Being An Adult Child Of An Alcoholic - 1076 Words

Being an adult child of an alcoholic, I have described myself as a third generation depressed, suicidal alcoholic. That is not who I am today. It’s more a diagnosis, or a description of my lineage. Although alcohol was never my drug of choice, I managed to do the same amount of damage using other substances, however, at times alcohol was a part of that. Other than my existence within my own family and my drug addiction, I have no other identity. Most of my life I lived under the influence of one substance or another. I lived a life of fear and numbness. The only child of an abusive, alcoholic father and a totally self-absorbed mother who never taught her any of the basics of being a strong, independent woman. My mother never finished†¦show more content†¦Some of my cousins did well, some did not. My mother was consumed by substance abuse problems for as long as I knew her, Dad never had those problems, he never smoked, only drank socially. More specifically, after my mom’s death, he only drank while attempting to seduce women. If he had an addiction, it was sex. You could call my dad a misogynist. He was never physically abusive, he didn’t have to be. They became the proud parents of 3 girls, I am the middle child. Doing well in school, my older sister got a job and moved out of the house right after graduation. She became the defiant one. The baby, my younger sister, Dad and I tried to shield from my mom’s outbursts, she became the protected one. As for myself, I was always running from one to another trying to keep the peace, I became the peacemaker. Deciding to take up Commercial Shrimping, my dad bought a boat and started going out for 2 to 3 week trips. This was when my family really began to unwind. As a result, my mom began drinking and acting out more. Looking back, he must have had someone watching her, he always knew what was going in and when he came home there was hell to pay. Since he made all the major decisions, a pattern of â€Å"waiting until your dad comes home† began. It was along about this time that our house burned down. Because he had bought it and remodeled it for her, customizing the kitchen to accommodate her 4’11 stature. I think he felt that she was disrespecting him.

My Own Boswell Memoirs Of M. Hidayatullaha - 1374 Words

Book Review MY OWN BOSWELL: MEMOIRS OF M. HIDAYATULLAHA by M. Hidayatullah. ISBN: 978-81-7534-260-6 Publication year 2011 Pages: 304 Price Rs. 295/- Published By Universal Law Publishing Company Private Limited G.T. Karnal Road, New Delhi- 110033, India Reviewed by Prabhansu Gupta* The MY OWN BOSWELL : MEMOIRS OF M. HIDAYATULLAHA is the autobiography of an eminent Indian lawyer M. Hidayatullah who has won most of the prizes available to one of his profession in India. The title, he explains in the preface, was taken from the subtitle of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Aristocrat of the Breakfast Table: Every man his own Boswell. The author was born on 17 December†¦show more content†¦In the given interval he wrote several books and spent some time in the United States. The latter visit resulted in a book known as, U.S.A. and India. As there indicated, he was in residence for a week at Southern Illinois University School of Law and gave several lectures, one of which was published in the Southern Illinois University Law Journal. At the age of forty he was appointed by the Crown to be a judge of the High Court at Nagpur where he served for ten years. In the second year of that service he entered into a very successful int er-religious marriage to Pushpa Shah, and during the last two years he served as Chief Justice. Then, in 1956, the State of Madya Pradesh was recognized and his court was moved to Jabalpur. Chapter 19 discusses some of the problems arising from the reorganization and includes some sharp criticism of the politics involved. It also talks about author’s humour by specifying a difficulty arose in finding housing for the clerical staff. The district administration found accommodations in a large house where some families could be stationed, but there were complaints about the neighbourhood. The author and his two senior judges inspected the locale and found that the house was in the red-light district. One of them suggested that the bachelors dormitory might be shifted there, to the horror of another of the judges. Alternative arrangements, of

