Business Plan Final Essay Example for Free

Business Plan Final Essay Castle’s Family Restaurant Business Plan: Stage III Executive Summary The purpose of this business plan is to understand the restaurants business and its operations to improve its customer service and its employee relations. The Castle Family Restaurant has eight restaurants that operate under one regional manager that also acts as the Human Resource Manager for the restaurants. The goal is to develop a plan that can decrease the travel time of the regional manager so; that he, Jay Morgan, can save on gas due to high gas prices since each restaurant is located in the northern California area. The objective is to introduce a HRIS application and one vendor that can assist in the developing of the HR department and ease the transitioning of one individual HR manager to multiple employees. There are restaurants with profits in mind and provide the same food and service while the Castle’s Family believes in family, partnerships and developing relationships with one another for a great customer service. Introduction The Castle’s Family Restaurant has eight restaurants in northern California with about 300-340 employees. Most of the employees are part time with about 40% of them full-time. This business plan is to determine strategies that will eliminate the Human Resource position from Jay Morgan, so that he can reduce his travel time to all eight locations and to develop an HR department for the restaurants. In addition, the business plan is to enable Jay Morgan to concentrate on his operation manager duties. Company Review The factors that cause many issues to the Castle’s Family restaurant business are having one individual with so many responsibilities. Therefore, hiring an HR manager to schedule, recruit, hire and assist the employees in their needs will help in creating order. In addition, the restaurant must hire an assistant to help in the administration work; it will decrease the amount of  paperwork for the general manager. And each restaurant must have a manager to overseas the employees and the operation of the restaurant. The managers will conduct meetings monthly to provide the sales, revenues and customer services of each restaurant. Managers can communicate through emails, phone calls if they have questions for each other, or have any concerns. A needs assessment must be conducted to determine if an HRIS is needed for the company. In order to have a successful restaurant business every factor must be considered. For example, customer service to the customers is a big factor becau se that is what brings in the revenue. For a restaurant to have a successful business they must have the right food for their customers to enjoy and to assist the customers any way they can. In the last year, there had been some speculation into how the government will help the small restaurants and that the fiscal will prevent any type of savings in when tax time comes around. These HRIS and vendor application that will be stated in this business plan is there to develop and help maintain the restaurant’s H R department and increase growth in the company. Business Analysis We have acquired an HRIS system that will help in developing the HR department to provide easy process for the employees. The Sage HRIS application is an innovative way to ease the transition from traditional HR to a strategic HR. The Sage applications provide variety of options to assist in the HR process. For example, the payroll application should be implemented to help the restaurant establish tax, earnings, and deduction codes to perform critical payroll functions and to modify the system to the restaurant’s needs. This is the first time Castle’s Family Restaurant is developing a HR department, having the right tools to run a department the right way will allow less mistakes to be made; with eight different locations, adding the sage application will help in the transitioning all locations into one. Furthermore, it is critical for a company to have leadership to help establish the employee’s strengths and improve their weaknesses. In addition, the sageâ€⠄¢s time and attendance can help manage the employee’s attendance and work time. The system enables you to collect, analyze, and take control of employee’s attendance and labor data. The  application will help the company in providing perks to employees that always come to work on time. In addition, the performance management application tracks employee’s performance; help identify their critical skills to help the employees in their career development. Furthermore, I have compare and contrast a vendor that would benefit your company. These two vendors provide great services but one match your company’s true values and its missions. The Castle’s Family Restaurant need a vendor that can help in developing long lasting relationship and demonstrates positivity so that individuals can be their best. Furthermore, automation is viable to reduce the need of human errors that can results in more major consequences. Automation errors can occur at any time, the solutions are easy to fix, and automation provide easy data that can be change, delete and edit. HRIS Type/Comparison The type of HRIS that the Castle Family Restaurant should implement is the Sage application as I have stated before. In order for such application to be developed a vendor must be selected to help in the process. The sage application is a best fit for the company because it has a group of team that can help in assisting in any technical difficulties. When developing new HR department, errors will consist and questions will need to be answered. Therefore, a new training program will need to develop to increase each employee’s skills and performances in the Human Resources Department. The Sage application has the career enhancement training; they have created a system that can help in detecting IT skills, leadership’s skills, etc.; that can benefit your restaurant. The application has an easy to read system. The vendors that I have selected are the ADP and the Rideau Recognition Solutions. The ADP provides all services for domestic international, small or large companies, it does not matter where you operate, and they are there to assist in developing the business. The Rideau Recognition Solutions provide services that inspire employees to succeed to the vendor’s belief. Their expertise is to help their