This type of restructuring can help the company to utilize maximum of its resources in the most productive and optimal way. The current move of Sonys strategy is exactly in this line. Sony is about to terminate or integrate its least profitable segments. Such restructuring will lead to the development of a proprietary product collection and special set of Sony hardware and software products that can be used against the highly specialized competitors like the products of Apple. In this way, Sony can have an edge over the competitors in long run as no other company is operating in such wide range of sectors currently as Sony is. Sony, no doubt, will have an incomparable experience in this regard. This type of restructuring can reverse the recent unprofitable trend of the company as it will be a strong positive s ignal to the market and its competitors enhancing the confidence of consumers and investors. The segments or sectors of business that should be focused should have the specific features. Sony should focus on such sectors which are already its main segments, namely the consumer, professional devices segment or the networked products services segment. Moreover, such segments should also have the prospect or potential to get integrated with various remaining segments. In this way, Sony will be able to leverage most of its current resources. Most importantly, this market segment should be moderate in competition as well. Sony would be able to implement the strategies in such segments where it has bigger market share recently. Keeping these benefits in view, the mobile devices of Sony are extremely desirable sector to be focused by it. The series of Sony Ericsson smartphones launched with the Xperia brand in 2011 which operated on Android gained an extensive market share and have much more potential. Similarly, the Xperia smartphones can also be integrated with Sony tablets, personal computers and game consoles in this concern. In this way, Sony can be able to lower the cost and increase the demand for such Sony products in the long run keeping the main focus on the abundant competition in the smartphones and tablets markets. Another sector to be focused by Sony can be of the games. The main reason behind it is that its the major segments for Sony in which it has competitive market share. The sector of games can induce synergies among Sonys product lines. Moreover, the competition in the segment of games business is not as extreme as it is in the other market segments. Sony intends to replace the operations of disjointed lineup of content delivery platforms to expand its PlayStation game network which will offer music and video as well. This is no doubt a good strategic step. However, one Sony strategy is intending to focus on Sonys digital imaging business that involves digital cameras and camcorders. This policy is again not very appropriate as Sony will have to face intense competition from Canon, Nikon, and Olympus. Moreover, Sony will also face threats from substitutes such as tablet computers which are highly equipped with advanced digital imaging functions. Keeping all these factors in view, it can be deduced that Sony will encounter great problems in the integration of digital imaging sectors with its other businesses. Another appropriate feature of the new strategy is the decision of shrinking the TV business as the severe competition from Samsung and LG, the deficiency of synergy potentials and the comparatively low share of market is making it impossible for Sony to attain or retain its competitive advantage. The focus on certain sectors will provide various benefits to Sony. Sony can start acquisitions within related segments once it has established strong focus. The acquisition strategy will lead to increase market share, to get the economies of scale, decrease manufacturing costs, and provide access to new technologies and patents. An increase in the market share will provide Sony with higher pricing power. The economies of scale will raise its productivity. The reduction in the manufacturing cost will lead to give benefit in a price competition. The technologies and patents will allow Sony to speed up their innovation progress which is slow right now. Sony must start by acquiring smaller companies in its focused market segment and should overpay premiums for the expected synergies as well. Another main focus of this new strategy is to improve the quality of its products by managing such features at the top level of management in integrated way. The major strength of Sony is its brand name because consumers deem Sonys products as trustworthy and having high quality generally. Whereas the quality of products of Sony has decreased in last few years. For instance, Sony declared that almost around 535,000 of their VAIO laptops might be in danger of overheating because of the temperature gauge error in 2010. Similarly, Sony had also recalled eight models of Sony digital cameras because of the problems with the image pick-up shortly after its multiple delays in launching PlayStation3. Such quality problems have lead to cost lawsuit expenses and have damaged the corporate image as well. Now, Sony is seriously emphasizing on attaining specialization in its products to avoid any such circumstances in future which is a positive action of this strategy. Moreover, Sony is expecting to enhance its business in emerging markets with greater focus on the innovation. It is a vital strategy for any business so as to keep itself in the market successfully. This will provide it with more markets availability in the long run increasing the sales and hence profits. However, this strategy is lacking in one very important aspect which is handling the macroeconomic factors. The presence of Sony in the international market has lead to its sensitivity to exchange rates and local economies. No doubt, Sony cannot get direct control over such factors but it can utilize its Financial Services segment to mitigate the risk exposure. Sony can apply this strategy by making derivatives contracts (currency swaps and interest rate swaps) or by taking short positions in particular securities as long as these practices comply with laws and regulation. The most problematic task is goal congruence. It means alignment of the managers incentives with the overall firm because such hedging measures can impact the profitability of the financial services segment. If these factors are ignored, they will again lead to unexpected losses to Sony in the long run making all other measures unrewarding. Sony took the direct action in introducing the company system in the first place (Kunii, 2000). It then performed an organizational improvement synchronized with the changes in the surrounding environment. Its strategy shifted in accordance with Chandlers proposition that organization follows strategy. Sonys organizational reforms and responding to environmental changes after the bubble collapse were significant (Nishiwaki,1990). The one Sony and one management system will lead to solve many problems and have the capability of improving the performance of the company as all the major decisions are now to be taken and implemented by the top management. The new approach emphasizes on the strengths of the entire Sony Group as One Sony by implementing a rapid decision-making process. With the help of this, Sonys primary goal is to revive and cultivate the electronics business to create new value in addition to further escalation of the stable business foundations of the Entertainment and Financial Service businesses. This management structure has reduced the previous complexity of the system and efficiency is expected to be increased. The more top-down leadership is expected to start to attain Sonys goals for the next years as it is said its the key to spot the requirement to create visions, motivate, establish direction and align people (Kotter, 1999). The focus is on development of six components for successful strategic leadership that involves determining a firms vision, retaining core competencies and mounting human capital. All these aspects are introduced to develop new technology and benefit from a centralized decision making system in the long run (Hannan and Freeman 1977, 1984). Conclusion Sony has faced many difficulties for several years and has now been able to properly identify many of its real problems. The latest strategy will lead to address them to some extent. Although some improvements have been shown in the recent times but still many areas are to be focused on in this strategic change. The basic reason behind it is that Sony is not a market leader now. Resultantly it does not have that old power to influence the direction of the market and follow its own plan. Moreover, the policy of defending its own interests has proved to be exigent. The strategies need not be deliberate always, they can emerge as well (Mintzberg, 1980). This strategy is good in many aspects and can lead to revive Sony Corporation but still Sony needs to work hard if it wants to survive and regain its market-leading position again. Recommendations A wide range of unrelated businesses operations are usually justified on the basis of scale and scope economies but this unrelated diversification can be more harmful than helpful in long run. So, Sony must perform a due diligence to assess the financials and brand worth of its different business units as its competitor Samsung has done. Sony should regain focus and invest in development and make improvements in its core competence. It will be helpful in regaining brand leadership. Sony should restore its RD, design, and marketing departments as well. Innovation should be induced in both products and services that will improve the relationship between the brand and the consumer. The innovation should make valid brand sense. It can be done by reflecting consumer preferences. Sony should promote the marketing function to the board room again and allow marketing to take a lead of the business and the strategy as marketing and branding cannot be transferred to a tactical level handled by marketing managers who dont have an appreciation of the broader vision in the long run. The market has become tremendously competitive. In this situation Sony should follow the old branding techniques only in case they are steered by a brand oriented leadership. The top management including the CEO of Sony should assess the meaning and identity of the brand to its customers in these dynamic and challenging times in a way that they innovate and lead the industries in which Sony is operating. It is extensively important for Sony to regain the cool factor. It should enhance its designs and features all over again as this is the main strategy which can help Sony to survive in competition of the industry having strong competitors like Apple, Nokia, Samsung and others. The supremacy in designs and customer oriented features are very essential to be attained.

