Value Conflicts Essay Example for Free

Value Conflicts Essay Looking at the article â€Å"Charge it to our children† written by Thomas L. Friedman, the obvious value conflict is monetary. Which is valued more, saving money in taxes, or pay for a war? However that question gives rise to another, more detrimental conflict†¦ should we even be fighting the war in Iraq? Many supporters of the war see no reason we shouldn’t pay for it, moreover the opposition undoubtedly feels they shouldn’t pay for something they don’t agree with. Friedman writes about a $1 per gallon tax on gasoline â€Å"which could reduce our dependence on Middle East oil dictators and reduce payroll taxes for low- income workers, pay down the deficit and fund the development of renewable energy†. Would we be willing to pay that amount to secure the future? Yet another type of value conflict now arises quality of live in the present as opposed to the quality of live for the future? Unfortunately money makes the world go around, where we decide to put it is always a conflict. This correlates with another article written by Freidman entitled â€Å"Generation Q† where he comments on the lackadaisical stance the younger generations have taken in regard to polity. He states that although we are more involved in the world, we are not riled up enough about our own prosperity. Should our generation sacrifice peace and political correctness in order to â€Å"light a fire under the country†? He tends to imply that we have become far too dependant on electronic communication. Should we give up the ease of e-mail in order to actually take time from our busy schedules to attend a rally? Would anyone else even show up? In the end it all boils down to a matter of proximity. Our country seems to have adopted the old out of sight, out of mind adage. I think we need to collectively do something, but are we willing to sacrifice our own self diluted cushy little lives in order to standup for ourselves, or will we go, uninspired and quiet into the darkness our future now holds. Works Cited â€Å"Charge it to Our Children† By Thomas L. Friedman. Published in the International Herald Tribune, October 7, 2007 http://www. iht. com/articles/2007/10/07/opinion/edfried. php â€Å"Generation Q† By Thomas L. Friedman. Written in young-Turks via Google Groups, October 10, 2007 http://groups. google. com/group/yotu/browse_thread/thread/5a20aa7a200eba46

Principles of Musharakah and Mudarabah

Principles of Musharakah and Mudarabah Musharakah and Mudarabah written in the books of Islamic fiqh generally means contracts which are formed for starting a joint venture in which all partners participate in the business from starting till end when assets are liquidated. The books of Islamic fiqh were written in an environment when there were only small trades and no large scale businesses took place. The principles of Musharakah and Mudarabah can be applied to small as well as large scale commercial enterprises. The basic principles of Musharakah and Mudarabah are as follows: Musharakah and Mudarabah financing is not interest based Financier /investor must share loss to the extent of their investment Profit is distributed according to the agreed ratio with their mutual consent, but the sleeping partner cant claim more than the ratio of his investment Loss suffered by partner is exactly according to the proportion of his investment For financing a project, the traditional method of Musharakah and Mudarabah can be easily applied. If a Financier wants to finance the whole project, he can use Mudarabah financing and if some parties want to finance the project jointly, they can adopt Musharakah financing. It is very easy to evaluate the capital if the Musharakah or Mudarabah have been effected since inception of the project. In case of Musharakah if any partner wants to withdraw from the business, the other partners can purchase his share at an agreed ratio. The partner can thus either fully own the business on his own or can sell the share of the partner who withdrew his capital to other person who can substitute the withdrawing financier Securitization of Musharakah Musharakah financing can be securitised easily, in case of big projects a huge sum is required which a few people cant afford. Every person investing is given a Musharakah certificate which represents the amount of money he has invested in business. After the start of the business and buying non liquid assets, the certificates can be treated as negotiable instruments which can be sold in the secondary markets. However, if all the assets of Musharakah are in liquid form, buying and selling of these certificates is not allowed because as all the assets are in liquid form and exchange of such assets means exchanging money for money, and for exchanging money for money both must be equal. Access from any side is Riba, which is prohibited in Islam In case if the money invested is invested in non-liquid assets as land, machinery etc. the Musharakah certificate will represent the portion of ownership in those Assets. In this of assets being in non-liquid form, it will be allowed by the shariah to sell certificates in the secondary market on any price agreed upon by the parties with their mutual consent In case the assets in the business are a mixture of liquid and non-liquid assets most of the schools of thoughts including shafii have allowed trading only if the size of non-liquid assets in the whole business is more than 50%. However, if the Hanafi