clients build positive relationships with their people to reflect the company’s values and increase customers’ expectations. The Rideau main purpose and their definition of a business are being inspirational and providing inspiration to others. While  ADP is well recognized company that can assist in developing an HR department, and have the tools to performed the job, but because of the deep meaning and relationship that can develop with the Rideau Recognition Solutions and the restaurant being a family company; I believe that the Rideau is the best solution for the Castle’s restaurant. HRIS Vendor Recommendation I have recommended that your company, The Castle’s Family Restaurant, to choose the Sage HRIS application and the Rideau Recognition Solution as your vendor. They have the right tools that can establish the restaurant business, and their tools can assist in the development of the HR department. In the restaurant business there will be a lot of risks such as food poising, slip and fall and property damages. Once these types of risks occur this is where the HR department comes in to assist in resolving the situation. This why there should be training when these disadvantages come to light. The sage applications have the proper tools to help decide the professional way to handle such situations. The HRIS application provides professional training to each individual HR employee. While these risks can occur, another problem that cans cause small businesses disadvantage are the fiscal cliff which this year small business operators tax rate has increase by 5 percent. Furthermore, knowing these disadvantages will allow you, the Castle’ Restaurant to prepare yourself as a restaurant. In addition, using these vendors and HRIS system will permit better training; and develop great communication between the HR department and the employees and managers for great customer service. It is important to know the negative factor and a positive factor on owning a small business restaurant and to prepare for any tactics on a professional level. In conclusion, I recommend the Sage as your HRIS application and the Rideau Recognition Solution as your vendor. Conclusion The Castle’s Family Restaurant has been operating on one person basis, with eight restaurants to oversee. There are many duties to maintain to assure a  smooth business; with such issues that can arise in each restaurant, developing an HR department to oversee these tasks will reduce risks that can occur. I have concluded that the Sage HRIS and Rideau Recognition Solution are the chosen application and vendor for your company to help in the developing your restaurant business. The application and vendor will and can assist you in many different factors and help improve employee communication. References Frumkin, Paul. â€Å"How fiscal cliff deal impacts small restaurateurs, franchisees.† Nations’s Restaurant News. Jan 9, 2013. Retrieved on 8/24/2013 http://nrn.com/latest-headlines/how-fiscal-cliff-deal-impacts-small-restaurateurs-franchisees

Gun Violence In America Criminology Essay

Gun Violence In America Criminology Essay The following paper is dedicated to the incidents of gun violence in America. This essay will review the information surveyed on criminal justice system and my personal investigation of the possible decision-makings by benchmarking the best practices. The topic of gun violence in America is widely discussed in different circles of our society that is why we will also talk about it with necessary specific details. It is generally known that there is a growing debate about gun violence in the USA. These incidents are mostly common for poor urban territories. Unfortunately more often juveniles and young adults are engaged in those criminal gun violence cases. Taking into consideration historical backgrounds, such as magnicides of President Abraham Lincoln in the year 1865 and of other American Presidents James Garfield, William McKinley and John Kennedy, gun violence is not a surprising event in the United States. All these and other violence affairs have largely burnt up the disputes over gun policies. Coming into details, gun violence incidents may include: suicides with firearms, homicides by weapon type, assassinations of U.S Presidents, robberies committed with guns. Suicides equal to the most significant amount of incidents. Several studies prove that there is a connection between possessions of firearms at home and numbers of gun suicides. Cook and Jens (2000) said that during 80s and early 90s of the 21 century, there was a valid rising tendency in teenage suicides with a gun use as well as a strong total increase in suicides among those grown-ups of 75 years old and even over. The most general method of suicide in the United States of America, taking into account 50.7% of all suicides committed during 2006, is considered to be firearms incidents. Concerning the homicides in the 19-th century they usually took place during the mass disorders. The upward direction in homicide rates over a period between the 1980s and early 1990s was mostly observed among the males of Hispanic and African American nationalities. The consequences such as injury and even death rates for black males aged 13 -17 tripled and for black males aged 18-24 doubled. The drug abuse (mostly cocaine) throughout the United States is often referred as a factor for heightened gun violence among youths during this time. The main reason for it was the rapid economic development of the country and non-stable politics. According to Mcgrath (2007), we see that gun homicides are the most abundant among informal groups of youngsters and during the commission of felony crimes. For instance in 1976, the number of homicides caused by firearms because of arguments was about 70 percent, but by 1993, nearly all gang-related homicides involved guns (97 percent), while the percentage of gun homicides associated with arguments left nominally constant. Nevertheless the percent-size of gang homicides generated by guns fell a little to 94 percent in 2004, but the percentage of homicides caused by firearms during the offense commitment upsurged from 60 percent to 77 percent from 1976 to 2005. According to the last surveys of 2005, 11, 345 people were killed by firearms and 477, 040 persons turned out to be the victims of the firearms crimes. The statistics of 2006 proves that 68% of murders were committed with a firearm, besides