Nice Essay

Do you like to be entertained when you read an essay? I know that I want to be entertained, but the way I am entertained in reading an essay is I like it to be informative. I believe this is true for a lot of avid readers. The essay Solatium by Philip D. Beidler, is very informative on the things that went on during the Vietnamese war, and the feelings that he had toward it. In this short essay he tells a story of a little boy, and how the U.S. Government shows their compassion for the injuries of Vietnamese people. Beidler, as a writer and an English teacher, explains to the readers just how bad the experiences were and what they have done to him mentally. This was one of the best essays that I have read though out my entire life because I could relate with a lot of the military aspects and because he was really informative in his writing style.

Did you know that a solatium is money given to family or relatives, for the loss or injury of a loved one. When I read the essay about the solatium and why it was given to the boy, I was in shock. I had no idea that when the military did harm to another family during war they would give them money. I also didn’t know about the kind of things that had been going on in the Vietnam war. I also could understand why the government would pay for the tragic loss of a foreign family member. During the war they would give the family or relatives fourteen dollars and forty cents for children under the age of fourteen and thirty-five dollars to children over the age of fourteen. It seems like so little money to be given for the tragic loss of a loved one. The more I thought about it, I felt that maybe thirty-five dollars was a lot to the Vietnamese people back in the time that this war had happened. The author also informed the readers of what happened to a little boy when his company was in the boy’s town. He talked of how a boy had a concrete block dropped onto his head, he then told of how he tried to help the boy, but despite his efforts the boy died. The author felt somewhat responsible and tried to help the best that he could. In the essay he also told me a little about how the army was back in those days. He explained the rank structure from a S-1 to a S-5 and what they did in the army as officers. This essay showed me the compassion that the author has and also showed me about the casualties of war.

Originally, the S-1 was personnel; S-2,intelligence; S-3, operations; and S-4,supply. In Vietnam S-5 was the officer for civil affairs, providing civilian medical and dental care, repairing damaged property, and find Vietnamese civilians who have lost a loved ones in accidental combat and arrange solatium payments.

Solatium appears in the Vietnam glossary as “Grievance Payment”, “Compensation Payment”, and “Go-Minh Money” The Americans thought they were doing a good deed by giving the Vietnamese solatium, but the vietnames just thought the Americans were cold hearted.

When the little boy dies in the hospital the S-5 did the paperwork for the boys family to receive compensation for the accident. The S-5 was something the Army had added during the Vietnamese war. Many people came to the boy’s ceremony including officers and the boys family. When the boy’s family would bow to there son, the Americans showed compassion and bowed with them. Along with the money, the boy’s family received packs full of candy and snacks and toilet items and ten cartons of American cigarettes.

When Beidler went home he used his G.I. Bill to go back to school to get his Ph.D. in English. Beildler has a wife and daughter and always thinks something is going to happen to them. He began taking an excessive amount of medication to let go of those fears. He finally went to a VA psychologist. The psychologist tells him that the dead Vietnamese boy was what he was thinking about . Still he wonders why the boy is still in his head and not all the other dead people he had seen. Maybe it’s because he has a child now and is afraid that something bad will happen to her. But everyday he sees the little boy in his mind. He doesn’t know why he sees the boy and not the other casualties that he had seen during the war.

I know there are a lot of Vietnam Veterans that feel the same way as Beidler does. He is still trying to reason with himself with what he had done in Vietnam. He will never be able to forget this tragedy. But this essay was very informative and interesting to me. I know about the solatium payment from the government and I also learned a lot more about the Vietnam war. I feel sorry for the author and his experience with the boy, but I feel that as a writer he has helped share the experience with the readers and help us better understand the Vietnam war.

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Students who want to learn new experiences and situations in how to dominion their decisions, which is very important to the students who attending college. In order to be good students, they have to open their self to new ideas and adopt a new way of thinking. According to Stephen R. Covey gives up his own experiences about The Seven Habits Highly Effective People. This chapter influence me to be proactive, paradigms, and don’t be reactive. In my opinion this chapter gave me a lot of details to make my personality more success in school. I would like recommend Coveys book to all the students because I can relate and other students can also.

Covey talks about private victories are more important than public victories. I feel that was very true and mainly because you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. If you already know it yourself, other people will recognize your self-confidence and respect and admire that characteristic about you (67). It’s a belief in yourself to know that you can do it and you’re the most important person. When you know who you are and what you are honest with yourself about what you are capable of doing. It is a personal victory, which builds your self-esteem, which in turn makes you be more effective students. Your teacher or classmate, or friends will influenced you a lot. You will be able to make them feel important because you feel important yourself and they will also be better students in a sense that they are happy.