America a Country Made by Africans :: essays papers

America a Country Made by Africans The development of Colonial America was based on the fundamental of slavery. Without the labor power of the first African/ Americans the existence of America would be incomprehensible. Countryman's statement, " Their story is "no exception" to what was otherwise a tale of success- it is absolutely fundamental to the history of colonial America." Countryman's statement is in fact correct. This country is was found upon the backbone of African Americans it is evident in the three essays of Countryman's book " How Did American Slavery Begin?" The three essays, which support Countryman's bold statement, are "Ancestry of Inferiority" by A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. "Gullah Roots" by Margaret Washington "Slavery and Freedom" by Edmund Morgan These essays specifically explain how the African Americans helped our founding fathers build this country physically economically and politically When the first African American set foot on this land he was here for one purpose and that was to serve someone, but that was also the same with a Caucasian American. Even though both black and white were treated the same it was obvious that being black was a disadvantage, 'sin'. Englishmen at that time believed that the color black was considered as "the handmaid of and symbol of baseness and evil†¦" (pg.88). Each servant when coming to America was to serve a master for a certain amount of years. The white servants served the masters for seven years because it was written in their contract which was made in England, but since the blacks came from Africa and had no sort of contract they were kept longer as servants (pg.88). This I believe is the bases for slavery, the more labors they had the more work could be done on plantation making more money. This is the physical part of the, which was built by Africans. The absolute economic success of this country was built on the back of an African American. Blacks were the actually labors and engineers who matched the amount of the world's demand on goods produced in America such as rice, indigo, tobacco, and cotton (pg.75). Certain blacks on the coasts of Guinea were adopted due to the fact they knew how to already ingeniously harvest rice and indigo (pg.73). This Coast became know as 'The Gold Coast'. This though was not the main reason for African Americans to be a major portion of the American labor system.

Brown, achievement: Martial arts competition :: essays research papers

A faint twinge of excitement floated through my body that night. A hint of anticipation of the coming day could not be suppressed; yet to be overcome with anxiety would not do at all. I arduously forced those pernicious thoughts from seeping in and overcoming my body and mind. I still wonder that I slept at all that night. But I did. I slept soundly and comfortably as those nervous deliberations crept into my defenseless, unsuspecting mind, pilfering my calm composure. When I awoke refreshed, I found my mind swarming with jumbled exhilaration. The adrenaline was flowing already. After a quick breakfast, I pulled some of my gear together and headed out. The car ride of two hours seemed only a few moments as I struggled to reinstate order in my chaotic consciousness and focus my mind on the day before me. My thoughts drifted to the indistinct shadows of my memory. My opponent’s name was John Doe. There were other competitors at the tournament, but they had never posed any threat to my title. For as long as I had competed in this tournament, I had easily taken the black belt championship in my division. John, however, was the most phenomenal martial artist I had ever had the honor of witnessing at my young age of thirteen. And he was in my division. Although he was the same rank, age, size, and weight as I, he surpassed me in almost every aspect of our training. His feet were lightning, and his hands were virtually invisible in their agile swiftness. He wielded the power of a bear while appearing no larger than I. His form and techniques were executed with near perfection. Although I had never defeated his flawlessness before, victory did not seem unattainable. For even though he was extraordinary, he was not much more talented than I. I am not saying that he was not skilled or even that he was not more skilled than I, for he most certai nly was, but just not much more than I. I still had one hope, however little, of vanquishing this incredible adversary, for John had one weakness: he was lazy. He didn’t enjoy practicing long hours or working hard. He didn’t have to. Nevertheless, I had found my passage to triumph. My mind raced even farther back to all my other failures. I must admit that my record was not very impressive.

