Housing Law Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Lodging Law Assignment - Essay Example The technique for ousting a Scottish secure occupant is given in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. Calendar 2 to the said demonstration gives grounds on which court may arrange recuperation of ownership. The proprietor needs to fulfill the sheriff that you have neglected to pay lease due and furthermore that it is sensible to remove you, considering different factors, for example, the measure of unfulfilled obligations, purpose behind overdue debts including joblessness, previous history of inhabitant, obligations of the nearby position as per requests of ousting with respect to social government assistance enactment for example Youngsters (Scotland) Act 1995. You can take the accompanying lines of barrier. (1)â â â â â â â Your business was interfered with in light of sick wellbeing and furthermore in light of the fact that you didn't get perpetual work. That you were hospitalized is additionally a factor which will be considered in support of yourself. (2)â â â â â â à ¢ You are currently getting profits by the administration, and you pay your rents out of these. According to the perception in Woodspring DC v. Taylor [3], receipt of advantages by an inhabitant is a material factor to be thought of while choosing the application for ousting. Likewise, in Angus Housing Association v. Fraser [4] it was held that the sheriff ought to consider the way that unpaid debts direct are being paid and lease is dealt with by lodging advantage. (3)â â â â â â â The way that you were sequestrated before the declaration being passed against you implies that it has not been considered by the sheriff. This is another significant factor in your conceivable safeguard. (4)â â â â â â â The proprietor occupant relationship forces obligations on the landowner. The windows of your room are seriously fitting and your landowner has not done fixes significantly following seven months of his being educated. It isn't obvious from the guidelines, yet extra use for warming because of the buildup may have prompted back payments or a piece of it. Likewise, you are qualified for retain lease till the proprietor does the fixes fundamental. According to the perception in Mary Galloway - v-City of Glasgow Council [5], the proprietor ought to have fixed the house inside a sensible period from the date of notice and in the event that not, at that point they would be in break of express and suggested commitments to fix the house. (5)â â â â â â â Your proprietor ought to have considered the way that you are jobless. Your constrained pay and sick wellbeing caused more likely than not by the ill-advised state of the house are additionally extensive elements while choosing sensibility of expulsion. Â â â â â â â â â â â According to an administration evaluation, about 40% of cases purchased to the court brought about a pronouncement for removal being given. Under 23% of the absolute cases purchased to the court came about in evict ion.[6] based on realities as you describe them, there is a decent possibility of maintaining a strategic distance from ousting. You can likewise look for full joblessness advantage from the administration, just as advantages for families. You are entitled for benefits in light of the fact that your youngsters are dependant on you. Her Majesty’s Customs and Revenue office gives these advantages. It will take one year before a portion of your obligations are consequently released. It will be of help to set up a rundown of your lenders and check whether you can concede installment to them until such time as you can get

How to Build the Best LinkedIn Marketing Strategy For Your Business

Step by step instructions to Build the Best LinkedIn Marketing Strategy For Your Business With regards to proficient web based systems administration LinkedIn is for the most part at the front line of everyone’s minds. Be that as it may, when individuals consider their internet based life advertising system, LinkedIn frequently turns into a bit of hindsight. It doesn’t must be, however. LinkedIn is an inconceivably ground-breaking B2B toolâ that can help support the buzz around your business. Furthermore, with the correct system, it tends to be colossally valuable for building your image. At the point when you read this post, you have the option to remove the accompanying: Figure out how to focus on the privilege B2B crowd that will produce the correct leads. Deliberately make content that builds up your business as a specialist in your industry. Measure your presentation and comprehend if your endeavors are effective. With all that information you’ll have the option to fabricate the ideal LinkedIn promoting methodology for your business. This Is How To Build The Best LinkedIn Marketing Strategy For Your BusinessGet the 411 on Why Your Business Should Be On LinkedIn Searching for motivation to get your image on LinkedIn? Weve got 25 of them on this free infographic. Jam-pressed with important insights and figures on the systems viability as a promoting channel, you’ll realize why LinkedIn is one of the most remarkable B2B instruments you have available to you. Download it now and offer with the doubters in your expert circle. To begin with, Determine What Your Goals Are The initial phase in your objective advancement process includes making sense of what your organization objectives are. Would you like to: Create more leads? Direct people to the site? Increment content offers? Build up your business as a specialist in the field? What are your top #LinkedIn #marketing goals?How Can LinkedIn Contribute To Your Business Goals? When you have your objectives set up, you can start to decide how LinkedIn can assist you with adding to those general objectives. A few advantages that LinkedIn is known for are: Lead generation: According to Hubspot, LinkedIn guests convert 277%â more frequently to leads than guests on other internet based life locales. Recruitment: According to LinkedIn, social expert networksâ are the main wellspring of value employs. Brand Awareness: LinkedIn is based on making a system of associations, which can help launch your image mindfulness by interfacing with your potential crowd individuals. Building up Authority: Because of its expert base, LinkedIn permits you to share data which whenever done in the correct manner can help set up the power your business has. We’ll spread how you can make that content somewhat later in this post. Contingent upon what overall objectives your group has chosen, will decide how LinkedIn can assist you with contacting them. For instance, on the off chance that one of your general business objectives is to build the quantity of deals leads for your organization by half, working and systems administration on LinkedIn could assist you with arriving at that objective. Suggested Reading: How to Set Social Media Goals to Crush Your Business Objectives The most effective method to Track Conversions From LinkedIn in Google Analytics To set your leads objective, you have to locate a standard. Open your Google Analytics, select Acquisition, at that point Social: In Social select Conversions, at that point LinkedIn. Once there set your goes back and assemble the last sixâ monthsâ of change information: To follow that information, you have to have goalsâ set for when you lead transformation happens. For instance, if a potential purchaser rounded out a get in touch with us structure, that they tapped on from your LinkedIn page, that would produce a lead. That number will go about as your gauge and assist you with deciding a strong development rate. For instance, say that in the previous a half year I changed over 1,000 leads and now I need to build my leads by 25%, I’d need to include 250 additional leads in the following a half year. LinkedIn has likewise presented LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, which are a simple method to gather lead data directly from your profile. Are you producing leads with #LinkedIn Lead Gen forms?How To Determine How Much Traffic LinkedIn Is Referring To Your Website You can likewise discover your referral traffic that is originating from LinkedIn in your Google Analytics page. Return to Acquisition and afterward select All Traffic. From All Traffic select Referralsâ and look down to discover LinkedIn: In the diagram, you’ll have the option to see the complete number of guests LinkedIn is heading to your site just as the general rate it’s adding to. A similar way that you set your objectives for drives development will apply here. Take a gander at your previous a half year of information and set a sensible development rate. Suggested Reading: How to Focus on 10X Growth Projects The most effective method to Track The Number Of Shares Your Content Is Receiving To locate the quantity of offers your substance has picked up, you’re going to go to the in-application examination on your LinkedIn profile. Select Updates and change the drop down menu to Shares. To compute your objectives take a gander at the normal number of offers in the course of recent months and select a sensible rate development objective. Instructions to Use LinkedIn To Establish Your Business As The Expert In Your Industry How would you like to build up your business as the master in your field? It is safe to say that you will distribute increasingly content? Or on the other hand perhaps bounce in and collaborate with LinkedIn bunches all the more regularly? It’s critical to recollect that cooperating in a gathering or posting all the more frequently in a gathering won’t consequently set up your position. The substance you share should be enlightening, interesting and unique. While there isn’t a metric that will be ready to let you know explicitly that your business is legitimate, you can follow measurements like adherent development, offers, and nature of commitment. Why those measurements? The more adherents you start to have, the more offers your substance gets and the more your crowd connects with your substance, the higher sign you’ll have that your crowd is discovering an incentive in your substance. How might you track that and make objectives around those three measurements? The vast majority of these measurements can be found in your in-application investigation. Go to your LinkedIn page and select Followers in your drop-down menu to discover your adherent development and Updates to discover your offers development and by and large message associations: To set your objectives you can either take the normal of development for as long as a half year of posts, or you can take the normal for the week and construct your objective dependent on that normal. Whatever your group chooses to do, ascertain your benchmark and make sense of how much your group needs to develop that gauge by. Suggested Reading: How to Use Social Media Analytics to Create the Best Posts Figure out Who Your Audience Is You can’t make extraordinary substance in the event that you don’t know who you’re focusing on it toward. The following piece of your LinkedIn methodology includes making sense of who your intended interest group is. The significant thing to recall is that LinkedIn is a B2B channel. You can’t simply move your Facebook substance to LinkedIn and call it great. This crowd type should be obliged in a quite certain manner. Making sense of who will be a piece of your intended interest group includes considering: Who right? What issues would they say they are encountering? Where are they encountering their issues? When are they encountering them Whyâ are they encountering them? Suggested Reading: How to Find Your Target Audience And Create the Best Content That Connects Upgrade Your Profile For Maximum Exposure One of the last strides in your system will enhance your LinkedIn profile for greatest introduction to your target group. Set Your Profile Picture Your profile picture ought to be your organization logo and inside the optimumâ size picture for LinkedIn. The standard size for LinkedIn is 400x400px. Use Your Banner Image Setting the correct standard picture can help carry greater character to your LinkedIn page. It tends to be standard like a CTA or progressively special, similar to a photograph of your office: Ensure Your Bio Is Completely Filled Out One of the most ignored pieces of any social profile is the account. While this may appear to be a little detail to manage, having a bio that isn’t rounded out is making you pass up another chance to associate with your client base. The pleasant thing about your LinkedIn bio is that it’s simple to alter with numerous pieces of it permitting to relocate pieces in from your site. Look at this linkâ to figure out how to alter your organization profile. Presently you may be thinking about what does an incredible LinkedIn bio incorporate? As indicated by FindandConvert, your business bio ought to include: An incredible organization diagram. You know better then any other individual what your organization is about. Take that space to mention to your crowd what you’re about. Do you have a statement of purpose or qualities that your organization lives by? Include those in. Data about your items and administrations. The essence of what are you accomplishing as an organization that is separating you from the group? In the event that a potential lead is encountering a difficult by what method can your organization help tackle it? In the event that they don’t realize what sorts of administrations you offer, for what reason would they pick you? Recommendations.â 92%â of individuals trust peer proposals over promoting. Which means why wouldn’t you feature a portion of the proposals you’ve got from your present customers. On the off chance that somebody is vacillating about your organization, what better route could there be to convince them. What does an incredible bio resemble, all things considered? Look at this model from Bobcat: Build up Voice And Tone The following piece of your technique includes making an expert voice and tone. What’s voice and tone, you inquire? As per Buffer,â€Å"your voice is your image character portrayed in a descriptive word while your tone includes a particular fl