guns were used in 42% of robberies and 22% of aggravated assaults. Approximately a quarter of commercial larcenies in the USA is committed with guns. Robberies edged with guns are three times likely to bring fatalities as a result vs. thefts with other weapons used. The core essence of this problem lies in the availability of guns. Some criminologists suppose that if guns availability was restricted then delinquents might also commit a crime but with less serious consequences. The dominant source for firearm ownership records is considered the General Social Survey. According to its figures in 2004 only 36,5 % of Americans reported about the gun ownership in their homes, and with the reference to 1997 about 40% of the examined Americans filed for having gun at home. It is essential to specify that about 44 million people in the USA are gun owners, 25% of them are adults, 40% are householders. A National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms carried out in 1994 investigated that Americans own 192 million guns, 36% belong to rifles, 34% to handguns, 26% to shotguns, 4% to other types of weapon. The gun ownership can also be differentiated according to geographic principle: the rates of ownership vary from 25% in the Northeastern part to 60% in the East South Central States. This is supposed to be the leading problem but besides Americans have to reckon with gun politics conducted on the territory of their Motherland. Coming out of the research investigations: guns can simply enhance crime offenses and multiply the possibility of more ag gravated and lethal outcome. Public policy is generally targeted to the ways of law enforcement administration. The interference may occur when a gun is bought in an illegal way or forbidding the youth and convicted criminals from acquiring guns. Politics strategy can also focus on safety monitoring by setting increased sentences for those who use guns in crime. Firearm laws are the matter of many arguments in the United States. The following situation takes place as firearms are extensively used for recreational purposes, and for personal protection. Celebrities make good use of guns for hunting and for self-protection and set a bright example for other citizens by the same. There exists a special prohibition for gun dealers to sell handguns to the people less than 21 years old and long guns to the people under the age of 18. There are also some fixed restrictions on selling guns to foreign residents. In America the juvenile gun ownership is really one of the most burning problems. As those teens now serving in correctional institutions bought their first weapon at the age of 14. The shocking statistics points out that 86% of juveniles become the gun owners sooner or later. The upcoming tendency for juvenile offenders includes owning several firearms at a time. 65% of juveniles are the owners of three or more arms. They mostly purchase guns from friends, family or drug dealers. They claim that the main reason for keeping a handgun is a self-protection measure from bandits. But in the majority of cases teenage groups have no legal license for gun keeping. Only in Rochester 22% of youngsters violated the law by keeping a firearm illegally. Firearms policy is getting through big hurdles. So I feel the necessity to make an overview analysis of secondary gun market. Canada (1995) stated that only 60-70% of firearms sales are settled with licensed gun dealers. The most part of trades with youngsters and felons occur in the secondary market. To be more precise, secondary market is a place where the firearms are delivered by unlicensed individuals. But this purchase proved to be a risky way as many firearms sold in the secondary market could be used in homicides before. Prothrow-Stith and Spivak (2004) mentioned that The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) governs the work of licensed firearms dealers. There is a special requirement for firearms manufacturers to mark all the new firearms with serial numbers. In such a way ATF has an opportunity to follow-up the guns used in crimes according to their Federal License. ATP reports that about 500,000 guns are stolen every year and are possibly getting into the hands of restricted users In my essay I would like to present the possible solutions to the above-listed problems. On my opinion government of our country should be deeply involved in this problem solution, because youth is our future and it is necessary to help a young person to be healthy and wealthy; that is why it is necessary to make laws stricter. Taking into account considerable evidence, gun bans and severe limitations should be introduced in order to reduce the criminals access to weapon especially for highest-risk groups, such as juveniles and former criminals. Another approach could be the price boost for all the firearms that may largely keep common people from buying cold gun. One more solution the strict prosecution of violence by law can be rather efficient as it may probably scare away all the future criminals. The close control of unlicensed sellers can bring fruitful results involving the immediate forfeiture of the illegally sold firearms as nowadays America is recognized as the least res trictive together with Brazil concerning firearm regulations. The cooperation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF (RCMP) declared in November of 2006 aimed at sharing all the required information on removed guns. Both associations are looking forward to develop intelligent legal intrusion that will give them a chance to hold up the flow of guns conveyed into Canada from the United States by smuggling. Their cooperation is based on the following directions: 1) Conducting an overall gun analysis and tracing with an eye to identifying guns produced in America, applying electronic trace firearms. 2) Associated partnership with initiatives by engaging the International Firearms Trafficking Schools and the Serial Number Restoration Training. 3) Assistance of Country Attachà © -by making presence in Canada more frequent in order to enable cross-national research and unifying efforts in the U.S. to investigate, arrest, and prosecute criminals importing guns into Canada. To crown it all together the gun violence control should be strictly organized in the consolidated efforts in order to give the results and save the nation suffering from the constant gun attacks.

