Police Use of Force Essay

Police utilization of power is a device that is instructed to each Officer to help diffuses a circumstance, it isn't intended to do hurt, however to guarantee the wellbeing of the Officer and the individuals that are associated with the circumstance. In some uncommon cases there are Officers that misuse their capacity and with the utilization of over the top utilization of power on people is an issue, Officers not considering what the impacts it has on the person in question, the supposed culprit or the network that it happens in. The moral or unscrupulous utilization of power is dictated by the network, society, and frequently an appointed authority and jury. Today’s society there are regularly electrical gadgets that catch employments of power which are frequently utilized against Law Enforcement, these gadgets frequently catch an utilization of power that had turned sour like in the Rodney King case for instance . The Misuse of power like for the situation against Chief Cha rlie Beck in the Los Angeles Police Department the result and worries with a case this way. The reason and impacts of Police utilization of power in our general public and the moral and unscrupulous results it has. Police Use of Force Utilization of power is the â€Å"amount of exertion required by police to urge consistence by a reluctant subject.† (National Institute of Justice) Police are given this extraordinary device to help uphold their security and the wellbeing of others when in a risky circumstance, they are instructed this through training and preparing that is kept up yearly to guarantee they are as well as can be expected be consistently. The manners in which that an official can utilize power is verbally, physical-restriction, less-deadly power, and when vital deadly power. â€Å"Police officials should utilize just the measure of power important to control an occurrence, successful capture, or shield themselves or others from hurt or death.† (National Institute of Justice) Unfortunately, now and again there are some cops have felt that they are over this standard and have utilized extreme power in superfluous circumstances. This is an issue both morally and legally. One of the most acc laimed situations where utilization of power was manhandled is the Rodney King beating, this case was national news. This case was an utilization of power that had accumulated in California with the LAPD. Their Police Chief Charlie Beck is being blamed for letting officials who have utilized extreme power go unpunished. It is significant for all law authorization officials to possibly utilize power when completely fundamental and every single verbal order have been lapsed. In today’s society there is consistently somebody viewing and regularly with some sort of recording gadget recording all activities of Law Enforcement to get them in a troublesome circumstance. Abusing utilization of power convention is deceptive in light of the fact that it harms to individuals who don't merit it, it’s the physical harm it can do as well as the psychological too. It would likewise be seen as exploitative on the grounds that it isn't for everyone's benefit or in general bliss of everybody. It likewise seems to makes the cop look deceitful and wild. This was what occur for the situation for Rodney King, who had beaten by three cops while their boss viewed. Lamentably Mr. Lord was beaten with metal mallet, trampled, and kicked as he lay on the ground helpless. Ruler was being captured subsequent to sending police on a fast vehicle pursue, that could have harmed numerous guiltless spectators, however that doesn't legitimize the moves that were made upon him. While the officials were attempting to capture him, Mr. Lord had set up a battle, opposing capture, so the Officers, shot him twice with an immobilizer, shockingly still he stood up to. At the point when he at long last rose to his feet, this is the point at which the beatings started. Lamentably for the Officers however luckily for Mr. Lord, the entirety of this was gotten on tape. Despite the fact that it was clear what the Officers had done to be unscrupulous when the case went to preliminary the entirety of the officials were discovered blameless. This decision caused such shock with numerous individuals who followed the case that not long after the decision was reported mobs emitted all over Los Angeles. This is an ideal case of society losing confidence in our Criminal Justice System they see the verification of what the Officers had fouled up yet they hw were not considered responsible for their activities. At the point when things like this are discharged it makes our equity framework look messy, amateurish, and above all dishonest. It is reasonable that the officials were likely disturbed that King had sent them on a risky vehicle pursue and opposed capture; nonetheless, when he was stifled they ought to have put the sleeves on him, and put him in the squad car, and remove him. Rather, it would seem that these officials took out their disappointments on Rodney King brought equity they felt he merited into the road without an adjudicator or his companions or a privilege to a reasonable preliminary. This would be viewed as exploitative on the grounds that it was not for the general joy of everybody, it didn't do any great, and the officials didn't adhere to fair and square. They took themselves and put themselves above what society feels to be satisfactory and they broke that trust. Another moral case including utilization of power is likewise in Los Angeles, California. This is an ongoing issue including the Chief of Police Charlie Beck. Beck is being blamed for not rebuffing cops who have utilized over the top power. â€Å"Since Beck took over as boss in late 2009, the commission has governed on around 90 occurrences including officials who shot weapons or utilized other savage power. In practically every one of them, Beck finished up the officials utilized power suitably and asked the commission to free them from bad behavior. The load up followed his direction the majority of the time.† (Rubin) However, four shootings that included three individuals being killed and another three injured by gunfire the commission didn't concur with the Chief. This didn't convince Beck to summon discipline to the officials engaged with the shootings. He concurred that one of the officials had been off-base in his decision to fire, yet at the same time didn't rebuff him . The commission fears that the absence of discipline toward officials who utilize unreasonable power could be conveying an inappropriate message to individuals from the LAPD. I would concur with the commission that Beck is conveying an inappropriate message. In the event that an official is as of now deficient with regards to great good judgment when confronted with a perilous circumstance they may over-respond to it in the event that they know there are no ramifications for their activities. â€Å"Every day, law implementation officials face risk while completing their duties this is something they chose to do make a vow and are to submit to what they have been instructed and speak to. When managing a dangerousâ€or unpredictableâ€situation, cops for the most part have almost no an ideal opportunity to survey it and decide the correct response.† (United) We can ensure that when confronted with these circumstances cops settle on the correct choice through legitimate preparing. Such preparing could incorporate knowing the Use of Force Model. As trained this model is a manual for what utilization of power activities are proper for every circumstance and ought to be done in such a way. For instance, on the off chance that somebody is assaultive (attempting to cause substantial mischief) the official should utilize safeguard strategies to stifle the individual initially attempting all verbal correspondence before bringing about a physical fight. Another preparatio n control that is utilized is the Police Training Model, which was made in 1999 by PERF and the Reno Police Department. This model â€Å"addresses the customary obligations of policing with regards to explicit neighborhood issues and remembers a few portions for the utilization of force.† (United) It is significant for cops to settle on moral choices while in the field. It is significant on the grounds that it is their obligation to secure and serve. It is additionally significant in light of the fact that we as residents admire law implementation and on the off chance that they are discovered accomplishing something unscrupulous it can demolish the regard and trust we have in law authorization. At the point when confronted with perilous or a predicament cops should be prepared to rapidly settle on the best and most moral choice conceivable. Cops like the individuals who beat Rodney King ought to be rebuffed and made a case of. It isn't moral to hurt somebody since you have the ability to. â€Å"The criminal equity framework is intended to uphold moral principles that have been composed into the criminal law. Aristotle accepted that equity comprise of giving every individual their due† [ (Jay.S, 2013) ]. Perhaps the Police Officers in the two cases felt they needed to a ssume the moral lessons of Aristotle. When taking a gander at today’s society and in the event that you return similarly as there is composed evidence the court frameworks and law requirement rules and guidelines have developed and formed into more advanced court framework and law authorization for society to follow. At one time it was not untrustworthy to whipped or whip an individual, this was to deflect them from carrying out future wrongdoings, this is the place Officers like the ones in these cases may have gotten by with physical maltreatment and pointless of power. Luckily for us as residents we have sacred rights and there are laws set up to shield us from superfluous utilization of power and the residents of The United States of America are permitted their opportunity, a fast preliminary among a gathering of their friends reasonable, portrayal and the privilege not to be hurt by the individuals who hold authority by law in which they speak to. We have moral duty s residents to keep the guidelines and guideline of our tally attempt and they s Law Enforcement Officers have n moral commitment to show others how its done. References 1. Harari, O. (1993). Exercises from the Rodney King tape. The board Review, 82(8), 20. 2. Jay.S, A. (2013). Proficient Ethics In Criminal Justice Being Ethical when nobody is looking. third version. In A. Jay.S, Professional Ethics In Criminal Justice Being Ethical when nobody is looking. third version (pp. 1-153). Upper Saddle River : Prent

