Speech :: essays research papers

Hello ladies and gentlemen my name is BLANK and I am here because I am a risk taker. Have you ever heard the expression â€Å"if they jumped off a bridge would you too?† My answer was a nervous â€Å"yes† to a free-fall jump off a bridge. This decision was a life changing one. It was a hot and humid day and my friends and I were out cycling for a few hours to fill in time. After a while we reached a foot bridge that was suspended over water. We all stopped before it. Suddenly my best friend turned around and said â€Å"I dare you to jump off the bridge.† Not to say anything, but I have a huge fear of heights. I have had it since when I went for a short, noisy and scary flight in a light aircraft when I was five. I have problems just going up in an elevator let alone jumping off a bridge. I could see other people jumping off and screaming while they fell towards the water. The noise from the screams was making it worse for me as it was causing my stomach to tighten and making me feel sick. So I decided to take the easy way out of this situation without embarrassing myself in front of my friends. â€Å"Yes, ok† I said nervously. â€Å"But, only if you jump first.† I added. He said â€Å"fine† then got off his bike and put it down and said to look after it. He then made his way to the side of the bridge and stood up on the rail. He waved to us and then he just jumped. No fear or hesitation. He just jumped! I was amazed and then I hear a splash. Oh no! So much for the easy way out of this situation. I had assumed that he would decline and it would be left at that. We watched him swim back to the shore and then he went out of sight. I knew it was my turn next. A few minutes later he reappeared triumphantly and announced that it was my turn to jump now that he had completed his end of the dare. With the spotlight on me and the pressure building as my friends cheered me on I decided that there was no way out and that it was time to face my fears and conquer them.

The Case to Keep Drugs Illegal

The Case to Keep Drugs Illegal The article, â€Å"Don’t Legalize Those Drugs†, by Barry McCaffrey was made to claim that the current United States policy against drugs is indeed successful and should not be abolished. McCaffrey claims, â€Å"Drug use imposes an unacceptable risk of harm on the user and others,† then proceeds to provide substantial support for this claim. He also claims â€Å"harm reduction†, or the softening of the drug laws, would have a negative effect on our countries well-being.The strength of McCaffrey’s argument is his ability to support his claims. One of his main supports is that â€Å"Substance abuse wrecks families†. He then provides perceived facts about child maltreatment, death rates, and other problems in families with substance abuse issues. He also discusses crime outside of families and how having legal drugs, our crime rate would actually increase because people on drugs are more likely to commit crimes.He u ses the statistic that says â€Å"in 1997, a third of state prisoners and about one in five federal prisoners said they had committed the crimes that led to incarceration while under the influence of drugs. † There are many warrants that connect McCaffrey’s evidence to his claim. The most obvious one is the accuracy of his sources. There are many facts that are based on percentages and surveys but there is not a clear sample size. How many people are being surveyed or where are the statistics being gathered are all valid questions.He also says that â€Å"studies show that the more a product is available and legitimized, the greater will be its use†. This needs many warrants, what study actually shows this and how can it be proven that use will be more common? Finally, he stands firm against â€Å"harm reduction† and claims this will make drug use greater, but one could definitely argue that â€Å"harm reduction† would help drug abuse. McCaffrey dis cusses how he believes drug policies can be improved without being abolished as a counter argument to those who believe the current system is unsuccessful.He talks about how prevention is the true solution to our country’s drug issues. Also, his defense to those who argue for choice, he says that we have agreed consistently against things that can cause harm to us. Fore example, wearing a helmet when on a motorcycle therefore, the drug issue is no different. Overall, this is a well written argument and McCaffrey does a great job supporting his claim and making claims against counter arguments. Works Cited McCaffrey, Barry R. â€Å"Don't Legalize Those Drugs. † Washington Post June 1999, n. pag. Print.

