Thursday, December 26, 2019

Sexual Boycotts, Documented During The Greek Empire And...

Sex boycotts, documented during the Greek empire and the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta, have been a traditional interesting non-violent method to resolve conflicts. The Australian aboriginals community also illustrated the sex boycott as a popular practice. Contemporary examples in Colombia in 2005 , in the Philippines and in Canada in 2012 confirmed the vulgarization of the â€Å"Lysistrata regime† to achieve social, political and economic goals. Also aimed to counteract several forms of patriarchal violence and oppression (physical, and/or psychological), sex strikes could be defined as â€Å"method of social non-cooperation† . Understanding these practises within our male supremacists society is meaningful. Conjointly,†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"If he is no good in bed, he cannot hunt† and therefore, secure the household. Again, as Chris Knight mentioned, â€Å"the relationship reciprocity which is the basis of marriage is not established between men and women, but between men by means of women† in which women had no active role to play. Gender inequalities therefore existed; women were often essentialized to perform passive roles and their expected duties. From this postulate, it seems that women especially from the case study following attempted to de-construct and re-appropriate these assumptions and prejudices. Wisely, they managed to generate a source of power directly from the source oppression. This reservoir of power has been the â€Å"gas† to organize and to use sex boycott as an alternative political tool. SEX STRIKES Sex strikes have a long history; the Lysistra comedy of Aristophanes probably refers to the earliest example of â€Å"sexual subversion† during the Peloponnesian War. This form of â€Å"traditional feminism† could be defined as a non-violent way to ostracize individuals perpetrating violence . It is aimed to achieve common goals, gender solidarity is a substantial variable and many researches often show that men are the targeted population . Sex boycott refers to a gendered â€Å"distinctive pattern of

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Eating Disorders Essay - 1588 Words

Nutrition is both physically and mentally essential in daily lives. While people have knowledge of severe underdeveloped nutrition in other parts of the world, they fail to realize the malnutrition that may be affecting their own bodies. Every human needs a proper diet with nutrients which provide the individual with energy, structure, and regulation to maintain the body (Smolin and Grosvenor 21-22). In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, a person must also have a healthy body image. However, healthy body images have been rapidly decreasing in recent years. Both men and women are constantly urged to fit a specific body image in order to be happy, admired, and loved. In countries where a food shortage is a constant concern, obesity is†¦show more content†¦After a period of time, their extreme hunger overpowers their control and they eat a great amount of food in a short period of time, which is referred to as binging. In fact, the name bulimia is taken from the Greek words bo us (â€Å"ox†) and limos (â€Å"hunger†), implying hunger of such intensity that a person can eat an entire ox (94). Since the great amount of food that they consume is not on their strict diet plan to be thin, they become very fearful of a possible weight gain and they purge. Induced vomiting, taking laxatives, and excessively exercising are examples of purging in somebody with bulimia. After doing this they feel guilty, yet relieved. Once the person realizes that they can eat basically anything that they want without gaining weight, they make it an ongoing cycle. However, there are many side effects. These include constipation, dehydration, damaged tooth enamel, breakage of stomach and esophagus lining, depression, and may even result in death (101). Bulimia may be caused by pressure to achieve or to fit a certain body image. Since they often crave and binge on foods rich in carbohydrates, the illness can be from an imbalance in the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain (Engel, Reiss, and Dombeck). There are many psychological illnesses associated with this eating disorder and others. These include alcoholism, drug abuse, self-injury, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Multiple PersonalityShow MoreRelatedEating Disorders : Eating Disorder1205 Words   |  5 PagesEating Disorders in Today’s World Eating disorders are alive and well in today’s world and they are a major problem. An eating disorder can look like a few different things, ranging from a severe reduction of food intake to over eating to feelings of negativity towards your body shape or weight (Lehigh University). While some disorders can only be found in specific age groups, races, etc., eating disorders can be found amongst all and it does not necessarily have to be pointed towards food (LehighRead MoreEating Disorders : An Eating Disorder1184 Words   |  5 Pagesas an eating disorder. Weir (2016) goes on to explain the origins behind eating disorders in individuals. This topic is important because, in the United States, many women and men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some point in their life. It is important to know the influences that cause an individual to experience an eating disorder. Genetically, or environmentally, or both genetically and environmentally. Anorexia ner vosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are eatingRead MoreEating Disorders And Eating Disorder1573 Words   |  7 Pagesaffects people called an â€Å"eating disorder.