Summary of The Man to Send Rain Clouds free essay sample

The Man to Send Rain Clouds is a short story about the death of an old man on a Pueblo Indian reservation and the issues that arise from conflicting spiritual traditions and Christian traditions. As the story opens, the dead body of an old man has been found under a cottonwood tree on an Indian reservation. The sheep that had been under the old mans care are grazing in scattered locations up and down an arroyo (ravine). Two men, Leon and his brother-in-law Ken, have discovered the body, which has apparently been lying under the tree for at least a day. Leon and Ken herd the sheep back to the camp and return by truck to the body. Ken has brought a red blanket in which to wrap the body, but, before this is done, Leon ties a small grey feather in the old mans white hair. Ken gives Leon some paint and for the old mans face. We will write a custom essay sample on Summary of The Man to Send Rain Clouds or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Leon paints a streak of white across the mans forehead, blue across the cheekbones, yellow under the nose, and green across the chin. When he is finished painting, Leon steps back and smiles at the face of this dead man, who is his grandfather. Leon asks the old man to send some rain clouds. Leon and Ken wrap the body in the red blanket and place it in the pickup truck before heading back to the Pueblo village. As the truck approaches the village, Leon recognizes the approaching car of Father Paul, the local parish priest. The priest motions for Leon to stop and asks Leon if old Teofilo has been found. Leon replies that he and Ken have just come from the old sheep camp, and everything is fine now. The priest warns that at Teofilos age, the old man should not be allowed to wander by himself in the remote area anymore. Leon affirms that this will not happen again. The priest asks Leon and Ken if they will be attending mass on Sunday, encouraging them to bring Teofilo as he drives away. At Leons house, Louise, Leons wife, is waiting with a friend, Teresa. The women have prepared lunch, and they listen to Leons story of finding Teofilo. Apparently, Teofilo had sat down under the cottonwood tree to rest, though he died soon after. Leon realizes that Louise has laid out a new flannel shirt and pair of Levis in which Teofilos body will be dressed. Leon and Ken carry the red blanket-wrapped body into the house, and Teofilo is prepared for burial in the new clothes. Leon, Ken, Louise and Teresa eat their lunch of beans, hot bread and coffee. Ken prepares to leave to make arrangements with the gravediggers, who should be able to have the burial site prepared since only the top layer of soil is frozen even though it is very cold. Neighbors begin to arrive bearing food and sympathy as news of Teofilos death begins to spread in the village. Later that day, after the funeral, Louise mentions to Leon that perhaps they should ask Father Paul to sprinkle holy water on Teofilo so that he wont be thirsty. Leon stares at his grandfathers body and thinks about this for a few minutes. He then leaves to see if the priest is available. Ken drops Leon off at the priests house and continues on to the cemetery where others are waiting for the burial. Father Paul is happy to see Leon and offers him a chair, but Leon declines the seat, saying that he has come only to ask for holy water to be brought to the cemetery. The priest understands now that Teofilo is dead and asks why he had not been notified so that he could have performed the Last Rites. Leon protests that the ritual is not necessary, but the priest contends that for a Christian burial the Last Rites are indeed necessary. Leon tells Father Paul that everything is fine; the family just wants Teofilo to have ample water. The priest cannot provide the holy water without the Last Rites and a funeral mass. Leon has no response and begins to leave. Father Paul leaves the room and returns with his overcoat prepared to accompany Leon to Teofilos grave. As Leon and Father Paul descend the hill to the cemetery, the sun is almost set over the mesa, and the priest wonders how the gravediggers were able to break the frozen ground. Father Paul surveys the small group of people gathered at the gravesite standing among the tumbleweeds. Father Paul focuses on the red blanket and thinks the size is too small to be Teofilos body and wonders for a moment if the people are playing some sort of Indian prank on him. The priest cannot help but wonder if this is just a ritual to ensure a good harvest and that Teofilo is at the sheep camp herding the flock in for the night. Reality shakes the priest back to the situation at hand and he glances at the parishioners gathered in the waning light. The cold makes Father Pauls hands stiffen and removing the lid from the jar of holy water is difficult. Soon, though, the priest has access to the water and sprinkles the grave where the moisture disappears immediately into the sandy soil. Father Paul shakes the jar over the grave until the water is gone and the sight reminds the priest of something, although it is not quite clear what it is. The same wind that blows the priests robe now blows the pollen and corn meal which had also been spread over the grave. Teofilos body is lowered into the ground as the sun disappears. Father Paul notes the lights of the cars on the highway and walks back up the hill toward his house. Leon watches the priest leave and then turns to study the snow-covered mountains in the distance. Leon is pleased that the service is over and that the priest sprinkled the holy water which will allow the old man to send big rain clouds.