Essay on Morality in Dante’s Inferno, Hamlet, The Trial, and Joyce’s Th

Changing Morality in Dante’s Inferno, Hamlet, The Trial, and Joyce’s The Dead  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Everyone remembers the nasty villains that terrorize the happy people in fairy tales. Indeed, many of these fairy tales are defined by their clearly defined good and bad archetypes, using clichà ©d physical stereotypes. What is noteworthy is that these fairy tales are predominately either old themselves or based on stories of antiquity. Modern stories and epics do not offer these clear definitions; they force the reader to continually redefine the definitions of morality to the hero that is not fully good and the villain that is not so despicable. From Dante’s Inferno, through the winding mental visions in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, spiraling through the labyrinth in Kafka’s The Trial, and culminating in Joyce’s abstract realization of morality in â€Å"The Dead,† authors grapple with this development. In the literary progression to the modern world, the increasing abstraction of evil from its classic archetype to a foreign, supernatural en tity without bounds or cure is strongly suggestive of the pugnacious assault on individualism in the face of literature’s dualistic, thematically oligopolistic heritage. In analyzing this gradient of morality, it is useful first to examine a work from early literature whose strong purity of morality is unwavering; for the purposes of this discussion, Dante’s Inferno provides this model. It is fairly straightforward to discover Dante’s dualistic construction of morality in his winding caverns of Hell; each stern, finite circle of Hell is associated with a clear sin that is both definable and directly punishable. As Dante moves downwards in this moral machination, he notes that Like lies with like in every h... ...akespearean Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1984. 234-7. Fort, Keith. â€Å"The Function of Style in Franz Kafka’s ‘The Trial’.† Sewanee Review 72 (1964): 643-51. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard and Paula Kepos. Vol. 29. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1988. 198-200. Joyce, James. Dubliners. Ed. Robert Scholes. New York, Penguin/Viking, 1996.    Kafka, Franz. The Trial. Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir. New York: Schocken Books, 1992.    Ruskin, John. â€Å"Grotesque Renaissance.† The Stones of Venice: The Fall. 1853. New York: Garland Publishing, 1979. 112-65. Rpt. in Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1989. 21-2. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. T. J. B. Spencer. New York: Penguin, 1996.         

Duties and Responsibilities of Ceo Essay

A chief executive officer (CEO) is the head of the company and is responsible for its overall success. Some CEOs are also members of the board governing the company, or boards with other organizations. They determine the policies that make up the structure of an organization, or its corporate governance Chairman of the Board A CEO often serves as chairman of the board of directors. The board conducts performance reviews on the CEO and other high-level executives and determines whether they are doing a good job running the company. The board has the power to hire and fire CEOs. As part of the board, a CEO provides input on where he sees the company heading, financially and strategically. Steve Jobs was both the chairman and CEO of Apple for many years. Industry Analysis To lead the company, the CEO must be knowledgeable about the industry. She attends or maintains a presence at conferences and has meetings with other executives to make deals and exchange information. This not only keeps her informed about upcoming events and opportunities like mergers, but also makes her aware of potential threats, like a new competing product line. Approve Annual Reports Annual reports are like a report card on a public company’s s financial status. The CEO writes a personal message that accompanies the report. The message is a summary of the entire report and states his thoughts on future goals, and how the company is progressing toward them. The letter is intended to inform stockholders about the company’s past and future performance. A CEO must verify that all the financial statements in the report are true and complete. Work With Other Executives A CEO must communicate with other high-level executives to make decisions. She often helps recruit candidates at this level since she will be working so closely with them. Although she typically receives input from officials such as the chief financial officer, the chief technology officer and the chief marketing officer, the CEO is the final decision maker on issues. She must clearly state her reasoning for decisions in a variety of formats such as presentations and company meetings. Effective communication reduces misunderstandings and makes employees feel secure about the company’s future. Determine Corporate Policies The CEO must know a lot about basic business topics so he can make decisions in a wide variety of  areas. He is required to have a master of business administration (MBA) degree and at least 10 years’ experience in business, preferably in the same industry, background elements that provide him with a broad base of knowledge. Among the things he’ll determine are when the company goes public, how many employees to hire or lay off, whether or not to merge with other companies and what companies to acquire. He must also make sure that company policies are clearly communicated to the right people in email, memo or newsletter formats.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 7

Chapter 7 And the angel said, â€Å"What prophet has this written? For in this book is foretold all the events which shall come to pass in the next week in the land of Days of Our Lives and All My Children.† And I said to the angel, â€Å"You fabulously feebleminded bundle of feathers, there's no prophet involved. They know what is going to happen because they write it all down in advance for the actors to perform.† â€Å"So it is written, so it shall be done,† said the angel. I crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed next to Raziel. His gaze never wavered from his Soap Opera Digest. I pushed the magazine down so the angel had to look me in the face. â€Å"Raziel, do you remember the time before mankind, the time when there were only the heavenly host and the Lord?† â€Å"Yes, those were the best of times. Except for the war, of course. But other than that, yes, wonderful times.† â€Å"And you angels were as strong and beautiful as divine imagination, your voices sang praise for the Lord and his glory to the ends of the universe, and yet the Lord saw fit to create us, mankind, weak, twisted, and profane, right?† â€Å"That's when it all started to go downhill, if you ask me,† Raziel said. â€Å"Well, do you know why the Lord decided to create us?† â€Å"No. Ours is not to question the Will.† â€Å"Because you are all dumbfucks, that's why. You're as mindless as the machinery of the stars. Angels are just pretty insects. Days of Our Lives is a show, Raziel, a play. It's not real, get it?† â€Å"No.