† Why did you choose this topic? I chose this topic because it is a very prevalent issue in our society today, and a close friend of mine is suffering from an eating disorder. What question(s) did you want to answer or what was your hypothesis regarding this topic? As mammals, there is no chance of escaping the need to consume food in everyday life. However, when it comes to food there can be a major concern of eating too much or eating too little. Doing eitherRead MoreEating Disorders And Eating Disorder1104 Words   |  5 PagesEating disorder is a serious problem happens in both men and women. Eating disorder is a sort of disease in which a person is having a strange routine of eating like consuming a huge amount of food each time they eat. This can incorporate not eating enough nourishment or indulging. Eating disorder influence many people around the world. The larger part of peoples who are dealing with this issue are ladies. A person with eating disorder issue may focus nonsensically on their weight and shape. EatingRead MoreEating Disorders And Eating Disorder1410 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"An eating disorder is about anxiety and control and healing from trauma and food and weight are just the tools of destruction† (Floyd, Mim ms, Yelding, 2008). An eating disorder is defined as a severe disturbance in eating behavior. An eating disorder, as defined by our text book for class, is psychological disturbances that lead to certain physiological changes and serious health complications. The three most common and most easily identifiable forms of eating disorders include anorexia nervosaRead MoreEating Disorders : Eating Disorder966 Words   |  4 PagesEating Disorders Many people, both women and men of all ages, suffer from the psychological disorder, eating. Up to thirty million people in the world suffer from some kind of an eating disorder. There a two types of eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia, and have several methods of treatment. What is an eating disorder, and what do they cause? Eating disorders are maladaptive and very serious interruptions in eating. They can come in the form of overeating, or not eating enough, they are oftenRead MoreEating Disorders And Eating Disorder1496 Words   |  6 PagesAn eating disorder is an illness that causes serious disturbances to your everyday diet, such as eating extremely small amounts of food or severely overeating. A person with an eating disorder may have started out just eating smaller or larger amount of food, but as some point, the urge to eat less or more has gotten out of control. Severe distress or concern about body weight or shape may also signal an eating disorder. Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and a binge-eatingRead MoreEating Disorders : Eating Disorder1031 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The eating disorder is a very jealous and abusive partner. It requires a lot of devotion in the extent that you have to devote yoursel f to tending to the anorexia. There s not a lot of time left over for adult life,† was stated by Dr. Doug Bunnell, a specialist in eating disorders. Eating disorders effect a variety of people. Age, race, and gender aren’t role playing keys in eating disorders. Not everyone gets an eating disorder, but if they do then, it will more than likely destroy their livesRead MoreEating Disorders : An Eating Disorder1906 Words   |  8 Pagesobtain their body goal, thus causing an eating disorder. An eating disorder is a psychological condition that is characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits. There are three types of eating disorders; which are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating.These disorders affect all aspects of a person’s life, including their psychological, emotional, and physical health. There are many factors that contribute to individuals developing eating disorders including: genetics, family pressuresRead MoreEating Disorders : Ea ting Disorder1235 Words   |  5 PagesEating Disorders Eating disorders are a very serious psychological condition that affects your mind so that you are more focused on your food and weight than you are on everything else. The most known and most commonly diagnosed eating disorders are anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder; however, these are not the only eating disorders. Eating disorders cause psychical and psychological problems, which at their worst can even become life threating. Statistics show that more women are affected

Monday, December 9, 2019

Ethical Issues in Marketing Relationships

Question: Discuss about the Ethical Issues in Marketing Relationships. Answer: Introduction Walmart is one of the biggest American international retail company that provides a range of products at the best price for its customers. The company was founded by Sam Walton in the year 1962, in Betonville , Arkansas. At present the company has its stores all over the world with 11,539 stores. Walmart aims at providing the best quality goods to its customers at the cheapest price. Though the company has been on the top list of fortune for many years, yet the company has faced many ethical issues regarding the management of the company (Arnold, Beauchamp and Bowie 2012). In the case study provided, a brief description regarding the issues of the company and the measures that had been taken by the company has been listed. This report deals with five questions based on the sustainability, ethics, social