view is adopted, transaction if valid even if the non-liquid assets are less than 50% but the amount must be greater than liquid assets and non-liquid assets must not be negligible Financing of a single transaction The principles of Musharakah and Mudarabah can be easily used for financing a single transaction. It can be applied for fulling day to day needs of small traders as well as for import and export transactions. An importer can approach financier for financing him for importing goods for a single transaction. Banks can also finance for importing goods. If the letter of credit has no restrictions, Mudarabah can be followed and if the letter of credit has restrictions, Musharakah suits for such case. After selling the imported goods, the sales proceed can be shared by the financier and the imported on an agreed ratio When finance is required for working capital of a already running business, the principles of Musharakah can be applies in the following ways Before investing in the running business the capital of the business can be evaluated by the mutual consent. As according to Imam Malik, non-liquid assets can also form a part of capital so, this view can be applied here. The value of the already running business will be the share of one partner and the amount of investment by the financier will be his share. The profit given to the financier is agreed upon by both the parties which should not exceed the amount of his investment. The Musharakah can be for a limited period of time like 6 months, one year, two years, after the completion of the term both the liquid and non-liquid assets are evaluated again and profit may be distributed on the basis of evaluation Sharing of gross profit Financing by the method above can be very difficult in case the business is big and has large number of fixed assets, because the valuation of the assets, their appreciation or depreciation may create accounting problems which can cause disputes among partners. In this case Musharakah may be applied in another way In this scenario, difficulty arise due to calculation of indirect expenses like salary of staff, depreciation of machinery etc. For solving such problem only direct expense like raw material, labour, etc. Shall be borne by the Musharakah. It means all the indirect expenses shall be borne by the industrialist and instead of net profit, gross profit shall be shared among the partners. In order to compensate the industrialist, the percentage of his profit may be increased Running musharakah account on the basis of daily products Most of the financial institutions finance working capital by opening a running account from where the client draws the money at different intervals and returns surplus money. This process of credit and debit goes on and up to date of maturity. interest is calculated on the basis of daily products For making such arrangement possible for Musharakah Financing, following procedure may be suggested A portion of the actual profit must be used for management of the business A portion of the profit must be used for paying the investors Loss must be borne by the investor in the exact ratio of their investment in the business The average of the contribution made to the musharakah account on daily basis must be treated as the share capital of the financier Profit earned at the end of the term must be calculated on daily product basis, and must be distributed among the partners accordingly If parties allow such arrangement, it does not seem to violate any principles of Musharakah However, this needs to be looked into by the experts of Islamic jurisprudence. Practically, it means the parties have agreed to the principle that the profit earned at the end of the agreed time will be divided by the capital utilized per day. Which will lead to average of money earned on daily. The amount of money earned per day will then multiplied by the total number of days the money is invested by the partner for the calculation of his actual profit Some of the scholars do not allow this method as this method does not reflect the calculations of the actual profit earned by a partner of the Musharakah. The business may have earned a huge profit during the time a partner had no investment at all or share of his investment would be negligible but he will be paid at par with the other partners who had invested a huge sum of money. Similarly, the business may have suffered a great loss when a particular partner had invested huge amount of money and he will pass on loss to the other partners despite of their no investment during the loss or having invested negligible amount of money The answer to the argument is that it is not necessary for the partners in Musharakah that they earn profit on the amount of their investment only. Once the Musharakah takes place the profit earned by the business are earned by all the partners despite whether their money in invested in the business or not. This is generally true for the Hanafi school of thought,ÂÂ   which does not make it necessary for a Valid Musharakah that the money invested by the partners are together mixed up

Globalization and Islamic Fundamentalism Essay -- Muslim Culture Islam