The Case Agaisnt The Death Pen Essay free essay sample

, Research Paper Crumley English 112 17 Sep 00 The Case Against Death Punishment This article was composed by Eric M. Freedman, and was imprinted in the USA Today, magazine in March of 1997. Let us get down right at that place with Mr. Freedman. Since this article showed up in the USA Today I expected that this grown-up male was likely one that comprehended what he was talking about and likely great regarded among his equivalents. He is a teacher at Hofstra University School of Law where he shows Constitutional Law and the Death Penalty. He has tended to numerous boards of attorneies, arraigning officials, Judgess and even Congress about the perish discipline. He moved on from Yale University and is an exceptional First Amendment warrior. Presently, after all that examination I expected that what I was around to peruse was making a trip to be some cool troublesome realities about capital punishment. After all he has all the earmarks of being profoundly acceptable versed about the Constitution and the expire discipline. Since I found that he was a teacher at Hofstra University I chose to make a rebuke record verification on that particular school since I had actually neer known about Hofstra. Come to occur out Hofstra University, fitting to US NEWS, is positioned figure two in the state with regards to statute. Hofstra is by and by positioned between Yale, which is positioned first, and Harvard, which is reviewed third. Following that data that I found I consequently assumed that Mr. Freedman was most strongly a certified grown-up male and non only some radical who contradicted the expire discipline. Proceeding with the investigation I figured I would hinder down the rubric. The Case Against the Death Punishment can simply be seen a couple of courses in my book. I thought each piece in the blink of an eye as Crumley 2 I saw the rubric that this individual was making as a resistance out of the expire discipline. I more remote accepted to turn out his point that he was heading out to hold a bunch of measurements to help underwrite his point. Which for me implied that I was heading out to hold to make more research to help interfere with this paper a segment. In any case, directly as I started perusing this article I began to hold vulnerabilities in Mr. Freedman. In the extremely first section he states Harmonizing to pundits ( USA Today, pg 48 ) and does non call any of them. Who are these alleged pundits? They could be anyone. They could be an entire commission of resistances of the perish discipline, who moreover only show discoveries that they concur with. In this way, I as a peruser, have no idea with the exception of the way that it was a gathering of purported pundits. At that point straight after the main passage he says that in September of 1995, the territory of New York re-organized the expire discipline and that this solitary implied that New Yorkers will get less offense control than they had previously. ( USA Today, pg 48 ) Well I chose to make a shade bit all the more burrowing and found that, blending to the 1992 and 1997 FBI Uniform Crime Report for the New York State nation, since 1992 genuine offense had declined nearly 33 % . What I other than discovered was that the killing rate was down and brutal offense was down 39 % and 32 % severally. Presently, after turn excursion that one inaccurate my confirmation in Mr. Freedman was dropping rapidly. Be that as it may, I chose to give him the advantage of the vulnerability and said that we as a whole can do mistakes. Tailing I found his main plan for making this article in the principal sentence of the third passage. What's more, he underpins this announcement with the grounds of the perish discipline s gigantic cost, a hurt to open security, it does non chop down offense, is racially Crumley 3 oppressive, and will at last be delivered on the unpracticed individual. That just happened to give me a group more ammunition to lb this article. The accompanying point that Freedman endeavors to do is that the perish discipline does non chop down offense. What he does non state you is that the expire discipline is non intended to chop down offense. The perish discipline is a signifier of punishment intended to discard profoundly savage criminals. Freedman of class so moves to back up this idea with the way that somewhere in the range of 1975 and 1985 twice the same number of constabularies officials were slaughtered in expire discipline areas as no perish discipline regions. When again Freedman has attempted to take the peruser adrift. He does non state you that those regions with the expire discipline have higher offense rates since they are 1s with huge metropoliss, for example, New York, Chicago and Detroit. What he other than does non state you is that during the 1980 s offense was up countrywide orchestrating to the FBI Uniform Crime Report. Following Freedman utilizes an equity in Harris County, Texas to do a point. Freedman calls attention to that 10 % of all executings since 1976 have taken topographic point in this impossible to miss region lawful force. He so utilizes a quote from this equity to look for and blast his point place or might be help convey the peruser more since he his using another sort of approval figure. What I discovered intriguing about this curious quote is that the equity could hold been seeing on offense when all is said in done, non simply the perish discipline To follow this segment of the article he tosses in the way that the expire discipline is exorbitantly costly. Which I accept was the best and most obvious bit of this article. With the exploration that I experienced I happened that even most supporters of the Crumley 4 expire discipline held with this point. The perish discipline is extremely costly. However, he tosses in some cost that I appear to accept would be acceptable. For example, more test on the indictment. What he does non state you is that the arraignment needs more test to get a perish discipline finding of reality. The accompanying claimed reality Freedman presents to us is that the expire discipline rhenium duces open security. That announcement is non a reality. On the off chance that that were genuine we would likely non hold the expire discipline. Does the legal framework genuinely want to set individuals to perish terrible bounty that they would risk different people groups lives? At that point Freedman expresses that orchestrating to financial occupations New York can non buy unassailable petticoats for every last bit of it harmony officials. He is truly expressing that since the perish discipline is so expensive it is an immediate outcome on the security of New York s constabulary officials. I accept there are numerous different elements that can be tossed into that condition. Anyway, have you considered the way that non each constabulary official is on duty? I have been informed that most constabularies officials accomplish non work 24 hours a twenty-four hours 300 60 five yearss a twelvemonth. Following Freedman utilizes the delineation of opiates and mediation. What's more, that a portion of the cash being spent on the perish discipline could be utilized for taking care of these individuals who bolster themselves through offense. Above all else I ask what number of medication clients would truly set themselves into mediation? I mean all things considered if these individuals are so far snared on drugs that they submit offenses to obtain them, so they likely do non care bounty to set themselves into recovery. Presently Freedman presents another alleged actuality. He states, on a very basic level that the Crumley 5 perish discipline is equipped towards an impossible to miss gathering of individuals. On the off chance that that were truly evident I accept the specialists would be hearing an ear full from the full populace. After that incredible gathering of realities, Freedman gives the peruser a few insights on racial partiality. Nonetheless, he accomplished something a little extraordinary this clasp and scrutinized his ain Numberss. He was directly in expressing that there are different elements that should be taken into history with the figures he showed. Yet, I should oppugn two additional things in this passage. First what surveies exactly tended to these issues? What's more, on the off chance that it were genuine that one of the significant loaning factors on whether individual got a finding of actuality of the expire was their race, I do non accept the justness framework would proceed to use capital punishment. The accompanying variable that Freedman says that adds to the discipline of the expire in salary. He continues endlessly about how hapless individuals can non secure pleasant portrayal in capital occurrences. Let us take a gander at this from another edge. There are non numerous attorneies around that acknowledge capital occasions. Like Freedman says the field is amazingly determined. Plus, I had another articulation at the FBI Uniform Crime Report, and it expresses that lower salary bunches will in general execute capital offenses. At that point Freedman attempts to analyze the nature of capital killing tests to that of lawful offense cases. All things considered, a crime occasion does non be close to each piece much as a capital killing occurrence. In addition, most resistance attorneies are set up to help crimes a touch spot more than capital cases. The finishing up factor that Freedman utilizes is that of mental disablement. He says that jurymans are bound to set individual to expire that has a psychological disablement or some likeness thereof. Crumley 6 Presently, on the off chance that you take a gander at the existent offense itself, one would hold to be a little spoiled to execute an offense awful bounty to be attempted as a capital case. Prior in the article Freedman utilizes Ted Bundy as an outline. For what reason does he non use Bundy as a representation now? May be it is on the grounds that the name, Ted Bundy, naturally brings a thought of individual who is truly upset and is likely considered by most a decent beneficiary of the perish discipline. The closing truth that Freedman utilizes is that at long last the perish discipline will be perpetrated on the unpracticed individual. I would wish to get down with the word unpracticed individual. Truly the statute states one is guiltless until demonstrated blameworthy. Be that as it may, the word unpracticed individual will non be found in any test. An individual is