responsibilities, stakeholders and the measures adopted by Walmart to get rid of the controversies along with some recommendations are considered. As per the case study, Walmart has done various implementations for sustainability in its organization like improving the health benefit packages to its employees by offering subordinate deductibles as well as implementing a generic prescription plan. Walmart has also improved their ethic standards by creating an ethics department that will help to monitor the observance of suppliers. Walmart had also developed objectives in order to become more environmentally friendly. The greatest environmental concern that is associated with walmart has been urban slump. Walmart is also working to advance the moral reputation along with its status for sustainability and corporate governance. The company has also using solar power as well as wind power in their stores that is located in Colorado and California. Walmart has also reduced the consumption of energy that makes possible the conservation of energy in two major ways (Barney and Peteraf 2014). The company has also managed the consumption o f energy by controlling the heating and cooling of us Walmart stores. It is also attempting to reduce the use of fossil fuel to sell more green products. It had tried its best to make its stores more eco-friendly and enhance the benefits of the employees. The company has created global responsible sourcing initiative that are required to be followed by the suppliers to make sure that the suppliers are performing everything possible to go green(Schminke et al. 2014). Walmart anticipates its suppliers to recurrently improve their systems. The company typically works with suppliers in order to decrease costs of wrapping as well as shipping. This will in turn, reduce the costs of the customers. The company has worked with the sustainability consortium in the year 2009, in order to enhance a dimension and reporting system that is termed as the sustainability index. The most significant ethical issues that Walmart had faced in the past were that they did not pay enough to the employees in the past. The ethical issues that are concerned with the stakeholders comprise charges of discrimination, leadership misbehaviour, corruption as well as safety (Neubert, Wu and Roberts 2013). Most of the ethical issue that is associated with the company deals with the fact that the company has charged of failing to make available health insurance for more than 60 percent of its employees. The company took action in order to improve relation with its stakeholders and to address the significant ethical issues. The company improved health benefit packages that they were not able to provide to the employees. The company also increased the pay that is tied to the performance. Employee displeasure often leads to customer displeasure. The ethical issue was also associated with fewer employees as they were not able to provide excellence customer service that made the c ustomers dissatisfied. Walmart dealt with this issue by placing lowest among discount stores as well as department stores to satisfy the customers. Another most important ethical issue that was faced by the company is that the company discriminates among the employees. In spite of the fact that women account for more than two-thirds of all Walmart employees, they frame less than 10 percent of store management. It was also found that the company paid less to female store managers as compared to male store managers. Walmart also discriminated amongst them regarding pay, training as well as promotion. Walmart demonstrated a rehabilitated commitment toward guaranteeing the company sticks to ethics as well as conformity standards. Walmart has been trying their best to improve their ethical reputation and as a result, the company released a revised global statement of ethics. The company has also embarked on a health proposal in order to address the increasing issue of obesity in America. Walmart also faced issue related to discarded stores that were deserted when the company outgrows settings. The large stores of Walmart have been put to disadvantage as they were trying to expand into urban areas. As a result, Walmart commenced testing smaller stores that consists of about 15000 square feet in urban and rural areas. The policy related to smaller stores has already started showing promise. Another most sustainable ethical problem that is faced by Walmart is related to realm of trade practices. The thought of predatory pricing was mainly proposed to drive out competition that can be viewed as ethically uncertain. However, Walmart addressed this issue by stating that this is not as much rapacious as the main objective is to deliver the lowest possible cost to the customers (Mourad, Jaime and Garcia 2014). According to corporate social responsibility, companies show their responsibilities towards the society on the basis of economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic segments (Martin 2015). The paper is concerned with the organization named Walmart. Walmart has been criticized for its predatory pricing that it does with respect to the local merchants. Economic responsibilities Walmart has shown an outstanding performance with respect to its economic performance. It has been noted that Walmart has the largest retailer in the world with a record sales. It has maintained its quality by providing the best products at a low price. It is successful in meeting the requirements of the society and achieving its mission. It has even successful in being the largest grocery chain , and has topped the fortune 500 chart. It