† And he didn't. I've learned that there's a tradition in this time of telling funny stories about the stupidity of people with yellow hair. Guess where that started. I think that we all expected everything to go back to normal after the killer was found, but it seemed that the Romans were much more concerned with the extermination of the Sicarii then they were with a single resurrection. To be fair, I have to say that resurrections weren't that uncommon in those days. As I mentioned, we Jews were quick to get our dead into the ground, and with speed, there's bound to be errors. Occasionally some poor soul would fall unconscious during a fever and wake to find himself being wrapped in linen and prepared for the grave. But funerals were a nice way to get the family together, and there was always a fine meal afterward, so no one really complained, except perhaps those people who didn't wake before they were buried, and if they complained – well, I'm sure God heard them. (It paid to be a light sleeper, in my time.) So, impressed as they might have been with the walking dead, the next day the Romans began to round up suspected conspirators. The men in Maggie's family were hauled off to Sepphoris at dawn. No miracles would come to bring about the release of the prisoners, but neither were there any crucifixions announced in the days that followed. After two weeks had passed with no word of the fate or condition of the men, Maggie, her mother, her aunts, and her sisters went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and appealed to the Pharisees for help. The next day, the Pharisees from Nazareth, Japhia, and Sepphoris appeared at the Roman garrison to appeal to Justus for the release of the prisoners. I don't know what they said, or what sort of leverage they could possibly have used to move the Romans, but the following day, just after dawn, the men of Maggie's family staggered back into our village, beaten, starving, and covered with filth, but very much alive. There was no feast, no celebration for the return of the prisoners – we Jews walked softly for a few months to allow the Romans to settle down. Maggie seemed distant in the weeks that followed, and Josh and I never saw the smile that could make the breath catch in our throats. She seemed to be avoiding us, rushing out of the square whenever we saw her there, or on the Sabbath, staying so close to the women of her family that we couldn't talk to her. Finally, after a month had passed, with absolutely no regard for custom or common courtesy, Joshua insisted that we skip work and dragged me by the sleeve to Maggie's house. She was kneeling on the ground outside the door, grinding some barley with a millstone. We could see her mother moving around in the house and hear the sound of her father and older brother Simon (who was called Lazarus) working the forge next door. Maggie seemed to be lost in the rhythm of grinding the grain, so she didn't see us approach. Joshua put his hand on her shoulder, and without looking up, she smiled. â€Å"You are supposed to be building a house in Sepphoris,† she said. â€Å"We thought it more important to visit a sick friend.† â€Å"And who would that be?† â€Å"Who do you think?† â€Å"I'm not sick. In fact, I've been healed by the touch of the Messiah.† â€Å"I think not,† said Joshua. She finally looked up at him and her smile evaporated. â€Å"I can't be friends with you two anymore,† she said. â€Å"Things have changed.† â€Å"What, because your uncle was a Sicarii?† I said. â€Å"Don't be silly.† â€Å"No, because my mother made a bargain to get Iban to convince the other Pharisees to go to Sepphoris and plead for the men's lives.† â€Å"What kind of bargain?† Joshua asked. â€Å"I am betrothed.† She looked at the millstone again and a tear dripped into the powdered grain. We were both stunned. Josh took his hand from her shoulder and stepped back, then looked at me as if there was something I could do. I felt as if I would start crying at any second myself. I managed to choke out, â€Å"Who to?† â€Å"To Jakan,† Maggie said with a sob. â€Å"Iban's son? The creep? The bully?† Maggie nodded. Joshua covered his mouth and ran a few steps away, then threw up. I was tempted to join him, but instead I crouched in front of Maggie. â€Å"How long before you're married?† â€Å"I'm to be married a month after the Passover feast. Mother made him wait six months.† â€Å"Six months! Six months! That's forever, Maggie. Why, Jakan could be killed in a thousand heinous ways in six months, and that's just the ones I can think of right now. Why, someone could turn him in to the Romans for being a rebel. I'm not saying who, but someone might. It could happen.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Biff.† â€Å"Don't be sorry for me, why would you be sorry for me?† â€Å"I know how you feel, so I'm sorry.† I was thrown for a second. I glanced at Joshua to see if he could give me a clue, but he was still absorbed in splattering his breakfast in the dirt. â€Å"But it's Joshua who you love?† I finally said. â€Å"Does that make you feel any better?† â€Å"Well, no.† â€Å"Then I'm sorry.† She made as if to reach out to touch my cheek, but her mother called her before she made contact. â€Å"Right now, Mary, in this house!† Maggie nodded toward the barfing Messiah. â€Å"Take care of him.† â€Å"He'll be fine.† â€Å"And take care of yourself.† â€Å"I'll be fine too, Maggie. Don't forget I have an emergency backup wife. Besides, it's six months. A lot can happen in six months. It's not like we won't see you.† I was trying to sound more hopeful than I felt. â€Å"Take Joshua home,† she said. Then she quickly kissed me on the cheek and ran into the house. Joshua was completely against the idea of murdering Jakan, or even praying for harm to come to him. If anything, Joshua seemed more kindly disposed toward Jakan than he had been before, going as far as to seek him out and congratulate him on his betrothal to Maggie, an act that left me feeling angry and betrayed. I confronted Joshua in the olive grove, where he had gone to pray among the twisted tree trunks. â€Å"You coward,† I said, â€Å"you could strike him down if you wanted to.† â€Å"As could you,† he replied. â€Å"Yeah, but you can call the wrath of God down upon him. I'd have to sneak up behind him and brain him with a rock. There's a difference.† â€Å"And you would have me kill Jakan for what, your bad luck?† â€Å"Works for me.† â€Å"Is it so hard for you to give up what you never had?† â€Å"I had hope, Josh. You understand hope, don't you?† Sometimes he could be mightily dense, or so I thought. I didn't realize how much he was hurting inside, or how much he wanted to do something. â€Å"I think I understand hope, I'm just not sure that I am allowed to have any.† â€Å"Oh, don't start with that ‘Everyone gets something but me' speech. You've got plenty.† Josh wheeled on me, his eyes like fire, â€Å"Like what? What do I have?† â€Å"Uh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I wanted to say something about a really sexy mother, but that didn't seem like the sort of thing he wanted to hear. â€Å"Uh, you have God.† â€Å"So do you. So does everyone.† â€Å"Really?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Not the Romans.† â€Å"There are Roman Jews.† â€Å"Well, you've got, uh – that healing-raising-the-dead thing.† â€Å"Oh yeah, and that's working really well.† â€Å"Well, you're the Messiah, what's that? That's something. If you told people you were the Messiah they'd have to do what you say.† â€Å"I can't tell them.† â€Å"Why not?† â€Å"I don't know how to be the Messiah.† â€Å"Well, at least do something about Maggie.† â€Å"He can't,† came a voice from behind a tree. A golden glow emanated from either side of the trunk. â€Å"Who's there?