Desciptive Essay Samples

Desciptive Essay SamplesDesciptive essay samples are easy to find and can be found in any college library. There are many available on the Internet and the prices vary as much as the styles. There are sites that will give you free advice about the styles they use, but it is best to get an idea of the type of essay style you want first.A good idea is to contact several different writers and see what you like the most and then write an essay based on the writing samples they provide. By contacting several different writers you will have a feel for which style you prefer. It may be the online writing style or perhaps a hybrid style. You will also learn more about the writers before you purchase their essays.Some examples of descriptive essay samples include classics such as, Citizen Kane and Huckleberry Finn. Some are harder to write than others, but it is important to go with what you know and what you want to do with your education. Some of these styles require students to use more pe rsonal references and to have more detailed information about them.Although you can find a lot of writing samples by searching the Internet, many writing websites do not always provide the best advice on writing. Sometimes they are biased against certain authors or books. For this reason, it is best to use an online writing website and choose one that is unbiased in their writing styles.Often writers with this type of writing style to write a great deal of sentences and their essay may have a great flow to it. However, the grammar can be very problematic and this will need to be corrected for each of the students and teachers. A common problem with students of this style is that they do not finish each sentence and leave the reader to fill in the rest. They need to have the benefit of knowing where the readers eyes will be drawn.Another thing to look for is whether the writer uses the 'You are my friend' style of writing. The writer should use good grammar and should use simple word s that flow together. Often this type of writing style works well in English composition classes.If you are planning to use the Descriptive Essay sample as your paper or even as your final work, you need to find a writer who has used it in his or her own writing. The students of this style will enjoy learning a new type of essay that many do not think is useful. The writing style can even be used for teaching because the students can learn the structure.

Studying and Preparing for Final Exams

Final exams are stressful for many students--and its no wonder. Finals are designed to allow students to demonstrate how much information they have retained from an entire semester. When it comes to preparing for finals, every subject is a little bit different, so you should specialize your study skills for each particular exam. A General Strategy for Preparing for Finals Studies show that certain methods are important when it comes to memorization. If youre studying for a topic that involves a lot of new terms and concepts, you must prepare for a test with a reusable practice test. Fill in the practice sheet and repeat until you get all the answers right.Believe it or not, students have reported that lots of points are lost because they get careless on bubble sheets! Review these common and very costly bubble sheet errors that can wreck your test performance. If you misalign by a single space, you can get every answer wrong!Review common instruction words that teachers use. Know the difference between contrast, analyze, and compare, for example. You may think these the same thing when it comes to writing your answer essay, but there are very specific expectations for each word.If finals week means lots of back-to-back exams for you, you should prepare yourself mentally and physically for the many consecutive hours you can spend writing. Dont make your essay answer too short because your hand is getting tired!Fill in the blank e xams require special preparation. You start by reading over your class notes to underline new terms, important dates, noteworthy phrases, and the names of key people.If part of your final involves constructing a long essay outside of the classroom, you should become very familiar with all the behavior that constitutes plagiarism. You might be surprised to find out how easy it is to plagiarize. And plagiarism normally results in an immediate fail! Preparing for Finals in English and Literature Classes Literature professors are most likely to test you with long and short essay questions. First rule when preparing for a literature exam: read the material again! Be prepared to compare two or more stories that youve read. Also, know the traits of every character. Before going into any essay test session, you should review basic punctuation rules. Preparing for Exams in Foreign Language Classes If youre mainly concerned about memorizing a list of new words when learning a foreign language, you can use this color-coding method to memorize vocabulary words. If youre preparing for a final exam in Spanish, you can review a list of common mistakes students make when composing Spanish essays. You may also need to insert Spanish symbols as you create your final essay. Practice early and practice a lot to ace a Spanish test! Thats the advice from readers. Sometimes its necessary to cram for a foreign language final. If you need to learn a lot of French in a little bit of time, try some practice techniques offered by our Guide to French Language. Preparing for Science Finals Many science teachers like to use multiple choice questions to test students. To prepare for this type of test, you should look closely at the concepts behind themes to make sure you are prepared for all of the above and none of the above answers. Look at any lists of components or traits. When taking a chemistry final, be sure to mind dump every memorized equation at the start. Join a study group and seek study advice from other students. Use common sense when you prepare for test day. Eat right and get enough sleep! Preparing for a Psychology Final If your psychology teacher offers a test review, it is important to take smart and sensible notes. You can use your review notes to create a practice exam. When preparing for a psychology test, its particularly important to review psychological theories youve covered in class and apply them to real-life examples when you can. Preparing for Math Finals For many students, math finals are the most intimidating of all! Some of the best advice for preparing for math exams comes from our readers. Work slowly and review each problem at least ten times--thats the kind of wisdom readers share. Review these problem-solving strategies to know how and when to use certain procedures. Its critical to memorize the basic rules that are necessary for working on many problems: divisibility rulesorder of operationsnegative and positive rulesgeometry formulas Final Exams in History History exams will involve memorizing dates as well as memorizing new history terms for your exam. Be sure to brush up on techniques for preparing for a short answer test. Many teachers in the social sciences prefer to use essay exam questions. To prepare for an essay exam, you should read over your notes and textbook chapters to search for hidden themes, Your history final may involve writing a long history paper. Make sure your essay fits the assignment and is formatted correctly. Our Guide to Ancient History provides excellent advice for last minute study tips for history class. Finding a Study Partner It is very helpful for many students to study with a good partner. Find a serious student and find a good study space to exchange practice questions and compare notes. A great study partner will understand some methods or problems that you dont. You will be able to explain some problems with your partner in return. Its a trade-off.

Plastic Surgery Sticky Business - 1897 Words

â€Å"I married my wife out of love, but as soon as we had our first daughter, we began having marital issues,† Feng told the Irish Times. â€Å"Our daughter was incredibly ugly, to the point where it horrified me.† A Chinese man, Jian Feng, sued his wife for having an affair because the daughter did not look like him nor the wife. They had a total of three kids together. When DNA results came back, it was Feng’s daughter. The case was dropped. That’s when the wife came out and told him that she went under the knife and had plastic surgery done before they met. He then took her to court a second time to sue her for marrying him â€Å"under false pretenses† and won $120,000 (sdfgfd). Plastic surgery is sticky business because it incorporates so many†¦show more content†¦Most women want to enhance their features and boost their self-esteem. Surgery can take place on any part of the body. On the face, they can do cheek lifts, face lifts, neck lifts, eyelid surgery, botox, and more. On the body, abdomen reduction, arm lift, body liposuction, breast lift, breast reduction, breast augmentation, and buttock lift can be performed. Before taking that step, people should question of why they want to go through with this because the surgery can have lasting and striking appearances. Before the surgery, the patient must meet with the surgeon or another health care member. It would be beneficial if a patient was mentally and physically healthy. It is paramount for customers to understand how it could also affect them mentally. Those who usually have a successful operation understand the medical risks, the effects while healing, the expense cost, and have realistic expectations. Being realistic about a patient s surgeries are important to the improvement. The results will vary from each person. They should have thoroughly discussed their procedure with their surgeon and have their questions resolved, and have any other illnesses un der control. They should not have been smoking or chewing tobacco six weeks before and after the surgery, and has kept a stable weight for up to six to one year. Depending on a person’s operation, the recovery time will vary. At