The Enviromnetal Degradation As A Result Of Overpopulation Essays

The Enviromnetal Degradation As A Result Of Overpopulation Essays The Enviromnetal Degradation as a Result of Overpopulation 1 Introduction There are simply too many people on our planet, and the population is not showing any signs of slowing down(see Figure 1). It is having disastrous effects on our environment. There are too many implications and interrelationships to discuss in this paper, but the three substances that our earth consists of: land, water and air, are being destroyed. Our forests are being cut down at an alarming rate, bearing enormous impacts on the health of earth. Our oceans and seas are being polluted and overfished. Our atmosphere is injected with increasing amounts of carbon dioxide, which hurts the entire planet. All of these problems can be traced to our vast, rapidly expanding population, which has stressed our world far too greatly. Our Population In 1994, the world population was 5 602 800 000. This population had a doubling time of only forty-one years (De Blij and Muller, 1994, p.527). The massive amount of people has had highly destructive impacts on the earth?s environment. These impacts occur on two levels: global and local. On the global level, there is the accumulation of green house gases that deplete the ozone layer, the extinction of species, and a global food shortage. On the local level, there is erosion of soils (and the loss of vegetation), the depletion of water supply, and toxification of the air and water. The earth is dynamic though, all of these aspects are interrelated, and no one impact is completely isolated. All of these destructive elements can be traced to our enormous population. As the population increases, so do all of the economic, social, and technological impacts. The concept of momentum of population growth is one that must be considered. It states that areas with traditionally high fertility rates will have a very young structure age. Thus, a decrease in the fertility rate will still result in a greater absolute number of births, 2 as there are more potential mothers. Populations are very slow in adjusting to decreases in fertility rates. This is especially frightening when considering that South Asia has a population of 1 204 600 000 (and a doubling time of thirty two years), Subsaharan Africa has 528 000 000 (doubling time: thirty one years), and North Africa/Southwest Asia has 448 100 000 (doubling time: twenty seven years) (De Blij and Muller, 1994, p. 529-531)and all of these areas have traditionally high fertility rates. Although third world countries do have a far larger population than industrialized nations, and the trend is constantly increasing, their populations should not bear the responsibility for our population-enduced degrading environment. The impact we make on the biosphere is sometimes expressed mathematically by ecological economists as I = PAT. I being impact, P population, A affluence (consumption) , and T technology (environmentally bad technology)(Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 1990, p.24). Concern regarding population increases often focuses on the third world, since it is there that growth is exponential. Yet, it is necessary to recognize that people are by no means equal or identical in their consumption, and thus their impact on the environment (see Map 2). 3 Our Forests ?The sky is held up by the trees. If the forest disappears the sky, which is the roof of the world collapses. Nature and man perish together.? - Amerindian legend Forests are a precious link in the life systems of our planet. They are a part of these vital ecosystem services without which earth would not have been habitable by the human species in the first place and would certainly have become inhabitable again. Forests have crucial roles in the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen cycles that nourish and sustain life on earth. They protect the watersheds that support farming and influence climate and rainfall(Lindahl-Kiessling, 1994, p.167). They save the soil from erosion and are home to thousands of species, and forest peoples whose lives depend on them. They are also a source for industrial and medical purposes. In developing countries, much deforestation is for both local purposes and for export. The UNFPA (United Nations Fund for Population Activities) said in it?s 1990 report that population growth may have been responsible for as much as eighty percent of the forest land cleared between 1971 and 1986 to make room for agriculture, cattle ranching, houses, roads and industries(Ramphal, 1992, p.55). It is estimated that in that period nearly sixty million hectares of forest were converted to farmland and a similar amount of forest was put to non-agricultural uses. This is equivalent