The Al-Qaeda offshoot ISIS, has made its way through Iraq and Syria. This new terror campaign appears to have been rolled out with a decades old objective, which is wrought with violence, propaganda and destabilization. But what are the reasons behind these acts of terror and violence? How is it possible to stop terrorism? What is the future of the endless conflict between Islamic extremism and modernity? The last one is particularly burning, since it touches an issue, entwined in ever-lasting controversy, aggression and needless carnage - the issue of Islamic fundamentalism and its extreme manifestation - terrorism. In my paper I argue that in its essence Islamic fundamentalism is a negation of the values, upheld by globalization, democracy, true Islam and modernity. There are several interconnected focal factors that render Islamic extremism incompatible with modern trends of development. The first and basic factor, always in the context of the history of Islam, is the theoretical foundation of fundamentalism. Also, another important issue is the rise of Islamic nationalism, which helps fundamentalism transform religious and cultural differences into an overt and brutal struggle against non-Muslim countries and their globalizing world. Of particular significance, however, is the poor economic development of Muslim states. Moreover, I believe it is the actual reason behind the violent outbreak of extremism. All these issues combine to form the idea of Islamic ideal versus reality, or the ever-increasing gap between modernity and the nature of fundamentalism. In addition, I argue that poor economic and social conditions in Muslim countries are caused by improper government policies and deep social c... ...://www.worldbank.org/wbi/mdf/mdf1/edecmen.htm> Global Poverty Monitoring. The Middle East and North Africa: An Overview. United Nations Development Programme. Human Development Report 2001 United States Senate. Extremist Movements and Their Threat to the United States. Washington: U.S. Government printing Office, 2000 The Islamic World to 1600: The Rise of the Great Islamic Empires The New York Times; October 31, 2001

The Political Performance of Motherhood: Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo Es

The Political Performance of Motherhood: Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo During the Argentine dictatorship known as the Dirty War (1976-1983), thousands of people were systematically abducted by the government in order to eliminate all opposition to the regime. These "disappearances," which the dictatorship never admitted to committing, happened across class and age lines, but most of the kidnapped were young students and blue-collar workers. Despite the fact that associations and meetings of any kind were forbidden, a group of housewife mothers decided to protest the disappearance of their children. They began to gather every Thursday afternoon at the same time in the main square in Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo, walking alone or in pairs to avoid being arrested for disorderly conduct and wearing white kerchiefs on their heads to be easily identifiable. By showcasing their grief in public, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo turned their motherhood into a performance, and their bodies into political tools, to hold the government accountable. A 1985 Oscar-nominated documentary by Lourdes Portillo and Susana Muà ±oz, named after the group, not only recorded the Madres' performance of their collective identity, but was also instrumental in providing a broader audience for said performance. Traditionally, motherhood in Latin America is restricted to the realm of the private. Diana Taylor explains that "'public' women [...] are considered prostitutes or madwomen—that is, nonmothers, even antimothers," while "good mothers are invisible," (1) because they stay home with their children. However, the Madres carved for themselves a third position that broke this dichotomy, going on to become "one of the most visible political discourses of resist... ... Works Cited: Butler, Judith. "Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion." Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York: Routledge, 1993. 121-140. Fregoso, Rosa Linda. "Lourdes Portillo: The Devil Never Sleeps and Other Films." University of Texas. 2001. hooks, bell. "Is Paris Burning?" Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End, 1992. 145-156. Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Dir. Lourdes Portillo and Susana Muà ±oz. Videocassette. Xà ³chitl Films. 63 min. Navarro, Marysa. "The Personal is Political: Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo." Power and Popular Protest. Latin American Social Movements. Ed. Susan Eckstein. 1989. Taylor, Diana. "Trapped in Bad Scripts: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo". Disappearing Acts. Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina's "Dirty War." Duke Univ. Press: 1997. 183-222.

Juicy Fruit Investigation :: Papers