Impairment of Goodwill and Deferred Taxes

Question: Discuss about the Impairment of Goodwill and Deferred Taxes. Answer: Introduction In this report a complete study has been prepared over the impairment test of under AASB 136 on the assets of The Longreach group Ltd. This company is private equity firm typically invest in mature industrials and financial services around the globe. There are various recent economic changes which have thrown a spotlight on the impairment test. As such many entities around the globe considered to evaluate their impairment testing process, identified models and assumptions. AASB 136 as amended is equivalent to IAS 136 which is used for implication of impairment test on the items shown in the financial statement of organization. In this report complete study has been prepared over how impairment test could be performed by The Longreach group Ltd in accordance with IAS 36. Purpose of impairment test An impairment test is newly adopted mechanism started in Australia to measure whether the items in financial statement is shown at its true values . By using the impairment test in accordance with AASB 136 could reduce the amount shown in balance sheet by either its intangible or tangible assets if impairment test indicates lower value. Impairment testing can be applied for different accounting process named commercial accounting and tax accounting. However, various countrie have different accounting standards and justifications for implication of impairment test. It is observed that international financial accounting standard have been followed by several countries for impairment test of amount stated in balance sheet. The mainly purpose of this test is to make changes accordingly to identify whether assets are put at not more than their recoverable amount. Common mistakes in impairment test include calculation of wrong impairment amount, discount rate and terminal value. Impact on the impairment test with the existence of goodwill Ideally in the business functioning of the organization there is needed to identify the true value of items stated in Balance Sheet. Therefore company has to use impairment test if on the reporting date an assessment made indicates that carrying amount of an assets exceeds its recoverable amount. However, goodwill will be taken for impairment test on annual basis (Godfrey, et., al., 2009) Testing of goodwill for impairment For impairment test, acquired goodwill in business will affect the impairment test on CGU (group of assets that generate cash inflow). Goodwill must be given to CGU that are expected to take benefits from the synergy of combination of two businesses. In this case yearly impairment test for the CGU to which goodwill was allocated must be performed at reporting time. It is observed that wile implementation of impairment test CGU needs to be undergone with the impairment test without containing goodwill in its business functioning. Then individual test would be done to identify the true value of all the asset of The Longreach group Ltd. By using this test it could be evaluated that whether company has created value or not by acquiring goodwill in its business functioning. In this impairment testing IAS 36 needs entities to compare their past value of cash inflow to actual cash inflow in assessment (Hart, et., al., 2008). If good will exists in the business functioning of The Longreach group Ltd then recoverable value of intangible assets in impairment test would be based on either enterprises value or equity value. At the time of recoverable amount based on enterprises value the results should be compared with invested capital. In case of equity value it should be based on common shareholder equity. If the recoverable amount based on enterprises value is less than investment amount of company then impairment test would be implemented to reduce the value of goodwill to the certain computed amount. However, carrying amount of assets should not be reduced below the highest of fair value less cost of capital or value in use or zero (Sorros, et., al., 2015). Basis steps for introducing impairment test AASB 136 prescribes procedure for Longreach group Ltd to ensure whether assets are carried out or recorded at no more than their recoverable amounts. However standards applied to all the assets except for the following types of assets has shown as below. For the effective impairment test Longreach group Ltd would indulge in recoverable test for identifying the true values of items shown in balance sheet. This test identifies the sum of undisclosed proposed future cash inflows with the carrying amount of assets. If carrying amount is greater than the amount computed then assets would be considered not recoverable. Longreach group Ltd has to check following basic steps for applying impairment test (Sorros, et., al., 2015). Identification of recoverable amount of assets. Present and future cash inflows from the business functioning while acquiring goodwill. Application of all accounting standard in accordance with IAS 36 for implementing impairment test. Benefits to different set of CGUs in business functioning of Longreach group Ltd This above graph depicts how company has to implement impairment test for identifying the impairment benefits and loss for the true and fair value of assets shown in the balance sheet (Li, et., al., 2011). Conclusion In this essay various facts and figure of assets shown in the balance sheet of Longreach group Ltd has been taken into consideration. This impairment test has been followed in this report which provides key aspects to evaluate the true value of assets of organizations. Now in the end it would be said valuation in assets are found consistently due to various reasons. Therefore company should apply impairment test on annual basis to identify true exact value of assets stated in balance sheet of the company. References Detzen, D., Stork genannt Wersborg, T. Zlch, H. 2016, "Impairment of Goodwill and Deferred Taxes Under IFRS",Australian Accounting Review,vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 301-311 Godfrey, J.M. Koh, P. 2009, "Goodwill impairment as a reflection of investment opportunities",Accounting and Finance,vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 117-140. Li, Z., Shroff, P.K., Venkataraman, R. Zhang, I.X. 2011, "Causes and consequences of goodwill impairment losses",Review of Accounting Studies,vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 745-778 PETERSEN, C. PLENBORG, T. 2010, "How Do Firms Implement Impairment Tests of Goodwill?",Abacus,vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 419-446. Sorros, J., Belesis, N. Karagiorgos, A. 2015, "The Reliability of Impairment Tests: The Case of Vessels",Procedia Economics and Finance,vol. 32, pp. 1787-1793.

I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings Essays - Lecturers, Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings, a 1979 movie directed by Fielder Cook, is a renowned autobiographical account of Maya Angelou's youth. Based on Maya Angelou's best selling novel, this film takes place during the Great Depression. The story takes place in a bigoted, vicious town in Stamps, Arkansas where Maya and her brother, Bailey, grow up with their grandmother and uncle. The family is forced to deal with racism from the KKK as well as other whites in the society. Maya begins school and proudly excels academically. Maya is pushed back and forth between her mother and grandmother's house, not being able to situate herself either way. The turning point of the movie is when Maya is sexually attacked and with draws into total silence, thinking that her words would do harm to the people around her. Not much could be done but finally her teacher inspires her and is able to get Maya speaking once more. Maya makes a wonderful valedictory speech at her graduation, being able to express her feelings and emotions. The events from her youth to her graduation, serve to illustrate the lesson of not letting someone else define who and what you are. I enjoyed watching I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings because it chronicles Maya Angelou's youth while learning about the general troubles encountered as a young black woman. The movie is separated into episodes, each leading up to the climatic scene at the end. Angelou slowly builds tension around the graduation by relating the children's excitement and the parent pride. The overall structure of Cage Bird shows Angelou overcoming a series of problems to reach the powerful climax at the end. I believe that the lesson the movie was trying to portray through Maya's youth was illustrated nicely through the powerful, emotional, and suspenseful scenes. This movie was enjoyable to watch, made possible by the background music and the great actors and actresses who created this movie.

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me Essays - Drinking Culture

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me Essays - Drinking Culture The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me Alcohol, probably the oldest drug known, has been used since the earliest of societies for celebration, rituals, and other social situations. In the early 1920s, society viewed alcohol as more of a social problem. The 18th amendment was passed to outlaw the consumption, sale, or trade of alcohol. This action caused much more delinquency, as a result of gangsters, and other organized crimes against the government. Prohibition was abolished with the 21st amendment in 1933. The poem The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me was written only a few years after prohibition and reflects the true nature of alcoholism. Although alcoholism was still frowned upon in this era, Schwartz uses a bear to expose and reflect the true nature of alcoholism. In the last stanza, The secret life of belly and bone shows that Schwartz feels that alcoholism is still unacceptable behavior. Schwartz uses physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of a bear to explain the nature of alcoholism. Schwartz gives the bear human characteristics that would be true of an alcoholic, Clumsy and lumbering here and there and In love with candy, anger, and sleep. Much like bears, people who are alcoholics, may experience a great deal of difficulty keeping his/her balance or controlling their emotions. Schwartz furthers this metaphor of an alcoholic by showing a physical dependence: Trembles and shows the darkness beneath. Due to withdrawal, an alcoholic may wake up in the morning with tremors and distress that require a drink for relief. The bear is also eager to engulf his physical need as shown in the line, A manifold honey to smear on his face. This strong need for alcohol outweighs what a person knows and understands about the effect on the body. Schwartz conveys to his readers that alcoholism is an inevitable burden. He tells us the bear is That inescapable animal walks with me / Moves where I move, distorting my gesture. It is apparent that Schwartz feels that alcoholism is a bur den. Conflicts with culture may make it difficult for some people to develop their own stable attitudes and moderate patterns of drinking. An alcoholic may feel the drinking is a way to become more sociable or change their mood. The author shows that although the bear appears to be confident, he has many insecurities, The strutting show-off is terrified, dressed in his dress-suit. Schwartz shows an unhealthy connection to drinking, A sweetness intimate as the waters clasp. This line explains the emotional hold alcohol has over the bear. Using the word intimate, he shares with the readers what a very personal issue this is for an alcoholic. When he describes the waters clasp, the reader is able to understand what a strong grasp alcohol has over him. The bear Howls in his sleep because of the tightrope to further explain the emotional pain associated with this illness. Along with physical and emotional duress, the psychology of an alcoholic is a deep, recurring issue. An alcoholic who has sustained from drinking is referred to as a recovering alcoholic, not as a cured alcoholic. The author is unable to freely admit this is a problem for him; he uses the bear as a scapegoat. Schwartz tells us the story of the bear on his back. He leads the readers to believe that if it werent for the bear that everything would be okay. He states, With whom I would walk without him near. If the author could do this and leave his unbearable problems, he feels it would bare my heart and make me clear. An alcoholic must recognize that he or she is powerless over alcohol, and seek help from a higher power in regaining control of his or her life. Alcoholism is an extremely serious problem it both today as it was yesterday. The poem The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me was written to expose a serious problem in an era where there was little or no help for this serious illness. The disorder is marked by extreme or compulsive use of alcohol. This horrifying disease strikes millions of Americans, The scrimmage of appetite everywhere. Schwartz complaints of the bear and describes it as

Financial accounting standards board Research Paper

Financial accounting standards board - Research Paper Example However, after the approval of the amendment, entities going through mergers and acquisitions are obliged by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to implement this change in their financial reporting. This is to ensure consistency in the application of these standards among the entities affected. Accounting for any combination taking place after the approval date must be in accordance with the provisions of this standards. In addition, full implementation must be observed, that is, once an entity decides to use these standards, it must be applied fully, ensuring compliance with every paragraph of the standard and not partial compliance (FASB, p14).The board may permit early application to implement the standard by entities undergoing combinations. They can simply apply to the board if they are certain about using the standard. The board may however choose to accept or reject such applications. When the board is sufficiently satisfied that the applicants can implement this standar d, it grants the permission for an early implementation. When such permission is granted, the applicant must comply with the requirements of each provision of the standard as partial compliance is prohibited. They must ensure recognition, measurement, and disclosure are as per the requirements of the standard (FASB, p18).The proposed amendment would result in more relevant information as compared to the current standard on disclosure of identifiable intangible assets. Firstly, this standard limits the separate recognition to non-cancelable contractual terms and other legal rights.