Web Page Analysis Essay -- Web Design Analysis Essays Papers

Web Page Analysis While browsing the enormous variety of sites and home pages on the World Wide Web, it is difficult to compare and contrast items that do not have anything in common. How can we say the "Wall Street Journal page" is better than "Joe's Page of Craziness?" Therefore the first step in critiquing web pages is by determining their purpose. The goal of a web page can vary from presenting factual information such as the "CIA Page," or displaying one's own computer generated art. Hence, the only way to judge a page is by examining what it tries to accomplish, and how it achieves its goal. Once the objective of the page is established, three simple criteria can be used to determine its "net worth" (pun not intended...hehehe). First of all, one must ask "Does it complete its goal?" Does it present the information about SPAM accurately, or does it successfully present original artworks? Second, "How effective is its presentation?" This criteria can be divided into two parts first, how well written the textual parts describe the subject, and second, how the graphical parts are used to support the topic. The main areas of graphical representation would be the use of a background, the use of color to emphasize important points, and the use of images to decorate and support the main topic. A good web page should include background on the author and descriptions of the purpose. In addition, the page should be organized in a logical manner in which anyone would be able to find their information quickly and easily. Finally, one must determine how much effort and time was invest ed in developing the page. Obviously, a UT student's home page can not compare in complexity or size to the "Silicon Graphics page." Thus, by estimat... ...site qualifies as a good site due to its success at accomplishing its objective, and the great amount of work done in shaping his web site. However, with the exception of the title headers, the site is visually unappealing. With a little work, and a little artistic talent, the graphics could be used more functionally in supporting his key ideas and links. In general, the site is above average, but has potential to rank among the top web sites on the net. Works Cited Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense --> http://nextdch.mty.itesm.mx/~plopezg/Kaplan/Hitchcock.html This site describes the work, background, and trivial information about Alfred Hitchcock. The graphics are deficient, but the information was interesting. There are many pages dealing with the movies he's made, and many pages dealing with fun trivia, such as cameo or famous quotes.

Tibetan Meditative Transformation Essay -- Buddhism Religion Papers

Tibetan Meditative Transformation When one hears the word "Tibet," several pop-culture images come to mind; these might include the often seen "Free Tibet!" bumper sticker, the perpetual smile of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, or the mental image of orange clad monks with shaved heads, chanting in unison. American culture has embraced many aspects of Tibetan culture in a rather superficial manner, but upon further inspection, it becomes apparent that these particular aspects have been embraced because they represent what is most important to Tibetans: their seemingly endless struggle for political freedom from an oppressive Chinese rule, the religious and political role of their charismatic leader, Tenzin Gyatso, and the role of religion in everyday life. One particular Tibetan practice which Americans seem to have latched onto is the idea of meditation. Many Westerners see it as a way to improve their lives; and yet meditation, while helpful, may not be all that unique in terms of its effects on occasional practitioners . Meditation is an essential part of Buddhism, the religion which pervades every aspect of the traditional Tibetan life; it was in part this central, unifying ideology that allowed the Tibetans to be almost completely self-contained, with little or no contact to the outside world, for most of their history prior to the twentieth century. The Dalai Lama and other religious figures lead the country; Buddhism is an inseparable part of Tibetan culture, to the extent that traditional Tibetans sometimes find themselves unable to relate to outsiders, and for this reason strove in the past to sustain themselves without trade or contact with other cultures. Prior to Chinese occupation, an extremely large percent of the ... ... Rehabilitation, 12, 117-125. Piburn, S. (1993). The Dalai Lama, a policy of kindness: An anthology of writings by and about the Dalai Lama. Ithaca, NY, USA: Snow Lion Publications. Stoyva, J., & Anderson, C. (1982). A coping-rest model of relaxation and stress management. In L. Goldberger & S. Breznitz (Eds.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects (pp. 745-763). London: Collier Macmillan Publishers. Teasdale, J. D., Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., Ridgeway, V. A., Soulsby, J. M., & Lau, M. A. (2000). Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 68, 615-623. West, M. A. (1987). Traditional and psychological perspectives on meditation. In M. West (Ed.), The psychology of meditation (pp. 5-22). New York: Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press. Tibetan Meditative Transformation Essay -- Buddhism Religion Papers Tibetan Meditative Transformation When one hears the word "Tibet," several pop-culture images come to mind; these might include the often seen "Free Tibet!" bumper sticker, the perpetual smile of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, or the mental image of orange clad monks with shaved heads, chanting in unison. American culture has embraced many aspects of Tibetan culture in a rather superficial manner, but upon further inspection, it becomes apparent that these particular aspects have been embraced because they represent what is most important to Tibetans: their seemingly endless struggle for political freedom from an oppressive Chinese rule, the religious and political role of their charismatic leader, Tenzin Gyatso, and the role of religion in everyday life. One particular Tibetan practice which Americans seem to have latched onto is the idea of meditation. Many Westerners see it as a way to improve their lives; and yet meditation, while helpful, may not be all that unique in terms of its effects on occasional practitioners . Meditation is an essential part of Buddhism, the religion which pervades every aspect of the traditional Tibetan life; it was in part this central, unifying ideology that allowed the Tibetans to be almost completely self-contained, with little or no contact to the outside world, for most of their history prior to the twentieth century. The Dalai Lama and other religious figures lead the country; Buddhism is an inseparable part of Tibetan culture, to the extent that traditional Tibetans sometimes find themselves unable to relate to outsiders, and for this reason strove in the past to sustain themselves without trade or contact with other cultures. Prior to Chinese occupation, an extremely large percent of the ... ... Rehabilitation, 12, 117-125. Piburn, S. (1993). The Dalai Lama, a policy of kindness: An anthology of writings by and about the Dalai Lama. Ithaca, NY, USA: Snow Lion Publications. Stoyva, J., & Anderson, C. (1982). A coping-rest model of relaxation and stress management. In L. Goldberger & S. Breznitz (Eds.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects (pp. 745-763). London: Collier Macmillan Publishers. Teasdale, J. D., Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., Ridgeway, V. A., Soulsby, J. M., & Lau, M. A. (2000). Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 68, 615-623. West, M. A. (1987). Traditional and psychological perspectives on meditation. In M. West (Ed.), The psychology of meditation (pp. 5-22). New York: Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press.

Rebellion in Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale :: Handmaids Tale

Rebellion in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale "Rebels defy the rules of society, risking everything to retain their humanity. If the world Atwood depicts is chilling, if 'God is losing,' the only hope for optimism is a vision that includes the inevitability of human struggle against the prevailing order." -Joyce Johnson- Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale analyzes human nature by presenting an internal conflict in Offred: acceptance of current social trends (victim mentality) -vs- resistance for the sake of individual welfare and liberties (humanity). This conflict serves as a warning to society, about the dangers of the general acceptance of social evils and boldly illustrates the internal struggle that rebels face in choosing to rebel. Offred is a Handmaid in the republic of Gilead and while she seems unhappy about this, she is confused about her identity and even starts to accept the role that has been imposed upon her. It seems strange that one might accept such radical changes so easily. Offred has been manipulated into believing that this sinister system was designed for her own good. Peter S. Prescott says: " Offred at first accepts assurance that the new order is for her protection." (151) She must lie on her back once a month and hope that commander makes her pregnant because her sole purpose is to act as a vessel. She even starts to measure her self-worth by the viability of her ovaries and this negatively affects her self-image. This is how Offred characterizes the deploring act : "The commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I don't say making love because that's not what he is doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate because it would imply two people,when there is only one. Nor does rape cover it. Nothing was going on here that I haven't signed up for. There wasn't a lot of choice, but there was some and this is what I chose." (Atwood,121) This statement is very dangerous. It shows how Offred has convinced herself that this deploring act is not so bad. It also shows how she is beginning to embrace the system and justify the violations that are being commited against her. By calling it a choice she has shifted the blame from her oppressors to herself and labeled the blatant crime as a mere ritual. Offred shows signs of a developing victim mentality where she accepts defeat and associates the regime's will with her own.