Epidemiology and communicable disease Assignment

Epidemiology and communicable disease - Assignment Example For example, individuals who have higher income are likely to access better health services while those with low income are likely not to access health services. This puts those poor person to develop diseases and do not go for treatment, thus making some communicable diseases to spread in the society (Marmot et al., 2012). Communicable disease chain is a circuit of events that starts from a disease-causing urgent to reach an individual ultimately and causes infection. The chain entails the following components: infectious agent, a reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transmission, portal of entry and susceptible host. For an individual to become infected the entire chain must be intact. However, breaking just one component of the chain of infection makes the infectious disease difficult to spread (Aginam, 2002). There are steps that a nurse can take to break the chain of infection and stop the disease from spreading. For example ensuring that, all children are fully immunized against some diseases like measles and flu among others since this will break the chain from the source. Proper hand washing before handling food, this breaks the chain on mode of transmission and prevents the spread (Brachman,

Hyundai Auto company and GM Auto company Research Paper

Hyundai Auto company and GM Auto company - Research Paper Example With these, the company embarked on restructuring its brands in a manner that they were responsive to market needs yet still competitive. It has focused on restructuring its brands while still focusing on their core business: that is they have focused on strengthening the core businesses which are Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet, while reducing focus on other lesser brands which are not the core of the business (GM Company 2010 Annual Report, 2010; Norton, 2008). Hence, while focusing on high quality and exciting vehicles, they have also focused on affordability and fuel efficiency. The key focus is mainly providing high quality and affordable vehicles to the market (General Motors Corporation, 2008). Over the past decade, GM has weathered a dip its US market share, with the key reason for this for this being that most of the company’s vehicles did not seem to appeal to younger buyers, nor was it responding fast enough to the changing customer needs. In most parts of the market, the cars were mostly irrelevant (Szczesny, 2009). While sales for some of GM’s cars such as Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet were high, performance for other brands such as Hummer, Saturn and Saab were lagging behind. Furthermore, brands such as the Hummer did not fit the new GM business model of cost and fuel efficiency (GM Company 2010 Annual Report, 2010; Norton, 2008). In essence, GM reduced focus on non performing brands and increased its focus on the performing brands, while also shifting its focus to production of vehicles appealing to a younger demographic such as Grand Prix, G6, and Grand Am, as well as production of fuel efficient vehicles such as hybrid, electric and FLEX that respond to high fuel cost pressures and environment consciousness pressures (Norton, 2008). These changes have resulted to improved contribution margins in various new models as well as increased fuel efficiency where the cars use $6-$8 per gallon gasoline, 15%-55% fuel improvement than other vehicles. For instance, the Chevrolet Volt and Chevrolet Malibu have won car of the year awards in 2010 and 2008, while Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Malibu generated contribution margins of more than 30% and 50% respectively in 2008 (General Motors Corporation, 2008; GM Company 2010 Annual Report). These changes have positively impacted the GM’s brand value enhance its new business model (GM Company 2010 Annual Report). However, cutting the non performing brands also resulted to loss of jobs in the divisions that were cut. On the other hand, Hyundai motor company, one of the largest Korean automobile companies, has undergone changes in its brand strategy where it has mainly focused on fuel efficiency and fluidic sculpture in its products in response to changing competitive pressures in the market place (Cho, 2012). Years after Hyundai had launched its vehicles in the US market, it was still viewed as a â€Å"cheap car suitable for the lower class† customers. Over the pas t decade, Hyundai has undergone massive changes in its brands to appeal to a wider customer base in the US. They have over the past ten years not only focused on