Contemporary Management Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Contemporary Management Issues - Essay Example The company’ s business is a large-scale business accounting almost all of the country’s natural gas supply and for more than 70% of its crude oil productions (Petroleum Development Oman, 2014). In order to perform its operational activity at more than 5,000 producing wells the company employs about 6  000 people and works with more than 35, 000 contractors (Petroleum Development Oman, 2014). Taking into consideration this type of business and the number of people involved, the company has extremely huge social and environmental responsibility for its activity. There are two key objectives of the assignment. The first one is to provide an overview of the theories of business ethics to stakeholders and critical analysis of how Petroleum Development Oman Llc develops and sustains business ethics and how the company conducts business ethics to its stakeholders (including shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, and government). The second objective is to review different elements of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to provide critical evaluation of the rewards/benefits of CSR obtains the Petroleum Development Oman Llc while implementing CSR. There are many various definitions and interpretations of the term â€Å"business ethics†. One of the most common interpretations is that business ethics or values set the definitions of good and bad, right or wrong in business environment (Payne, & Landry 2006). Further, these definitions become generally accepted standards in the business context (Gavai 2010). Thomas Garrett explains that business ethics is â€Å"concerned primarily with the relationship of business goals and techniques to specific human needs† (cited by Gavai 2010, 4). There are recognized two traditional theories of business ethics: Raiborn and Payne principles and the Kantian analysis (Payne, & Landry 2006). The idea of the

The Themes of Heart of Darkness Essay Example for Free

The Themes of Heart of Darkness Essay â€Å"The Heart of Darkness† by Conrad is one of the great novels of English literature. This novel exposes the greed, malice and selfishness of the European men. They exploit the wealth of Africa in the name of civilizing the natives. They take away their ivory and in return gave them hunger, destitution, poverty, degradation and death. The English men of this novel lack morals and conscience. Conrad observed the hypocrisy of his country men and exposed it in a marvelous way in this short piece of art. Feder (1955) is of the view that Heart of Darkness is an allegory that takes into account the souls journey through purgatory and hell to salvation, and that expedition is analogous to the pursuit for the Holy Grail or is equivalent to expedition of Dantes Inferno. (p. 290) Conrad major objective in writing a sea-voyage is best expressed in one of his letter that manifests that his major concern was that the public mind fastens on externals, on mere facts, such for instance as ships and voyages, without paying attention to any deeper significance they might have. (Jean-Aubry, 1927, pp.320-321) The theme of Imperialism: â€Å"The Heart of Darkness† is another expose of imperialism like Conrad’s â€Å"An Outpost of Progress†. In â€Å"Heart of Darkness† Conrad vehemently denunciated imperialism and racialism without damning all men who through the accident of their birth in England were committed to these public policies. According to Eloise Knapp Hay (1963), â€Å" to a man for whom† â€Å"race† meant â€Å"nation† more than â€Å"pigmentation†, and for whom â€Å"nation† was a sacred image, the nineteenth century civilization of racialism as a means of commercial profit through tyranny was history’s most agonizing chapter. In conveying the effect upon his mind, he could only imagine the worst torments of hell invoke Virgil and Dante who had seen as if hell with their own eyes†¦..and add to their testimony what he had seen with his eyes in the Congo. Yet, like Virgil and Dante, Conrad lived in   a historical moment †¦everything that was good in England had been thrown, along with the bad, into the â€Å" competition in the acquisition of territory and the struggle for influence and control†, which, according to William Langer, â€Å"was the most important factor in the international relations of Europe† between 1890 and 1910. It seemed that when Conrad actually began the writing of â€Å"heart of darkness†, he was deeply absorbed in two questions: his loyalty, both as man and as writer, to England, and his acute mistrust of the way the â€Å"civilizing work† was being accomplished by the European powers in south-east Asia and in Africa. In this novel he brings before us the nature of â€Å"western superiority† in primitive lands. Reading this story repeatedly, we know that the dark English coast before him recalls for Marlow the darkness of modern Africa, which is the natural darkness of the jungle but more than that the darkness of moral vacancy, leading to the atrocities he has beheld in Africa. This moral darkness of Africa, we learn later, is not the darkness of the ignorance of the natives, but of the Whiteman who blinded themselves and corrupted the natives by their claim to be light-bearers. Talking of the roman conquest of England, Conrad says, it was â€Å"just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a grand scale, and men going at it blind-as is very proper for those who tackle darkness†. What Romans had done in England, the English did in South Africa. Marlow admits that English conquests, like all others, â€Å"means the taking away it from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves,† though Kurtz went to the African jungle with an idea to civilize the natives; he saw his mission in Africa as that of torch bearer for white civilization. But very soon he starts extracting from the natives human sacrifices to himself as god. Finally, his hatred for the natives plunged to the depth out of which came his prescription of the only method for dealing with primitive people: â€Å"Exterminate the brutes!† Marlow will establish in his more lucid moments that what is black in Africa is what has a right to be there. If whiteness finally emerges as moral vacuity, blackness finally appears as reality, humanity and truth. The matter is more complex still, for along with the physical blackness of men and the metaphoric blackness of unchartered regions of the earth; the darkness Conrad has been suggesting all along is the forced expulsion of whatever is displaced by â€Å"light,† whatever is displaced by civilization-the expulsion of Africa’s native virtues by Europe’s self-righteousness. The European Whiteman in Africa is parasites; they are hollow; they have no personal moral vision of their inhumanity and folly. They are also collapsible, because their society’s institutions are incapable to hold them up. Ivory has become the idol of the foolish run of European pilgrims; and Kurtz is no exception.† all Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz.† Criminality of inefficiency and pure selfishness: Walter Allen (1955) believes that, â€Å"The Heart of Darkness of the title is at once the heart of Africa, the heart of evil- everything that is nihilistic corrupt and malign – and perhaps the heart of man†. (p. 122) According to Conrad (1958) himself, the story of â€Å"heart of darkness† is about the â€Å"criminality of inefficiency and pure selfishness when tackling the civilizing working Africa†. (p. 37) In the story Marlow makes much of the inefficiency and selfishness he sees everywhere along his journey in Africa. But it is the criminality of the civilizing work itself that receives the heaviest emphasis in the novel as a whole. J.W.Beach (1932) believes that Kurtz is the representative and dramatization of all that Conrad felt of futility and horror in what the Europeans in the Congo called â€Å"progress†, which meant the exploitation of the natives by the white men. Kurtz was to Marlow, penetrating this country, a name, constantly recurring in people’s talk, for cleverness and enterprise. But there were slight intimations, growing stronger as Marlow drew near to the heart of darkness, of traits and practices so abhorrent to all our notions of decency, honor and humanity that the enterprising trader gradually takes on the proportion of a ghastly and almost supernatural monster symbol for Marlow of the general spirit of this European undertaking. On his journey up the Congo, Marlow comes across the forsaken railway truck, looking as dead as the carcass of some animal; the brick maker idling for a year with no bricks and no hope of materials for making them; the â€Å"wanton   smashup† of drainage pipes abandoned in a ravine ; burst, piled up cases of rivets at the outer station and no way of getting them to the damaged steam boat at the Central Station; the vast artificial hole somebody had been digging on the slope- all these and many more are the examples of the criminality of the inefficiency. Wilson Follet believed that in this novel, â€Å"the European is shown drained, diseased, a prey to madness and unutterable horror and death†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚     This proves that the white men over there, except the company’s accountant, are inefficient and selfish. They themselves do nothing, whereas on the other hand they exploit the natives to the maximum, they extract the maximum workout of them and pay them three nine –inch long brass-wire pieces a week, which are insufficient to buy them anything. As such most of the natives are starving and dying. This novel is a very faithful accord of the cruelties and atrocities perpetrated on the natives of Africa by their European masters. The Historical theme: In Elizabethan times the Drakes and Franklins sailed from the light of England into the darkness of unknown seas, returning with the â€Å"round flanks† of their ships bulging with treasure. Nineteen centuries ago the incoming tide brought the Romans from the light of Rome into the darkness of England: the roman conquest of England was an aggravated murder on a large scale. Modern imperialism-represented by Conrad in â€Å"heart of darkness†- is not different from the ancient; the civilized white men of Europe have entered the blackness of Africa, and have united the natives. The white men come as imperialist traders but in reality for the sake of ivory they loot and plunder. For the sake of ivory the whites robed the natives of their very identity and existence. Their lives and their culture were destroyed to the maximum extent possible by the so called civilized men of the world who declared their task as â€Å"white man’s burden†. Works Cited Allen, Walter. 1955. The English novel; a short critical history. New York: Dutton. Beach, J. W. 1932. The Twentieth Century Novel; A study in Technique. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Century Co. Conrad, Joseph. 1958. Letters to William Blackwood; ed. W. Blackburn. Durham N.C.;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Duke University Press. Feder. 1955. Marlows Descent into Hell. 19 Nineteenth-Century Fiction. 289-292 Hay, E. K. 1963. â€Å"The Political Novels of Joseph Conrad†. Chicago: University of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chicago Press. Jean-Aubry, G. 1927. Joseph Conrad: Life and Letters; Letter to Richard Curle, July 17,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1923.