Public Leadership Correlation of Power and Influence free essay sample

An innovator in the private segment will settle on choices dependent on monetary profit and cost-examination; an open area pioneers bligation is restrictive to general society to offer fundamental types of assistance and correspondences in an increasingly noticeable manner. Moreover, an innovator in the open area may settle on choices that are not monetarily great, however are in light of a legitimate concern for people in general. For instance, it very well may be contended that government assistance programs are not a helpful money related venture, yet it is in the open enthusiasm to put resources into these projects. Note that a meaning of open authority is challenging.One meaning of open initiative is a way to deal with network the executives or direction used to coordinate and actualize the alents and assets that best serve the interests of society. An open area pioneer, for example, goes about as an accomplished agent of a section of the open who is enthusiastically and skillfu Ily ready to verbalize the worries of the gathering. We will compose a custom exposition test on Open Leadership: Correlation of Power and Influence or then again any comparative subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page This sensitive move includes a feeling of parity essential between the acknowledgment of destinations and the help of devotees in zones that end up being indistinct or conflicting.This kind of headship requests authoritative adequacy, and an effective pioneer must have the capacity to work in organization with others to facilitate the accessible resources he or he requires with an end goal to accomplish the underlying principal reason or goal. As indicated by Sir Richard Leese, an individual from the Manchester, UK City Council, administration includes making a thought realistic; subsequently, a pioneer must convey a dream to seta course for action.Moreover, the equivalent piece of this idea is to have adequate prescience that will move and propel others enough to carry the vision to realization through shared commitment (Smith, 2012). Open administration likewise includes social consciousness of an association for the improvement Of handy heading. Moreover, ublic area authority involves gatherings of people from subordinates to administrative offices. On a very basic level, open assistance is an agreement among lawmakers and the network directed by an authority administrative body to regulate its topic, limit, and relationship of work (Rusaw, 2001).Characteristics of open initiative change, and generally, the meaning of open administration lives in the reliability of its work. In any case, a compelling open pioneer will u tilize singular intrigue, its connections among individuals, and expert ability in the dynamic procedure. Execution gauges directed by the associations strategic objectives likewise help the open head understand their objectives. The individuals who follow open pioneers additionally impact the accomplishment of open authority through their view of the usage of initiative duties.The Four Themes There are four topics of open administration that correspond to help look at and perceive pu blic initiative execution: 1 . The guideline of open administration is an essential strategy for authentic position (Rusaw, 2001). 2. Inclusion and understanding are simple fixings to open eadership (Rusaw, 2001). 3. Open initiative is underpins the thought of conclusive regular, financial, political, or military resource responsibility to the individuals. 4.The estimations of managerial viability and proficiency are fundamental in open authority (Rusaw, 2001). A recognizable coming up short of both open and private elements is distinctively a lot of organization, making less effectiveness and compulsory adherence to mandatory guidelines and limitations (Woudoun, 2013). From a serious point of view in the private part, organizations giving similar products and ventures are normal contenders. The target in the free market is one organization or enterprises predominance over the other.By differentiate, in the open division, a general wellbeing office or a school might be a case where open and private segments contend along these lines. Likenesses likewise exist in the chains of command Of both the general population and private authority parts. Both representative work in enormous associations. The two of them have the individuals who lead, administrate, oversee, and work at each level; be that as it may, the private territory may somewhat have various names. There are additionally other differences.Public versus Private Leadership Private Leadership: Authority to reexamine the business and vital positions * Stability of administration for long-go plan usage * Bonus or pay increments from surplus cash conveyance * Evaluation of targets from results got (benefits) * Protection through prohibition from media investigation * Selective task cuts diminish benefits * Awards for accomplishment * Universal working arrangements set by Expert board * Effectiveness is the activity objective (e. . , in the private area, except if risky synthetic substances or different elements that may hazard open wellbeing are at issue, ther e are generally no limitations to a buy order†the instruction of usiness unit pioneers on best practices and security is the gating factor. Viability decides top administration assessment Public Leadership: * Structure might be dependent upon influence or control by outside and particular vested parties * Election process confines time for objective * Consequences for working under spending culmination * Objectives evaluated by process (Programs) * High perceivability, steady media investigation * Sweeping system slices to diminish costs * Failure brings about discipline * For sufficient strategy setting, instruction might be a necessity for an unpredictable load up * Efficiency is the activity objective (e. , in the open area, any consumption over $20,000 can take months or a year for city committee endorsement. Moreover, numerous projects experience correction in light of a basic need to strengthen foundation or consent to government guidelines. * Dramatic episodes decide top administration assessment open and private initiative coordinate a closures implies inversion dynamic where the private area gets incitement as i ncome (closes) through the items or administrations (implies) it gives; alternately, the open part acquires inspiration by the items or administrations (closes) it gives to btain income (means).In quintessence, the open segment references the legislatures utilization of its numerous organization gadgets to offer types of assistance and basic merchandise to the general population, and gets subsidizing exclusively by means of citizen monies. On the other hand, the private areas littler organizations and bigger companies meet the publics requirement for products and ventures too; be that as it may, subsidizing originates from the willful acquisition of clients (Woudoun, 2013). In synopsis, in regards to open and private initiative, one size doesn't fit all. The distinctions and likenesses showed here accentuate specific pproaches to positions of authority.

English Language Arts Choice Board Middle School Short Stories

English Language Arts Choice Board Middle School Short Stories This resource contains three different choice boards that align with “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury, “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov, and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. Each of the choice boards includes various multiple intelligence opportunities for students to show true knowledge through differentiated assessment. It is suggested that teachers who are using these resources pair these activities with pre-assessments that pertain to social-emotional aspects of student learning, text-dependent questions that allow students to analyze literary elements, word choice, and theme/central idea. These resources should be used as a summative assessment at the end of the reading. In preparation for state testing, teachers could also create rigorous multiple-choice/select items that pertain to each short story and blend that type of assessment with the inclusion of a choice board. For example, the assessment that the classroom teacher would give would have 2 parts: multiple-choice/select questions, then a choice board for students to further prove their knowledge of the text.

Essay about Real Family Values - 764 Words

â€Å"Real† Family Values What are some things that you could never live without? You might say food, water, shelter, or clothing. Other, less conventional, answers might include a cell phone, lip gloss, or Starbuck’s coffee. However, according to psychologist Abraham H. Maslow, all people need belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. Carol Shields sustained that family values include qualities such as nurturing caring, and emotional support in her essay entitled Family Is One of the Few Certainties We Will Take with Us Far into the Future. I agree with Shields that these family values are important because they provide sources of belongingness, esteem and self-actualization that are basic needs for life.†¦show more content†¦Examples of belonging are the comfort that children have for their caretakers and comfort that adults feel with their relationship with a partner or spouse. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In addition to belong, family values help individuals to feel recognition. This recognition helps to build a person’s esteem. Self-esteem involves the positive or negative image that a person holds about himself or herself and his or her accomplishments. A family will support its members and even, if difficult, will help its members to be successful. Examples of this value in a family situation are a single mother who encourages her only daughter to go away to college, even thought it is difficult for the single mother to live alone. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Finally, one of the most important values that can be fulfilled by family is for its individuals to have self-actualization, or to have a feeling that they can â€Å"be all that they can be.† This is a need that most often parents provide for their children, but it is not bound by age or experience. Having a family that endorses family values means that each individual has a support structure to use when he or she needs it. This helps the person to have the courage to accomplish all that is possible. Self-actualization will help an adult to is in the process of changing careers and help children to perform their best in school. In short, the courage to succeed,Show MoreRelatedPersonal Narrative : My Political Identity1242 Words   |  5 Pageswell for the economy we do well for everyone. Growing up, my family had always been strictly Democratic with a conservative view here and there and it surely has influenced my political stance. Not only that but being a Democrat to me means being a humanitarian and genuinely having hope for the future of America and all its inhabitants. Republican viewpoints on government assistance,skewed view of meritocracy, and traditional family values reflects the selfish and negligent behaviors of privilegedRead MoreEssay on The Triangular Silas Marner2580 Words   |  11 Pagesthe man he seems he should be.    By denying Marner the possibility of a traditional family from the start, Eliot immediately brings forward the question of family values. 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The commercial real estate market is handled very similarly industrial and residential real estate markets. The commercial real estate market goes through ups and downs just like any other investment market however investments into commercial real estate can be a very wise decision. Commercial real estate is similar to industrial and residential real estate in that when you buy it you areRead MoreRiverside Is California s Largest County915 Words   |  4 Pagesoffering real estate values and community characteristics very few southern California locations can match let along compete, when it comes to selecting a location to call home. Within in this vase valley surrounded by rivers, mountains, and deserts, it may be the most diverse location and good reason for over 2 million people deciding to purchase residential homes. Although the area is still developing and market trends for real estate fluctuate form month to month, Riverside CA real estate isRead MoreA Solution To the Foreclosure Crisis Essay955 Words   |  4 Pagesreached new heights since the all-time high deficit in the economy. U.S. foreclosure rates went up more than 81% and 861,664 families lost their homes to foreclosure in 2008 (Les Christie). Also, 54 households received a foreclosure no tice last year (Les Christie). So what is the solution? Bold action is needed to address this serious issue. I suggest a â€Å"real estate pause† for a temporary amount of time, similar to what Roosevelt did with the â€Å"bank holiday† during the Great Depression

