An Analysis of the Poem A Country Without a Mythology

â€Å"In the darkness the fields / defend themselves with fences / in vain: / everything / is getting in† (Atwood, 28-33). The man in Margaret Atwood’s poem â€Å"Progressive Insanities of a Pioneer† is in a situation similar to the stranger in Douglas LePan’s poem â€Å"A Country Without a Mythology.† The man in Atwood’s poem as well as the stranger in LePan’s poem are both unsure of where they are. In â€Å"Progressive Insanities of a Pioneer† the man tries to separate himself from his environment; however, in â€Å"A Country Without a Mythology† the stranger tries to adapt himself to his environment. By analyzing the content, structure, and meaning of â€Å"A Country Without a Mythology† the reader will understand that if the stranger openly accepts his surroundings†¦show more content†¦When the stranger describes the weather the descriptions makes him seem more like an outsider because the Natives do n ot know the difference between Canadian and European weather making it illogical for the Natives to describe the weather in the way the stranger describes the weather. During the summer months the stranger’s word choices change from harsh words such as â€Å"violent† to relaxing words such as â€Å"passion† and â€Å"lovely† (16-19). The change in word choice indicates that the stranger is feeling more comfortable and accepting of his surroundings. Not only does the stranger’s feelings towards his environment change but LePan’s feelings towards the stranger changes as well. There is no evident emotion in the poem from LePan towards the stranger until LePan refers to the stranger as a â€Å"passionate man† who must travel across the fire-ridden land (20). At this point in the poem the stranger is desperate to find a spiritual connection believing he will find â€Å"sanctities of childhood† (23) and â€Å"a golden-haired Archang el† (28), but in reality all he finds is chaos and destruction. The stranger is so preoccupied with his own ideals of spiritual connection and religion that he is oblivious to the Native’s spirit: the manitou. The stranger sees the manitou as merely a clumsy, dirty, unsteady carving made by the savages (34-36). If the stranger became more accepting andShow MoreRelatedAmerican Literature11652 Words   |  47 Pagespeople in society defined by class society corrupted by materialism ï‚ · emphasizes moralism through observation Style: ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · novel and short stories are important prefers objective narrator dialogue includes many voices from around the country does not tell the reader how to interpret the story Effect: ï‚ · ï‚ · social realism: aims to change a specific social problem aesthetic realism: art that insists on detailing the world as one sees it Historical Context: ï‚ · Civil War bringsRead MoreEssay about Bone Dreams by Seamus Heaney1953 Words   |  8 PagesBone Dreams by Seamus Heaney – An Analysis Bone Dreams is an obscure and difficult poem to understand. In all my searching on the internet, I found very little to help me in my analysis of this poem and so the ideas are basically my own. I might be wide of the mark, but for anybody struggling to understand this poem, it might at least give you some ideas of your own. I make no apology for asking questions or for sounding vague or even muddled in places. I hope that this essay is of helpRead MorePoem Analysis: Allen Ginsbergs Howl2277 Words   |  9 PagesAllen Ginsberg composed Howl in 1955 and it was published by City Lights Books of San Francisco, CA the following year. He composed the poem in the middle of the 1950s, one of the greatest decades in history for mainstream America. It had been a decade since the American and Allied victory in the second world war. Numerous American men returned home to a country in much better shape than expected, with many women having entered the workforce to keep the economy and industry alive in their absenceRead MoreFa Mulan Analysis1692 Words   |  7 Pageswith a Thousand Faces which discusses a concept known as the Hero’s Journey. This analysis of myths and stories puts forward a link that ties literature and art from these civilizations, great and small, together- an archetype of the common hero. One such pretense is the Chinese classic, Mulan. The tale of Fa Mulan’s heroic journey to save her country had been retold for hundreds of years, in countless ballads, poems, and narratives throughout Chinese literature but with its most acclaimed versionRead MoreJakob and Wilhelm Grimm Essay1576 Words   |  7 Pageschildren loved to her and dream of. In the Grimm Brothers’ stories, the male characters were usually the ones that would get themselves into trouble. This essay will analyze the life and fiction of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm. It will employ a literary analysis that focuses on the principle of female characters to gain a more thorough understanding of the following three short stories: â€Å"Rapunzel†, â€Å"The Brother and Sister†, and â€Å"Gambling Hansel.