Race Relations in Modern American Society Essay -- Papers

Race Relations in Modern American Society Race relations are an ever prominent issue in American society. Controversies focusing around race are a commonly seen smeared across the front page of the newspaper or headlining on the evening news. The opposition is usually between a minority group and "The Man," a colloquialism used by many Blacks to refer to the overwhelming power stemming from white racist tendencies. This racial tension can sometimes can cause the oppressed to band together against the oppressor. Many times, the most prevalent link is between the African American community and the Latino community. Here we find two groups of people with very similar lifestyles who find camaraderie between themselves when dealing with America’s racism. Although the specifics may differ, the experiences of Blacks and Latinos, specifically Mexican Americans, has impacted the two communities very similarly. For example, many sociologists agree that the slavery experience is the cause of many problems Black America has today. Things such as "Black on Black" crime, broken homes, high poverty levels and drug problems are believed to have links back to slavery. Much like Blacks, Mexican Americans have problems in their communities today that stem from their dealing with immigration in this country. Their problems still exist greatly because immigration is still going on between Mexico and America. The affects of slavery and illegal immigration began many years ago, continued throughout history and continue into today’s culture. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Blacks were oppressed with the use of Black Codes followed by the implementation of Jim Crow laws and segregation. These acts of racism have since be. .. ...welfare, those who are gang affiliated, the drug users and those that live in run-down, crowded tenements who suffer from tuberculosis and depression. It forgets the many who are forced to work in sweatshops and live below poverty level. Secondly, the Model Minority Myth is a dangerous concept because Asian Americans are alienated from the majority race as well as the minority race pool. They are still perceived by white America as outsiders yet are set up for resentment by other minorities. This makes life hard for the Asian American that achieves because he is almost forced to turn against his other brothers and sisters of color. This is detrimental to the well-being of the Asian American in this country. This concept should not be used to describe the modern Asian American and should be recognized as a stereotype like any other in our society.

