... is about becoming a better thinker in every aspect of your thoughts as a individual. It is also a way to approach difficulty and make good choices in life. Decision making is being able to identify and chose alternatives based on the preferences and morals of the decision maker process. Many of our decisions are simple, like deciding on what to watch on TV, or what you would ... like to eat for a snack. Maybe you rather watch some football with some pizza and beer. "Simple" Other decisions are complicated or difficult, like what ... 's the best college to go to or what career is good to...

• Word Count: 447
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• Grade Level: High School

... have a meal. "We resolve to approve ourselves to the Lord in our particular calling" reads the Salem covenant "shunning idleness as the bane of every state." Some people even believe that puritans caused prohibition. This is completely fabricated because hard liquor was consumed by the men and "small beer" and "hard"cider by a large portion of the populace, including children(the fermentation process acted as a prophylactic against some of ... the diseases borne by poor well-water quality). Of course drunkenness was forbidden and punished. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Let...

• Word Count: 745
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... we came from or why we are here. We do our best to answer these questions but there is no answer that is more correct than the other. The truth of the matter is we aren't meant to know these kinds of things. Rumi points out many limits on knowledge that humans have in his works that ... I agree with. In one of my favorite poems by Rumi, "The Elephant in the Dark House", he points out that without sight of something our understanding of it cannot grow because of our limitation of knowledge. If someone has no ... create panic among everyone. I think it is a good thing not to know when our...

• Word Count: 390
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ." So what constitutes thinking? According to Descartes, thought includes doubting, understanding, affirming, denying, willing, refusing, and also imagining and sensing. This list is a substantial amount of thought which he analyzes much further. The thought that is most related to his argument is sensory perceptions. His famous concept of the evil demon is just one of his thought experiments. Here he claims that all his ... senses and thoughts are controlled by an evil demon within his mind. This is his first method of doubt ... . If we can doubt all of our senses, than how can we have ...

• Word Count: 314
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• Grade Level: High School

... : "We went up to the lake because everyone went there, because we wanted to snuff he rich scent of possibility on the breeze, watch a girl take off her clothes and plunge into the festering murk, drink beer, smoke pot, howl at the stars, savor the incongruous full-throated roar of rock and roll against the primeval susurrus of frogs and crickets." (129) The lake always provided a fun ... social atmosphere for my friends and I at the time, until the day it would change our lives ... forever. The night started out like any other night. I ... ...

• Word Count: 957
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• Grade Level: High School

... black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained." (Par. 5). Even though you may believe that lotteries are for winning great prizes the author gives subtle hints that the black lottery box represents evil. The author immediately starts out by making the box sound old and creepy. The black box had been put to use even before ... Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town. She emphasizes just how old it is by using ... the word "even". This gives you an approximate idea of how old the box really is because later ... ...

• Word Count: 449
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... house, (in other words a suspect). She looked down, reached into her bag and clenched a spray can. She looked up again, there she saw two guys standing there mysteriously, the guys threatened her with beer but before they could attack, she fought them with the paint and mistook one of them for a different person. The guys restrain her. At this point Nicoles feeling terrified with her heart ... beating heavily. Then Mark ran up to the guys with a rock in his hand and tolled them to free her. The guys took off in an ... lift up a bit as someone got out. Thousands of thoughts going throug...

• Word Count: 959
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... heard. Everything dies. This is how night reminds me of the novel. I must mention that the author kept up the detailed description throughout the whole novel. With the help of these wonderfully described actions, I definitely could have imagined myself at war along with the rest of the guys, fighting, and going through realistic emotional and psychological challenges due to the war. I believe this novel has made me a stronger ... reader, as I never would have thought I would have read a novel based on war. I must admit I was getting tired of reading it at some points, because the same ev...