Juicy Fruit Investigation Aim: To find out if temperature affects the amount of juice the enzyme pectinase releases from an apple. Prediction ========== I predict that the temperature the pectinase will work best in is 30Â ° - 40Â °, I think this will be the temperature the pectinase will be able to break down the most fruit into fruit juice. I do not believe the enzyme will work above 45Â ° as it would become denatured. This is because I know most enzymes (similar to proteins) stop working/get destroyed above this temperature, as they are made up of protein. I also know that the temperature enzymes work best in the body at body temperature; 37Â ° therefore I believe the higher the temperature is without going over 45Â ° the faster the molecules will move and hit the enzyme molecules. An enzyme works when a substrate molecule bumps into a molecule of the correct enzyme, they fit together into a depression on the surface of the enzyme molecule. When this movement takes place the depression is called an 'active site'. A reaction takes place and the substrate products are released separately. Because the substrate molecules are different shapes they will only fit into certain enzymes. When the enzyme reaches a temperature too high it will change shape, therefore the substrate molecule would not fit. When the enzyme reaches a temperature that is low (or lower than 37Â º) the molecules will not move as fast as they will have less energy. This therefore means the enzyme molecules will not hit the substrate molecules as often as they would in a higher temperature meaning less juice will be released. [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] Enzyme molecule [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] Active site [IMAGE] Substrate fits into active site Active site [IMAGE] [IMAGE] A reaction takes place [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] Products leave the active site separately Preliminary test:

The Secret of Ella and Micha Chapter 20

Ella â€Å"So is this what you used to do all the time?† Lila relaxes back in the lawn chair. â€Å"Just sit around and watch them work on cars all day? God, that must have been nice.† I slurp on my Icee, my eyes fastened on Micha and Ethan working on the car on the opposite side of the garage. They're trying to work too fast and it's making me nervous. â€Å"No, I used to work on the cars with them.† She dumps a bag of M&M's into her hand. â€Å"Do you want to go help them right now?† â€Å"I can hang out here with you,† I say and stick out my hand. â€Å"Besides, I'm kind of enjoying myself.† She dumps some candy into my hand and I pour the chocolate into my mouth. â€Å"I know you are.† She sets the candy on the floor and picks up her soda. â€Å"You're practically glowing.† I rest my face in my hand to hide the alleged glowing. â€Å"This makes me nervous.† â€Å"What does?† â€Å"Racing when the car's not running good.† Lila pulls her hair out of the ponytail and tousles it with her fingers. â€Å"Why? Can something go wrong?† â€Å"With racing, anything can go wrong,† I say, mad at myself for getting Micha into this mess. Micha I kick a tool box out of the way and step up onto the bumper, staring down at the engine. â€Å"So what do you think?† Ethan wipes his hands on a rag as he shakes his head. â€Å"I have no clue if this quick fix is going to hold up or not and we don't have time to check the tie rods. If you got hit hard enough, they're probably bent and your whole steering is going to be fucked up.† â€Å"I guess we'll find out when we get it going.† I glance over at Ella and Lila, laughing in the corner of the garage. â€Å"You're not going to take her with you when you race, are you?† Ethan rounds the back of the car and starts checking the tire pressure. â€Å"Not with the car running like it is.† â€Å"And what if she gives you a hard time.† â€Å"She won't.† I check the oil. â€Å"At least I think she won't.† Ethan wipes his hands on his jeans. â€Å"I think that all depends on which Ella you're dealing with. The nice, polite one or the one who got you into this mess.† I look over at Ella again as she bends over to get a soda from the cooler behind the chairs. Her short shorts ride up and the bottom of her ass peeks out. After getting a drink, she drops back in her chair and opens it up, laughing at something Lila said. I adjust myself and slam the hood of the car down. â€Å"I think she might be a little of both.† *** â€Å"Why are there so many more people tonight?† Lila asks from the backseat, gaping at the cars parked up and down the road. â€Å"It wasn't this bad the last time we were here.† The girl is scared shitless and I kind of feel bad for her. â€Å"Mikey likes to draw a crowd.† â€Å"To watch him lose?† she asks, prodding Ella with her elbow. â€Å"Maybe,† I say with a heavy sigh, psyching myself out as I climb out of the car. The three of them follow me out and Ella takes my hand as we hike through the crowd where Mikey's talking smack to some skater dude who drives a Honda in the middle of the crowd, showing off for everyone. There's a bonfire burning over near The Hitch and people sitting on tailgates, drinking beers, waiting for the race to start. I push my way through the crowd, keeping a hold of Ella's hand. When we step out into the open, everyone looks at us and gossip starts flowing. Mikey stops talking and claps his hands loudly. â€Å"Holy crap, I didn't think you'd actually show up.† â€Å"Do I ever not show up?† I say. â€Å"You're the one that backed out the last time we tried to race.† He spits on the ground and crosses his arms. â€Å"So which one of you's racing? The little one with the big mouth that got you into this mess? Or are you gonna race me yourself?† Ella starts to move forward. â€Å"I'm – â€Å" â€Å"I am.† I squeeze her hand, pulling her behind me. â€Å"Micha,† she hisses. â€Å"This is my thing. I can handle it.† I shake my head, not looking at her. â€Å"Let's line up and get this over with.† Mikey grins, rubbing his hands together. â€Å"What? You eager to get your ass kicked?† â€Å"No, I'm eager for you shut up.