Banning of Books Free Essays

Written stories have been around for a long time. For as long as humans have walked the earth they have been capturing their lives in pictures, symbols and words. Some stories were saved on cave walls and some on leaves but eventually stories started to be composed on paper and saved in books. We will write a custom essay sample on Banning of Books or any similar topic only for you Order Now As soon as books started to be published they were critiqued and some were eventually banned. Books have been banned for several different reasons such as containing inappropriate language, racism, or demonic themes. Some people are in favor of banning books and some people are against it. Although some feel it is appropriate to ban books containing inappropriate material for certain age groups books should not be able to be banned because reading increases awareness and literacy, it is against freedom of speech, and reading is a more educational source of entertainment than television. Some books are banned because they have been deemed age inappropriate. Certain people feel banning these types books protects young readers from being exposed to inappropriate elements such as foul language, suggestive themes, or drugs. That is why schools ban books. Young children do not need to be exposed to these things. Children grow up fast enough and books with inappropriate materials only speeds up the process of them losing their innocence. Despite the potential for inappropriate language, written text provides a great source of entertainment for readers. Nowadays the most common source of entertainment is television. This relatively new technology has rapidly spread in popularity. Television provides viewers a visual story experience in many different forms such as drama, comedy, action, or adventure. These types of stories can be experienced through reading, as well. But, reading requires people to use more of their imagination as they interpret the story. This is why many feel reading is more educational than watching television. However, if a book gets banned readers will not be able to exercise their imagination, learn its lessons, and enjoy its story. Also, banning books will contribute to a decrease in the popularity of reading and therefore increase the popularity of watching television. All books should be available to people so they have access to a better form of entertainment. Banning books also restricts education. If a book is banned then teachers in schools around the country cannot teach the valuable morals the book has to offer. This greatly inhibits students’ education. Reading also helps people become more aware of the world around them. This is important because if children cannot read a book because it is banned then they may not learn about important events that have occurred in the world. Children need to be aware because they are the future leaders of the world. Along with increased awareness, reading increases literacy as it exposes people to a wider portion of their language. So, banning books only hinders the education of children, students, and others who could have possibly read their stories. Finally, one inalienable right all citizens of the United States have is freedom of speech. The first amendment of the Constitution says â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. This grants everyone the right to say, draw, or write anything they desire. This means that authors can write about any topic they choose. If an author’s book is banned it contradicts their Constitutional rights. This is technically illegal. The banning of books can be harmful to education and decreases options for entertainment. Additionally, it goes against the Constitutional right of freedom of speech. Banning books also decreases the ability o f people to read and increase their awareness of different events around the world and can negatively impact literacy. Unlike television, books exercise the readers’ imagination as they provide entertainment, they teach important lessons, and they are far more educational. Although some feel it is appropriate to ban books containing inappropriate material for certain age groups books should not be able to be banned because reading increases awareness and literacy, it is against freedom of speech, and reading is a more educational source of entertainment than television. How to cite Banning of Books, Papers

The Meaning of Life

Questions: 1.Imagine that you do not have long to live. Write down what youve learned about the meaning of life based upon your present age. 2.Ask the older adult participating with you on this project, what he/she has learned about the meaning of life. based upon his/her current age. 3.Compare your answers and share what you have learned from this exercise.Incorporate what you have learned from your readings as well regarding what you have learned. Answer: Realization of the researcher The researcher belongs to the stage six, as per the theory of Erik Erikson. In this stage, the researcher realized that it is fuzzier than the stages of childhood. Having a clear view of his personality, the researcher felt that he could perform more intimacy at this stage to act as a lover, friend, and as a participant in society. The researcher also realized that he/she has no sense of community as he/she had to travel a lot to fulfill his/her career demands. A presence of hatefulness is also present at this age, which is called exclusion. For example, if a person is derived from love, friendship, and community, he will develop certain hatefulness. Response from an older participator The participator who is working with the researcher in the project is older than him, and he/she belongs to stage eight of Erik Eriksons age development theory. After interviewing him, the researcher found that, at this stage, a sense of biological disability is felt by him. His body can no longer do everything it used to. He also has some old age illness like arthritis, diabetes and heart problem. The fear of death is also there in his mind as his friends are dying, relatives are dying. Some other things that he is feeling to be most important characteristics to follow to live a life happily are gratitude, integrity, wisdom, family, peace, connection, creativity, justice, appreciation, balance, and respect for each other. He also stated that religion has helped him/her a lot while fighting with the problems of aging by reducing the stress of illness, by providing a sense of meaning to life, by offering social networks and activities. For example, at least, 60% people in the US said that religion has helped them to deal with their aging problems. He also mentioned that participating in intellectual and political leisure activities have proactive benefits during the later life. Combination of information From the responses of the older person who is participating with the researcher in the research and the researcher it is clear that people from different stages of age carry different realization about life (Gunalda Merril, 2014). The researcher belongs from the lower stage of age bracket, so his realization is comparatively short and has limited boundaries. Most of the realization of the researcher focuses on the social relationship and personal relationship (Kubler Kessler, 2012). On the other hand, the realization of the elder person is wide and has no boundaries. The elder person belongs to the eight and last stage of age bracket, so he is erudite and knowledgeable (Oh et al. 2012). He has proper knowledge of the things a person should follow to lead a proper life. He also understands that religion is the only tool, which can help an elder person to cope up with the problems of aging where for the researcher, being a younger person has a minimum place of religion in his life (S ood Gupta, 2014). References Gunalda, J. C., Merrill, W. H. (2014). Homage: Education and Life Lessons as Taught by Dr James D. Hardy.Journal of surgical education,71(4), 641-644. Kubler-Ross, E., Kessler, D. (2012).Life lessons: How our mortality can teach us about life and living. Simon and Schuster. Oh, D. H., Dassanayake, M., Bohnert, H. J., Cheeseman, J. M. (2012). Life at the extreme: lessons from the genome.Genome Biol,13(3), 241. Sood, S., Gupta, R. (2014). Subjective Happiness as Mediator between Personal Growth Initiative and Life Satisfaction in Adolescents.International Journal of Psychological Studies,6(4), p89