• Word Count: 347
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... like these happen everyday to all sorts of people. Matthew was hated against just because he was open about his sexual preference. He was tied to a tree, beaten, and was left in the freezing weather, begging for his life. Knowing that this just happened four years ago is a frightening thought. After so many years of learning how to be equal with other ... never witnessed or been a part a hate crime that was so extreme. I've seen people make fun of others for being gay. Talking behind their backs and sometimes even to their faces. People use the words "faggot" and "gay" to hurt others an...

• Word Count: 296
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... be some initiative action taken here. Also our government says certain things cannot be done, for example, the rusted pipes were supposedly "unfixable". One entrepreneur changed that. He fixed the grungy old pipes to shiny new ones. People like these really stand out and make a difference in the world. My attitudes toward competition are positive. We should not let government have a monopoly over our ... innocent lives. Even the construction workers that were hired by government and went on to working for private companies say it ... has more of an advantage. They work harder and are n...

• Word Count: 347
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... he really have to lose. He will forever love this woman from afar and his lack of boldness will only make him miserable. I make the assumption that he feels that as long as she doesn't reject him there will be forever the possibility. So that by never actually asking her he forever preserves this thought. ... he will spend all his time thinking about what he should have done. Also there is the chance that she feels something for him also and is waiting for him to make the first move. If the time should come to pass that he finds this out he will be even unhappier. So I think that probab...

• Word Count: 282
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... in life, no matter how insignificant they may seem, all serve a purpose and have consequences to them. In "The Necklace", Madame Loisel chooses to not tell her friend that she lost the necklace and spends 10 years of her life trying to pay for the new one. That is a consequence, or an effect. The choice that she made served as a blessing in disguise. You see, before ... , Mme. Loisel was a quite materialistic driven person, who longed for the riches that she thought made a woman. After undergoing those ten very unpleasant and horrible years, she became a real woman. One with grace and in...

• Word Count: 255
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... but I was able to understand that Descartes was using his methods of doubt and analysis. He talks about certainty, earth, the sky, and his senses. His meditation contains a very difficult proof of God's existence. He claims that things, which are "clearly and distinctly perceived", are completely true. Descartes also discusses the truths of mathematics (2+3=5). He could not bring himself to doubt mathematics, any ... powerful evil genius is not possible. Descartes certainties include him, this thought process, and that the essence of matter is flexible, changeable, and extended. He class...

• Word Count: 292
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• Grade Level: High School

... way cool how she turned out to be the woman in the wallpaper. I knew that the paper represented her a few pages before the end of the article, but I didn't realize that the author was actually going to refer to the woman she saw as I. It was cool how she was determined to rip down the paper and in a sense break free of the "bars" that had been created for her ... time. I haven't decided if she was trying to deny her "nervous condition" or just people in general, when she was creeping away from things and not letting people see her. The fact that she wasn't allowed to do anything is what...

• Word Count: 306
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

In some cases of an individuals thoughts and actions, individualism or subjectivism can be justified. For the most part, however, because many of the things we do affect others in our culture to some extent, these views should not be accepted. It allow a person to do whatever they choose and not take responsibility for it even if it hurts someone else. This is why we ... within a certain culture certain actions become more objectively scrutinized. This forces individuals to take responsibility for their actions and hopefully to minimize the negative affects of egoism on a society. Kant takes ...

• Word Count: 329
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• Grade Level: High School

... stone a citizen to death once a year just because that was the way it was always done. Shirley Jackson wanted the world to try and find another way, to break away from traditions and be more humane human beings. Once the heads of household have drawn, everyone looks at the slip of paper in their hands and at the same time everyone is praying that it is not their ... family. Once again the family members draw and each one is praying it is ... not they, at the same time they know that they are ... ...

• Word Count: 355
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... I am. In lines 18-20 "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." Frost is trying to get the point across that it is ok not to do what everyone else does just the be yourself. The speaker of this poem is the author Robert Frost. The occasion of this poem is a choice, it could be anything whether ... thing. Purpose would be that you could be yourself and not have to worry about it. Also, I think he is saying that just cause other people are doing it that you do not have to. Subject and the purpose is pretty much the same t...