On the Existence of God: On John Haught’s What is God

John Haught’s What is God aims to provide â€Å"a simple ‘mystagogy’†¦ an ‘introduction to mystery’ (116). The importance of mystery to Haught’s work may be traced to his main assumption that the existence of God is evident in the existence of â€Å"a cognitive ‘feeling’ of inexhaustibility† that an individual experiences in relation to the experience of depth, future, freedom, beauty, and truth (115). He states, â€Å"The notion of mystery is indispensable to our discourse about the divine†¦To say that God is ultimately mystery is the final word in any proper thinking about the divine†¦in order to accentuate the utter inadequacy of any thoughts we may formulate about God† (Haught 115). Haught argues that within a world controlled by technological advancements, man continuously opts to contain the mysterious aspects of life (117). In order to prevent the continuous repression of the mysterious aspects of life, Haught argues that it is necessary to consider certain experiences which when examined can only be understood within the context of the assumption that God exists. These experiences are those of depth, future, beauty, and truth. In line with this, what follows is an analysis of John Haught’s argument regarding the existence of God as it is presented in his book What is God. Initially, it is interesting to note that the book addresses the question â€Å"What is God? as opposed to â€Å"Who is God? †. By addressing the aspect of deity in a manner that cannot be represented by personal imagery, the succeeding chapters of the book discusses the main problem of God’s absence. This problem however is addressed in a similar manner within each chapter as Haught specifies the implications of this absence to the religious life of this period. The different implications of the absence of God i n the various aspects of human life are further discussed within the text through five themes for thinking about God. These themes refer to depth, future, freedom, beauty, and truth which function in the imagination as the ‘persuasion’ or ‘lure’ for the acceptance of the existence of a mysterious and divine being; that being God. Within each theme, Haught places emphasis that these themes and concepts imply a pattern of letting go in order to be able to freely step into the terrain where an individual is truly addressed by the Other. Within the context of the theme of depth, for example, Haught adheres to Paul Tillich’s discussion regarding the ‘the depth of existence’. Within the aforementioned work, Tillich argues that there are various depths to human existence. For Tillich, although the aspects of human existence differ by the degree to which an individual is subsumed within a particular experience, the manner in which one experiences and seeks the experience of the different aspects of experience in different depths ensures that there exists a fundamental aspect of existence which each individual opts for due to its ability to provide meaning to an individual’s life. Haught quotes Tillich, who states, The name of this infinite and inexhaustible depth†¦is God. The depth is what the word God means†¦For you cannot think or say: Life has no depth! Life itself is shallow. Being itself is surface only. If you could say this in complete seriousness, you would not be an atheist; but otherwise you are not. He who knows depth knows about God. (14-15) Tillich, within this context, argues that to assume that existence has various meanings and to assume that existence has no meaning both involves the assumption of the depth of existence since even if an individual merely affirms that ‘being’ is surface only, that individual also assumes that there is an aspect of existence which involves the lack of being and this lack of being in itself may be considered as an aspect of the depth of existence. In line with this, Haught argues that the experience of depth ensures the existence of God since God refers to the aspect of existence which all individual’s experience. He states, â€Å"‘God’ is a name for the dimension of depth that all of us experience to one degree or another, even if only in the mode of flight from it† (Haught 15). Haught further argues that depth is an example of one of the experiences in â€Å"the horizon of our experiences† that one recognizes the existence of God (Haught 15). Haught’s emphasis on the metaphor of the ‘horizon’ in which one experiences God repeats itself in his discussion of the other experiences which ensures the existence of God such as the future, freedom, and beauty. Haught argues that in the same manner that to live in depth involves the acceptance of the experience of the different degrees of understanding one’s life, to live in future also requires living with the instability and messiness of historical existence and with the