† With that I turn away and head back to the car with Ella in tow. â€Å"Micha Scott,† she says, tugging on my arm and planting her feet in the dirt, trying to get me to stop walking. Ethan and Lila are a ways back and Ethan's trying to explain to Lila the rules of racing. I keep walking forward, dragging her along with me, refusing to let her have her way this time – not with this. â€Å"Stop being all noble and just let me drive,† she says hotly. â€Å"It's much better for me to lose to him then for you to. He'll bug you about it for the rest of your life.† I stop just in front of the car and turn to her and brush the pad of my thumb across her cheek. â€Å"Hey, who said anything about losing?† She gathers some strands of hair out of her face and stares at the front end of the car. The glow of the fire highlights the worry in her eyes. â€Å"I know Ethan and you didn't get everything fixed. You were working too fast and I'm sure you didn't do that great of a job.† â€Å"The car's fine,† I assure her. â€Å"But you need to sit this one out.† â€Å"No way,† she argues, folding her arms over her chest defiantly. â€Å"I'm going to at least sit in the passenger seat and ride with you. â€Å" I shake my head. â€Å"Not this time, pretty girl.† She starts to fume, so I lean in and kiss her right in front of everyone, cupping the back of her head and grabbing her ass, letting people know she's mine. Her body trembles as she kisses me back, even when someone whistles. When I pull away, she has this glazed look in her eyes. â€Å"Now take Lila and go sit over by the finish line.† She opens her mouth, then seals her lips shut and nods. Ethan and her trade places and she walks off with Lila over toward the line. Once they're out of sight, Ethan says, â€Å"You sure you want to do this?† I nod, my gaze tracking the line of the road and the trees next to it. â€Å"You sure you want to do this?† â€Å"Absolutely,† he says. â€Å"I have nothing better to do.† We bump fists and climb into the car. I rev up the engine a few times, then inch it forward across the dirt and through the crowd toward the lineup area in front of The Hitch. â€Å"How's the steering?† he asks rolling down the window, and letting the night air flow in. I veer it from side to side, testing it. â€Å"It's shaky.† â€Å"Left or right?† â€Å"To the right.† â€Å"Make sure you do your turnaround to the left then.† I nod as we roll up to the lineup and Mikey's already waiting for us. Ella and Lila are just off to the side, near the trees, sitting on the tailgate of someone's truck. She has her eyes glued to us as Lila talks to her, swinging her legs. I thrum my fingers on the top of the steering wheel, eyeing the end of the road. â€Å"Quit psyching yourself out,† Ethan says and snatches up the iPod. â€Å"I think it's time for a little tunes.† He scrolls through the music and â€Å"The Distance† by Cake flips on. He cranks it up so the base is bumping and we start nodding our heads. When it hits the chorus we start singing and Ethan taps his fingers on the dash, like he's playing the drums. The more the song goes on, the more we get into it. I catch Ella laughing and shaking her head at us, because she knows this is Ethan and mines thing, but usually she's in the car with us. â€Å"Hey, are we going to race?† Mikey shouts, slipping out his window and looking at us from over the roof with his hands in the air. â€Å"Or are we going to sit around and listen to music?† I floor the pedal so loud the sound rumbles through the night and his eyes widen slightly. He gets back into his car and throttles his own pedal. It's half as loud and Ethan and I laugh at him. â€Å"Dude, quit wasting time and get your girl over here to start us off,† he calls out over the music. I turn it down a notch. â€Å"Get Chandra to do it.† â€Å"No man, you know the rules,† he says with a smirk. â€Å"The girlfriend of the one being challenged has to start off the race.† I roll my eyes, knowing Ella's not going to like this, the old or the new version. I slide out of the window, cup my hands around my mouth, and shout over the roof at her. â€Å"Ella May, get your beautiful ass over here.† Lila has her distracted and she jumps. Her eyebrows furrow as I wave her over. She holds up a finger to Lila and hops of the hood, looking at me perplexedly as she makes her way through the crowd and over to me. I sit back in the car as she reaches the window and she lowers her head down, looking into the cab. â€Å"You have to start us off,† I tell her and she instantly makes a face. â€Å"It's the rules. You know that.† â€Å"Those rules are sexist,† she says. â€Å"Let Mikey's slutty girlfriend do it.† â€Å"You know he's not going to let that happen.† â€Å"I could make him let it happen.† I press my lips together as her spitfire personality burns through all her fake politeness. â€Å"Can you just do it for me?† She rolls her eyes, then leans in and kisses my cheek. â€Å"But only for you.† Then she backs out of the car, with an exaggerated sway of her hips, making fun of the ordeal, but still looking hot as hell in her little shorts. Ethan and I bust up laughing as she turns around with a big embellished grin on her face. â€Å"Well, at least she's entertaining,† he says, patting the side of the door with his hand to the beat of the music. I pump the gas a few times, my gaze attached to hers as she elevates her hands above her head. She looks at me as she counts down. When her arms drop, the tires squeal as we peel out. Ella I walk back through the cloud of dirt and hop on the tailgate with Lila. I spot Grantford through the crowd and when he sees me, he hurries away, ducking into the crowd, knowing Micha's around. Lila swings her legs, taking in the surroundings. â€Å"What was that about?