† Joshua called. The angel Raziel stepped out from behind the tree. â€Å"Angel of the Lord,† I said under my breath to Josh. â€Å"I know,† he said, in a â€Å"you seen one, you seen 'em all† way. â€Å"He can't do anything,† the angel repeated. â€Å"Why not?† I asked. â€Å"Because he may not know any woman.† â€Å"I may not?† Joshua said, not sounding at all happy. â€Å"He may not in that he should not, or that he cannot?† I asked. The angel scratched his golden head, â€Å"I didn't think to ask.† â€Å"It's kind of important,† I said. â€Å"Well, he can't do anything about Mary Magdalene, I know that. They told me to come and tell him that. That and that it is time for him to go.† â€Å"Go where?† â€Å"I didn't think to ask.† I suppose I should have been frightened, but I seemed to have passed right through frightened to exasperated. I stepped up to the angel and poked him in the chest. â€Å"Are you the same angel that came to us before, to announce the coming of the Savior?† â€Å"It was the Lord's will that I bring that joyful news.† â€Å"I just wondered, in case all of you angels look alike or something. So, after you showed up ten years late, they sent you with another message?† â€Å"I am here to tell the Savior that it is time for him to go.† â€Å"But you don't know where?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"And this golden stuff around you, this light, what is this?† â€Å"The glory of the Lord.† â€Å"You're sure it's not stupidity leaking out of you?† â€Å"Biff, be nice, he is the messenger of the Lord.† â€Å"Well, hell, Josh, he's no help at all. If we're going to get angels from heaven they should at least know what they are doing. Blow down walls or something, destroy cities, oh, I don't know – get the whole message.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† the angel said. â€Å"Would you like me to destroy a city?† â€Å"Go find out where Josh is supposed to go. How 'bout that?† â€Å"I can do that.† â€Å"Then do that.† â€Å"I'll be right back.† â€Å"We'll wait.† â€Å"Godspeed,† Joshua said. In an instant the angel moved behind another tree trunk and the golden glow was gone from the olive grove with a warm breeze. â€Å"You were sort of hard on him,† Joshua said. â€Å"Josh, being nice isn't always going to get the job done.† â€Å"One can try.† â€Å"Was Moses nice to Pharaoh?† Before Joshua could answer me, the warm breeze blew into the olive grove again and the angel stepped out from behind a tree. â€Å"To find your destiny,† he said. â€Å"What?† I said. â€Å"What?† Joshua said. â€Å"You are supposed to go find your destiny.† â€Å"That's it?† Joshua said. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"What about the ‘knowing a woman' thing?† I asked. â€Å"I have to go now.† â€Å"Grab him, Josh. You hold him and I'll hit him.† But the angel was gone with the breeze. â€Å"My destiny?† Joshua looked at his open, empty palms. â€Å"We should have pounded the answer out of him,† I said. â€Å"I don't think that would have worked.† â€Å"Oh, back to the nice strategy. Did Moses – â€Å" â€Å"Moses should have said, ‘Let my people go, please.'† â€Å"That would have made the difference?† â€Å"It could have worked. You don't know.† â€Å"So what do you do about your destiny?† â€Å"I'm going to ask the Holy of Holies when we go to the Temple for the Passover.† And so it came to pass that in the spring all of the Jews from Galilee made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover feast, and Joshua began the search for his destiny. The road was lined with families making their way to the holy city. Camels, carts, and donkeys were loaded high with provisions for the trip, and all along the column of pilgrims you could hear the bleating of the lambs that would be sacrificed for the feast. The road was dry that year, and a red-brown cloud of dust wound its way over the road as far as one could see in either direction. Since we were each the eldest in our families, it fell on Joshua and me to keep track of all our younger brothers and sisters. It seemed that the easiest way to accomplish this was to tie them together, so we strung together, by height, my two brothers and Josh's three brothers and two sisters. I tied the rope loosely around their necks so it would only choke them if they got out of line. â€Å"I can untie this,† said James. â€Å"Me too,† said my brother Shem. â€Å"But you won't. This is the part of the Passover where you reenact Moses leading you out of the Promised Land, you have to stay with the little ones.† â€Å"You're not Moses,† said Shem. â€Å"No – no, I'm not Moses. Smart of you to notice.† I tied the end of the rope to a nearby wagon that was loaded high with jars of wine. â€Å"This wagon is Moses,† I said. â€Å"Follow it.† â€Å"That wagon isn't – â€Å" â€Å"It's symbolic, shut the hell up and follow Moses.† Thus freed of our responsibilities, Joshua and I went looking for Maggie and her family. We knew that Maggie and her clan had left after us, so we fought backward through the pilgrims, braving donkey bites and camel spit until we spotted her royal blue shawl on the hill behind us, perhaps a half-mile back. We had resolved to just sit by the side of the road to wait until she reached us, rather than battle the crowd, when suddenly the column of pilgrims started to leave the road altogether, moving to the sides in a great wave. When we saw the red crest of a centurion's helmet come over the top of the hill we understood. Our people were making way for the Roman army. (There would be nearly a million Jews in Jerusalem for Passover – a million Jews celebrating their liberation from oppression, a very dangerous mix from the Roman point of view. The Roman governor would come from Caesarea with his full legion of six thousand men, and each of the other barracks in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee would send a century or two of soldiers to the holy city.) We used the opportunity to dash back to Maggie, arriving there at the same time as the Roman army. The centurion that led the cavalry kicked at me as he passed, his hobnail boot missing my head by a hair's breadth. I suppose I should be glad he wasn't a standard-bearer or I might have been conked with a Roman eagle. â€Å"How long do I have to wait before you drive them from the land and restore the kingdom to our people, Joshua?† Maggie stood there with her hands on her hips, trying to look stern, but her blue eyes betrayed that she was about to burst into laughter. â€Å"Uh, shalom to you too, Maggie,† Joshua said. â€Å"How about you, Biff, have you learned to be an idiot yet, or are you behind in your studies?† Those laughing eyes, even as the Romans passed by only an arm's length away. God, I miss her. â€Å"I'm learning,† I said. Maggie put down the jar she'd been carrying and threw her arms out to embrace us. It had been months since we'd seen her other than passing in the square. She smelled of lemons and cinnamon that day. We walked with Maggie and her family for a couple of hours, talking and joking and avoiding the subject that we were all thinking about until Maggie finally said, â€Å"Are you two coming to my wedding?† Joshua and I looked at each other as if our tongues had suddenly been struck from our mouths. I saw that Josh was having no luck finding words, and Maggie seemed to be getting angry. â€Å"Well?† â€Å"Uh, Maggie, it's not that we're not overjoyed with your good fortune, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She took the opportunity to backhand me across the mouth. The jar she carried on her head didn't even waver. Amazing grace that girl had. â€Å"Ouch.