† Jakob and Wilhelm were born a year apart from each otherRead MoreLike The Molave Critical Analysis3058 Words   |  13 PagesCosta’s 1940 poem Like the Molave,the speaker entreats our national hero, Jose Rizal to inspire generations with his unwavering perseverance for nationalfreedom. Moreover, the poem foresees the future of Filipinos in our countrywide failings such as our dependence upon others and upon the government, lack of self-restraint and loss of social dignity from a mistaken notion of modernity. Furthermore, the speaker tells the other heroes who bravely died in the process of freeing our country to enthuseRead MoreTaking a Look at Lewis Carroll1960 Words   |  8 PagesHis grandfather, another Charles Dodgson, had been an army captain and ended up being killed in battle, leaving two children behind. The elder son, Charles, went to Westminster and then Oxford. This Charles married his cousin in 1827 and became a country parson. Out of this marriage came yet another Charles. Our Charles, who came to use the penname of Lewis Carroll (and, gee, I wonder why). He was the third of eleven children who, remarkably, all lived to adulthood. The first years of his educationRead MoreWho Goes with Fergus11452 Words   |  46 PagesWho Goes With Fergus This poem is about the dichotomy of the thinker and the actor. Yeats, in love with Maud Gonne, was the thinker, the courtly lover -- the one who would brood upon loves bitter mystery. Yeats was Mr. Nice Guy. Yet Yeats wanted to be the actor - the alpha male - the Fergus. Note the sexualized subtext that permeates the poem, who will pierce the deep woods woven shade? Who will drive with Fergus. Finally, we get the reasons to be the alpha male - the man of action, in theRead MoreStylistic Analysis10009 Words   |  41 Pages repetition in poems by D.H. Lawrence and H.W. Longfellow†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..7-12 1.2. Lingvo-stylistic potential of D.H. Lawrence’s â€Å"Don’ts†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.12-14 1.3. The main stylistic-semantic features of H.W. Longfellow’s poem â€Å"The Song of Hiawatha† (Introduction)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...14-18 Chapter 2. Romantic and lyrical figure of Robert Burns†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦18 2.1. General stylistic features of R. Burns’s poem â€Å"My Heart’s in the Read MoreEssay on Something about Flann OBrien1787 Words   |  8 Pagesnearly every aspect of At Swim reflects upon the complexity of â€Å"Irishness†. Since the late nineteenth century up to the 1930s in which At Swim takes place, various strands of Irish Revivalism had been rebelling against the anglicization of the country with a heavy cultural impact. The Revivalist Movement, attempting to reclaim a pre-colonial Gaelic identity, energized the celebration of Irish myth and legend and became enormously popular. Running parallel to the Revivalist Movement was a similar

The Lord of the Rings Our Motivation in Committing Evil Acts

The following analysis deals with the nature and source of evil and whether, given our innate motives and moral obligation, we willingly choose to succumb to our desires or are slaves of our passion. From this argument, I intend to show that our human nature requires that we play into our desires in order to affirm our free will. This is not to say that our desires are necessarily evil, but quite the opposite. In some sense, whatever people actually want has some relative value to them, and that all wanted things contain some good. But given that there are so many such goods and a whole spectrum of varying arrangements among them, that there is no way we can conceive anything as embodying an overall good just because it is to some†¦show more content†¦Secondly, our actions are no more than effects of our prior desires, and changes result from some pre-existing motives, thus preserving continuity in our personal identity. Thirdly, we cannot live without some kind of morality, and every human culture functions with one. And fourthly, every subject brought up by fantasy stems from reality. The Argument: Lord of the Rings conveys the longstanding struggle between good and evil and delves into its relationship to the power of personal free choice. The novel by J.R.R. Tolkien has been brought to life by the magic of computerized special effects as almost every element of the author’s vision is recreated in the film. Although Tolkien intended his reader to imagine through his words the fantasy in which Lord of the Rings takes place, film allows us to hear and see more vividly the story, and more importantly, â€Å"gives us the freedom to choose, to select one detail over another.