The Foolproof Argumentative Synthesis Essay Topics Strategy

The Foolproof Argumentative Synthesis Essay Topics Strategy The Fundamentals of Argumentative Synthesis Essay Topics Revealed There are lots of aspects about a sport that may be argued in an essay. Thus, for your coursework, you are going to want to have the very best ideas. The role of assigning an essay to middle school students is to make awareness and permit them to develop writing skills. Everyone would like to generate fantastic papers, get the greatest marks, and get the standing of a hardworking student. Understanding Argumentative Synthesis Essay Topics Whenever you make an order on our site, you get all extra guarantees. Just like any excellent essay, organization is important. If you aren't pleased with your paper, you can secure the total refund according to our company policy or ask us for corrections. Thus don't be concerned about writing homework and get our paper help when possible. Argumentative essays are frequently more philosophical and synthetic essays are devoted to a specific matter. Following that, you must construct your own claim, and compose an essay around that. Usually, it doesn't include references and quotes in it. It is crucial to select a great topic so as to compose a fantastic paper. The last price is based on the kind of paper, page sum, deadline, and other criteria. By way of example, in college, you might be requested to compose a paper from the opposing standpoint. There is not sufficient info to create a last choice. When there's information which goes against your key points, don't ignore it. Whether there are differences between sources, it's recommended that the paper shows information concerning the differences or similarities in an informative way. Make certain that you have read all your sources. You should employ a significant amount of sources. Many of your sources will likely have information that could support either side of an argument. The topic needs to be handled in a thorough and objective method. English language classes usually take a lot of writing. Sarcasm is employed in various situations, as an example, some might use it in order to clearly show their anger or dissatisfaction about something. When the paper was completed, the conclusion provides the last touches by giving suggestions or further comments. Getting in a position to compose a strong argument will allow you to succeed in society. You must be quite diligent in your approach so you can find with a very good work. A complete topic for a synthesis paper is one which encourages you to have a stance on a debatable iss ue. The Hidden Secret of Argumentative Synthesis Essay Topics Argumentative essay is about arguing and debating on a subject, which is debatable. Researching the topic permits you to find out more about what fascinates you, and should you pick something you truly like, writing the essay will be more enjoyable. In some manner, this issue of your upcoming essay is dependent on what you would like to do by your paper and the sources you rely on. A good topic for a synthesis essay is one which encourages you to opt for a position on a debatable topic. You don't need to acquire super technical with legal argumentative essays, but remember to do your homework on what the recent laws about your preferred topic actually say. Now that you know what a lousy topic appears like, it's time to chat about what an excellent topic resembles. Quite frequently, the very best topic is one which you truly care about, but you also will need to get well prepared to research it. It's important to select debatable argumentative essay topics as you need opposing points you could counter to your own points. New Questions About Argumentative Synthesis Essay Topics Lousy synthesis topics can arrive in a number of forms. Critical thinking and analysis must make sure high excellent synthesis essay content. Research is really the most important portion of the argumentative synthesis essay. If it is all about figuring out how to compose an AP English synthesis essay, it's important to open the official AP website with the present requirements and study the grading rubric to comprehend what things to concentrate on. In the instance of a synthesis essay, it's supplied by the instructor. Well, grading papers can be rather dull. In conclusion, to learn to compose a very good synthesis essay, a student should discover more regarding the area of research. The most important argument in favour of Walmart is it provides employment to a massive amount of people, while the little and medium towns also gain from a reduced quantity of trips to the neighborhood shop. Understanding how to compose a strong argumentative paper will help you advance your very own argumentative thinking. Bear in mind you can make funny argumentative essays if you do a few things. When you're picking your topic, bear in mind that it's much simpler to write about something which you currently have interest ineven in case you don't know a good deal about it.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes Free Essays

Honors Literature Independent Reading Assignment Staying Fat For Sarah Brynes The book Staying Fat For Sarah Brynes revolves around a young swimmer by the name of Eric. Eric was also called Moby by his classmates due to excessive weight. Throughout the book Chris Crutcher allows readers to witness a transformation that takes place for Eric not only physically but emotionally. We will write a custom essay sample on Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes or any similar topic only for you Order Now The hundred meter freestyle champion was determined to shed his weight and replace it with muscle. His dream of ending the days students called him Moby was placed on halt due to his commitment to one of his close friends Sarah. Sarah was a girl who lived a familiar lifestyle to Eric. She was constantly teased by the students who attended her school. At a young age Sarah’s face and hands were placed on a woodstove by her dad leaving her with untreated scars that later turned into dead tissue. The scars would later serve as a sign on strength and self-unity . â€Å"You learned a good lesson about pain,† when you can’t take it anymore, your body stops feeling for you, (Crutcher89) . One of the major themes Chris Crutcher portrayed in â€Å"Staying Fat For Sarah Brynes is friendship . Eric and Sarah became friends as social outcasts. Both were often rejected by society so they learn to appreciate each other . They discovered ways to understand each other and soothe each other’s pain. They learned to be there for each other through the thick and thin. â€Å"Look, if you keep eating like a starving Biafran turned loose at the Food Circus just to prove me wrong about why were friends , you’ll die of a heart attack before your fifteen† (Crutcher page 93). This showed how much Sarah Byrnes friendship meant to Erick, because he was willing to continue to be fat, even though he had always been made fun of, just to prove to her that he would not stop being her friend. Throughout the book Crutcher takes readers on an adventure of some of the things Sarah faced on an everyday basis. By providing readers with this discrepancy it showed the building structure of Eric and Sarah’s friendship. It made onlookers realize the seal of respect they had for each other. Even though outside sources tried to detour Eric’s love and compassion for Sarah â€Å"Taking on someone else’s monster will kill you† Crutcher 219-220) he stalwartly stood by her side . The book states that Eric came face to face with Sarah’s dad to confront him on the mistreating of his friend. Sarah’s dad was symbolized throughout the book as a troubled guy who battled alcoholism most of his adult life. The courageousness of Eric to stand up to him despite putting his life in danger shows the commitment he had to Sarah. Apart of supporting Sarah it made Eric a stronger person. While witnessing the harsh reality of Sarah’s life and how she dealt with it inspired him to be as strong as her. â€Å"I wanted to be tough like Sarah Byrnes , to stand straight and, oblivious to gut eclipsing my belt buckle. He learned that without her friendship his life would have been the same and he would have never learned that he had valor. Erick gave the ultimate sacrifice by putting his life on the line in order for Sarah Byrnes to escape from her father. He helped the world know about the horrible abuse that Sarah Byrnes went through every day of her life. How to cite Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Papers