To create a cycle of myth based in truth Personal Statement

To create a cycle of myth based in truth - Personal Statement Example My mother had absconded her village on a night when our rivals raided the village due to communal vendetta and brutally killed my father. Pregnant and exhausted, but a great swimmer, she dove into the river before the raiders could catch up. On the river's bank there situated a village of a different tribe. They welcomed and gave her shelter. I grew up in this village where the people were peace loving and maintained strong family bonds. The most unique feature of this village was their expertise in building technology and all houses were built on the concept of cosmic architecture which was based on the philosophy that the 'five elements' in the building and humans should remain in perfect harmony. They attributed the tranquil ambience in the village to this synchrony that they achieve in the construction of their homes. I grew up listening to the myth of the goddess of wealth, who, as stories have it, had come to the village with a gunny bag full of precious stones and sought shelter there. One day, when I was in my eighteens, while hunting in the forest, I came across an old man lying on the ground with a large sack by his side. I approached him, and enquired who he was. He told me that he was a merchant from a nearby town who came here for trade purposes.

Strategic Leadership Of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan

Strategic Leadership Of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Leadership is an internal power of convincing people and the world knows many of leaders. But only extraordinary leader with a strong belief could be able to create a miracle transforming a desert into a modern state which is a real pride of the world now. This leader is Sheix Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who was the principal architect of United Arab Emirates and the president of UAE for over 30 years. He was considered one of the wealthiest men in the world but he used to live a relatively humble and traditional lifestyle. The key success of his leadership was wisdom. According to Aristotle, people have a purpose and they try to fulfill it. According to Amartya Sen, people desire freedom of choice. According to Sheix Zayed a human being can reach results through hard work, generosity and strong belief to God. Sheix Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was born in around 1918 in Abu Dhabi. He received only basic education of Islam in the emirate and then after his return from abroad, he told about his visits that motivated him to start a project which would give a possibility to the people to enjoy good living in their own country by utilizing the possible discovery of oil. Sheix Zayed was an effective leader who catalyzed a vigorous pursuit of a clear vision and the biggest guarantee of his effectiveness was the country during his governance. His success became the success of the country which was a transformation of the vision into a reality that the whole world enjoys now. Sheix Zayed was a highly capable individual as he made productive contributions through his strong belief and hard work. As a president of the UAE, he showed his negotiating abilities by building consensus both internally and externally in order to gain support for creating the new state. As a strong charismatic individualist and a real leader, he could convince others with the idea of building a new state in a desert and encouraged the people to express their opinions, to put all together in order to extract from them a single point of view. This was Sheix Zayed who unified seven tribal and made his productive contribution to build democracy in the country. Sheix Zayed has gained the respect and the love of the people due to his unique leadership style of wisdom. He has adopted important principles of far-sightedness for Islamic nations and could earn international recognition as well. His charisma helped him to create a policy to maintain close relationship with the people. Sheix Zayed was a man of religion and his leadership style was based on a philosophy according to which everything in this life depends on Gods will. As a real Muslim, he was inspired by Quran and realized that it is not just a simple book of religion but it is a system of discipline for all facts of life including economic, social, political and moral principles. As a generous leader Sheix Zayed honestly utilized oil resources which he considered as a gift of Allah in the best interests of his people being deeply concerned by the poor social and economic situation of the country. He was concerned by the well-being of every individual citizen stating that all those resources belong to the people who could catch up with the procession civilization. That was his clearly defined vision and the way of governance which ensured progress. Sheix Zayed is considered to be one of the wise leaders of the history. Making wise utilization of the oil revenues that had begun to flow only several years ago, Sheix Zayed made enormous plans of development focusing on the creation of the infrastructure initially and on the needs of all the emirates. Then he built a federation which was a lesson from history over ages and became a unifying force for his success. The federation was his objective to provide his country with a good standard of living and to build a modern state as he considered that unity was a tool for attaining the well-being of the people and to provide generations with a better living. The result of the federation was transformation of the UAE and the lifestyle of its people which was just a dream before. Sheix Zayeds vision was to see the UAE as a developed country, however all the accomplishments were beyond his imagination. It was due to his strategic leadership and ability to utilize natural resources. Sheix Zayeds style of leadership was characterized by his personality as a leader and his belief in the principle of Shura, which is an Islamic value according to which he who does not obey Allah is the loser. This helped him to create a strategic leadership which was based on promoting ethical, religious and responsible practices. He felt everyone in should a full member of the society with a full right of expressing his opinion. He strengthened the religious principle within the people in order to spread justice, generosity and strong belief. The clear stated vision of Sheix Zayed could build winning competencies in the world in every field starting from the educational sector and ending with the supply chain management. The UAE today attracts everyone and finds ways for developing and retaining the best talents of the world in