has a huge range of 8000 facilities in 27 countries (Walmart.com. 2016). Legal responsibilities Walmart has generally shown adherence to the laws of the country, but at some point of time, there had been various issues raised by the employees and other stakeholders that may taint the image of the company. There were some issues regarding bribery of the company, some that are still pending in the court of law. Though not all issues are fair enough to pull down the stability of such a big company, yet various issues raised have put some severe diverse effects against the goodwill of the company. Ethical responsibilities ethical responsibility is just met partially by the company. The company has various plan such as Buy American and Environmental Awareness that are good examples with respect to the companys ethical responsibility. The company even offers its employees stock options and profit sharing options in order to let the people spend in the companys wealth. In spite of all the facilities, it forgets to fulfil its duties towards the small merchants, as it puts them out of business and enters the ton with a strong base. Moreover, it has been noted that some of the ethical plans initiated by the company have been mere publicity stunts. Employee dissatisfaction was a big issue in the company (Biong et al. 2015). It was noted that while the company was expanding its scale, it had reduced its employment by 1.4%. Although walmart has supported an open door relation with the managers of the unions, yet, it often seems to fight against them. In order to overcome the ethical i ssues, walmart has claimed to has donated $35 million t new process procedures, and developed ethical training sessions for more than 19000 associates. Philanthropic responsibilities Walmart has fared well in this area. The company has initiated various corporate citizenship initiatives like scholarships, fund raisers and even hefty donations to business schools. They have established the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation in order to smooth the progress of their corporate philanthropy. It has even got into joint ventures with the government in order to integrate and evaluate efforts in renewable energy (Eagle and Dahl 2015). This venture had been named as sustainable value networks. It has joined various projects that helps in the reduction of renewable resources use. Many stores of Walmart have been able to reduce their amount of emissions. Walmart is an extremely well established and profitable company with a noted philanthropy. However, there are enough areas where the company must improve their legal and ethical responsibilities in order to gain a better CSR. Various barriers have erupt in both the domestic and international expansion of the business, hence, keen interest should be given to rectify the issues prevailing in the environment (Stewart 2014). According to Mitchell, the normative theory of stakeholders identification is based on three variables power, legitimacy and urgency. According to power ,it means that the extent to which the stakeholder can access physical, material and normative means to impose their wish on the organization. According to legitimacy, it means the effect of the actions of the group or individual within a constructed system of values, beliefs and definitions, with the organization. Lastly, urgency means the degree to which stakeholders can claim or call for immediate attention to the organization. With respect to these three attributes, stakeholders of an organization could be easily identified and defined ranking according to their importance. A stakeholder who is capable of fulfilling all the three attributes, would be stated as the most important stakeholder. Figure : Mitchells Normative Theory Of Stakeholder (source : Montano and Kasprzyk 2015 ) By keeping these attributes in mind, stakeholders for Walmart could be described as follows Competitive businesses though Walmart has maintained its ,motive of providing with low quality goods at cheap prices, yet various lawsuits have been filed by the competitors as it has harmed their business. Walmart has used its predatory pricing in order to fulfil its motive, whereas, other companies have suffered from the loss of customers. Various competitors has protested against the opening of Walmart store in their area. This has led to complications for the company to a certain extent. With the government coming into action , Walmart and other big retailers have faced various issues in formulating their business plans (Hughes, McEwan and Bek 2013). The competitive stakeholders have power and legitimacy as an attribute, yet they do not have the attribute of urgency in them. Therefore, it can be stated that these stakeholders are dormant stakeholders. Suppliers - Walmart works with typical suppliers ij order to reduce its cost of packaging and shipping its goods. This thereby results into a decreased cost for the customers. One of the basic aim of the company is to use the sustainability index from sustainability consortium in order to create a sustainable supply chain for its products. In order to maintain its business, Walmart would approach any supplier to proceed with the business. If any supplier is unable to fulfil the the standards , Walmart can hire other suppler to provide a similar service. Engaged in business with a big retail company like Walmart, the companies would not find it feasible to break ties with the company. Hence , the supplier stakeholders can be listed as a discretionary stakeholder of Walmart as they nor have the power nor the urgency to move the company (Flite and Harman 