Untitled Essay Research Paper Introduction free essay sample

Untitled Essay, Research Paper Introduction Some clip in the history of the existence, no 1 is rather certain when, there was born a adult male. This adult male would finally be the first to establish a monotheistic faith. The name of this adult male is Zoroaster ; the name is really a corruptness of Zarathushtra. Zoroaster # 8217 ; s birth day of the month, along with whether his faith is really monotheistic, is a topic of great argument. The sentiments refering his birth, and accordingly about the beginning of this great faith, scope from every bit early as 6000 old ages before Plato to every bit late as 500 B.C.E. In any instance he was born someplace in Iran, although whether in the East or West is besides arguable. In the early writings the people belonging to this faith are called Zarathustris ; the system he taught is called Mazdaism. The present twenty-four hours followings are called Parsees. We will write a custom essay sample on Untitled Essay Research Paper Introduction or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Zoroaster removed the multiplicity of divinities from faith and created a religion in which there were two, or possibly, one God. All other higher existences were regarded as devils, or evil liquors. No 1 knows for certain the different phases of popularity that Zoroastrianism experienced. We do cognize that at the clip of Darius I, 558? -486 B.C.E. , it was protected by royalty. Later, nevertheless, Zoroastrians were continually chased by the members of the Islamic faith through Kathiawar in India, and Surat, and eventually they settled once more in Bombay. The existence is the battlefield. The oppositions are Mazda Ahura, subsequently to be known as Ahura Mazda, and Anra Mainyu, subsequently name ed Ahriman. Ahura Mazda is the good force and the bad is Ahriman. The conflict will last till Ahura Mazda lickings Ahriman in the twelvemonth 12,000 ( we are now presumptively around 11,500 ) . This is the universe and its hereafter in conformity with Zoroastrian beliefs. Zoroaster Zoroas ter had a really non-conforming head and was forced to fly his parents # 8217 ; house without his parents # 8217 ; consent because of the rebuking he gave to those who sacrificed cowss or drank intoxicant soma. He fled to the mountains and gave himself to God. Sometime between the ages of 30 and forty an angel appeared to him and brought him to the throne of the highest God, Ahura Mazda. After this occurred, the prophesier tried for 12 old ages to change over people, but to no available. During this period many visions were revaled to him. A milepost in the patterned advance of the faith occurred when Zoroaster converted Vishtaspa, the male monarch of Persia. He besides converted the male monarch # 8217 ; s boy, brother, counselor, and expansive vizier. Zoroaster married, along with two other adult females, the counselor # 8217 ; s girl. Zoroaster was killed at the age of 77 by Ardshataspa, a adjacent prince, who invaded Vishtaspa # 8217 ; s capital. Harmonizing to the Parsees, Vishtaspa is the male parent of Darius, who reigned from 521-485 B.C.E. Another position holds that Zoroaster lived 258 old ages before Alexander the Great ; he would hold hence lived between 570 and 500 B.C.E. The Greeks tend to put him six thousand old ages before Plato. Ahura Mazda, while non needfully discovered by Zoroaster, was found on an lettering dating about 714 B.C.E. In ancient Persia, before Zoraoster # 8217 ; s reforms, faith was polytheistic. Zoroaster objected to these dieties and referred to them as devils. Many of the rites and Supreme beings that he removed were subsequently reinstated due to the fact that the people were still emotionally attached to them. We can see this from the fact that on the epigraphs of Artaxerxes II Mnemon ( 404-358 B.C.E. ) the Mithras and Anahita, ancient Gods, are mentioned. Temples and images of God were besides introduced into the faith at a ulterior day of the month. Zoroastrian Beliefs The Zoroastrian faith is based on the cardin al construct of a changeless conflict of good against immorality. The good is represented by Ahura Mazda while the bad is represented by Ahriman. Ahura Mazda created this universe as a trap for Ahriman. Human beings pull Ahriman into this universe ; he will leap at any opportunity to do others to make evil. He will so be come ining Ahura Mazda # 8217 ; s universe, and when people choose good over evil voluntarily this will weaken Ahriman to the point where he can be destroyed. It is difficult to accommodate the two opposing positions on the dieties in the Zoroastrian faith. The claim is made that the faith is monotheistic ; it is besides alleged that the opposing forces in the universe, good and evil, are represented by two equal Gods. Modern twenty-four hours Parsees resolve the contradiction by explicating that Ahura Mazda has ever and will ever stand above all. Anra Mainyu, or Ahriman, was merely created due to an evil idea that one time entered Ahura Mazda # 8217 ; s caput. Th e existent opposition of Ahriman is Spenta Mainyu, the good spirit. The universe is divided into three subdivisions. The upper universe is bathed in visible radiation, the Earth is divided into seven subdivisions, and the underworld is a dark topographic point. The forces of good and immoralities will make conflict for the 12 thousand old ages of the universe # 8217 ; s entire being. In the beginning, as Ahriman attempts to kill Ahura Mazda, he is stopped and pulled off. Both of the Gods agree to a period of peace that will last 9,000 old ages. During the first three thousand old ages Ahura Mazda creates angels, good liquors, and Frava shis. These Fravashis are the original celestial images of work forces populating in the upper universe. During the following three thousand old ages the Fravashis come down to Earth. There they lead a perfect impeccant life. Anra Mainyu is angry because of the advantage he sees the Ahura Mazda has gained over him in readying for the concluding confl ict. He tries to convey immorality to the universe, but he is rendered powerless by the sacred Ahunavairya expression that Ahura Mazda utters. In the following three thousand old ages Anra Mainyu invades the universe. He kills the early adult male and animate being and disperses devils throughout the universe. However a human twosome arises from the seed of the early adult male and a cow from the seed of early animate being. These existences are assorted and must take between the good and evil that now inhabits the universe. The concluding three 1000 twelvemonth period begins and Ahura Mazda sends Zoroaster down to the universe. Zoroaster had been in fravashi, or religious, signifier since the beginning of the 2nd period. After Zoroast er # 8217 ; s decease, every thousand old ages till the terminal of this three thousand twelvemonth period, a prophesier will originate. This prophesier will come from a virgin who is fertilized by leftovers of Zoroaster # 8217 ; s seed, which is pr eserved in a lake. The prophesier will convey about an betterment in society for a short period of clip. The last of these Prophetss, Saoshyant, or # 8220 ; helper # 8221 ; , will convey about a Resurrection of the dead. The concluding battle will so happen and the decease of Ahriman will take topographic point. All evil will vanish and the universe will be cleansed by a ardent watercourse of metal which will convey about a complete transmutation, or Frashokereti. Ahura Mazda will govern over all everlastingly. Zoroastrian Literature The chief beginning for the instructions of Zoroaster is the Avesta. These are the lone Hagiographas which come straight from Zoroaster and are written as if spoken to him by God Himself. Due to the fact that the Iranians couldn # 8217 ; t compose, all this information was passed down orally ; this, in portion, led to the eventual loss of this stuff. Around the 5th century an Avestan alphabet was created for this intent. These paperss day of the mont h back to 1323. The Gathas are sacred literature which are hard to interpret and are believed to inclu de rites, supplications, anthem, visions of God, His intents, and prognostications. The Gathic parts of the Yasna were preserved by being included in the Yasna Hagiographas which involved the worship procedure of every twenty-four hours. The younger Avestan parts of the Yasna were being written throughout all the centuries finally holding 72 subdivisions. These contained many subjects and protected the basic Gathic texts. Some of the Extended Avesta was taken from the Yashts which were anthems addressed to the lesser godly existences and were really poetic. These were written in the Avestan idiom. The Gathas on the other manus, were memorized due to their sanctity. The Vendidad were written in the late younger Avestan period. They included Torahs on pureness and on contending immorality. The Visperad is an extension of the Yasna and the Vendidad. They dealt with the seven holy days of faith. The Nayesh and Goh were prayers recited, on the average, eight times a day. They were for priests as well as lay persons. Some were directed at certain forces of nature and were said less frequently. The Khorda, or Little Avesta, is a book of common prayers. Each Khorda had the same prayers but in different orders. They were previously memorized and only said by priests, but now, because they are printed, are said by everyone. The Great Avesta is grouped into twenty-one nasks, or books. They were last written in the sixth century and contain all the previous works and much more. They included the life and legends about the prophet, the religious doctrine, the end of days, law, creation of the world, and science. These were placed in all the temples, but during the Islamic period all the temples were destroyed and not a copy remains. A book, the Denkard, has a detailed summary of these works in Pahlavi and it seems that the Extended Aves ta took a quarter of the whole canon. The only reason that the Pahlavi survived is because they were used extensively and therefore known by heart, and priests made copies of them at their houses. Zands, or intrepertations, on the Avesta have always been written. The old ones are included with the Avesta. This continued until the fourth century when the Sasanians, the last Zoroastrians to rule Iran, c hanged the language to Middle Persian, or Pahlavi. The ones written in this Pahlavi language are the only ones that fully remain of the Zand and so are considered the Zand. The Yashts are the only part of the Avesta not to have a Zand written together with it. The Pahlavi works were written as if being said aloud. Because of this free style of being written they were changed or added to freely by future people. In subsequent times the Zoroastrian community was very persecuted and they were lowered to a group of poor and intellectualy isolated people. They reduced the writings to the ba sics and much of their writings are simply copies of previous texts. They also left their Pahlavi writings for the more current Persian. As the religious community moved about they translated their writings into many of the different languages of the places where they were residing at that time. Not much was added and even the writings they retained were copied with mistakes. In later times, from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, because of the split in the Zoroastrian communities, one being in Iran and the other in Persia, the writings were not very frequent. The writings basically consisted of Parsi questions to their Iranian counter parts, usually about law and purity, and the answers. These writings were known as the Persian Rivayats. From the mid-nineteenth century and on the Parsis prospered greatly. This brought about an increase in the amount of literature. The literat ure was written in many languages including Gujarat (one of the previous places of residence) and Engl ish. These consisted mainly of the religion’s beliefs and observances. The Zoroastrian religion makes an abrupt turn at this point and changes from its previous highly orthodox religion and writing. The society is hurt and confused because of a sudden plunge into modernity. The society searched for new ways to explain the older writings. The writing is transformed into one writing influenced by the beliefs of many of the surrounding religions including Christianity and Hinduism. Some writings simply talk of a belief but advocate no actual observance requiring any actions. Into the twentieth century the writings decrease and show a greater influence by the Muslims. Zoroastrian History From around 550-330 B.C.E. the Iranian tribes left the steppes where they had been previously living and conquered and moved into modern-day Iran. The eastern Iranians brought the Zoroastrian faith to the western Iranians, the Meads, and the Persians. It became the religion of the Achaemenian emp ire. The Avestan writings, however, remained in the eastern dialect. Alexander slaughtered many of the Zoroastrian priests thereby also harming the transmission of the texts. The Asacids, from north-east Iran, later established the second Iranian empire. The empire was called the Parthian empire. The few written records they had indicated a tolerance of the Zoroastrian religion. This empire ruled from approximately 144 B.C.E. through 224 C.E. The Sasanian period was from 224 to 651 C.E. By this time Zoroastrianism had returned to many of the things that Zoroaster had taken out at the beginning of the religion. They had gone back to their old ways of sacrificing, drinking haoma, and believing in more than one God. However, even as the orthodoxy of the religion declined, its popularity increased to the greatest point in its history. After the fall of t his empire Persia was converted to Islam. About fourteen thousand remain in Iran today. The others either converted or moved to India, where different religions were more tolerated. The Zoroastrians there are called Parsees, and most live around Bombay. They number about 150,000. They have greatly prospered, and probably owe this to their honesty and generosity. Ethics Zoroaster based his concept of good and evil on the things that happened to be good and bad for the people of his time. Animals which were used for cattle bearing were considered good and created by Ahura Mazda. On the other hand, animals which were harmful to cattle were created by Ahriman. Large families were praised, and any attempt to stop sex from having children was forbidden. The main purpose of man is always to make good decisions and to fight with Ahura Mazda against the forces of Ahriman. Life after Death Cadavers are unclean and therefore should not be allow ed to touch the holy fire and earth. The Zoroastrians have devised a way of dealing with this in which they place the dead bodies on dakhmas, the towers of silence. Certain people who have received this position by inheritance, as it is unholy, bring the bodies into these towers. Once placed on the towers of silence the bodies are devoured by vultures in a matter of hours. Water is then poured over the bones and is run into the sea. Modern ways of dealing with the dead are by placing them into cement containers or by burning with electricity. Spiritually, after a person dies, his body remains in the area in which he died for three days. After this his conscience appears to him in the form of a woman. If the person had a bad conscience the woman is ugly; if he had a good conscience the woman is beautiful. The woman then takes him over a bridge called the Chinvat Peretu, the accountants’ bridge. If the person led a good life he walks over the bridge into paradise; if he led a bad l ife he falls to hell. If the person is not evil nor good he reaches the intermediate kingdom, Hamestakans, which is between paradise and hell. After the end of the world is reach ed, the spirits will be returned to their bodies and it is only then that their final fate will be decided. Conclusion In conclusion I think that the following observation correctly summarizes the enduring contributions of Zoroastrianism. It is an inspired ideology which is based upon three beli efs: there is a battle between good and evil, there will be an end to the world together with a final divine judgment and the purification of earth, and there is a paradise, a perfect society in heaven. These ideas have had far reaching effects upon other religions and people. Zoroastrianism has brought a concept of a sense of the religious meaning of history along with a stronger monotheism and ethics. It has removed the religious identification with nature and states of consciousness. There are those that believe that the Ancient Hebrews only adopted the concepts of a resurrection of the dead, an end to the world, and a final judgment, once they came into contact with the Zoroastrians. All of these ideas are presently important to the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. We can all see how far reaching and important the Zoroastrian religion has been on the evolution of the important religions out of which most modern civilizations have evolved.