terms of contribution. And the result of the motivation of the best human ideas is that the highest buildings, the biggest airport, the most luxurious hotels of the world are situated in the UAE. Sheix Zayed succeeded in combining leadership with management; as an inspiration-oriented and effectiveness-oriented leader, he could not only set the directions for his country and people and open up options for the future, but as an efficiency-oriented and control-oriented manager, he could stay on course with his people involving himself in project implementation process and sustain the present for his country. This way he could maintain a helicopter view combining effectiveness and efficiency; on the one hand, he was sure of the realization of his vision to build a new and modern state and he was fully convinced that he made a right decision. On the other hand, he used all the useful information from the history and the holy Quran adding his own and other ideas and struggled for fulfilling his main goal of transforming the desert into a modern country. In result, he succeeded in the implementation of his project due to clever utilization of the natural resources and the good stra tegic leadership and management of stabilizing the budget created by Sheix Zayed. He was an intelligent leader and he proved that the intelligence is not only in the academic degrees and prestigious universities, but it is just an internal willingness to be an intelligent. Sheix Zayed grew up with Bedouin traditions, but he reached to the wise style of leadership through knowing others experiences, reading the holy Quran and mastering the lessons of history. Sheix Zayed was an authentic leader. Moreover, he managed to establish his authenticity through getting to know his origins better by getting honest feedback. He always remembered his origin and the hard times he passed in a poor and undeveloped country. He was always ready to meet with the people all over the Emirates and to listen to their ideas and to discuss important issues with them. He improved his steps by getting to know others better by building a rich picture of his environment and removing barriers between himself and others. He chose a style of leadership which allowed the people to be involved in the decision making process as well as set priorities and delegate certain tasks being well informed about the objective of the leader. He involved the people in the sharing of national responsibilities stating that they all had the same goal to achieve justice and right in a developed country with unified society. He strengthened the belief in Islam which was the teacher of th e responsibility of governance and called the people for hard work. He advised them not to follow a routine way to work but to maintain close contact with ordinary people whom they serve. He believed that the people are the main motive for development. His focus was on the educational sector believing that human resources are the real wealth of the country and then on the conservation of the environment and using the natural resources of the country. He found the way to preserve them for the future generations. It was in the result of people involvement in the implementation of the projects that Sheix Zayed realized that the harsh climate threatened the land with desertification and the agriculture was not practical in such conditions. And in a very short of time he could transform the desert into green areas with millions of palm trees and fruit trees. And he succeeded in achieving those unbelievable results while constructing new towns and villages in the sands. Enjoying the natural resources in his country, Sheix Zayed behaved as a great humanist and generous leader in his decisions to make contribution of moral and political support and financial aid to other countries with the aim of bringing stable situation and organizing charity programs. This approach has characterized the style of leadership of Sheix Zayed and remained essential to his role as a leader providing the basis of the way in which he managed to bring progress to his country. The strategy of Sheix Zayed had a performance culture in terms of providing clear, challenging goals. Sheix Zayed was born in Al Nahyan family that emerged as leaders of the emirate which was poor and undeveloped. At that time the economy of the emirate was based on agriculture and fishing and the education was generally confined to lessons in reading and writing along with instruction in Islam. Camels and boats were the means of transportation in the emirate and the survival itself there was a major concern. But the basic education was not sufficient for Sheix Zayed, because he displayed a huge interest for knowledge and curiosity for knowing about the way of life of other people and the environment in which they lived. He had a vision according to which everyone should freely express his ideas and viewpoints without difficulties. That would allow the one to know about other problems and perceive their views properly in order to be able to help and improve their situation. He was a transformational leader with a new vision which led to extraordinary performance in future. As a transformational leader, he was engaged in inspirational motivation led by his vision which later made others follow him. His passion and vision of living in a modern state as well as his drive to make the Emirates one nation gave him a power to start that revolution. As a hard working leader, he had the ability to challenge the status-quo; the reason of living in desert has historical roots, because he was born in this poor part of the world, but he thought that it made no sense any more, because it was possible to create better conditions for the people. Sheix Zayed lived very hard life and thats why he realized that taking the responsibility of future generations was a serious task that needed a strong type of leader. He devoted great efforts to building the state and nation and could earn the respect of the population for his wisdom, generosity and his achievements in building a prosperous economy. His wisdom, strong belief in diplomacy and generous assistance to developing countries made him respectful in the world. His life and achievements were characterized by his deep religious faith, his vision, his determination and hard work, his generosity and the way in which he devoted his life to the service of his people. Using the countrys enormous oil revenues, Sheix Zayed built up institutions such as hospitals, schools and universities and made it possible for UAE citizens to enjoy free access to them. After his death, his son continues his honest work to improve the country and the standard of living of the UAE citizens.