† â€Å"Rules,† I sigh, leaning forward so I can get a better view of the road. It's hard to tell because it's dark, but it looks like Micha is winning. I start to grow restless the farther away the taillights get and I jump off the tailgate and pace the dirt. â€Å"You're nervous,† Lila observes. â€Å"And you're making me nervous.† I bite on my fingernails, unable to settle down. â€Å"I don't know what my problem is. Usually, I'm not this jumpy.† But I think deep down, I know exactly what my problem is. My feelings for Micha have been freed and now they consume me, own me, bind me to him. The crowd starts moving, nearly trampling me as they stare down the road, waiting for the turnaround. I hear the scared tones in their voices first before the crash. It's like a train wreck, metal crushing and snapping apart. Lila's eyes snap wide. â€Å"What the hell was that?† I spin around and shove my way to the front of the crowd. There are a few cars on the side backing up onto the road. â€Å"Shit,† someone says. â€Å"I think one of them wrecked.† I feel my heart crumble as I take off down the road. â€Å"Ella!† Lila shouts. â€Å"Where are you going?† I keep running, stumbling through the dark, searching for their lights. My flip flops fall off somewhere, but I keep going, needing to know. Cars are pulling out behind me and headlights shine at my back. Seconds later, Mikey's car zooms by and he shouts something foul at me. Halfway down the road, the air turns to dirt and the sound of â€Å"The Distance† by Cake floods the air, only it's stuck and keeps saying the same line over and over again. Spotting the outline of the car, I slow down. Suddenly, I'm back to the night my mom died. The Chevelle is smashed against the trunk of a large tree, the windshield smashed to pieces, and two of the tires are blown out. Somehow it must have flipped around and the driver's side took most of the impact. I know whatever's inside the car is bad, just like when I opened the bathroom door the night I found my mom and I won't be able to do anything about it. I almost turn away and run, not wanting to see it, but the passenger side door swings open and Ethan stumbles out, clutching at his upper arm. There's a path of blood dripping down his arm and his cheek is scraped. I snap out of my own thoughts and rush to him. â€Å"Are you okay?† â€Å"Ella, go get some help.† He coughs, nearly buckling to his knees. â€Å"No.† My voice comes out sharp and high-pitched and vomit burns at the back of my throat. I gently push him aside and climb into the car, which is filled with dirt and the air is muggy. â€Å"Micha.† I cover my mouth and shake my head. His head is flopped back against the headrest and turned away from me and his arms are slack to the side. Branches are poking in through the window and it looks like one of them might be lodged into his shoulder. His head turns toward me and his eyes widen. â€Å"Fuck. Ethan, get her out of here.† Ethan reaches in to pull me back, but I climb onto the console, taking in the long, thin stick stabbed in his shoulder. I can't breathe. I can't lose him. I can't do this again. â€Å"Ella May, look at me.† His voice is hoarse as he locks eyes with me. â€Å"I'm okay, now back out of the car so Ethan can get me out of here.† My eyes scan his body, looking for any more wounds that could be hiding from me. â€Å"It's just the branch? That's the only place you're hurt?† He nods lethargically. â€Å"A few stitches and I'm as good as new.† Kissing his forehead, I take a deep breath, hating to leave him as I back out of the car. Ethan's walking up the road toward me with Benny at his side. He's still clutching his arm and there's a little bit of a limp to his walk. â€Å"Someone's got to have two good arms to pull it out,† he says to Benny and I see him glance at me with concern in his eyes. Benny nods and hops into the car, while Ethan and I wait impatiently on the outside. Cars start to pull up, headlights lighting up the accident as people rubberneck. One of the cars is a Camaro and Mikey stands in front of it, laughing with his girlfriend at his side. â€Å"Fucking asshole swerved at us,† Ethan tells me as he glares at Mikey. Rage engulfs me and this time I let it take me over. I march up to him and shove him hard so he stumbles back into the front end of his car. â€Å"You think this is funny?† I shout. â€Å"They crash into a tree because of you and you keep driving. What the hell's wrong with you?† His eyes darken and he steps toward me. â€Å"I won and that's all that matters.† Shaking my head, I lift up my leg and knee him in the balls, hard. He groans, his face reddening as he hunches over and his girlfriend runs to his side to coddle him. I start to leave when he straightens back up. Cradling his injured guy parts, he charges, ready to hit me. Ethan blocks him and shoves him back with his good arm. â€Å"If you touch her, I'll slam my good fist into your face.† This is not the first time he's had to say that to someone on my behalf. Mikey backs down from the fight, muttering something about it not being worth it as Benny helps Micha out of the car. The branch is out of his shoulder. Left in its place is a hole, which is bleeding down his arm and shirt, but he's alive and breathing and that's all that matters. We get him into the front seat of Benny's GTO and then Ethan and Lila get in the back. Micha has me sit on his lap, and he nuzzles his head into my chest. I hold onto him tightly as we speed off into the night.