Free Essays on The Protagonist Of The Scarlet Letter

Dimmesdale: The Bearer of the Scarlet letter Who should bear the stigma of sin? Hawthorne’s novel is a story of adultery, social judgment, and moral redemption. Hester cannot hide the consequences of her mistake, so she is exposed to public judgment and forced to wear the scarlet letter. However, it is Dimmesdale’s guilty conscience and struggle to rise above the sin that makes the essence of the narrative. The argument for Dimmesdale as a protagonist lies in the answers to the following questions. Does Dimmesdale’s character change throughout the story? Does he have an antagonist and a helper? Do his actions bring about the climax of the story? Finally, does he solve the problem? Hawthorne uses character development to show how a person can change. A well-developed character stirs emotions in the reader to make a powerful story. All three main characters, Hester, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale undergo changes that mark the development of events. However, it is Dimmesdale who changes the most. The reason for his change is the sin he commits with Hester. At the beginning of the book, we meet a young and self-confident minister who is trusted by the townspeople, as their moral and religious leader, â€Å"So powerful seemed the minister’s appeal†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (74). As the story progresses we see Dimmesdale become weaker physically, due to his moral torment â€Å", who’s health had severly suffered† (119). In Chapter 8, we see him through Hester’s eyes, as a man who â€Å"Looked now more careworn and emanciated than as we described him at the scene of Hester’s public ignominy: and wether it were his failing health, or whatever the cause might be, his large dark eyes had a world of pain in their troubled and melancholy depth† (124). For a large part of the novel Dimmesdale becomes both, very sick physically and ment... Free Essays on The Protagonist Of The Scarlet Letter Free Essays on The Protagonist Of The Scarlet Letter Dimmesdale: The Bearer of the Scarlet letter Who should bear the stigma of sin? Hawthorne’s novel is a story of adultery, social judgment, and moral redemption. Hester cannot hide the consequences of her mistake, so she is exposed to public judgment and forced to wear the scarlet letter. However, it is Dimmesdale’s guilty conscience and struggle to rise above the sin that makes the essence of the narrative. The argument for Dimmesdale as a protagonist lies in the answers to the following questions. Does Dimmesdale’s character change throughout the story? Does he have an antagonist and a helper? Do his actions bring about the climax of the story? Finally, does he solve the problem? Hawthorne uses character development to show how a person can change. A well-developed character stirs emotions in the reader to make a powerful story. All three main characters, Hester, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale undergo changes that mark the development of events. However, it is Dimmesdale who changes the most. The reason for his change is the sin he commits with Hester. At the beginning of the book, we meet a young and self-confident minister who is trusted by the townspeople, as their moral and religious leader, â€Å"So powerful seemed the minister’s appeal†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (74). As the story progresses we see Dimmesdale become weaker physically, due to his moral torment â€Å", who’s health had severly suffered† (119). In Chapter 8, we see him through Hester’s eyes, as a man who â€Å"Looked now more careworn and emanciated than as we described him at the scene of Hester’s public ignominy: and wether it were his failing health, or whatever the cause might be, his large dark eyes had a world of pain in their troubled and melancholy depth† (124). For a large part of the novel Dimmesdale becomes both, very sick physically and ment...

Read The Lowest Animal by Mark Twain

Read The Lowest Animal by Mark Twain Fairly early in his career – with the publication of numerous tall tales, comic essays  and the novels Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  Mark Twain earned his reputation as one of Americas greatest humorists. But it wasnt until after his death in 1910 that most readers discovered Twains darker side. Composed in 1896, The Lowest Animal (which has appeared in different forms and under various titles, including Mans Place in the Animal World) was occasioned by the battles between Christians and Muslims in Crete. As editor Paul Baender has observed, The severity of Mark Twains views on religious motivation was part of the increasing cynicism of his last 20 years. An even more sinister force, in Twains view, was the Moral Sense, which he defines in this essay as the quality which enables [man] to do wrong. After clearly stating his thesis in the introductory paragraph, Twain proceeds to develop his argument through a series of comparisons and examples, all of which appear to support his claim that we have reached the bottom stage of development. The Lowest Animal by Mark Twain I have been scientifically studying the traits and dispositions of the lower animals (so-called), and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals; since it now seems plain to me that the theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one, this new and truer one to be named the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals. In proceeding toward this unpleasant conclusion I have not guessed or speculated or conjectured, but have used what is com ­monly called the scientific method. That is to say, I have sub ­jected every postulate that presented itself to the crucial test of actual experiment, and have adopted it or rejected it according to the result. Thus I verified and established each step of my course in its turn before advancing to the next. These experiments were made in the London Zoological Gardens, and covered many months of painstaking and fatiguing work. Before particularizing any of the experiments, I wish to state one or two things which seem to more properly belong in this place than further along. This in the interest of clearness. The massed experiments established to my satisfaction certain gener ­alizations, to wit: That the human race is of one distinct species. It exhibits slight variations (in color, stature, mental caliber, and so on) due to climate, environment, and so forth; but it is a species by itself, and not to be confounded with any other.That the quadrupeds are a distinct family, also. This fam ­ily exhibits variations – in color, size, food preferences, and so on; but it is a family by itself.That the other families – the birds, the fishes, the insects, the reptiles, etc. – are more or less distinct, also. They are in the procession. They are links in the chain which stretches down from the higher animals to man at the bottom. Some of my experiments were quite curious. In the course of my reading I had come across a case where, many years ago, some hunters on our Great Plains organized a buffalo hunt for the entertainment of an English earl. They had charming sport. They killed seventy-two of those great animals; and ate part of one of them and left the seventy-one to rot. In order to determine the differ ­ence between an anaconda and an earl (if any) I caused seven young calves to be turned into the anacondas cage. The grateful reptile immediately crushed one of them and swallowed it, then lay back satisfied. It showed no further interest in the calves, and no disposition to harm them. I tried this experiment with other anacondas; always with the same result. The fact stood proven that the difference between an earl and an anaconda is that the earl is cruel and the anaconda isnt; and that the earl wantonly destroys what he has no use for, but the anaconda doesnt. This seemed to suggest that the anaconda was not descended from the earl. It also seemed to suggest that the earl was descended from the anaconda, and had lost a good deal in the transition. I was aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of money than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for more, and have not scrupled to cheat the ignorant and the helpless out of their poor servings in order to partially appease that appetite. I furnished a hundred different kinds of wild and tame animals the opportunity to accumulate vast stores of food, but none of them would do it. The squirrels and bees and certain birds made accumulations, but stopped when they had gathered a winters supply, and could not be persuaded to add to it either honestly or by chicane. In order to bolster up a tottering reputa ­tion the ant pretended to store up supplies, but I was not de ­ceived. I know the ant. These experiments convinced me that there is this difference between man and the higher animals: he is avaricious and miserly; they are not. In the course of my experiments I convinced myself that among the animals man is the only one that harbors insults and injuries, broods over them, waits till a chance offers, then takes revenge. The passion of revenge is unknown to the higher animals. Roosters keep harems, but it is by consent of their concu ­bines; therefore no wrong is done. Men keep harems but it is by brute force, privileged by atrocious laws which the other sex were allowed no hand in making. In this matter man occupies a far lower place than the rooster. Cats are loose in their morals, but not consciously so. Man, in his descent from the cat, has brought the cats looseness with him but has left the unconsciousness behind (the saving grace which excuses the cat). The cat is innocent, man is not. Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity (these are strictly confined to man); he invented them. Among the higher  animals  there is no trace of them. They hide nothing; they are not ashamed. Man, with his soiled mind, covers himself. He will not even enter a drawing room with his breast and back naked, so alive are he and his mates to indecent suggestion.  Man  is The Animal that Laughs. But so does the monkey, as Mr. Darwin pointed out; and so does the Australian bird that is called the laughing jackass. No!  Man  is the Animal that Blushes. He is the only one that does it or has occasion to. At the head of this  article  we see how three monks were burnt to death a few days ago, and a prior put to death with atrocious cruelty. Do we inquire into the details? No; or we should find out that the prior was subjected to unprintable muti ­lations. Man (when he is a North American Indian) gouges out his prisoners eyes; when he is King John, with a nephew to render untroublesome, he uses a red-hot iron; when he is a reli ­gious zealot dealing with heretics in the Middle Ages, he skins his captive alive and scatters salt on his back; in the first Richards time he shuts up a multitude of Jew families in a tower and sets fire to it; in Columbuss time he captures a family of Spanish Jews and (but  that  is not printable; in our day in England a man is fined ten shillings for beating his mother nearly to death with a chair, and another man is fined forty shillings for having four pheasant eggs in his possession without being able to satisfacto ­rily explain how he got t hem). Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. It is a trait that is not known to the higher animals. The cat plays with the frightened mouse; but she has this excuse, that she does not know that the mouse is suffering. The cat is moderate – unhumanly moderate: she only scares the mouse, she does not hurt it; she doesnt dig out its eyes, or tear off its skin, or drive splinters under its nails – man-fashion; when she is done playing with  it she  makes a sudden meal of it and puts it out of its trouble.  Man  is the Cruel Animal. He is alone in that distinction. The higher animals engage in individual fights, but never in organized masses.  Man  is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and with  calm  pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out, as the Hessians did in our Revolu ­tion, and as the boyish Prince Napoleon did in the Zulu war, and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel. Man  is the only animal that robs his helpless fellow of his country – takes possession of it and drives him out of it or destroys him.  Man  has done this in all the ages. There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is in possession of its rightful owner, or that has not been taken away from owner after owner, cycle after cycle, by force and bloodshed. Man  is the only Slave. And he is the only animal who en ­slaves. He has always been a slave in one form or  another,  and has always held other slaves in bondage under him in one way or another. In our day he is always some mans slave for wages, and does that mans  work; and  this slave has other slaves under him for minor wages, and they do  his  work. The higher animals are the only ones who exclusively do their own work and provide their own living. Man  is the only Patriot. He sets himself apart in his own country, under his own flag, and sneers at the other nations, and keeps multitudinous uniformed assassins on hand at heavy ex ­pense to grab slices of other  peoples  countries, and keep them from grabbing slices of  his. And in the intervals between cam ­paigns, he washes the blood off his hands and works for the universal brotherhood of man, with his mouth. Man  is the Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Ani ­mal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion – several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as  himself,  and cuts his throat if his theology isnt straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brothers path to happiness and heaven. He was at it in the time of the Caesars, he was at it in Mahomets time, he was at it  in  the time of the Inquisition, he was at it in France a couple of cen ­turies, he was at it in England in Marys day, he has been at it ever since he first saw the light, he is at it today in Crete (as per the telegrams quoted above), he will be at it somewhere else tomor ­row. The higher animals have no religion. And we are told that they are going to be left out, in the Hereafter. I wonder why? It seems questionable taste. Man  is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal. Note his history, as sketched above. It seems plain to me that whatever he is he is not a reasoning animal. His record is the fantastic record of a maniac. I consider that the strongest count against his intelligence is the fact that with that record back of him he blandly sets himself up as the head animal of the lot: whereas by his own standards he is the bottom one. In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which the other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two  days  I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately. Next, in another  cage  I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping. Then I stayed away two whole days. When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones – not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court. One is obliged to concede that in true loftiness of character, Man cannot claim to approach even the meanest of the Higher Animals. It is plain that he is constitutionally incapable of  approaching  that altitude; that he is constitutionally afflicted with a Defect which must make such approach forever impossible, for it is manifest that this defect is permanent in him, indestructible, ineradicable. I find this Defect to be the Moral Sense. He is the only animal that has it. It is the secret of his degradation. It is the quality  which enables him to do wrong. It has no other office. It is incapable of performing any other function. It could never hate been intended to perform any other. Without it,  man  could do no wrong. He would rise at once to the level of the Higher Animals. Since the Moral Sense has but the one office, the one capacity to enable man to do wrong – it is  plainly  without value to him. It is as valueless to him as is  disease. In fact, it manifestly  is  a disease. Rabies is bad, but it is not so bad as this disease. Rabies enables a man to do a thing, which he could not do when in a healthy state: kill his neighbor with a poisonous bite. No one is the better man for having rabies: The Moral Sense enables a man to do wrong. It enables him to do wrong in a thousand ways. Rabies is an innocent disease, compared to the Moral Sense. No one, then, can be the better man for having the Moral Sense. What now, do we find the Primal Curse to have been? Plainly what it was in the beginning: the infliction upon  man  of the Moral Sense; the ability to distinguish good from evil; and with it, necessarily, the ability to do evil; for there can be no evil act without the presence of consciousness of it in the doer of it. And so I find that we have descended and degenerated, from some far ancestor (some microscopic atom wandering at its pleasure between the mighty horizons of a drop of water perchance) insect by insect, animal by animal, reptile by reptile, down the long highway of  smirchless  innocence, till we have reached the bottom stage of development – nameable as the Human Being. Below us – nothing. Nothing but the Frenchman.