• Word Count: 260
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... to strike 12:00 on December 31st 1999. People feared that the world would end, some feared aliens would come, some feared that computers would malfunction and take over the world, and some feared that all of our food and water supplies would die out. No matter what you believed it was true that if you were living on this planet Y2K crossed your mind ... . If there were another explanation it would be on this very piece of paper you are holding now. The date was February 3rd 1999; a man by the name of Frank Geraldine was comfortably taking a nap from work at home. Frank was a stockbroker ...

• Word Count: 335
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... wrote other successful plays, "The Glass Menagerie" was his first hit. It is a story of mother, her son and daughter, who are living a confusing life and who keeps on clinging "to a dream world that can so easily be shattered into jagged pieces, as illusion is destroyed by reality". Living your past during the present, might be troubling and confusing. Amanda, the mother, keeps on talking about ... her past and she keeps on thinking that everything should be like her past. She wants Laura, especially, to be like her. Amanda keeps giving her lecture ... about how she had many gentleman ...

• Word Count: 300
• Approx Pages: 1
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... she should, there are several instances which Anna makes a poor judgment when it came to her daughter. One good example of this is when she and Leo are making love while Molly is in the bed with them. Most parents would never even think of doing this. She should have stopped until Molly had calmed down ... and was back in her room sleeping. I am sure that many parents get "caught in the act," but would never think to continue making love while the child is still in the same room as them. What would she have done if Molly woke up? I ... really don't think this thought crosses her mind. ...

• Word Count: 502
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• Grade Level: High School

... phenomenon. It has always been a mystery to us. It is only now that we are manipulating love. This is since our minds and hearts are changing along with the times. Because people's concepts of what love is and ideas of what lovers do are greatly degrading over the years, the downfall of love is roughly at hand. Most people back then believe that love is ... is only now that a person tries to manipulate someone he/she likes to make her/him fall in love with him/her. The individual chooses strategically where to take the person and what to do in every place they go to. The most embarrassi...

• Word Count: 305
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• Grade Level: High School

... different but as real humans beings we are not different. Children need to grow up learning that people are all human and people may praise a different god or indulge in a different culture, but as people we are all here for the same reason, to be successful in life. Parents need to teach their children that everyone on this planet was born for ... the same reason, to grow up, learn and improve their abilities, and live a successful and enjoyable life. Teachers also play a very important role in making children more open minded ... . In the article "Children should be Heard" by Assistan...

• Word Count: 496
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• Has Bibliography

... porn addicts and is also the main distributor of porn. If it was only used the proper way that it was invented for, then it could benefit those who choose to use it properly. When technology is abused, it impairs everyone in a way. An additional way that technology could impair people is through the use ... of nuclear bombs. Figuring out the when mixing the right chemicals it valuable for us for defense mechanisms. It is too bad that we use our advances to help us ... has the biggest weapons or who had the better technique. It does not help to solve any problems. War is a big problem a...

• Word Count: 365
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... who is hungry will do anything in order to eat. In the book, an object called a telescreen was used. These were placed in every apartment and business. These were so that the party could watch the citizens and make sure they are not performing any crimes. Whether or not the telescreens actually viewed people in the house is unknown, they could have used them just to bluff ... and show the two-minutes of hate, but the citizens had know way of knowing; therefore following ... the rules. One more tactic used by the party was Thought Police. You ... ...

• Word Count: 372
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• Grade Level: High School

... that had problems they had to deal with and endure no matter how difficult they became. The best example of bravery in the book would be Atticus. Everyone in the town doubted him and hated him for defending a black man, but he stood up to the pressure and did what he knew was right. "The one thing that doesn't abide by the majority rule is a person's conscience." (P. 105, ch ... what he knew he had to do, what was right in his heart. Mrs. Dubose shows us bravery throughout the book as she battles her addiction of morphine. She is misjudged by the children, they do not like her because o...

• Word Count: 317
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School