The Uncommon Soldier

U. S. Women’s History 10/19/12 An Uncommon Soldier: Fighting for the â€Å"Home† Front Throughout the passage of time, in order to make sense of the world and justify established ideologies, man has put forth disproportionate effort into defining what is deemed by the masses as acceptable and appropriate. With the formation of these social life requirements, it goes without saying there will be outliers who do not fit this man-created construct, either by innate or self-realized characteristics. This social restraint is undoubtedly the source of much emotional turmoil and unrest.Here is where Sarah Rosetta Wakeman’s story begins. As a white, American woman born in the 1800’s, Wakeman’s scope of â€Å"acceptable† life directions was very limited, and much can be said about how she dealt with the obstacles created by the aforementioned social constraints. Wakeman’s decision to leave home, and assume the characteristics of a man, was more out of a sense of familial duty than an outward expression of suppressed sexual identity. In order to better understand Sarah’s motivation one must first analyze her childhood and the environmental factors which molded her.Born on January 16, 1843, in what would become Afton, New York, to Harvey and Emily Wakeman, Sarah Rosetta Wakeman was the eldest of 9 children, seven of whom were female. To Harvey and Emily’s dismay, Sarah and her two siblings that followed were all female, which was less than to be desired during the era. Sarah was nearly nine years old before Emily was able to give Harvey a son (Burgess, 101). At that time, children were expected to begin helping the parents by contributing as soon as there was work compatible and â€Å"appropriate† for their age and gender.This is how Sarah’s transformation was necessitated. To understand these driving forces in more depth, one must take a look at the role Sarah played in her home life. Sarah†™s dad, Harvey, found the easiest way to support his family, as many did during this time, was through agriculture. The amount of work required to be successful in that endeavor during that time period, far exceeded the capabilities of one man. Since they were in the north, the possibility of slave labor was nonexistent, so as was customary of most family farms from the period, Harvey attempted to create an army of his own metaphorical laves, his children. With her innate familial duty and lack of male siblings, Sarah had no choice but to step up. While the letters do not technically say that she played a large role in what would have been considered male gendered labor, Burgess as well as other historians, are left to speculate based upon her communications with her father, â€Å"†¦ Rosetta’s high level of interest in her father’s farming, her knowledge of the details of the family farm, and her desire to own her own farm after the war are evidence that she se rved as her father’s farmhand,† (Burgess, 9).This knowledge and desire were attributes associated with being male and not seen as traits a woman could or should possess. Working the farm alongside her father had more life-altering implications than can be determined without further dissection. While most professions today are not gendered, farm work is still connotated to be in the male domain, as the work is strenuous and more physically demanding than most. If 150 years later, even after the advent of modern technology, it is still considered to be a gendered role, one can only imagine the psychological toll this upbringing played on her identity (Chambers, 10/19/12).After years of transitioning between her societal gender role and the gender role made necessary by her family, the delineation became less distinct. The manual labor sculpted Sarah, instilling in her a â€Å"man’s† work ethic, as well as diminishing the strength of her more feminine qualiti es, while amplifying those characteristics associated with the male gender (Chambers, 10/19/12). Her transformation into a man was a process that began there as a child, doing what was necessary to help her family. This established precedent of doing what is necessary sets the stage for her future endeavors.One major benefit of having a female child, during this period, was that once the girl was of age and could be married off, usually around their early teens, they were no longer the financial burden of the family. â€Å"At 19 years of age, Rosetta appeared to have no prospects for marriage, which would have relieved the family of her care,† (Burgess, 9). As the eldest child, with the most responsibility, she understood better than her siblings how her not getting married off was detrimental to the advancement of her family.By the time she had reached this point in her life, her brother Robert was old enough to start working the land alongside Harvey, filling the void Sarah had been filling her entire life. Around the same time that Sarah began to lose her utility at home, Harvey brought the family into some financial turmoil with a hefty debt. After having filled the role as a major contributor and gaining the sense of fatherly duty in caring for the family, Sarah arrived at an impasse.In her mind, the family was still financially dependent upon her, yet â€Å"†¦ her farm work would have been of limited value in paying her father’s debt, and her work as a domestic could not have paid enough to