What Are The Key Features Of The Welfare State - 1814 Words

What are the key features of the welfare state? At first, asking what are the key features of the welfare state are, seems relatively simple: to protect the most at risk in a society? But it is vastly more complicated question to answer when truly thinking about it deeply. The wider impact and problems surround the question of Welfare and what those key features are and should be. Further to this, dependent on who is in charge of the state, may change the very definition of what they consider to be Welfare and how far it should go, based perhaps on their political ideology; be they Conservative or Labour for example, each party may have differing views of how far the state should intervene within the realm of social policy. Firstly this essay will show how and why the foundations of the welfare state came about. The essay will attempt to identify and explain what the key features of the ‘classic welfare state’ (Lowe, 2005), although this is difficult to define as there are many subjectively important features within the realm of welfare, one can easily argue strongly for each separate feature and its level of importance, within society. So this essay will aim to show what are broadly speaking the most crucial within society and what features have been consistently at the forefront of government’s welfare and will finally summarise the findings. To begin, this essay will look at why and how the welfare state came about. It is however important to acknowledge that the exactShow MoreRelated America Needs to Invest the Social Security Trust Fund Essay example799 Words   |  4 PagesAmerica Needs to Invest the Social Security Trust Fund Our nation ensures social welfare through Social Security. However, the United States cannot ensure the welfare of its own welfare system. To save Social Security, Americans in general do not favor an increase in the payroll tax, a cut in benefits or an increase in the retirement age. Furthermore, Americans are relying upon Social Security as their sole source of income at increasingly alarming rates. Social Security is intended to supplementRead MoreAnalysis Of Terry Besser s Team Toyota1474 Words   |  6 Pagesmanage and guide the daily operation of the factory. In order to adapt to the foreign environment and American employees, Toyota cut some of the features, which are commonly used in â€Å"Japanese Management†, like â€Å"the company union† or â€Å"Seniority pay and promotion system† and introduced a certain features like â€Å"lifetime employees†, â€Å"group responsibility† and â€Å"welfare corporatism† to the workplace which sig nificantly increased the employees’ sense of belonging and job satisfaction. Also, differently with otherRead MoreUse Of Non Fluency Features And Adolescent Identity906 Words   |  4 Pagesrepresented speech; use of non-fluency features; and adolescent identity. There are four students involved in the recording: Olivia Sweeney, Nicholas Grifa, Baskoro Otto, Florence Liu and Justin Liu. This transcript features Mr Christiansen and discussion about APS sport. In transcription, there are certain aspects that represented speech do not communicate readily. Transcription enables greater tangibility in terms of realism. The addition of prosodic features helps the reader to determine changesRead MoreSafeguarding the Welfare of Children and Young People1406 Words   |  6 PagesUnit 02 – Safeguarding the welfare of children and young people 1. Using the headings provided, briefly describe the key points of each of the following guidelines and legislation. (1.1) and analyse how these guidelines affect the day to day work with young children (1.3) The Children act 1989 The aim of this act is to simplify the laws that are already in place, which protect children and young people in the UK. It was seen as a â€Å"serious shake up† of children’s rights and protection, and alsoRead MoreThe Portrayal Of African American Women1046 Words   |  5 PagesJazmin Avalos WGS 321 – Outline Assignment Outline for Chapter 4 Thesis: The portrayal of African American women as stereotypical mammies, matriarchs, welfare recipients, and hot mommas helps justify U.S. Black women’s oppression. Outline: 1. The objectification of black women as the other a. Advocating the imagery of U.S. Black women as the Other provides ideological thinking justification for race, gender, and class oppression. (Page 77) i. Binary thinking shapes understandings of human differenceRead MoreExplain The 4 Ps Of Marketing1194 Words   |  5 Pagesproducts/services to potential customer that should be achieved within a given amount of time. A company s marketing objectives for a particular product might include increasing product awareness among targeted consumers, providing information about product features, and reducing consumer resistance to buying the product. The Marketing Concept This is the philosophy that firms should analyse the needs of their customers and then make decisions to satisfy those needs, better than the competition. Today most firmsRead MoreThe Pros and Cons of a Managed Health Care System1472 Words   |  6 Pagespurposes of the overall development. One of the most important and essential feature of the human body is the health and the systems. In the same manner, proper management is also necessary. Furthermore, all the countries of the world have few targets and achievements to be made. On the other hand, it should also be noted down that, economic development and social welfare the two most are the two important factors. Economic welfare is connected with the increase in the wealth of the people at large (NilesRead MoreThe Role Of Education In The New Zealand Government966 Words   |  4 Pagesuniversity student like myself. Having never voted in an election, my knowledge of the political system, and the terminology for that matter is fa r from adequate. Stepping into the shoes of a politician, this paper has allowed me to examine the two key ideologies that have shaped the radical reforms in New Zealand politics and more specifically, how these have influenced the role of education. An account of social democracy, showing your understanding of its strengths and/ or limitations in Aotearoa/NewRead MoreSimilarities Between Classical and Modern Liberals Are Greater Than the Differences. Discuss1729 Words   |  7 Pagesparallel approaches towards this political theory and its key concepts. Firstly, both strands of Liberalism believe in the necessity of some kind of a state, since life without a state, as Thomas Hobbes stated, would be ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’. Both views consider the existence of a state to be essential in order to protect individual rights. Since liberals generally considered humanity to be self-interested and egoistical, a state was needed to ensure that individuals did not exploitRead MoreTopic: Neoliberalism, The Commonality And Differences Between1096 Words   |  5 PagesTopic: Neoliberalism, the Commonality and Differences Between The Western Countries and China To many people, neoliberalism seems to be a capitalism-associated word that is often refer to what is going on in the US. Although neoliberalism has its deep root among western countries such as the US and many others in the EU, China as a socialism country, has its unique take on neoliberalism. In this paper, I will be discussing how neoliberalism emerge in the west and how it become the neoliberalism