† As such, whereas words are always the same in Tolkien’s novel, the image on the screen changes continually as we redirect our attention to different images each time we watch the film. Although, the film can never be a substitute of the rich and complete experience of the novel, it complements it in ways that we’ve anticipated for some time, and for Tolkien, would be unimaginable. The story follows the journey of a hobbit, Frodo Baggins. When presented with the formidable task ofShow MoreRelatedMacbeth Is To Blame For His Tragedy in Shakespeares Macbeth Essay3086 Words   |  13 PagesEngland. For this he also hires people to carry out his killings. Macbeth first meets the Witches (Act 1, Scene 3) on a deserted heath, where the setting is dark and stormy. This is to represent the dark and murderous deeds and thoughts that happen, and also shows that the theme of evil is central. He has just come out of battle and he is with Banquo, his best friend at the time. In Act 1, Scene 1, where we are first introduced to the Witches they state that fair is foul and foul is fairRead MoreProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 Pagespublication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4 470, or onRead MoreExistentialism vs Essentialism23287 Words   |  94 Pagesthe doctrine that essence is prior to existence While, Existentialism:A philosophical theory or approach, that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free amp; responsible agent, determining their own development through acts of the will. Existentialism * is a philosophical term which posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives. Existentialism asserts that â€Å"existence precedes essence,† which is in opposition to the classical doctrineRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagestheory. I strongly recommend it to anyone seriously interested in the different intellectual traditions that contribute to our understanding of organizations. Professor Tomas Mà ¼llern, Jà ¶nkà ¶ping International Business School, Sweden . McAuley, Duberley and Johnson’s Organizational Theory takes you on a joyful ride through the developments of one of the great enigmas of our time – How should we understand the organization? Jan Ole Similà ¤, Assistant Professor, Nord-Trà ¸ndelag University CollegeRead MoreManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 Pageswas printed on recycled paper. Management http://www.mhhe.com/primis/online/ Copyright  ©2005 by The McGraw−Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher. This McGraw−Hill Primis text may include materials submittedRead MoreMarketing Management130471 Words   |  522 Pagesafford to be selective and buy only those products that precisely met their changing needs, and these needs were not immediately obvious. The key questions became: What do customers want? Can we develop it while they still want it? How can we keep our customers satisfied? In response to these discerning customers, firms began to adopt the marketing concept, which involves: Focusing on customer needs before developing the product Aligning all functions of the company to focus on those needs Re alizingRead MoreMarketing Mistakes and Successes175322 Words   |  702 Pagesmay be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, website www.copyright.com. Requests toRead MoreCase Study148348 Words   |  594 Pagesedition published 2011  © Pearson Education Limited 2011 The rights of Gerry Johnson, Richard Whittington and Kevan Scholes to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Pearson Education is not responsible for the content of third party internet sites. ISBN: 978-0-273-73557-1 (printed) ISBN: 978-0-273-73552-6 (web) All rights reserved. Permission is hereby given for the material in this publication to be reproduced

Impact of Employee Engagement on Organization-Samples for Students

Question: Write a research proposal on the topic of Employee Engagement and its impact on the Organisational Performance. Answer: Industry/ Business Background: The Tata Group is built on a foundation of trust and transparency which is the basis of every business which the company is a part of. The group is shaped by a lineage of sound and straightforward business principles. The Tata Group was founded by Jamsetji Tata in the year 1868 and is headquartered in India. The Tata Group is famous as a global business conglomerate that operates in over 100 countries across 5 continents. The Tata Group at present has a strong presence across diverse industries such as automotive, chemicals, construction, finance, consumer products and hospitality. There are 29 publicly listed Tata enterprises which include the Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Teleservices, Tata Communications and Indian Hotels. The Tata Projects now expect opportunities in several infrastructure sectors namely civil construction, power generation and transmission, the railways, metals and minerals, water, oil and gas. In addition to this, the company has diversified into urban infrastructure and is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country. The organisation needs to take its profitability to a much higher level in order to improve the cash flow. This is considered as the short term challenge of the company. Consumers face issues due to international competition and also in terms of implementation. Research Objectives and questions: The chosen topic is The impact of employee engagement on organisational performance in Tata Group. Therefore the objective of the research is to understand what is the actual impact or the effect of employee engagement on the ultimate success and the performance of the organisation. Tata group has been the pioneer in providing products and services to the consumers and its