2013). Employees most of the controversies faced by the company have been regarding the issues with its employees. There are various issues raised by the employers as failing to provide health insurance, lesser employment rates that has increased the pressure on existing workers, discouraging unions, discrimination among employees, gender biased employment , increase working hours, low wages, etc. All these issues has raised various complications for the company that had to be addressed currently. If the employees are unsatisfied, they do not serve the customers of the company well, that thereby creates a cyclical reaction of dissatisfaction. Hence, it is seen that employees of the organization has all the three attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency in them. This thereby, makes the employee as a key stakeholder of the organization. Environment - in 2013, Walmart was held guilty for dumping the hazardous waste materials. It had to pay an amount of $81 million to settle the charges. Walmart has even increased the stress to citys infrastructure by its own constructions. At citys where places have been the greatest issues, there has been no room for Walmart stores. In order to portray a better image, Walmart has donated in various plans for the depletions of resources, gave scholarships to students and joined hands with various NGOs. This shows that environment is another key stakeholder for the company as it has all the attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency in it. It is therefore considered as a definitive stakeholder of the company. According to Joseph and Kuby (2015), with various ethical issues regarding the competitors, employees, unions, bribery scandals, dumping of wastage, Walmart has suffered various ethical issues in the society. For such a big retail company to function smoothly it is quite important for the company to look after its ethical issues and social responsibilities, so that it is able to improve its standard and the opinion others hold for the company. It formed its global ethics office in 2004, that would spread ethical corporate culture among the global stakeholders. The office provides a guidance on the ethical decision making by initiating a helpline. It had also created an ethical standards team to keep a check on the conformity of supplier factories. the company has contributed in disaster management projects , women empowerment projects and supplier development. This has helped the company to gain good name and freedom from the controversies towards a certain limit. Walmart donated around $1.5 million to the victims of hurricane sandy. With the issue raised against the company for being biased towards he male gender of the society by providing more employment opportunities to them, Walmart had partnered with 150 companies and 60000 women to teach valuable skills in order to help them to escape poverty. Walmart also created a supplier development program where a partnership with 100 suppliers were made annually with the consent to improve the productivity of the working conditions. The company has embarked in a health scheme to address the problem of obesity in America. Walmart agreed to lower the price of fruits and vegetables and also reduce the constituents of fats, sugar and salts in the food it sells. It could generate healthier habits among the people by changing the world eating habits. In spite of all the controversies that the company has undergone, the revenue keep on rising for the company. The company expands its business globally and it has led the company to adopt various social, cultural, regulatory economic and political factors. Despite its difficulties of operating globally, Walmart has achieved success(May 2012). Walmart must focus on achieving healthy relations with its stakeholders with its main focus on the employees and environment. Strategically formulating its plans to ward off the problems prevailing in the company would help Walmart to reach its mission more efficiently. Job securities and facilities to its employees would help the company in return to seek quality services provided. The company must involve itself in various programs initiated by the government in order to help the society. This would help the company to gain its environmental ethics (Heizer, Render and Munson 2016). Maintaining ethics towards the suppliers by helping them to secure the ties with the company. Overseas bribery scandal has tarnished the reputation of Walmart. In future, issues that affect the image and brand of the company must never me overlooked. Importance must be given to each and every matter that erupts as a controversy for the company. These controversies would grow further to pose a serious thr eat for the organization. Walmart has been able to secure a high position in the list of big retailing companies both in America domestically and internationally. Issues that prevail in the company would be many, yet the company must never lose its focus to provide the best to its customers. Conclusion For a huge retailer like Walmart, there are numerous rsponsibilities and duties that the cmapny must fulfil in order to maintain the popularity of the brand name.. When the company fails to fulfil these responsibilities and duties, complications take over the formulation process of the company. This process leads too severe drawbacks that might affect the revenue of the company. It is important for the company to maintain an ethical background and look after the stakeholders, so that the company has no harm from any of the issues. Along with the goal to provide quality products to the