A Game of Thrones Chapter Thirty-seven

Bran A light snow was falling. Bran could feel the flakes on his face, melting as they touched his skin like the gentlest of rains. He sat straight atop his horse, watching as the iron portcullis was winched upward. Try as he might to keep calm, his heart was fluttering in his chest. â€Å"Are you ready?† Robb asked. Bran nodded, trying not to let his fear show. He had not been outside Winterfell since his fall, but he was determined to ride out as proud as any knight. â€Å"Let's ride, then.† Robb put his heels into his big grey-and-white gelding, and the horse walked under the portcullis. â€Å"Go,† Bran whispered to his own horse. He touched her neck lightly, and the small chestnut filly started forward. Bran had named her Dancer. She was two years old, and Joseth said she was smarter than any horse had a right to be. They had trained her special, to respond to rein and voice and touch. Up to now, Bran had only ridden her around the yard. At first Joseth or Hodor would lead her, while Bran sat strapped to her back in the oversize saddle the Imp had drawn up for him, but for the past fortnight he had been riding her on his own, trotting her round and round, and growing bolder with every circuit. They passed beneath the gatehouse, over the drawbridge, through the outer walls. Summer and Grey Wind came loping beside them, sniffing at the wind. Close behind came Theon Greyjoy, with his longbow and a quiver of broadheads; he had a mind to take a deer, he had told them. He was followed by four guardsmen in mailed shirts and coifs, and Joseth, a stick-thin stableman whom Robb had named master of horse while Hullen was away. Maester Luwin brought up the rear, riding on a donkey. Bran would have liked it better if he and Robb had gone off alone, just the two of them, but Hal Mollen would not hear of it, and Maester Luwin backed him. If Bran fell off his horse or injured himself, the maester was determined to be with him. Beyond the castle lay the market square, its wooden stalls deserted now. They rode down the muddy streets of the village, past rows of small neat houses of log and undressed stone. Less than one in five were occupied, thin tendrils of woodsmoke curling up from their chimneys. The rest would fill up one by one as it grew colder. When the snow fell and the ice winds howled down out of the north, Old Nan said, farmers left their frozen fields and distant holdfasts, loaded up their wagons, and then the winter town came alive. Bran had never seen it happen, but Maester Luwin said the day was looming closer. The end of the long summer was near at hand. Winter is coming. A few villagers eyed the direwolves anxiously as the riders went past, and one man dropped the wood he was carrying as he shrank away in fear, but most of the townfolk had grown used to the sight. They bent the knee when they saw the boys, and Robb greeted each of them with a lordly nod. With his legs unable to grip, the swaying motion of the horse made Bran feel unsteady at first, but the huge saddle with its thick horn and high back cradled him comfortingly, and the straps around his chest and thighs would not allow him to fall. After a time the rhythm began to feel almost natural. His anxiety faded, and a tremulous smile crept across his face. Two serving wenches stood beneath the sign of the Smoking Log, the local alehouse. When Theon Greyjoy called out to them, the younger girl turned red and covered her face. Theon spurred his mount to move up beside Robb. â€Å"Sweet Kyra,† he said with a laugh. â€Å"She squirms like a weasel in bed, but say a word to her on the street, and she blushes pink as a maid. Did I ever tell you about the night that she and Bessa—† â€Å"Not where my brother can hear, Theon,† Robb warned him with a glance at Bran. Bran looked away and pretended not to have heard, but he could feel Greyjoy's eyes on him. No doubt he was smiling. He smiled a lot, as if the world were a secret joke that only he was clever enough to understand. Robb seemed to admire Theon and enjoy his company, but Bran had never warmed to his father's ward. Robb rode closer. â€Å"You are doing well, Bran.† â€Å"I want to go faster,† Bran replied. Robb smiled. â€Å"As you will.† He sent his gelding into a trot. The wolves raced after him. Bran snapped the reins sharply, and Dancer picked up her pace. He heard a shout from Theon Greyjoy, and the hoofbeats of the other horses behind him. Bran's cloak billowed out, rippling in the wind, and the snow seemed to rush at his face. Robb was well ahead, glancing back over his shoulder from time to time to make sure Bran and the others were following. He snapped the reins again. Smooth as silk, Dancer slid into a gallop. The distance closed. By the time he caught Robb on the edge of the wolfswood, two miles beyond the winter town, they had left the others well behind. â€Å"I can ride!† Bran shouted, grinning. It felt almost as good as flying. â€Å"I'd race you, but I fear you'd win.† Robb's tone was light and joking, yet Bran could tell that something was troubling his brother underneath the smile. â€Å"I don't want to race.† Bran looked around for the direwolves. Both had vanished into the wood. â€Å"Did you hear Summer howling last night?† â€Å"Grey Wind was restless too,† Robb said. His auburn hair had grown shaggy and unkempt, and a reddish stubble covered his jaw, making him look older than his fifteen years. â€Å"Sometimes I think they know things . . . sense things . . . † Robb sighed. â€Å"I never know how much to tell you, Bran. I wish you were older.† â€Å"I'm eight now!† Bran said. â€Å"Eight isn't so much younger than fifteen, and I'm the heir to Winterfell, after you.† â€Å"So you are.† Robb sounded sad, and even a little scared. â€Å"Bran, I need to tell you something. There was a bird last night. From King's Landing. Maester Luwin woke me.† Bran felt a sudden dread. Dark wings, dark words, Old Nan always said, and of late the messenger ravens had been proving the truth of the proverb. When Robb wrote to the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, the bird that came back brought word that Uncle Benjen was still missing. Then a message had arrived from the Eyrie, from Mother, but that had not been good news either. She did not say when she meant to return, only that she had taken the Imp as prisoner. Bran had sort of liked the little man, yet the name Lannister sent cold fingers creeping up his spine. There was something about the Lannisters, something he ought to remember, but when he tried to think what, he felt dizzy and his stomach clenched hard as a stone. Robb spent most of that day locked behind closed doors with Maester Luwin, Theon Greyjoy, and Hallis Mollen. Afterward, riders were sent out on fast horses, carrying Robb's commands throughout the north. Bran heard talk of Moat Cailin, the ancient stronghold the First Men had built at the top of the Neck. No one ever told him what was happening, yet he knew it was not good. And now another raven, another message. Bran clung to hope. â€Å"Was the bird from Mother? Is she coming home?† â€Å"The message was from Alyn in King's Landing. Jory Cassel is dead. And Wyl and Heward as well. Murdered by the Kingslayer.† Robb lifted his face to the snow, and the flakes melted on his cheeks. â€Å"May the gods give them rest.† Bran did not know what to say. He felt as if he'd been punched. Jory had been captain of the household guard at Winterfell since before Bran was born. â€Å"They killed Jory?† He remembered all the times Jory had chased him over the roofs. He could picture him striding across the yard in mail and plate, or sitting at his accustomed place on the bench in the Great Hall, joking as he ate. â€Å"Why would anyone kill Jory?† Robb shook his head numbly, the pain plain in his eyes. â€Å"I don't know, and . . . Bran, that's not the worst of it. Father was caught beneath a falling horse in the fight. Alyn says his leg was shattered, and . . . Maester Pycelle has given him the milk of the poppy, but they aren't sure when . . . when he . . .† The sound of hoofbeats made him glance down the road, to where Theon and the others were coming up. â€Å"When he will wake,† Robb finished. He laid his hand on the pommel of his sword then, and went on in the solemn voice of Robb the Lord. â€Å"Bran, I promise you, whatever might happen, I will not let this be forgotten.† Something in his tone made Bran even more fearful. â€Å"What will you do?† he asked as Theon Greyjoy reined in beside them. â€Å"Theon thinks I should call the banners,† Robb said. â€Å"Blood for blood.† For once Greyjoy did not smile. His lean, dark face had a hungry look to it, and black hair fell down across his eyes. â€Å"Only the lord can call the banners,† Bran said as the snow drifted down around them. â€Å"If your father dies,† Theon said, â€Å"Robb will be Lord of Winterfell.† â€Å"He won't die!† Bran screamed at him. Robb took his hand. â€Å"He won't die, not Father,† he said calmly. â€Å"Still . . . the honor of the north is in my hands now. When our lord father took his leave of us, he told me to be strong for you and for Rickon. I'm almost a man grown, Bran.† Bran shivered. â€Å"I wish Mother was back,† he said miserably. He looked around for Maester Luwin; his donkey was visible in the far distance, trotting over a rise. â€Å"Does Maester Luwin say to call the banners too?† â€Å"The maester is timid as an old woman,† said Theon. â€Å"Father always listened to his counsel,† Bran reminded his brother. â€Å"Mother too.† â€Å"I listen to him,† Robb insisted. â€Å"I listen to everyone.† The joy Bran had felt at the ride was gone, melted away like the snowflakes on his face. Not so long ago, the thought of Robb calling the banners and riding off to war would have filled him with excitement, but now he felt only dread. â€Å"Can we go back now?† he asked. â€Å"I'm cold.† Robb glanced around. â€Å"We need to find the wolves. Can you stand to go a bit longer?† â€Å"I can go as long as you can.† Maester Luwin had warned him to keep the ride short, for fear of saddle sores, but Bran would not admit to weakness in front of his brother. He was sick of the way everyone was always fussing over him and asking how he was. â€Å"Let's hunt down the hunters, then,† Robb said. Side by side, they urged their mounts off the kingsroad and struck out into the wolfswood. Theon dropped back and followed well behind them, talking and joking with the guardsmen. It was nice under the trees. Bran kept Dancer to a walk, holding the reins lightly and looking all around him as they went. He knew this wood, but he had been so long confined to Winterfell that he felt as though he were seeing it for the first time. The smells filled his nostrils; the sharp fresh tang of pine needles, the earthy odor of wet rotting leaves, the hints of animal musk and distant cooking fires. He caught a glimpse of a black squirrel moving through the snow-covered branches of an oak, and paused to study the silvery web of an empress spider. Theon and the others fell farther and farther behind, until Bran could no longer hear their voices. From ahead came the faint sound of rushing waters. It grew louder until they reached the stream. Tears stung his eyes. â€Å"Bran?† Robb asked. â€Å"What's wrong?† Bran shook his head. â€Å"I was just remembering,† he said. â€Å"Jory brought us here once, to fish for trout. You and me and Jon. Do you remember?† â€Å"I remember,† Robb said, his voice quiet and sad. â€Å"I didn't catch anything,† Bran said, â€Å"but Jon gave me his fish on the way back to Winterfell. Will we ever see Jon again?† â€Å"We saw Uncle Benjen when the king came to visit,† Robb pointed out. â€Å"Jon will visit too, you'll see.† The stream was running high and fast. Robb dismounted and led his gelding across the ford. In the deepest part of the crossing, the water came up to midthigh. He tied his horse to a tree on the far side, and waded back across for Bran and Dancer. The current foamed around rock and root, and Bran could feel the spray on his face as Robb led him over. It made him smile. For a moment he felt strong again, and whole. He looked up at the trees and dreamed of climbing them, right up to the very top, with the whole forest spread out beneath him. They were on the far side when they heard the howl, a long rising wail that moved through the trees like a cold wind. Bran raised his head to listen. â€Å"Summer,† he said. No sooner had he spoken than a second voice joined the first. â€Å"They've made a kill,† Robb said as he remounted. â€Å"I'd best go and bring them back. Wait here, Theon and the others should be along shortly.† â€Å"I want to go with you,† Bran said. â€Å"I'll find them faster by myself.† Robb spurred his gelding and vanished into the trees. Once he was gone, the woods seemed to close in around Bran. The snow was falling more heavily now. Where it touched the ground it melted, but all about him rock and root and branch wore a thin blanket of white. As he waited, he was conscious of how uncomfortable he felt. He could not feel his legs, hanging useless in the stirrups, but the strap around his chest was tight and chafing, and the melting snow had soaked through his gloves to chill his hands. He wondered what was keeping Theon and Maester Luwin and Joseth and the rest. When he heard the rustle of leaves, Bran used the reins to make Dancer turn, expecting to see his friends, but the ragged men who stepped out onto the bank of the stream were strangers. â€Å"Good day to you,† he said nervously. One look, and Bran knew they were neither foresters nor farmers. He was suddenly conscious of how richly he was dressed. His surcoat was new, dark grey wool with silver buttons, and a heavy silver pin fastened his fur-trimmed cloak at the shoulders. His boots and gloves were lined with fur as well. â€Å"All alone, are you?† said the biggest of them, a bald man with a raw windburnt face. â€Å"Lost in the wolfswood, poor lad.† â€Å"I'm not lost.† Bran did not like the way the strangers were looking at him. He counted four, but when he turned his head, he saw two others behind him. â€Å"My brother rode off just a moment ago, and my guard will be here shortly.† â€Å"Your guard, is it?† a second man said. Grey stubble covered his gaunt face. â€Å"And what would they be guarding, my little lord? Is that a silver pin I see there on your cloak?