The relationship between the standard of living and the quality of life in Dominican Republic

In my country, Dominican Republic, the standard of living for the majority of the population is very low. The politics are not focused to fight the poverty and the crime rates are chasing the highest levels in years. For this reason, most people in my native country are living unhappy and insecure. Most of them are afraid to be robbed or even hurt when they go out. Additionally, there is a lack of quality on the basic services and needs, such as education and health. Consequently, people are looking for ways to migrate to other countries like United States, which offers better services and security. However, not everyone in Dominican Republic has a thought life. A few rich politicians and big business owners have impressive materially good lives. It doesn't even look like they live in the same poor country. The sad truth is, In Dominican Republic, the majority of people is poor and live picking up whatever's left from the powerful and rich.

"The Trumpet of Conscience" - Summary

     Martin Luther King Jr., moved by the discrimination and poverty of African Americans, had an important speech called "The Trumpet of Conscience." He rejected the war that United States had against Vietnam at the same time that he was fighting for the civil rights in America. People criticized that he was interested in other matters like the war, which they said had nothing to do with his rights fight. The motivation of his concerns for the war was that he thought that we cannot talk about discrimination issues if we don't have the moral to avoid a war.

A Gas Station Burns in the Forest: Illuminating Our Moral Legacy

Summary

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Tell White Lies (Occasionally): Protecting from Unnecessary Hurt

Thesis: Telling White Lies Avoid Hurting People.

I. Telling white lies is common.

A. What motivates people to tell white lies.

1.Keeping secrets.

2.Avoiding to hurt someone.

B. Frequent situations of white lies.

II. My personal experience with white lies.

A. Brief story.

B. I learned from this situation...

III. The line between white lies and gray or black lies.

A. When to tell the truth.
IV. Telling white lies help people's feelings.
A. Knowing when someone may be hurt and telling white lies.

Courtesy: Key to a Happier World

Thesis: Life’s difficulties would be minimized if people were more courteous to each other.

I. Basic ingredients of good manners

A. Justice

B. Empathy

C. Treat all people alike

II. Three ways to improve one’s manners

A. Practice courtesy

1.  Concentrate in a specific area for a week

2. Don’t let others’ bad manners make you rude

B. To think in a courteous way

C. Be able to accept courtesy

Conclusion. Politeness is the golden rule in action.

"The Ant and the Grasshopper"

     Do you think the message in Maugham's story is the same as or different from the message in the Aesop fable of the ant and the grasshopper? Explain.

     The original "Ant and the Grasshopper" from Aesop is clearly different from the modern version. In the original story, the hardworking character was rewarded and the idle one was punished. In contrast, the newer version from W. Somerset Maugham has a quite different meaning. Both characters had the same features, but at the end of the story the winner was Tom, who represented the grasshopper. Tom didn't work as George did, but he used his charm to get a lot of things in his life, including a great fortune. He enjoyed his life while his brother George worked. This one is a more realistic story that shows the unfairness on this world. Not always the good person wins; nowadays the bad is barely punished.

The friendship bond

Questions 1-6

1- The social critics were expecting people to be unhappy with their friendship because according to research people choose to live alone. Also the lack of commitment and high mobility rate which leads to problems in the friendships.according to the survey people answered that their relationships are reciprocal, At least in America friendships appears to be in good shape.

2- The reading mention five qualities that are important in a friend: loyalty, ability to keep confidences and secrets, warmth, to show affection and supportiveness. That looks like a good order of importance since localty is what keeps a friendship alive.

3-  They mention two reasons to end a friendship: being lied by a friend and having different point of view on something significant for your friend. The one that makes more sense is being betrayed or lied, while having a different opinion on something can be more easily fixed by talking with that person.

4- The three main activities that can be found between friends are: having intimate talk, helping out a friend and turning to a friend for help. Trust is the most important thing if we want to share anything with another person. We won't tell personal things or even ask for help if we don't really trust that person.

5- The first rule on a friendship is that friends confide each other's feelings and the second one is that we have the right to ask for help. I think it depends which kind of friend we are talking about because I don't tell things to any person that comes to me. There are things also that maybe only one person in my life deserves to know.

6- The limits to a friendship is when one of the individuals commits negative actions that could put in danger the other person.

As It Was in the Beginning

     Question Number 5: Did Esther really love Laurence? Father Paul? If so, did she stop loving them?

     It looked like Esther's homesickness would never finish. However, her love for Laurence, her dear playmate, put all the family memories away. And he loved her with the same intensity, even coming from a different greed. Only a real love can fill up a needing heart. That precious moments ended when Father Paul convinced Laurence to get away from her. That was the same Father who were once the good friend and role model for that Indian girl. He was her guide in the mission. For a "bloody" honor, he destroyed all her happiness. For that reason, her friendship with the Father would never bloom again. As a consequence of Father Paul impediments, she use the revenge and kill Laurence. Finally, even when Esther continued loving Laurence, she took away the most valuable thing from Father Paul, making him fall into his own hell.

The Onlies Are Not So Lonely

     Being an only child seems to be an attractive life. Even though the only child may feel lonely not having a brother or a sister, he enjoys many advantages. Not having siblings around you means that your parents are going to give you all the charming and things they can, as Forer says on her description of birth order. All that benefits are harder to see in the first or middle child, who are often in a competition for their parents' attention.  I can relate of this because of my position as a first child...

How Accurate is the Author's Description of my Birth Order

     After reading "How Your Birth Order Influences Your Life Adjustment" from Lucille K. Forer, I feel that finally someone else understands me. It explains mostly accurately how my birth order, in my case the older child, affects my lifestyle and the way I relate to the people. It also helped me to understand better why I try to act responsibly most of the time.

     In agreement with the text, I definitely have a parental position in relation to my siblings. As a result, if my parents are not there I have to correct my brother and sister when they are doing bad things. This situation often put me under pressure to do things in the right way, since I must be the role model for my siblings. Another point mentioned in the reading, which I agree with, is that my sister, the middle one, sometimes ask me for help. There is only one topic which I think doesn't match with my own family story: the capabilities. In my opinion, the oldest child doesn't necessarily have to be the most capable than the later children. For my personal experience I can tell that my sister, for example, is more capable than me in many ways. The reason for this is maybe because she is less anxious about being correct, so her self-confidence make her do things in which I'm maybe not as good as her. However, in general, this reading has a very accurate picture of my family hierarchy situation in most of the aspects mentioned.

Me, The Oldest Child! :/

 

   My name is Natasha -or you can call me Necessary Natasha- and I'm from Dominican Republic. I grew up in an educated family, with a though parents. Since I am the oldest child, I have had a lot of responsibilities in my life.

     I have been taking care of my sister Rosalia, the middle one, and Jonathan, my younger brother. Based on my own experience, I can tell that being the oldest child is not easy at all. Besides of taking care of my siblings, I had the responsibility of clean the house and cooking, whenever my parents were busy. In top of it, I was always obligated to maintain a right behavior and be good at school. Even when I do a lot to help my family, my parents, and sometimes my siblings, don't think much about me. It has been a lonely life; however, my sister, who is the middle one, is starting to share more things with me and be more nice and helpful with me as we are growing up.