changing images of God which these historical events imply (Haught 28). In the same manner, to live in freedom involves living courageously in the face of non-being wherein non-being refers to the face which absolute freedom presents upon the individual as it invites us to embrace it (Haught 49). To live in beauty, on the other hand, involves the ability to endure the breakdown of one’s own restrictive narrative in favour of the wider novelty and contrast of the divine narrative presented through the various images relayed by nature (Haught 71). Finally, to live in truth also involves moving beyond the security of the limited approval of others as one trusts in the unconditional acceptance which alone makes truthful living possible (Haught 111). It is important to note at this point that as Haught’s explanation for the existence of God places emphasis on the identifiable and universal aspects of human experience which may imply the existence of God, Haught’s method follows a deductive method which involves the assuming that since certain aspects of human experience remain universally mysterious to man, these experiences may be attributed to the existence of a divine being. This is in accordance to his conception of God which is not based on a gender-specific image since it allows his conception of God to explore both the theistic and non-theistic arguments for God’s existence. In the final part of the book, Haught concludes that the aforementioned experiences affirm the existence of God as a ‘mystery’ since if God is experiences as an ultimate mystery human experience of God is ensured in the different depths of reality. This however does not necessarily imply that to speak of God as a mystery involves speaking of God as an entity which is not possible for the human mind to recognize or have knowledge of. According to Haught, this merely implies that God exists as an entity which allows the human experience of boundlessness. He states, It is our fundamental openness to mystery that sets us apart from the animal and grounds the self-transcendent nature of our lives. It is our openness to mystery that constitutes the foundation of our freedom and liberates us from the slavery of mere morality. It is because of our capacity for mystery that we experience the uneasiness and anxiety that provoke us to move beyond the status quo and seek more intense beauty and more depth of truth. In short, mystery is what makes a truly human life possible in the first place. (Haught 124) For Haught, the importance of the recognition of the existence of God to human life lies in its ability to allow the individual to transcend the ordinary barriers of life. The function of religion within this context is to enable the individual to recognize the manner in which he may delve into the mystery of God in order to transcend the barriers set to the individual within social reality [i. . the barriers of sex and social status]. In line with this, it is important to note that Haught’s discussion does not place emphasis on the role of God within one particular religion. On the other hand, his discussion is veered towards the justification of the necessity of God’s existence within any form of religion. For Haught, within all these religions, the similarity between them lies in their conception of the experience of God as an experience of mystery. To equate God with mystery enables the function of God within these religious institutions to free the concept ‘God’ from the narrow ideas of ultimacy. In summary, John Haught’s What is God equates God to the experience of mystery since the experience of mystery as can be seen in the experience of depth, the future, freedom, beauty, and truth, allows the continuous evolution of humanity’s experience of God and hence in the process does not lead to the limitation of God as an anthropomorphic figure. One may note that such a view is in accordance to John Haught’s evolutionary theology as it places emphasis on the role of the evolution of human consciousness in the discovery of God. Since the mysterious events are always in accordance to what is known and what is not known by man, the development or evolutions of man’s consciousness and man himself may be equated with man’s drive towards the discovery of God. By equating God with the experience of mysterious events, events which go beyond an individual’s understanding, Haught was able to allow the synthesis of the view that man stands as an entity that is continually evolving and the view that man’s evolution is in line with the discovery of mystery however God continues to stand as a bigger entity as opposed to man as his existence is continuously affirmed by the experience of mysterious or unknown events as is the case with the experience of depth, future freedom, beauty, and truth stated in John Haught’s What is God.