Article Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Disadvantaged Health Status of Indigenous People Why are indigenous people in Australia still disadvantaged with regard to health and community services? The status of Indigenous health in contemporary Australia is a result of historic factors as well as contemporary socio-economic issues (Hampton Toombs, 2013, p. 1). The deficient health stature of Indigenous Australians is a contemporary consequence of their historical treatment as Australias traditional owners and as of a result of cultural issues that impact on the acceptance of health and community services. This historical treatment and cultural issues has led to Indigenous Australians experiencing social disadvantages, significantly low socio-economic status, dispossession, poverty and powerlessness within contemporary Australian society. Previous to the invasion and colonisation by the British on January 26, 1788, the indigenous people were the carers of Australia and the Torres Strait for a period of over 60,000 years. 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Along with the impacts of introduced diseases and conflict, Indigenous Australians also experienced harmful effects related to disconnection from Country due to the spread of colonists and their subsequent political policies. For an Indigenous Australian, Country is not just physical territory but the central aspect of their identity (Hampton Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on indigenous people, 2013). Occupation and colonialism impacted far beyond the physical, as Indigenous Australians had their culture devalued, traditional food sources destroyed, and were separated from their families and in some cases entire communities were expelled. This caused separation or loss of languages, beliefs and social structures which form the fund amental basis of Indigenous cultures. The current condition of Indigenous health has been impacted negatively by the stolen generations and other past government practises and for many Indigenous Australians, the ongoing effects have created other social, emotional and physical disadvantages. These disadvantages are evident through the social determinants of health, including; economic opportunity, physical infrastructure, and social conditions that influence the health of individuals, communities, and societies as a whole. Inequalities in these are especially evident in education, employment, income, housing, access to services, social networks, connection with land, racism, and incarceration rates. In all of these factors, Indigenous Australians experience considerably lower rates than non-Indigenous Australians, with the most disturbing being that Indigenous Australians have a drastically lower life expectancy rate and overall health status, than non-Indigenous Australians. For indigenous people, the rate of chronic disease is still 2.5 times higher than that of other Australians and they die 15 to 20 years younger than those in mainstream Australia (Australian Health Ministers, 2004). More than half of these figures are caused by chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and kidney disease. The majority of these chronic diseases are preventable and while research is continuing to find ways to reduce the risk factors, issues such as smoking, alcohol and substance abuse, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and promoting healthy eating and active lifestyles are still major challenges in Indigenous communities throughout Australia. Healthy living choices are not easy for people living in remote communities which results in a high incidence of preventable chronic disease. Good nutrition is fundamental to the maintenance of general well-being and the prevention of sickness and disease. It plays an imperative role in pregnancy and early childhood, prevents obesity and type 2 Diabetes and can lower the risk of recurrent heart disease by up to 70%. However, remote communities face many barriers to healthy eating, including isolation, the high cost of food, the variable supply of fresh food, lack of community town infrastructure and inadequate health promotion support, are just a few of these barriers that prevent community people from being able to make healthy living choices All of these inequalities, combined with the social attitudes towards Indigenous Australians and their health in contemporary Australian society, contribute to the difficulties Indigenous Australians have accessing satisfactory healthcare. The provision of adequate healthcare for Indigenous Australians can be difficult as many service providers do not understand how Indigenous Australians view or understand health and many health services are not as user-friendly or culturally appropriate for Indigenous people as they are for non-Indigenous people. This adds to higher levels of disadvantage and a greater hesitance to utilise these services. The traditional Indigenous outlook on health is holistic. It integrates everything significant in a persons life, including land, environment, physical body, community, relationships, and law. Health is the social, emotional, and cultural well being of the whole community and the concept is therefore linked to the sense of being an Indigenous Aust ralian. Specific issues such as reducing the incidence of chronic disease requires a significantly greater effort in coordinating collective strengths, creating and delivering preventative programs and primary health care for Indigenous communities and while great work is being done, more efforts are required to reduce the high incidence of chronic disease on Indigenous people and communities. When designing and developing services to meet the needs of our Indigenous people, close collaboration and consultation with the people for whom the service will be provided is vital. It is important to remember that policies and practises of the past have had major adverse impacts on the health of contemporary Indigenous Australians, and these impacts have contributed significantly to the inequalities present in Indigenous and non-Indigenous health status. However, whilst health disadvantages experienced by Indigenous Australians are considered to be historical in origin, the perpetuation of the disadvantages relies heavily on contemporary structural and social factors. As a result of our history and because of the continuing disadvantage, our people have needs that differ from those of mainstream Australians. Therefore, it is also imperative that we acknowledge and respect the impact of events and issues in Indigenous peoples history when designing and delivering these services.