plethora of clients all over the world. The research objectives aim to understand the problems which the organisation is facing and work on it. The challenges which the organisation is facing are that of attraction of proper talent and its retention. The research questions aimed at are: Does employee retention prove useful for organisational performance in the long run? Does employee engagement have an impact on employee performance? Is organisational performance affected by the most efficient employees non-retention? Can the organisation successfully retain its employees by proper incentives? The Tata Group performance analysis needs to be studied properly so that it is helpful for answering the research questions and objectives. Research Scope: The scope of the research is to focus on the factors which affect employee satisfaction which impacts the retention of the employees and ultimately the organisational performance. The sense of achievement which comes from appreciation is one of the main factors which needs to be studied and covered under the scope of research. The factors including the monetary benefits, the sense of fairness, the employees feeling of belonging, a mixture of a formal and informal approach as an when necessary, adequate working conditions, credit system, the nature of challenges, the existing safety and security of the job needs to be studied properly. Limitations: The limitations of this particular topic of research is that it is extremely subject specific and cannot be helpful in answering research questions other than those covered in the study. This is due to the fact that the issues are company specific and will not be indicative of the issues in any other company. In case the issues in a particular organisation are applied in case of another organisation it would not be accurate. Thus the research in this case is limited to the study of Tata Group only. The issues of employee satisfaction, the working conditions of the company and the factors which affect the employee performance are taken into consideration. The research does not include any factor which is not linked to the employee performance. Justification of Research: The research needs to be conducted as the issues of the organisation need to be solved at any cost. The Tata Group is one of the most prestigious organisations in the country, India. Therefore it is necessary to solve the issues, the employees need to be retained in order to ensure that the organisation performs and fulfils al the duties it is entitled to complete. In case the contributory factors to employee performance and employee retention are addressed, it helps in the organisational performance as a whole. Unless the issues which plague a particular organisation are solved it is bound to lead to increased number of employee dissatisfaction and hence their resignation. Literature Review: Employee engagement, is a topic of discussion among different researchers. The engagement concept can be defined to be a popular topic as it is related with performance of the organisation. The more efficiently the employees work the more the revenue that will be generated by the company. This is because of the fact that the leaders of an organisation aim to search for a bettered employee performance in the workplace (Akhter and Equbal 2012). The degree to which the employees are motivated for contribution to the success of an establishment, are willing to give requisite effort and accomplish tasks are defined as employee engagement (Mishra, Boynton and Mishra 2014). Engagement is defined as a work related state of mind which is characterised by dedication, vigour and absorption. Engagement is also concerned with a level of emotional involvement (Wang and Hsieh 2013). The concept of emotional involvement depends on how the employees relate to the values of the Tata Company (Vardhan 2015). The same is applicable in case of the intellectual components (Pathak 2015). It is also about people going that extra way and giving extra discretionary effort which they will proudly do for the organisation (Andrew and Sofian 2012). The topic of engagement also includes, quality management, internal supplier relationship, performing to the best of ones ability and helping each other at work (Vardhan 2015). Employee engagement is also concerned with the awareness regarding the business context, the work dynamics with the colleagues and also the peer groups for improvement of the performance within the job for the benefit and ultimate excellence of the organisati on. It is also concerned with a positive employee attitude, towards the company and its values as a whole (Vashishtha 2016). There can be several viewpoints of employment engagement which can be considered from several perspectives. The perception of the employees and their beliefs concerning the organisation and culture come under the cognitive aspect (Vardhan 2015). The degree to which the employees are willing to give proper efforts to the company helps in the determination of the value added benefit to it. All in all the employee engagement is one of the main determining factors in the organisational performance (Gupta and Kumar 2012). Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is concerned with identifying factors which contributes to the employee satisfaction in an organisation. (Patten 2016). There are several business models for the human resource management in organisations. There are the hard and soft models, the contextual models involving the importance of social, institutional and political forces and the matching model in context of the organisational strategy. In this connection the 5-Ps model of HRM can be used where the policies, programs, the practices and processes are formulated and implemented for carrying out of the activities. In certain cases application of the contextual model is also appropriate in case of the Tata Group (Vardhan 2015). Research Methodology: The research methodology of the study is aimed at the collection of suitable data and its analysis for the suitability of the study. For the research, data are collected from the Tata Group managers and employees. The nature of the data collected is primary. It is to be collected, in order to understand the employee reactions and their opinions about the workings in the organisation. The primary data is to be collected from the employees and also from the managers of the organisation. The employees need to be interviewed and their responses to the questions would comprise of the qualitative data which needed to be analysed. A sample of 10% of the total employee count of the organisation can be taken as a suitable sample and the responses of these employees can be properly arranged which comprise the qualitative data that are to be analysed. Apart from this the managers of each subdivision also need to be interviewed and their responses also need to be analysed. It can further be tested whether there is a correlation between the opinions of the managers and the opinions of the employees. The responses of the managers also need to be collected for analysis (Patten 2016). The sampling procedure which needs to be performed can be a simple random sampling without replacement. This is to be done so that the sample of responses which have been collected is a proper representative of the population. Research Program: The research program comprises of organising a particular team of officials to carry out the research activities. The team also needs to ask the research questions effectively in order to elicit suitable responses to the questions which will ultimately pave the way for suitable analysis of the research problem. The nature in which the questions should be asked also needs to be mentioned to the team. The team should also comprise of trained members so that the questions are accurate and maintain a certain amount of sensitivity (Seidman 2013). References: Akhter, S. and Equbal, I., 2012. Organized retailing in IndiaChallenges and opportunities.International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research,2(1), pp.281-291. Andrew, O.C. and Sofian, S., 2012. Individual factors and work outcomes of employee engagement.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,40, pp.498-508. Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee performance.International journal of productivity and performance management,63(3), p.308. Breevaart, K., Bakker, A., Hetland, J., Demerouti, E., Olsen, O.K. and Espevik, R., 2014. Daily transactional and transformational leadership and daily employee engagement.Journal of occupational and organizational psychology,87(1), pp.138-157. Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D., 2017.Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications. Garg, P., 2014. Impact of employee engagement on it sector.International Journal of Management Research and Reviews,4(1), p.62. Gupta, V. and Kumar, S., 2012. Impact of performance appraisal justice on employee engagement: a study of Indian professionals.Employee Relations,35(1), pp.61-78. Mishra, K., Boynton, L. and Mishra, A., 2014. Driving employee engagement: The expanded role of internal communications.International Journal of Business Communication,51(2), pp.183-202. Pathak, S., 2015. Role of Employee in Brand Building of the Organization-Business Branding through Employee.Journal of Marketing Vistas,5(2), p.1. Patten, M.L., 2016.Proposing empirical research: A guide to the fundamentals. Taylor Francis. Pattnaik, C., Chang, J.J. and Shin, H.H., 2013. Business groups and corporate transparency in emerging markets: Empirical evidence from India.Asia Pacific Journal of Management,30(4), pp.987-1004. Seidman, I., 2013.Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. Teachers college press. Vardhan, J., 2015. A review of market based management as a strategic performance tool-an illustrative example through Tata steel.International Journal of Accounting and Economics Studies,3(1), pp.54-59. Vashishtha, S., 2016. Employee Engagement, Training and Career Development (Tata Tele Services Limited A Case Study).Journal of Commerce and Trade,11(1), pp.101-108. Wang, D.S. and Hsieh, C.C., 2013. The effect of authentic leadership on employee trust and employee engagement.Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal,41(4), pp.613-624.