European History - Was the French Revolution Preventable? :: European Europe History

Was the French Revolution Preventable? The French Revolution was a major transformation of the society and political system of France, lasting from 1789 to 1799. During the course of the Revolution, France was changed from an absolute monarchy, to a republic of supposedly equal and free citizens. The effects of the French Revolution were widespread, both inside and outside of France, and impacted all of Europe. At times the outcome of revolt led to social change and at times it just led to unnecessary bloodshed. Was this revolution inevitable? Was there something different that the government or people could have done to prevent the horrible atrocities of The Reign of Terror under Robespierre and his men? There are clear social, economic and political changes that could have been made too prevent this revolution from occurring when it did. However, although the government could have postponed this revolution, it was also somewhat inevitable, because of the great differences in the society of the peasants and the nobles di vided the entire society. The government was also just trying to make too many things right at the wrong time and this is why they could possibly have not avoided the French Revolution. Economically, many changes could have been made in the way that would have prevented such anger arising from the people. However, there are also a few problems that could not have been avoided. Economic decline in the 1770s may have frustrated some bourgeois in their rise to power and wealth, and rising bread prices just before the Revolution certainly increased dissatisfaction among workers and peasants. France also suffered from harsh economic problems. Poor farm harvests by farmers hurt the economy, and trade rules from the Middle Ages still survived, making trade difficult. At this time, the gap between the rich and the poor was becoming greater, with the poor becoming poorer, and the rich becoming richer. A central bank was nowhere to be found, there was no paper currency and in general, taxes were becoming greater for the peasants. In this economically challenged society what could have been done to change all of these economic problems from the beginning? One of the major problems that the government should have dealt with long ago is the use of the funds that they did have. Under rulers in the past such as Louis the XIV, poor economic decisions were made. Louis the XIV did not invest wisely, he used major funds in trade and exploration causes that were not gaining the French anything, but they continued to invest in.