Analyse The Woodpile and compare the language and themes to other Frosts poems

Frost writes a lot about the emotion of solitude and being isolated, either physically or mentally, and this poem is no different. The line, â€Å"I was just far from home†, is a good example to show how isolated and unhappy the narrator is feeling as home is a place of comfort. Pathetic fallacy is used, as the images in this poem set up a bleak icy day that reflects these emotions, for example, â€Å"frozen swamp one grey day†, the adjectives, â€Å"frozen† and â€Å"gray† emphasise this lonely feeling. Frost also gives the reader the impression of the horizon looking the same, emphasising how lost the narrator is feeling, â€Å"Too much alike to mark or name a place by†. There are other poems that resemble the idea of being alone; two examples are Home Burial and The Tuft Of Flowers. Home Burial is, for me, the loneliest poem in this selection, as it says that even though you may be surrounded by people it is possible to feel alone emotionally. In the beginning of the poem The Tuft Of Flowers the narrator is feeling alone physically. However this poem questions whether or not people can ever be truly alone, and, as a contrast to most of Frost's poems like Home Burial, decides you can't. Many parallels can be drawn between Tuft Of Flowers and The Wood Pile, another being nature, in a way, leading the narrator to an object that consequently leads the reader to the meaning of the poem. In The Wood Pile a bird flies down close to the narrator and whilst being distracted by the bird the narrator comes to the foot of a neatly measured woodpile. To show the reader that this concrete image is the most important in this poem, Frost describes it precisely, â€Å"and measured four by four by eight†. This Woodpile lets Frost make his point that people get tired of the things they do and consequently forget about them, the reader can see this from the image of the wood decaying, â€Å"slow smokeless burning of decay†. Frost also talks about the uselessness of the woodpile if it is left there â€Å"leave it there far from a useful fire place†. The words decay and useless mean the same thing as waste and wastefulness, showing that Frost's meaning is that of humans discard for the things they do. In Tuft Of Flowers, the narrator is in the process of turning some freshly cut grass, so it can be dried and made into hay, when they spot a butterfly, that whilst following it with their eyes sees a beautiful area of flowers that the mower had left for the enjoyment of others. The narrator then realise that even though they and the mower are working separately they are not just working for themselves but for other people, and thus decide that men can never truly be alone, † ‘Men work together' I told him from the heart ‘whether they work together or work apart'†. As these two concrete images lead the reader to the meaning of the poem we can see that Frost uses concrete lexis to portray abstract ideas. I believe The Woodpile is sending out the message that people are wasteful and forgetful as the wood chopper has made this stack of wood perfectly and then went off and forgot about it, however, it might be that Frost is trying to tell us that the work is more important than the reward. I think the message Frost is trying to send across is that of humans' forgetfulness as the woodpile is left there to rot, the quote, â€Å"and leave it there far from a useful fire place† shows this. As Frost ends this poem on the image, â€Å"Slow smokeless burning of decay†, which is a rather nasty image, I feel the underlying message can't be a nice one; further, as the last word in the poem is decay, that is another way of saying waste, I feel Frost is criticising people by calling them wasteful. However, Frost does say, â€Å"I thought only someone who lived in turning to fresh tasks could so forget his handiwork†. As Frost says that this person must have moved on to another job very quickly in order to forget his amazing work this poem could be read on a level that Frost believes everybody should live like this and not care for the reward but the pleasure of working. The idea that people get tried of the things they do too quickly is repeated in the poem After Apple Picking. In this poem the narrator admits that even though he was really looking forward to this harvest he is bored of it now, â€Å"I am overtired of the great harvest I myself desired†. In the end of The Wood Pile we can see one of Frost's major themes that nature is stronger and in the end more powerful than humans. We can see this in two ways. Firstly, that the snow has obliterated all evidence that humans have been here to make this woodpile, â€Å"No runner tracks in this year's snow looped near it†. Secondly, the reader can see that the man made objects-the stake and the prop that were originally put there to support the woodpile are falling over, and that nature is supporting the woodpile now, firstly from a plant wrapped around it and secondly from a tree that it is balancing on. This idea that nature is protecting it now is emphasised by the simile, â€Å"clematis had wound string around it like a bundle†, the words wrap and bundle make this quote sound like he is relating the clematis to a mother and the woodpile to a new born baby, and thus emphising the effect of nature protecting the woodpile. Two of Frost's earliest poems, Ghost House and Mending Wall, also shows his idea that nature is more powerful than humans. Ghost House is about a house that has been abandoned and is now so overgrown it is like nature is claiming it back, just as the woodpile has been claimed back by the clematis. â€Å"The footpath down to the well is healed† this line from The Ghost House symbolises that the grass has grown over the footpath and the word healed shows that it is better than it was before. Mending Wall is about two farmers relentlessly putting up a wall that has been knocked down by wind and ice. The line, â€Å"The gaps I mean, no one has seen them made or heard them made† symbolises that something beyond their control is knocking the wall down, and as this thing is nature we can see that nature is more powerful than humans. The Woodpile, like many of his later poems, is written in blank verse. This poem is also written in the form of an un-rhyming monologue that gives the impression of a person that doesn't really have anything to say and thus is rambling. The frequent enjambment used also makes this poem sound like a one sided conversation. Frost uses this conversational technique in plenty of other poems such as After Apple Picking. This technique of making his poem sound like a conversation is backed up by the trivial and unexciting moment of experience that starts of the deep hidden meaning of this poem. Therefore, I believe that The Woodpile is quintessential Frost as it uses many of his techniques, such as his un-rhyming monologue, nature being stronger than humans, abstract ideas represented by a concrete lexis, and the bleak emotion of solitude.