† â€Å"Good fortune? Are you mad? My husband's a toad. I'm sick at the thought of him. I was just hoping you two would come to help me through the ceremony.† â€Å"I think my lip is bleeding.† Joshua looked at me and his eyes went wide. â€Å"Uh-oh.† He cocked his head, as if listening to the wind. â€Å"What, uh-oh?† Then I heard the commotion coming from ahead. There was a crowd gathered at a small bridge – a lot of shouting and waving. Since the Romans had long since passed, I assumed someone had fallen in the river. â€Å"Uh-oh,† Josh said again, and he began running toward the bridge. â€Å"Sorry.† I shrugged at Maggie, then followed Josh. At the river's edge (no more than a creek, really) we saw a boy about our age, with wild hair and wilder eyes, standing waist-deep in the water. He was holding something under the water and shouting at the top of his lungs. â€Å"You must repent and atone, atone and repent! Your sins have made you unclean. I cleanse you of the evil that you carry like your wallet.† â€Å"That's my cousin, John,† Joshua said. Trailing out of the water on either side of John stood our brothers and sisters, still tied together, but the missing link in the string of siblings was my brother Shem, who had been replaced by a lot of thrashing and bubbling muddy water in front of John. Onlookers were cheering on the Baptist, who was having a little trouble keeping Shem under water. â€Å"I think he's drowning Shem.† â€Å"Baptizing,† Joshua said. â€Å"My mother will be happy that Shem's sins have been cleansed, but I have to think we're going to be in a lot of trouble if he drowns in the process.† â€Å"Good point,† Josh said. He stepped into the water. â€Å"John! Stop that!† John looked at him and seemed a little perplexed. â€Å"Cousin Joshua?† â€Å"Yes. John, let him up.† â€Å"He has sinned,† John said, as if that said it all. â€Å"I'll take care of his sins.† â€Å"You think you're the one, don't you? Well, you're not. My birth was announced by an angel as well. It was prophesied that I would lead. You're not the one.† â€Å"We should talk about this in another place. Let him up, John. He's cleansed.† John let my brother pop out of the water and I ran down and dragged him and all the other kids out of the river. â€Å"Wait, the others haven't been cleansed. They are filthy with sin.† Joshua stepped between his brother James, who would have been the next one dunked, and the Baptist. â€Å"You won't tell Mother about this, will you?† Halfway between terrified and furious, James was tearing at the knots, trying to untie the rope from around his neck. He clearly wanted revenge on his big brother, but at the same time he didn't want to give up his brother's protection from John. â€Å"If we let John baptize you long enough, you won't be able to tell your mother, will you, James?† Me, just trying to help out. â€Å"I won't tell,† James said. He looked back at John, who was still staring as if he'd dash out and grab someone to cleanse any second. â€Å"He's our cousin?† â€Å"Yes,† Joshua said. â€Å"The son of our mother's cousin Elizabeth.† â€Å"When did you meet him before?† â€Å"I haven't.† â€Å"Then how did you know him.† â€Å"I just did.† â€Å"He's a loony,† said James. â€Å"You're both loonies.† â€Å"Yes, a family trait. Maybe when you get older you can be a loony too. You won't tell Mother.† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Good,† Joshua said. â€Å"You and Biff get the kids moving, will you?† I nodded, shooting a glance back to John. â€Å"James is right, Josh. He is a loony.† â€Å"I heard that, sinner!† John shouted. â€Å"Perhaps you need to be cleansed.† John and his parents shared supper with us that evening. I was surprised that John's parents were older than Joseph – older than my grandparents even. Joshua told me that John's birth had been a miracle, announced by the angel. Elizabeth, John's mother, talked about it all through supper, as if it had happened yesterday instead of thirteen years ago. When the old woman paused to take a breath, Joshua's mother started in about the divine announcement of her own son's birth. Occasionally my mother, feeling the need to exhibit some maternal pride that she didn't really feel, would chime in as well. â€Å"You know, Biff wasn't announced by an angel, but locusts ate our garden and Alphaeus had gas for a month around the time he would have been conceived. I think it might have been a sign. That certainly didn't happen with my other boys.† Ah, Mother. Did I mention that she was besought with a demon? After supper, Joshua and I built our own fire, away from the others, hoping that Maggie would seek us out, but it turned out that only John joined us. â€Å"You are not the anointed one,† John said to Joshua. â€Å"Gabriel came to my father. Your angel didn't even have a name.† â€Å"We shouldn't be talking about these things,† Joshua said. â€Å"The angel told my father that his son would prepare the way for the Lord. That's me.† â€Å"Fine, I want nothing more than for you to be the Messiah, John.† â€Å"Really?† John asked. â€Å"But your mother seems so, so†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Josh can raise the dead,† I said. John shifted his insane gaze to me, and I scooted away from him in case he tried to hit me. â€Å"He cannot,† John said. â€Å"Yep, I've seen it twice.† â€Å"Don't, Biff,† Josh said. â€Å"You're lying. Bearing false witness is a sin,† John said. The Baptist started to look more panicked than angry. â€Å"I'm not very good at it,† Joshua said. John's eyes went wide, now with amazement instead of madness. â€Å"You have done this? You have raised the dead?† â€Å"And healed the sick,† I said. John grabbed me by the front of my tunic and pulled me close, staring into my eyes as if he was looking into my head. â€Å"You aren't lying, are you?† He looked at Joshua. â€Å"He's not lying, is he?† Joshua shook his head. â€Å"I don't think so.† John released me, let out a long sigh, then sat back in the dirt. The firelight caught tears sparkling in his eyes as he stared at nothing. â€Å"I am so relieved. I didn't know what I would do. I don't know how to be the Messiah.† â€Å"Neither do I,† said Joshua. â€Å"Well, I hope you really can raise the dead,† John said, â€Å"because this will kill my mother.† We walked with John for the next three days, through Samaria, into Judea, and finally into the holy city. Fortunately, there weren't many rivers or streams along the way, so we were able to keep his baptisms to a minimum. His heart was in the right place, he really did want to cleanse our people of their sins, it was just that no one would believe that God would give that responsibility to a thirteen-year-old. To keep John happy, Josh and I let him baptize our little brothers and sisters at every body of water we passed, at least until Josh's little sister Miriam developed the sniffles and Joshua had to perform an emergency healing on her. â€Å"You really can heal,† John exclaimed. â€Å"Well, the sniffles are easy,† Joshua said. â€Å"A little mucus is nothing against the power of the Lord.† â€Å"Would – would you mind?† John said, lifting up his tunic and showing his bare privates, which were covered with sores and greenish scales. â€Å"Cover, please cover!† I yelled. â€Å"Drop the shirt and step away!