The Blue Sword CHAPTER EIGHT

On the seventh day they left their valley. Harry felt a little sad, although she thought a bit of her nostalgia was apprehension for the future. Just before they mounted, Mathin came and stood before her, with a long piece of maroon silk in his hand. Harry was wearing a long side-slashed red tunic over long full trousers of the same color, and a dark blue surcoat; she was accustomed to Hill dress now, and comfortable in it, unlike her first evening in the king's camp. â€Å"Put this on, so,† said Mathin. He gestured to his own waist; he wore a dark green sash. She looked down at herself. Mathin tossed the maroon strip over his shoulder, and pushed her hands away from her sides. He untied the brown cord she had used as a belt and dropped it as if it were trash, and wound the maroon silk twice around her waist, and tucked the ends of it away in some invisible fashion. She looked up: Mathin was wearing the fierce grin she was accustomed to seeing when they crossed swords. â€Å"One of the Hills must have a sash when she goes to the laprun trials, where it will be proved that she deserves to wear it.† He turned away to mount Windrider. Harry stood where she was a moment longer, feeling where the sash seized her lower ribs as she breathed. Then she put her hands on the pommel and cantle of the saddle and vaulted onto Sungold's back as she could now do easily; she had begun to consider if she could learn Corlath's way of mounting, which did not seem to require the use of the hands. They jogged along steadily all that day, although the pack horse was inclined to complain. It had had a soft six weeks and was not entirely equal – even with its burdens much lighter than they had been six weeks before – to keeping pace with the flint-hard war-horses. Narknon loped along beside them, dashing off into the bushes occasionally on her private business, reappearing silently ahead of them, waiting by the trail for them to catch her up. They paused for lunch and a cold supper; but they continued on in the twilight. After the sunset was gone, Harry could see a glow in the northeast. â€Å"It is a great bonfire on the plain before the City, to mark the opening of the trials tomorrow at dawn,† Mathin told her. Harry wondered if any of the other trials riders were seeing things in the flames. Her mind wanted to feel nervous and restless that night, but her well-trained body and that extra whatever-it-was sent her off to sleep before she had time to argue. At dawn when the trials were beginning, they were in the saddle again, riding easily and listening to the breeze, Harry half expecting to hear the distant clash and yell of combat. Slowly they rode all that day, that they might not arrive tired. The pack horse had given up complaining, and marched on resignedly. They rode around the edge of a gaunt grey rockface at sunset and suddenly before her was a vast field, the Hills rising sharply at its perimeter. The plain was speckled with fires, and in the swiftly falling shadows she could make out the many-legged shapes of huddled horses and huddled men, and the angular silhouettes of tents. There were too many of them; her heart jumped out of its usual location and began beating frantically against the base of her throat. She raised her eyes to the watching Hills again: surely this great flat plain was not a natural phenomenon in this rugged land? And yet what labor could have flattened the Hills so? Mathin was staring across the fires as if he would recognize the owners of the dark featureless tents even from here. She thought with his long eyes he might succeed. â€Å"Mathin, do you know how this plain came to be – has it always been here?† Mathin, still looking out over the plain, said, â€Å"There is a story that Tor met the Northerners on this plain, and held them away from the City for nine days, and the heat of that battle melted the rocks of the Hills, which made a pool; and when the pool became hard again, it was this plain.† â€Å"What happened on the tenth day?† asked Harry. But Mathin put Windrider into a trot without answering. Sungold trotted obediently behind her, his ears pricked stiffly at the scene before him. He was ready for anything Harry might ask him to do; he gave her a little confidence. But the other riders here had known of the laprun trials perhaps all their lives; perhaps they had been training for them nearly as long. Mathin glanced back at her. â€Å"We are opposite the gate to the City; you cannot see it from here. You will see it after the trials.† â€Å"Mathin.† His head turned warily back to her, anticipating a question he would not wish to answer. She saw his eyes glint in a yellow gleam of firelight. â€Å"Are there other women at the trials?† He grunted; she recognized it as relief that she wasn't going to nag him further about Tor the Just, who probably wasn't that boring if he could hold off the Northerners for nine days and melt a hole in the Hills, and Aerin and her dragons. He said gruffly, â€Å"A few. There are always a few. Once there were more.† He put Windrider forward again, and in the click of hooves she had to strain to catch his last words: â€Å"It would be a great thing for us, and for our daughters – a damalur-sol.† Damalur-sol. Lady Hero. They set up their own small and travel-stained tents not far in from the ring of Hills they had just left. She felt the drifting shadows of other Hillfolk as she rubbed Tsornin down, and when she came back to the firelight of the small blaze she had – rather efficiently, she thought, with the first of Mathin's three methods of fire-making, which simply involved the correct application of a tinder-box – started in front of their tari, there were four such shadows sitting on their heels around it. Mathin came into the light as she did, carrying his saddle. He joined the four, and after a moment's hesitation, so did she. She walked, pretending to be bold, toward a gap between elbows; and the owners of the elbows made room for her as they would for a comrade. â€Å"How goes it, my brothers?† Mathin said, and she was startled by his voice speaking to someone other than herself. One shadow shrugged. â€Å"As well as a first day ever does.† Mathin had told her that the first day was reserved for those less highly trained, who did not seek to win their sashes; she had sighed. Mathin told her, â€Å"You would find it dull work, the first day. Believe me.† Harry, after a moment, recognized the shadow as Innath, and relaxed slightly. â€Å"And how does our prodigy?† Harry blinked. It had taken her a second to remember the word prodigy, and then she was alarmed and heartened simultaneously by the our. â€Å"Prodigiously,† said Mathin, and he grinned at her. She smiled faintly back. The shadows nodded and stood up; but each one touched her shoulder and then her head as he passed behind her. The last was Innath, and his hand lingered just long enough on her hair for him to have time to murmur, â€Å"Be of good courage, prodigy,† and he too was gone. The camp awoke before dawn; the tents were pulled down, and the fires, after heating the malak and the porridge, and singeing the breakfast bread – Someday, she thought, I will teach these people about toast – were tramped out. She gave Narknon less than her usual percentage of porridge, because she would doubtless need all of her strength, unenthusiastic as her appetite was at present. She mounted and waited to be sent to her fate. All over again she missed bridle and reins, and the scabbard of her sword looked strange to her, slung on the saddle, and the small shield banged awkwardly against her thigh. Mathin, with the pack horse reluctantly following, rode up beside her. â€Å"Your way lies there,† he said, nodding in the direction of the invisible City gate. â€Å"You will find a man dressed all in red, a kysin, riding a black horse with a red saddle. Tell him your name – Harimad-sol,† he added, as if she might need prompting. Maybe she did. â⠂¬Å"He'll know who you are.† She surreptitiously hitched the shield an inch or so forward, and wiped her hands on her thighs. The leather felt clammy. Who would the kysin think she was? She couldn't even tie her own sash without help. Mathin reached out to her, pulled her face toward him, and kissed her on the forehead. â€Å"The kiss of luck,† he said. â€Å"You have no sash-bearing father or mother to give it you. Go as the Daughter of the Riders. Go.† She turned away. Innath was sitting his big grey stallion just behind her. He smiled at her, a friend's smile. â€Å"Be of good courage, Daughter of the Riders.† The morning was already hot, and the plain offered no shade; the ring of Hills seemed to hold the heat like water in a bowl. Harry found the man in red, and gave him her name; she thought he looked at her sharply, but perhaps he looked at all the laprun candidates sharply. He nodded and gave her a white rag to tie around her arm, and sent her off toward a milling mob of nervous horseflesh and even more nervous riders. She looked at them critically; there were some fine horses here, but none could outmatch her own mount, and very few could come near him. There was one big dark bay that caught her eye; she was ridden by a boy in blue who carried his shoulders and head well. Harry wondered what the other riders thought of the one in the maroon sash on the big golden chestnut. There was little conversation. There were those who gave their names to the red man and joined the ever-increasing throng here at the City end of the plain; the rest – the audience, she supposed – crowded behind barriers she could not see, that stretched from the feet of the red man's horse to the far side of the plain. Around Harry, some of the trials riders moved their horses in fidgety circles, just to avoid standing still; some looked down at themselves often, as if checking to make sure they were all still there. Harry twisted strands of Sungold's mane between her damp fingers and tried to keep her teeth from chattering. There was the dull murmur of horses' hooves, and the rush of their breathing, and the squeak of leather, the hush of cloth; and the sun overhead gazing down. To try to take her mind off the trials for a minute, she looked up, searching for some sign of the City, some path to its gate, and saw nothing but rock. It's right before my eyes and I can't see it, she thought, and had a moment of panic. Tsornin, who could read many of her thoughts by this time, flicked one ear back at her: Stop that. She stopped. Shortly before midmorning the trials began. First their weapons were taken away from them and replaced with flat wooden swords; and Harry discovered that she was much fonder of her own sword than she had previously supposed. Everyone else was settling helms on heads, so she fumbled hers loose from its straps and tied it on. It felt heavier than usual, and she didn't seem able to see around its cheek pieces clearly. Then the riders were divided into twos, threes, fives, eights. In these little groups they galloped hard to the end of that highway between spectators, wheeled, and came back. They met twos, threes, fives, eights rushing to meet them, swerved and collided; riders rolled in the dust, and horses bolted. She was not one of the former, nor Tsornin the latter. Neither was the young man in blue on the bay mare. She had a little trouble holding Tsornin back to the pace of the others; he was not over-pleased with crowds, but he did as she asked since she asked it. Those that remai ned mounted at each sweep galloped down and back again and again; and with each charge another obstacle had appeared along the highway that must be leaped or climbed over: a wall of rolled-up tents, stacked together; a fence of tentpoles; a banked heap of small stones with scrub piled on top. The first flecks of sweat broke out on Tsornin's shoulders as he gave her the slight heave she needed to hook a boot around a neighboring ankle and toss a rider to the ground. There was a little troop of twenty left mounted when the last