My Bible Camp Experience Essay Example For Students

My Bible Camp Experience Essay My summer vacation started off quite regularly. My friends from school, whose amount had grown since my sophomore year, all formed plans to hang out during the three month break. Unfortunately, my best friend Irvin was caught off guard on account of his parents by getting informed of their plans for him to fly overseas to live in Hawaii for, at the least, three months. This obviously meant that Irv and I would not have a chance to conform to the layout of our plans that summer; one of which was our plan to share a cabin at Pioneer Bible Camp, which we had been attending annually for a few years. The change was unexpected. â€Å"Unexpected† had to have been the theme of my summer, due to the varying changes I underwent during the vacation. During my sophomore year, I went through a stage of minor depression. I was familiar with self-medication, but was always told by my mom that drugs were ground for disownment in her eyes. Her threats frightened me ever since first grade when I had first heard the word, â€Å"drug†. She would only mention the word when she was angry, and as I grew older I realized that this term was often used in association with my father and his habits. The only thing I couldn’t understand is why my mother had put up with so much of his drug abuse, without disowning him. I guess it was because she loved him; but did that mean she wouldn’t love me if I fell into the teethed snare of the herbal essence? I didn’t want to find out, so when I was introduced to weed the first time in seventh grade, I turned it down. It wasn’t until the middle of my sophomore year, after being persecuted by both friend and foe for my lack of an open mind; and the recent uprising of my periodic depression, I curiously and expectantly gave into the enticement. I’m going to be honest. I tried it, and I liked it. It didn’t just make me happy, but it made my friends happy. Irvin had been into it before I was, so he became even more of a friend than he already was. Nearing the middle of my Junior year, Irvin and I began selling the product to our friends and relatives. However, our legitimate interests had shrunk down to liking only a few things, as opposed to a variety of things, and due to our habits that had become iniquities; the light of our faith grew dim and blew out. We no longer considered ourselves Christians. No, not even of the lukewarm kind. This was due to our growing database of what we thought was knowledge. Irvin and I, along with our new friend Isaiah got into an (at the time) uncommon set of beliefs referred to as, â€Å"The New Age Movement†. This set of beliefs leads us to believe that we were Gods, and that the universe was also God, meaning that we were godly extensions of our source. We believed that everything was interconnected, and that the universe, being an extension of us, had us in its favor. Living life with this belief made things a bit more entertaining. Not only did our newfound religion allow us to partake in the activities of our choice: like smoking weed and selling it, but it also supported our choices, along with giving us the spiritual pie we desired. However, an odd event occurred in my home and within my head. Our beliefs started getting out of hand, and I began thinking that I alone, was God. This tends to sound funny at first, but understand that this was true for me at the time. Later, I literally went crazy, as I like to explain it. My mom and dad claim I was possessed, and I don’t disagree with them: I wasn’t myself. The point is that I was no longer Christian, not even a bit. I had even gone as far as looking up fallacies in the Bible, and further, reasons why Jesus was merely a myth. About a month later I had almost completely recovered, which spawned the realization of how unrealistic I was behaving. Still not believing in Christianity, I continued life casually until school was out. Bible Camp was a sure thing for me. Fragments of memory reminded me of how fun it was, and assisted me in looking forward to the event. In spite of the memories of enjoyment I had about camp, I decided I would pack marijuana with me. I figured that since I had no friends willing to go, I would do what I could to amp the experience anyway. The morning of the first day of camp arrived. I intentionally pulled an all-nighter the night prior, in hopes that I could sleep in and miss out. At about 7am, I decided I would smoke a bowl before napping. I was startled as my mother woke me, who upon entering my room was greeted with the pungent stench of burnt weed. My mother, being familiar with the stench, was not motivated to act pleasantly. She demanded that I got ready, Pastor Cindy was almost there to pick me up. Mom had to come home from work because I was not answering my phone, and she definitely did not want me skipping out on camp. The car ride to the camp was momentous for me. I was tired, unwilling, and had the appearance of unfriendliness as well. I was left with a window seat next to Jamaica, Cindy’s youngest daughter. Jamaica and I have been familiar for a little under five years, but it would have seemed like we didn’t know each other during the car ride. Cindy made brief eye contact with me through the rearview mirror, â€Å"You tired? † She happily asked. I turned from the window to see her in the same mirror. â€Å"Just a bit. I couldn’t sleep until five in the morning,† I lied. â€Å"That’s odd. I figured you would have been excited. † I didn’t answer that time. I felt like I was acting rude, but my mind was foggy and could not muster the will to form a response. I stared out the window at the familiar deadness we passed as we drove on the freeway. I would usually pass out during the ride to Liberty, Utah, which usually