Being proactive means that you have your own ideas rather than being influenced by people, or conditions. Students who want to be proactive should stop giving up a lot of excuses to explain their fault, and they are responsible for everything they have done. According to Covey “Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditing for their behavior”(71). From my own experience, before I hadn’t read this chapter, I gave myself a lot of excuses to avoid problems and school. For example every time I was tired in the morning , then I gave myself an excuse to stay home and sleep. But when I read Coveys experience, I had learned how to respond to my school, and stop giving myself excuses. Covey said “Because we are by nature, proactive, if our lives are a function of conditioning and conditions, it is because we have chosen to empower those things to control us”(71).

Not being reactive means that you don’t blame your genes, or parents, or your environment, and don’t be influenced by others. Covey points out “Reactive people are often affected by their physical environment.

If weather is good, they feel good”(71). For example, I had friend that from same high school with me, and his name’s Jimmy. Jimmy is reactive to students in our class, he always blame his parents about his ugly face:

He believe other people say that he can’t do anything, but he never believes he can do it. And every time he loses a game, he will blame his teammates. Consequently all his teammates didn’t want to play with him anymore. After he recognizes all his friends were leaving him because he was blaming too much. In my own experience, I had been reactive before I have read Covey. As before I had worried about the things that I couldn’t do anything about it. For other examples, sometime I worry about my friends attitude because I was caring too much about what they said, and what they acted. But after I had read Covey, I had learned not to be influenced by other people. Covey argues “Proactive people have a circle of concern that is at least as big as their of influence, accepting the responsibility to use their influence affectively”(85).

In conclusion from my own opinion I had learned from Covey a lot of things. From now on I will be more proactive and pay more attention to my own situation. I will not give a lot of excuses, and stop worrying about others problem. In my own experience I would recommend Coveys book to all the students in college can read through every detail. It will help you to know more about yourself and be more responsible.

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Indian fashion varies from village to village, from one city to another. Indian fashion heritage is rich in tradition, vibrant in colors and truly beautiful. In the next couple of paragraphs, I ill talk about Ancient Indian clothing, fashion, jewelry, bindis and basically just things that make up Indian vanity.

Ancient Indian clothing usually didn’t involve stitching even though they did know about sewing. The Indian sari remains the traditional clothing of Indian women. A sari can be worn many different ways. It is a long piece of flat cotton, silk or other fabric, woven in different textures with different patterns. A good thing about the sari is it isn’t cut to fit one particular size. A sari can fit any size and cant keep in or out heat depending on how its worn. The designs on the fabric and the color or the sari can indicate the status, age, occupation, religion, and region of the women. The tightly fitted, short blouse worn under a sari is called a choli. A choli covers the body under the sari. A mad would wear a simple thing called a Punjabi, which is a plain colored shirt and nee high pants.

Jewelry was also an important thing in Ancient India. A lot of jewelry was made of gold. Gold was popular because it was believed to have the power to purify anything it touched. A lot of the jewelry had designs and materiel depending upon ones caste, religion, culture and geography. The ornaments/jewlery were more popular to women then men. One popular thing Indian women wore were nose rings. The nose ring is a sign of purity and marriage though many Indian girls that have them are unmarried. Necklaces are also popular. They were made of a variety of materials, ranging from glass beads, to gold, to diamonds. One special necklace is the mangalasutra, worn only by married women. It would be the same as getting a wedding ring. A women would wear the mangalasutra during her wedding ceremony and took it off when her husband died. Women also wore Bangles. Bangles were worn on the wrist and were believed to be protective bands. Women always wore them as symbolic guards over their husbands. They were made of silver, gold, wood, glass and plastic. Ear rings and studs were popular among the Indian girls. Girls usually got them don’t on their first birthday. Other important jewelry they wore was finger rings, toe rings, and anklets.

No one knows when exactly the tradition of the bindi started, but for centuries it’s been seen on foreheads of Hindu men and women. The name bindi comes from the Sanskrit word bindu, which means drop. The bindi worn by the women was made of red lead. The means was make of Sandalwood paste. When a mad wears a bindi it is generally known as a tilak. A bindi was worn by women as a reminder or their wedding vows. However, the bindi is now worn as a fashion accessory instead of a religious purpose. The bindi really has nothing to do with the caste system.

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