charge ended. Harry looked around her, wondering how many had been thrown or hurt; she guessed there had been several times twenty in the beginning. A few minutes passed while the uneasy twenty walked their horses, and breathed deep, and waited. Then it was the spectators who came toward them, huddled once again at the City end of the plain; some of them were mounted, and all were carrying long wooden poles. What? thought Harry; and then a pole descended on her helmeted head, and the horse in front of her stumbled and fell at Sungold's feet. Sungold leaped over the thrashing legs as carelessly as if they were blades of grass. Harry began laying about with her wooden sword. A pole thrust itself under her knee and attempted to remove her from her saddle. Sungold switched around on his forehand, giving her her balance, and she broke the offending pole with the hilt of her mock sword. She began to feel hot and annoyed. Sweat m atted her tunic to her body, and her leather vest squeaked with it. The burning sunlight tried to push her out of the saddle even as the poles in human hands did. What is this nonsense? She used the flat and butt of her silly wooden stick and Tsornin reared and stamped and hurled himself forward. She broke a few more poles. She felt Mathin's grin pulling at her own lips. Someone thumped her sharply in the shoulder with a pole, but once again, as she lurched, Sungold slid sideways to stay under her; and she gave that pole a back-handed chop and saw it spin away from its wielder. Tsornin leaped over another fallen horse. She saw abruptly that the audience hemmed the trials riders in; if one of them pushed too near the edge of the crush, he was set on with particular ferocity and turned back. She noticed this with interest, and began determinedly to get out; but there were several hundreds to twenty – and only a few of the original twenty were still mounted. She began to feel that tide of anger she remembered from the day she had unseated Mathin – she caught somebody by the collarbone and knocked him off his horse with his own pole – and she felt that she would escape. Tsornin was backing up, mostly on his hind legs. Then he spun round, came down – one more whack with her wretched wooden blade; the hilt gave an ominous creak, but it didn't matter; she was †¦ out. The red man gave a shout. It was over. The crowd dispersed instantly, as if the red man's shout had broken a cord that tied them all together. There were several loose horses standing clear, looking embarrassed for having behaved so poorly as to lose their riders; and several limping figures separated themselves from the others and went toward them. Harry sat where she was, the hot tide ebbing, leaving just a trace of headache behind, watching the others pass around her like grains of sand sifting around a boulder. She saw Mathin from a distance; he carried a pole across Windrider's withers and there was a shallow cut over one eye that had bled down his cheek. She saw none of the other Riders. She squinted up at the sky. The Hills were black with shadows, but the sky was hard blue and she could feel the heat beating up again from underfoot. In the quiet – for, as it had been this morning, no one spoke and even the horses seemed to step softly – the heat seemed almost audible. She set Tsornin to walk himself as cool as possible. She patted his neck and dismounted, that they might walk together; he was sweating but not distressed, and he shook his head at her. She reclaimed her sword from the kysin, who saluted her. He had not saluted the laprun rider just before her. Mathin reappeared and told her she could rest awhile. His cheek was washed clean and a bit of white cloth bound over his eyebrow. â€Å"The individual matches will go on all afternoon; you will be called late.† They found a spot of shade at the edge of the plain and pulled the saddles off the horses. Mathin gave her some bread and some wet white tasteless cheese. She sucked it slowly and let it trickle down her dry throat. She felt quite calm, and wondered what was the matter with her. â€Å"Mathin, are all the trials the same? Did you gallop and bash people with a wooden stick at your trials?† â€Å"No and yes. They test your horsemanship in different ways; those who watch always have some chance to help – or hinder; and weapons of wood are safer. But the afternoon's matches are always the same, one rider against another, each with his own sword. If a kysin declares that a trials rider did badly in the general trials, he will not be permitted to ride in the individual sets.† They watched the dust clouds from the matches and the bright notches of color spinning in them; but Mathin made no move to return to that end of the plain, and Harry waited beside him, leaning on her elbows in spite of her sore shoulder. The sun was halfway down the sky when they mounted again. Sungold, for the first time since she'd known him, refused to walk, and jigged along sideways, tossing his head. â€Å"Stop that, idiot,† she hissed at him in Homelander, and he halted in surprise. Mathin turned his head and looked at her impassively. They stood at the edge of the crowd now, and watched the combatants. There were five pairs, each the center of a private war; the red man had divided into ten red men on grey or black horses. There were two red men for each pair of fighters, and one man of each pair carried a small brass bell; when the bell rang out, that conflict was ended, and the horses fell apart, and riders and mounts panted the hot air. All the laprun riders were dressed in bright colors; there was very little white and no dreary dun or grey; with the scarlet kysin, it was a very vivid scene. A bell sang out, a long gay peal, and she looked over at the finished pair. One of the riders held his sword up and shook it so the sunlight nickered on it. The other rider sat quietly, his sword on the ground at his horse's forefeet and, she noticed with a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach, his sash neatly sliced from around his waist and lying, part on his horse's croup and part on the ground. Mathin said: â€Å"It is best to take your opponent's sash. The kysin mark each blow dealt, but to cut off the other rider's sash is best. This you will do.† â€Å"Oh,† said Harry. â€Å"You may, if you wish, unhorse him first,† Mathin added as an afterthought. â€Å"Thanks,† said Harry. â€Å"But you must not draw blood, for this is a sign of clumsiness. Baga, we call one who cuts his opponent during the laprun – baga, butcher. It is skill we look for. This is why no armor is allowed in the individual matches.† â€Å"Of course,† said Harry. Mathin grinned at her. â€Å"Of course. Is this not what I have been teaching you?† He watched the next pair of riders salute each other; and another bell from another pair rang; each of the five bells spoke a different note. â€Å"The trials go back many generations – once they were held every year, but there are no longer enough of us in the Hills to make up the number; we have them every three years now, since Corlath's father's day. â€Å"The sash-cutting – churakak – is a duel of honor that is as old as Damar; far older than the laprun trials themselves, although few meet the churakak outside the trials any more. â€Å"Aerin,† he added thoughtfully, â€Å"met the churakak several times. Her red hair no doubt made her quick-tempered.† â€Å"Harimad,† barked a kysin; and Tsornin jolted forward before Harry had registered her name. She was set facing a boy in a green robe and yellow sash; the kysin said, â€Å"Begin,† and Harry feinted Tsornin to the left, back, forward, and the boy's sword fell to the ground, and his yellow sash fluttered down to cover it. A bell rang. Harry was a bit taken aback. The kysin waved her aside. Tsornin flattened his ears; he was not interested in boys who did not know what they were doing. Next Harry removed a dark orange sash from around a sky-blue robe; and then a white sash from a purple robe. Harry began to feel as irritable as her horse, and with each cry of â€Å"Harimad† the two of them turned and stood and attacked and wondered when the real thing would begin. Harry began unhorsing her opponents before lopping off their sashes just to give herself something to do. The Hills' shadows began to creep toward the feet of the charging dancing horses, and the lowering sun flicked dangerous gleams from the shining sides of swords and into opponents' eyes. Tsornin was dark with sweat, and foam streaked his sides, but he slowed not a whit, and it seemed to Harry that they were galloping down a long hall of statues with swords held stiffly in raised hands, waiting for her to lean languidly over Sungold's neck and knock their loose sashes off. All five bells rang at once as the green sash fell off the point of Harry's sword to the ground, and she looked around and realized that she and her latest opponent were the last to finish. It was nearly twilight, and she was surprised that they had gone on so long. Now that she stopped to think about it, it was rather hard to see; it was as though dusk had fallen on them as soon as they stood still. Tsornin's nostrils were wide and red as he turned his head. She looked where he was looking. A big dark horse stood as if waiting for them. Harry blinked and stared; the other horse tossed its head. Was he bay or black? There seemed to be something wrong with her eyes; she raised one arm and rubbed them against her grimy sleeve, and looked again, but the horse and rider still shimmered in her sight, a shimmer of darkness instead of light. The tall rider was muffled in a shadowy cloak that fell over his mount's shoulders and past his boot tops; he shrugged it back to show a white tunic an d a red sash. The horse fidgeted sideways, and a bay glint showed along its dark flank. The lapruni and the audience moved to form a ring around them, the shadowy bay and Tsornin. The silence after the pounding hooves, the grunts and thumps and crashes, was unearthly; and the sun sank farther behind the Hills. The first breath of the evening wind crept out of the Hills; its cool finger tapped Harry's cheek, and it felt like fear. A torch appeared, held aloft by one of the ring, someone on horseback. Then another torch burst into fire, and another, and another. The beaten ground between Harry and the silent rider at the other end of the circle swam in the flickering light. Then the brass bells rang again, like the sound of Outlander cannon in Harry's ears, and Sungold came to life, and neighed, and the bay answered. Harry did not know if the match lasted a long time or a short time. She knew at once that this swordsman, behind the scarf wrapped around his head and face so that only his eyes showed, could have dismembered her whenever he liked. Instead he drew her to attack him, opening his defense to attract each of the many moves Mathin had taught her, as if he were a schoolmaster hearing her lessons. It was so easy for him that Harry began to feel angry, began to clear a tiny space in her mind to think of some plan of her own; and her anger rose, and gave her a headache till the torchlight was red with it, but she did not care, for she knew by now that it gave her strength. Strength she needed, for she was tired, and her horse was tired, and she could see that the bay was fresh, and could feel up her arm as the swords met that the rider did not exert himself to resist her. But her rising anger lifted her and invigorated Sungold, and she began to harass the bay stallion's rider – if only a little, still a little. She pressed forward and the bay gave way a step or two, and the crowd gasped; and with a quick and merry slash the tip of her sword caught the scarf bound round the rider's face and tore it up from the chin. She misjudged by the fraction of a hair; a single drop of blood welled up from the corner of his mouth. She stared at it, fascinated, as she felt her sash slip down her legs in two pieces and lie huddled on the ground, for the face belonged to Corlath.