ended up lasting a good hour and a half, but Cindy proceeded with small talk and simple questions that kept me awake. We finally arrived at camp. Before I could leave the car, Cindy asked if I still had my phone on me. I did. The Good Earth: Wang Lung - A Man of Determination and Loyalty EssayNevertheless, most campers enjoyed the food for thought he generously served us, especially myself. I remember his topics changing slightly as he moved from fisher of souls, to teaching the whole. By Wednesday night, he was no longer introducing new topics; but rather helping the mass of campers and staff members nail the foundation of information he spewed, to the ground. This was shockingly okay with me. After the night service on Wednesday, I honestly had come to the point of considering Christianity. A war of old thoughts and new thoughts had taken place on the battlegrounds of my mind, and the newer thoughts were nearing victory. In spite of the upper hand, my new thoughts possessed over the old, there were a few bumps in the road that lead to my salvation. I was still contemplating the actual existence of the Christian deity, Jesus. I had accepted my research on his illegitimacy as fact, but the changes that were being implemented upon my heart were forcing me to think differently. Thursday afternoon chapel took place, which yielded another good-sized scoop of information for the camp and I. I pondered on the reality of a God-Man coming to Earth, saving many and becoming the greatest sacrifice known to man. I wondered whether Heaven or Hell existed. Earlier, I thought the aforementioned places were used as scare tactics for children and citizens. What I had learned at camp directed my thinking elsewhere, and I slowly became a believer. The sun began its descent, and the evening came around. Thursday night chapel had also arrived; the second to last chapel, as it was most years. Finding myself convicted of my sins during the service urged me to believe that the Holy Spirit had made its way into my vessel. The service that night was tear-jerking to a few of the attendees. After Mike was through with what he was talking about, he asked everyone but the counselors to bow their heads and close their eyes. He proceeded to invite those who had not yet accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior to raise a hand. The idea was, that the counselors in charge of the cabins would tap on the shoulder of a camper with a hand raised, go somewhere private with them, share the Romans Road with them while answering their questions, then end with a life changing decision from the camper seeking grace. Astonishing others more than I had surprised myself, I silently raised my hand. Within seconds, Lincoln happily tapped on my shoulder, and asked me to go outside with him. I rose from my seat without looking around to remain respectful, and followed my counselor outside. It had become chilling outside, and Lincoln provided his coat for me to wear temporarily. We sat at a lunch table a few steps from the chapel’s entrance, and Lincoln opened his Bible to the book of Romans. I was very impressed with the content he had for me. Yes, I had questions, but Lincoln had answers that seemed to be fabricated by God Himself. The ride home from camp was entirely different than the ride there. Pastor Cindy picked all of us up and instantly noticed the difference. She asked all of us if we had fun, and I was the first to answer. I told her about Mike Shrock, which lead to the apparent complaints Jamaica and Asia had about him. After that, I revealed to my church mates that I was not Christian on the way to camp. Almost simultaneously, everyone answered, â€Å"we know. † I laughed it off, and told Cindy that I was interested in attending another week. The day camp had ended, Rhonda Ransom, the co-director and owner of the camp, introduced an irrefusable offer to the campers. Apparently they were short a cabin or two for the next week, and were in need of more campers to reach their planned amount of attendants. My cabin and I strongly considered it, and to make a long story short, I ended up going, along with my entire cabin. My mom was very joyous with my return, especially with the change she noticed had taken place. After asking if I could attend another week at camp for only fifty dollars, she began tearing up. She let me know that she had been praying for the exact thing to occur. I wasn’t ready to quit smoking after the first week. The second week came and went, and I returned to my home. My long absence from my town broke my customer base down about two thirds of its previous amount. Most of my friends and their friends had the assumption that I had quit: they all knew about my depart to Bible camp. I was very encouraged to quit smoking and selling, but the temptation was too close to resist. Just a couple of days after I prayed for God to move into my life, and take me out of the drug-scene, prayer was answered, but not in the way I personally would have answered it. My mom discovered an ongoing problem within our family that had become the basis for the recent behavioral change within my dad. This forced my mom to pack her things and move out, taking my sister and I with her. After a month of living with my aunt in her single-room apartment, we found an apartment in Kearns. This change allowed me to leave my old school, where I thrived with selling dope and promoting malice, and introduced the possibility of a brand new start. I have been sober since the night of my family’s departure from my dad’s house, and have been actively associating myself with other Christians, motivated by a zeal for God and by staying faithful. The theme of my summer had â€Å"unexpected† written all over it, but I would not have had it happen any other way.