† â€Å"Pretty,† said a woman's voice. She scarcely looked like a woman; tall and lean, with the same hard face as the others, her hair hidden beneath a bowl-shaped halfhelm. The spear she held was eight feet of black oak, tipped in rusted steel. â€Å"Let's have a look,† said the big bald man. Bran watched him anxiously. The man's clothes were filthy, fallen almost to pieces, patched here with brown and here with blue and there with a dark green, and faded everywhere to grey, but once that cloak might have been black. The grey stubbly man wore black rags too, he saw with a sudden start. Suddenly Bran remembered the oathbreaker his father had beheaded, the day they had found the wolf pups; that man had worn black as well, and Father said he had been a deserter from the Night's Watch. No man is more dangerous, he remembered Lord Eddard saying. The deserter knows his life is forfeit if he is taken, so he will not flinch from any crime, no matter how vile or cruel. â€Å"The pin, lad,† the big man said. He held out his hand. â€Å"We'll take the horse too,† said another of them, a woman shorter than Robb, with a broad fiat face and lank yellow hair. â€Å"Get down, and be quick about it.† A knife slid from her sleeve into her hand, its edge jagged as a saw. â€Å"No,† Bran blurted. â€Å"I can't . . . â€Å" The big man grabbed his reins before Bran could think to wheel Dancer around and gallop off. â€Å"You can, lordling . . . and will, if you know what's good for you.† â€Å"Stiv, look how he's strapped on.† The tall woman pointed with her spear. â€Å"Might be it's the truth he's telling.† â€Å"Straps, is it?† Stiv said. He drew a dagger from a sheath at his belt. â€Å"There's ways to deal with straps.† â€Å"You some kind of cripple?† asked the short woman. Bran flared. â€Å"I'm Brandon Stark of Winterfell, and you better let go of my horse, or I'll see you all dead.† The gaunt man with the grey stubbled face laughed. â€Å"The boy's a Stark, true enough. Only a Stark would be fool enough to threaten where smarter men would beg.† â€Å"Cut his little cock off and stuff it in his mouth,† suggested the short woman. â€Å"That should shut him up.† â€Å"You're as stupid as you are ugly, Hali,† said the tall woman. â€Å"The boy's worth nothing dead, but alive . . . gods be damned, think what Mance would give to have Benjen Stark's own blood to hostage!† â€Å"Mance be damned,† the big man cursed. â€Å"You want to go back there, Osha? More fool you. Think the white walkers will care if you have a hostage?† He turned back to Bran and slashed at the strap around his thigh. The leather parted with a sigh. The stroke had been quick and careless, biting deep. Looking down, Bran glimpsed pale flesh where the wool of his leggings had parted. Then the blood began to flow. He watched the red stain spread, feeling light-headed, curiously apart; there had been no pain, not even a hint of feeling. The big man grunted in surprise. â€Å"Put down your steel now, and I promise you shall have a quick and painless death,† Robb called out. Bran looked up in desperate hope, and there he was. The strength of the words were undercut by the way his voice cracked with strain. He was mounted, the bloody carcass of an elk slung across the back of his horse, his sword in a gloved hand. â€Å"The brother,† said the man with the grey stubbly face. â€Å"He's a fierce one, he is,† mocked the short woman. Hali, they called her. â€Å"You mean to fight us, boy?† â€Å"Don't be a fool, lad. You're one against six.† The tall woman, Osha, leveled her spear. â€Å"Off the horse, and throw down the sword. We'll thank you kindly for the mount and for the venison, and you and your brother can be on your way.† Robb whistled. They heard the faint sound of soft feet on wet leaves. The undergrowth parted, low-hanging branches giving up their accumulation of snow, and Grey Wind and Summer emerged from the green. Summer sniffed the air and growled. â€Å"Wolves,† gasped Hali. â€Å"Direwolves,† Bran said. Still half-grown, they were as large as any wolf he had ever seen, but the differences were easy to spot, if you knew what to look for. Maester Luwin and Farlen the kennelmaster had taught him. A direwolf had a bigger head and longer legs in proportion to its body, and its snout and jaw were markedly leaner and more pronounced. There was something gaunt and terrible about them as they stood there amid the gently falling snow. Fresh blood spotted Grey Wind's muzzle. â€Å"Dogs,† the big bald man said contemptuously. â€Å"Yet I'm told there's nothing like a wolfskin cloak to warm a man by night.† He made a sharp gesture. â€Å"Take them.† Robb shouted, â€Å"Winterfell!† and kicked his horse. The gelding plunged down the bank as the ragged men closed. A man with an axe rushed in, shouting and heedless. Robb's sword caught him full in the face with a sickening crunch and a spray of bright blood. The man with the gaunt stubbly face made a grab for the reins, and for half a second he had them . . . and then Grey Wind was on him, bearing him down. He fell back into the stream with a splash and a shout, flailing wildly with his knife as his head went under. The direwolf plunged in after him, and the white water turned red where they had vanished. Robb and Osha matched blows in midstream. Her long spear was a steel-headed serpent, flashing out at his chest, once, twice, three times, but Robb parried every thrust with his longsword, turning the point aside. On the fourth or fifth thrust, the tall woman overextended herself and lost her balance, just for a second. Robb charged, riding her down. A few feet away, Summer darted in and snapped at Hali. The knife bit at his flank. Summer slid away, snarling, and came rushing in again. This time his jaws closed around her calf. Holding the knife with both hands, the small woman stabbed down, but the direwolf seemed to sense the blade coming. He pulled free for an instant, his mouth full of leather and cloth and bloody flesh. When Hali stumbled and fell, he came at her again, slamming her backward, teeth tearing at her belly. The sixth man ran from the carnage . . . but not far. As he went scrambling up the far side of the bank, Grey Wind emerged from the stream, dripping wet. He shook the water off and bounded after the running man, hamstringing him with a single snap of his teeth, and going for the throat as the screaming man slid back down toward the water. And then there was no one left but the big man, Stiv. He slashed at Bran's chest strap, grabbed his arm, and yanked. Suddenly Bran was falling. He sprawled on the ground, his legs tangled under him, one foot in the stream. He could not feel the cold of the water, but he felt the steel when Stiv pressed his dagger to his throat. â€Å"Back away,† the man warned, â€Å"or I'll open the boy's windpipe, I swear it.† Robb reined his horse in, breathing hard. The fury went out of his eyes, and his sword arm dropped. In that moment Bran saw everything. Summer was savaging Hali, pulling glistening blue snakes from her belly. Her eyes were wide and staring. Bran could not tell whether she was alive or dead. The grey stubbly man and the one with the axe lay unmoving, but Osha was on her knees, crawling toward her fallen spear. Grey Wind padded toward her, dripping wet. â€Å"Call him off!† the big man shouted. â€Å"Call them both off, or the cripple boy dies now!† â€Å"Grey Wind, Summer, to me,† Robb said. The direwolves stopped, turned their heads. Grey Wind loped back to Robb. Summer stayed where he was, his eyes on Bran and the man beside him. He growled. His muzzle was wet and red, but his eyes burned. Osha used the butt end of her spear to lever herself back to her feet. Blood leaked from a wound on the upper arm where Robb had cut her. Bran could see sweat trickling down the big man's face. Stiv was as scared as he was, he realized. â€Å"Starks,† the man muttered, â€Å"bloody Starks.† He raised his voice. â€Å"Osha, kill the wolves and get his sword.† â€Å"Kill them yourself,† she replied. â€Å"I'll not be getting near those monsters.† For a moment Stiv was at a loss. His hand trembled; Bran felt a trickle of blood where the knife pressed against his neck. The stench of the man filled his nose; he smelled of fear. â€Å"You,† he called out to Robb. â€Å"You have a name?† â€Å"I am Robb Stark, the heir to Winterfell.† â€Å"This is your brother?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"You want him alive, you do what I say. Off the horse.† Robb hesitated a moment. Then, slowly and deliberately, he dismounted and stood with his sword in hand. â€Å"Now kill the wolves.† Robb did not move. â€Å"You do it. The wolves or the boy.† â€Å"No!† Bran screamed. If Robb did as they asked, Stiv would kill them both anyway, once the direwolves were dead. The bald man took hold of his hair with his free hand and twisted it cruelly, till Bran sobbed in pain. â€Å"You shut your mouth, cripple, you hear me?† He twisted harder. â€Å"You hear me?† A low thrum came from the woods behind them. Stiv gave a choked gasp as a half foot of razor-tipped broadhead suddenly exploded out of his chest. The arrow was bright red, as if it had been painted in blood. The dagger fell away from Bran's throat. The big man swayed and collapsed, facedown in the stream. The arrow broke beneath him. Bran watched his life go swirling off in the water. Osha glanced around as Father's guardsmen appeared from beneath the trees, steel in hand. She threw down her spear. â€Å"Mercy, m'lord,† she called to Robb. The guardsmen had a strange, pale look to their faces as they took in the scene of slaughter. They eyed the wolves uncertainly, and when Summer returned to Hali's corpse to feed, Joseth dropped his knife and scrambled for the bush, heaving. Even Maester Luwin seemed shocked as he stepped from behind a tree, but only for an instant. Then he shook his head and waded across the stream to Bran's side. â€Å"Are you hurt?† â€Å"He cut my leg,† Bran said, â€Å"but I couldn't feel it.† As the maester knelt to examine the wound, Bran turned his head. Theon Greyjoy stood beside a sentinel tree, his bow in hand. He was smiling. Ever smiling. A half-dozen arrows were thrust into the soft ground at his feet, but it had taken only one. â€Å"A dead enemy is a thing of beauty,† he announced. â€Å"Jon always said you were an ass, Greyjoy,† Robb said loudly. â€Å"I ought to chain you up in the yard and let Bran take a few practice shots at you.† â€Å"You should be thanking me for saving your brother's life.† â€Å"What if you had missed the shot?† Robb said. â€Å"What if you'd only wounded him? What if you had made his hand jump, or hit Bran instead? For all you knew, the man might have been wearing a breastplate, all you could see was the back of his cloak. What would have happened to my brother then? Did you ever think of that, Greyjoy?† Theon's smile was gone. He gave a sullen shrug and began to pull his arrows from the ground, one by one. Robb glared at his guardsmen. â€Å"Where were you?† he demanded of them. â€Å"I was sure you were close behind us.† The men traded unhappy glances. â€Å"We were following, m'lord,† said Quent, the youngest of them, his beard a soft brown fuzz. â€Å"Only first we waited for Maester Luwin and his ass, begging your pardons, and then, well, as it were . . . † He glanced over at Theon and quickly looked away, abashed. â€Å"I spied a turkey,† Theon said, annoyed by the question. â€Å"How was I to know that you'd leave the boy alone?† Robb turned his head to look at Theon once more. Bran had never seen him so angry, yet he said nothing. Finally he knelt beside Maester Luwin. â€Å"How badly is my brother wounded?† â€Å"No more than a scratch,† the maester said. He wet a cloth in the stream to clean the cut. â€Å"Two of them wear the black,† he told Robb as he worked. Robb glanced over at where Stiv lay sprawled in the stream, his ragged black cloak moving fitfully as the rushing waters tugged at it. â€Å"Deserters from the Night's Watch,† he said grimly. â€Å"They must have been fools, to come so close to Winterfell.† â€Å"Folly and desperation are ofttimes hard to tell apart,† said Maester Luwin. â€Å"Shall we bury them, m'lord?† asked Quent. â€Å"They would not have buried us,† Robb said. â€Å"Hack off their heads, we'll send them back to the Wall. Leave the rest for the carrion crows.† â€Å"And this one?† Quent jerked a thumb toward Osha. Robb walked over to her. She was a head taller than he was, but she dropped to her knees at his approach. â€Å"Give me my life, m'lord of Stark, and I am yours.† â€Å"Mine? What would I do with an oathbreaker?† â€Å"I broke no oaths. Stiv and Wallen flew down off the Wall, not me. The black crows got no place for women.† Theon Greyjoy sauntered closer. â€Å"Give her to the wolves,† he urged Robb. The woman's eyes went to what was left of Hali, and just as quickly away. She shuddered. Even the guardsmen looked queasy. â€Å"She's a woman,† Robb said. â€Å"A wildling,† Bran told him. â€Å"She said they should keep me alive so they could take me to Mance Rayder.† â€Å"Do you have a name?† Robb asked her. â€Å"Osha, as it please the lord,† she muttered sourly. Maester Luwin stood. â€Å"We might do well to question her.† Bran could see the relief on his brother's face. â€Å"As you say, Maester. Wayn, bind her hands. She'll come back to Winterfell with us . . . and live or die by the truths she gives us.†

The Values Of Hard Work, Family Unity, And Frugalness Have...

The values of hard work, family unity, and frugalness have shaped my family’s lifestyle. One of the insecurities I have had in my relationship with my father is feeling like his love was conditional. In nonverbal ways, he would demonstrate to me that I would need to work hard at school, receive great grades, and always be on my best behavior to earn his love. Now, as an adult, I know people should love me solely on who I am as a person. Yet, it has been challenging for me to have this new point of view in my relationships with my family, friends, and God. Despite my challenges in receiving love, I have always appreciated spending time with family. I appreciate little memories, including sitting with my maternal grandfather in his rocking chair even though I was tall, baking cookies with my grandma, or having a Wii bowling tournament with my father’s family. My desire to help people build their families as an adoption or pregnancy counselor derives from the strong sense of family my parents instilled in me. The value of providing for one’s family with meager financial resources has influenced my spending as an adult. My mother rarely purchases an item at the full price. We both use coupons and save money for bigger expenses. This value somewhat contradicts the adoption principle. Some biological parents place their children with families who can better provide for them financially. Even though my passion for adoption differs from my family’s view of providing for one’s own