substantially assist her family,† (Burgess, 9). The ways in which she had previously been aiding her family were no longer sufficient. It was at this point in Sarah’s life that she made the conscious decision to go against the confines of society, which would ultimately lead to both her demise as well as her post-mortem fame.Her decision to assume the gender role of a man was a thoroughly calculated one, â€Å"Rosetta realized that on e of the only ways open to finding an honorable position that paid enough for her to assist her indebted family was by dressing and acting the part of a man,† (Burgess, 9). This transition was not the leap it would have been for most women put into her situation, as she had been unknowingly preparing for this her entire life. With her newly realized gender, she would be able to remove her burden from the family, and further benefit them by providing a means to alleviate her father’s debt.Sarah took on a male role with the purpose of finding a job that paid a man’s salary, for it was only as a man that she would be able to make a significant difference. When she first left home in August of 1862, she began working at a coal barge doing manual labor. Similarly to the work she did with Harvey, the job was very physically taxing and further strengthened her work ethic. If Sarah had set out to become a man with any intention other than to support her family then she w ould have most likely stayed there where she was earning enough to be self-sufficient.However her goal was not to become a man, but to do her part for her family. As a result of that, when she was given the opportunity to make a significant difference, at sever personal risk, for her family, she took it. This opportunity presented itself when soldiers from the 153rd Regiment recruited her. â€Å"The $152. 00 bounty offered to enlistees in the 153rd was over a year’s wages to even the ‘male’ Rosetta,† (Burgess, 10). Had Sarah not decided to go out and find work as a man, there would have been no chance of her earning that kind of money, especially not all at once.In addition to the initial lump sum, as a soldier she could guarantee a steady flow of money to her family. In fact she even said, â€Å"I am getting 13 dollars per month, I will send part of it home to you,† which shows that she is doing all possible to keep money going to her family. Witho ut the motivation to earn for her family, there would have been no benefits to her enlisting. More proof that Sarah took on the male role to provide for her family appear in her letters.Many of the letter she sent to her family contained money intended for the family, â€Å"When I send you money I want you to lay it out for the family,† (6/5/1863, Burgess, 31). This clearly shows the money she sent back was for the purpose of supporting the family. It also indicates that she was not sending them money for any reason but benefitting the family. She strongly expresses that point by specifically allocating the funds in several of her letters. In modern times, most people who trade gender roles do it for reasons of sexual expression, whereas Sarah was not sexually confused.This is evidenced most strongly by her relationship with Alfonzo Stewart. Alfonzo Stewart was a ranch hand that worked with Harvey on the farm. Their relationship, if one did truly exist, would have been kept s ecret as he was 25 years older (Chambers, 10/19/12). This is another contrast, between 19th century and 21st century America, because of the fact that a 25 year age difference today is not unheard of, whereas Sarah and Alfonzo’s relationship would have been prohibited. More evidence suggesting Sarah’s heterosexual nature is presented in her letter home on the 19th of June, 1863.While this is not the first letter bringing up Alfonzo, it is the first one that emphasizes her emotional investment in him. It is in this letter than she refers to him by a nickname. She writes,â€Å" †¦ let me know all about farming and how long do you intend to keep Fony, (June 19, 1863, Burgess, 32). While this does not directly prove that there was a sexual relationship taking place, it does suggest that there was, at very least, a strong enough closeness to have special names for each other. The pet name is not the extent of the evidence supporting this claim.In a previous letter, Sa rah mentions Alfonzo in a flirting manner stating, â€Å"Tell me all about Alfonzo. Tell him that I can make the best soldier than he would,† (June 5, 1863, Burgess, 32). This is a prime example of primitive flirting as Sarah’s intent was to tease Alfonzo, and ensure that she was still in his thoughts. Sarah Rosetta Wakeman is the truest definition of a hero. She did whatever it took, and sacrificed everything to take care of her family. Having no brothers old enough to work the field, Sarah began playing the part of a man by working alongside her father on their farm.From that time on, her characteristics only developed more to fit the male role. When she turned 19 she was forced to make the biggest decision, her own identity. She chose to leave home, as a man, to find work to support her family. Contrary to the ideologies behind gender-crossing today, Sarah Rosetta Wakeman’s transformation was not to express suppressed sexual identity, but rather to ensure she would be able to provide for her family and continue her role as a parental figure.