† â€Å"That's disgusting,† Joshua said. â€Å"Am I unclean? I've been afraid to ask my father, and I can't go to a Pharisee, not with my father being a priest. I think it's from standing in the water all of the time. Can you heal me?† (I have to say here that I believe that this was the first time Joshua's little sister Miriam ever saw a man's privates. She was only six at the time, but the experience so frightened her that she never married. The last time anyone heard from her, she had cut her hair short, put on men's clothes, and moved to the Greek island of Lesbos. But that was later.) â€Å"Have at it, Josh,† I said. â€Å"Lay your hands upon the affliction and heal it.† Joshua shot me a dirty look, then looked back to his cousin John, with nothing but compassion in his eyes. â€Å"My mother has some salve you can put on it,† he said. â€Å"Let's see if that works first.† â€Å"I've tried salve,† John said. â€Å"I was afraid you had,† said Joshua. â€Å"Have you tried rubbing it with olive oil?† I asked. â€Å"It probably won't cure you, but it might take your mind off of it.† â€Å"Biff, please. John is afflicted.† â€Å"Sorry.† Joshua said, â€Å"Come here, John.† â€Å"Oh, jeez, Joshua,† I said. â€Å"You're not going to touch it, are you? He's unclean. Let him live with the lepers.† Joshua put his hands on John's head and the Baptist's eyes rolled back in his head. I thought he would fall, and he did waver, but remained standing. â€Å"Father, you have sent this one to prepare the way. Let him go forth with his body as clean as his spirit.† Joshua released his cousin and stepped back. John opened his eyes and smiled. â€Å"I am healed!† he yelled. â€Å"I am healed.† John began to raise his shirt and I caught his arm. â€Å"We'll take your word for it.† The Baptist fell to his knees, then prostrated himself before Joshua, shoving his face against Josh's feet. â€Å"You are truly the Messiah. I'm sorry I ever doubted you. I shall declare your holiness throughout the land.† â€Å"Uh, maybe someday, but not now,† Joshua said. John looked up from where he had been grasping Josh's ankles. â€Å"Not now?† â€Å"We're trying to keep it a secret,† I said. Josh patted his cousin's head. â€Å"Yes, it would be best not to tell anyone about the healing, John.† â€Å"But why?† â€Å"We have to find out a couple of things before Joshua starts being the Messiah,† I said. â€Å"Like what?† John seemed as if he would start crying again. â€Å"Well, like where Joshua left his destiny and whether or not he's allowed to, uh, have an abomination with a woman.† â€Å"It's not an abomination if it's with a woman,† Josh added. â€Å"It's not?† â€Å"Nope. Sheep, goats, pretty much any animal – it's an abomination. But with a woman, it's something totally different.† â€Å"What about a woman and a goat, what's that?† asked John. â€Å"That's five shekels in Damascus,† I said. â€Å"Six if you want to help.† Joshua punched me in the shoulder. â€Å"Sorry, old joke.† I grinned. â€Å"Couldn't resist.† John closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, as if he might squeeze some understanding out of his mind if he applied enough pressure. â€Å"So you don't want anyone to know that you have the power to heal because you don't know if you can lie with a woman?† â€Å"Well, that and I have no idea how to go about being the Messiah,† Josh said. â€Å"Yeah, and that,† I said. â€Å"You should ask Hillel,† John said. â€Å"My father says he's the wisest of all of the priests.† â€Å"I'm going to ask the Holy of Holies,† Joshua said. (The Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant – the box containing the tablets handed down from God to Moses. No one I knew had ever seen it, as it was housed in the inner room at the Temple.) â€Å"But it's forbidden. Only a priest may enter the chamber of the Ark.† â€Å"Yes, that's going to be a problem,† I said. The city was like a huge cup that had been filled to its brim with pilgrims, then spilled into a seething pool of humanity around it. When we arrived men were already lined up as far as the Damascus gate, waiting with their lambs to get to the Temple. A greasy black smoke was on the wind, coming from the Temple, where as many as ten thousand priests would be slaughtering the lambs and burning the blood and fatty parts on the altar. Cooking fires were burning all around the city as women prepared the lambs. A haze hung in the air, the steam and funk of a million people and as many animals. Stale breath and sweat and the smell of piss rose in the heat of the day, mixing with the bleating of lambs, the bellowing of camels, the crying of children, the ululations of women, and the low buzz of too many voices, until the air was thick with sounds and smells and God and history. Here Abraham received the word of God that his people would be the Chosen, here were the Hebrews delivered out of Egypt, here Solomon built the first Temple, here walked the prophets and the kings of the Hebrews, and here resided the Ark of the Covenant. Jerusalem. Here did I, the Christ, and John the Baptist come to find out the will of God and, if we were lucky, spot some really delicious girls. (What, you thought it was all religion and philosophy?) Our families made camp outside the northern wall of the city, below the battlements of Antonia, the fortress Herod had built in tribute to his benefactor, Marc Antony. Two cohorts of Roman soldiers, some twelve hundred strong, watched the Temple courtyard from the fortress walls. The women fed and washed the children while Joshua and I carried lambs with our fathers to the Temple. There was something unsettling about carrying an animal to its death. It wasn't that I hadn't seen the sacrifices before, nor even eaten the Passover lamb, but this was the first time I'd actually participated. I could feel the animal's breathing on my neck as I carried it slung over my shoulders, and amid all the noise and the smells and the movement around the Temple, there was, for a moment, silence, just the breath and heartbeat of the lamb. I guess I fell behind the others, because my father turned and said something to me, but I couldn't hear the words. We went through the gates and into the outer courtyard of the Temple where merchants sold birds for the sacrifice and moneychangers traded shekels for a hundred different coins from around the world. As we passed through the enormous courtyard, where thousands of men stood with lambs on their shoulders waiting to get into the inner temple, to the altar, to the slaughter, I could see no man's face. I saw only the faces of the lambs, some calm and oblivious, others with their eyes rolled back, bleating in terror, still others seeming to be stunned. I swung the lamb from my own shoulders and cradled it in my arms like a child as I backed out toward the gate. I know my father and Joseph must have come after me, but I couldn't see their faces, just emptiness where their eyes should have been, just the eyes of the lambs they carried. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't get out of the Temple fast enough. I didn't know where I was going, but I wasn't going inside to the altar. I turned to run , but a hand caught my shirt and pulled me back. I spun around and looked into Joshua's eyes. â€Å"It's God's will,† he said. He laid his hands on my head and I was able to breathe again. â€Å"It's all right, Biff. God's will.† He smiled. Joshua had put the lamb he'd been carrying on the ground, but it didn't run away. I suppose I should have known right then. I didn't eat any of the lamb for that Passover feast. In fact, I've never eaten lamb since that day.