customers, it must also aim at avoiding controversies by maintaining an ideal ethical nature in the organization. This would enable the company to grow further along with a profitable venture. References Arnold, D.G., Beauchamp, T.L. and Bowie, N., 2012.Ethical theory and business. Pearson Higher Ed. Barney, J.B. and Peteraf, M.A., 2014. Comment on Hashai and Buckley: Transactions Costs, Capabilities, and Corporate Advantage Considerations in Theories of the Multinational Enterprise.Global Strategy Journal,4(1), pp.70-73. Biong, H., Kidwell, R.E., Nygaard, A. and Silkoset, R., 2015. Leading by example; Values-based strategy to instill ethical conduct). Clark, J.B., 2014. Issues in Labor Markets: Unions, Discrimination, Immigration.Principles of Economics, p.921. Eagle, L. and Dahl, S., 2015. Ethical Issues in Marketing Relationships.Marketing Ethics Society, p.75. Flite, C. and Harman, L.B., 2013. Code of ethics: principles for ethical leadership.Perspectives in Health Information Management, (Winter). Heizer, J., Render, B. and Munson, C., 2016.Principles of operations management: sustainability and supply chain management. Pearson Higher Ed. Hughes, A., McEwan, C. and Bek, D., 2013. Retailers, supply networks and changing articulations of ethicality: lessons from Flower Valley in South Africa.Journal of Economic Geography,13(2), pp.211-230. Joseph, L. and Kuby, M., 2015. Modeling retail chain expansion and maturity through wave analysis: Theory and application to Walmart and Target.International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research (IJAGR),6(4), pp.1-26. Martin, K.E., 2015. Ethical issues in the Big Data industry.MIS Quarterly Executive,14, p.2. May, S., 2012.Case Studies in Organizational Communication: Ethical Perspectives and Practices: Ethical Perspectives and Practices. Sage. Montano, D.E. and Kasprzyk, D., 2015. Theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior, and the integrated behavioral model.Health behavior: Theory, research and practice Mourad, A.L., Jaime, S.B.M. and Garcia, E.E.C., 2014. Sustainability Ethicskey issues for packaging trends. InProceedings of the 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector (LCA Food 2014), San Francisco, California, USA, 8-10 October, 2014.(pp. 864-871). American Center for Life Cycle Assessment. Neubert, M.J., Wu, C. and Roberts, J.A., 2013. The influence of ethical leadership and regulatory focus on employee outcomes.Business Ethics Quarterly,23(2), pp.269-296. Schminke, M., Caldwell, J., Ambrose, M.L. and McMahon, S.R., 2014. Better than ever? Employee reactions to ethical failures in organizations, and the ethical recovery paradox.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,123(2), pp.206-219. Schwartz, M.S., 2013. Developing and sustaining an ethical corporate culture: The core elements.Business Horizons,56(1), pp.39-50. Stewart, K.L., 2014. An ethical analysis of the high cost of low-priced clothing.Journal of Academic and Business Ethics,8, p.1. Walmart.com. (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.walmart.com/ [Accessed 11 Sep. 2016].

Monday, December 2, 2019

Surgery free essay sample

I remember it clearly. My aunt allowed me to witness and indirectly partake in her surgery. I was there at that observatory deck just before surgery the image of my face reflected on the glass dome atop the operating room. This moment would be the prelude to my aspirations of becoming a doctor. Suddenly a team of assistants entered the operating room followed by him. He was the tall and confident surgeon. He stood there, calm and composed amidst the intensity. I knew that he was in control and I suddenly wanted to be like him. At that moment, the surgical nurse fitted the gloves on him while he glanced caringly at the patient, who lay tranquilly sleeping surrounded by the surgery staff. This is the moment the surgeon recognizes the full weight of intensive years of studying. I understand that it was all his preparation, all the seemingly insignificant information, that led him to perform with grace under pressure. We will write a custom essay sample on Surgery or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The procedure began when the surgeon picked up that first scalpel. It was like a conductor leading a symphony orchestra. He was in charge and his every movement was a command in itself. The pressure consistently mounted with every incision. Although it was quiet from above, it seemed to me that I could almost hear the doctors heart beating simultaneously with mine. I could imagine myself in the surgeons position and virtually feel the fulfillment of being there and spear-heading the operation. Everything rested in his hands and his skill. The doctor intricately carried out the surgery, orchestrating every movement. He constantly called for the patients pressure from the anesthesiologist. His fluid actions kept the nurses busy. Above all, everything remained intact for those eight hours. I was there for only half the time and I felt the strain. What could inspire such dedication? Thats when I decided I was going to find out. Two days after the operation, I met him and he was all that I imagined: personable, self-assured and modest. His name was Dr. Daniel Faulkner and he told me that he learned much about me from my aunt. He knew of my aspirations to become a doctor. Dr. Faulkner encouraged me to pursue medicine if I had the patience, the will, and most of all, the desire. He said to me, The rewards of being a doctor are more than I could ever imagine. I didnt know the full extent of what he meant by this until I saw the results of his work, the patient.