Religious or moral issue of concern to Christians Essay

Analyse and explain the way in which a religious or moral issue of concern to Christians has been dealt with in a television soap opera The moral issue that I have chosen to follow is adultery, which is when a married person has voluntary sexual intercourse with other married or not married people, rather than his or her spouse. The reason I have chosen this moral issue is because it is part of everyday life, many people are doing it and are not taking notice of the hurt and pain they are causing. I have chosen Eastenders for my soap opera, because it is a popular soap and the moral issue adultery is shown, through Natalie and Ricky’s affair. Christians have a strong view on adultery, they believe that you should keep sexual intercourse for marriage because it makes it part of a religious or spiritual contact and it makes it dependant on a commitment to spend the rest of your life with someone, also â€Å"Do not commit adultery† is one of the ten commandments, so Christians are totally against adultery. The main characters involved were Ricky, Natalie, Pat and Barry. The storyline begins with, Ricky and his son Liam coming back to the square after a few years away. After a few weeks Ricky is starting to settle down and he is renting a flat with Sam Mitchell his ex-wife, Natalie and Ricky are friends at this point. After a while Natalie realizes she still loves Ricky, her first love, and starts meeting up with him secretly and has sexual intercourse with him. Natalie makes up excuses saying that she’s working overtime and during her lunch breaks when she’s really meeting up with Ricky. One night Pat sees Ricky picking up Natalie from round the corner from their house. The next morning Pat confronts Natalie about what she saw and tells her to end it but Natalie starts crying and says that she still loves Ricky, but Pat tells Natalie about her own love life and that she would be making a big mistake by seeing Ricky. Natalie is still confused and not sure whom she wants to be with. On Ricky’s birthday Natalie stays home and looks after Jack and Liam, Ricky’s son. So Barry, Pat and Roy can go to Ricky’s party soon after they arrive Barry persuades Roy and Pat to go home and baby-sit so Natalie can come to the party. When Natalie arrives she gives Ricky his card and on the back of the envelope Natalie wrote meet me outside the back where she tells him that she is going to leave Barry. Pat and Natalie talk again and Pat shows Natalie the secret tape, which Barry has recorded for Natalie’s birthday it is a really special tape because Barry says how much he loves her, how important she is to him and how happy she makes him feel, after seeing the video Natalie realises that she is doing wrong and tells Ricky it’s over. Natalie realises she can’t forget Ricky and soon their affair is back on and they plan to move away from the square and start afresh. They plan to leave on Natalie’s birthday, Natalie doesn’t even care about the preparations that Barry made for her birthday party in the Vic. They are ready to head off but Ricky’s car has broken down so they have to take the car that Barry bought for Natalie. Barry is still in the Vic waiting for the guest of honour to arrive but Janine knows about Ricky and Natalie and tells Barry. Barry runs outside and sees Natalie driving off but he stops them. Natalie then tells Barry she’s leaving him, Barry takes her into the Vic and shows her what he has organised for her, Natalie runs off to the toilets Barry runs after her and tries o make her change her mind but her minds already made up. Natalie is ready to leave but then Janine tells Natalie that Ricky slept with Sam, Natalie leaves the square only taking her son with he r. Barry is left heartbroken, he then finds out that Pat knew about Ricky and Natalie, Pat and Roy end up having an argument about it, Roy has a heart attack and dies. The issue seen was dealt sensitively because the different characters feelings were expressed, although it was Natalie who was having the affair, you could see that not only was it the innocent partner that was confused but the partner which was committing adultery was even more confused, Natalie wasn’t sure who she wanted to be with at some points and was getting very upset over it. Pat tried to help her make the right decision but Natalie didn’t care. This soap opera made the moral issue less appealing, I think that it made people think more about what they are doing is totally wrong. The reason it did not make it more appealing is because it showed all the different circumstances people were left in, Natalie ended it with Ricky because he slept with Sam, Barry was left with no son and no wife, the baby was left with no father, Pat was left as the enemy and homeless because Roy dies and leaves the house to Barry, so the issue was shown well balanced because all the main characters feelings and circumstances were shown, many of the characters were feeling hurt. Overall I think this soap opera has shown adultery to be unpleasant because it shows just how many peoples lives are ruined not just the adultery committers, but people who try to help them understand what they are doing is wrong, but are then given the evil for not telling the truthful partner. So this teaches most viewers that adultery is not a good thing. I don’t think that soap opera’s might affect people’s behaviour because mostly they deal with issues to express the circumstances of good and bad. This issue would not cause offence because although it is an issue, which is happening in everyday life it is not based on particular people.