The Impacts and Roles of Canada in China-Japan Row Research Paper

The Impacts and Roles of Canada in China-Japan Row - Research Paper Example The purchase put the full control over the island on Japan. However, with politics at play, China has showed an interest over the island again claiming that the island rightfully belongs to them, an argument that Japan is not willing to listen to according to Zhao (2012). In fact, pundit argue that the two countries may end up engaging in of the deadliest fights after the World War II if nothing is not done to ease the tension between the two neighboring countries. As a result, Canada is one of the countries that have been proposed to negotiate a cease-fire between these two countries at war, following the fact that Canada is not seen to have any inclination both economically or politically with the two nations. This paper will explore the tension brewing up between China and Japan and the involvement of Canada on the issue. China and Japan are two economic giants in the Asian region and the world at large. These two neighboring countries had had close relation between each other for a very long time until recently in 2010 when an issue arose between the two nations over uninhabited island. Initially the issue appeared very little that it did not attract much attention of the international community until recently when a war of words and military surveillance began over the island. In this regard, Chinese warships and airplanes have been surveying the island over the past few years with a view to taking it away from Japan. However, Japan has always maintained its position that the island has traditionally and rightfully belongs to them, and any attempt by Chinese government to take the island will be met with the strongest force possible, a statement, which has signaled that war is in the offing (Tanaka, 2013). The tension has indeed affected the strong bilateral trade between these two countries since the beginning of the tension. Bloomberg News (2013) reported that some discontented Chinese consumers have been boycotting Japanese products in protest over the island. This scenario has led to a sharp fall in Japanese autos sales in China, something that is negatively affected the economy of Japan, taking into consideration the fact that China has been one of its biggest auto market in the world. In fact, Japan has not yet recovered from such a huge decline in sales in Chinese market witnessed in the recent past. Bloomberg News (2013) reveals that many Chinese factories have shifted their loyalty to South Korean component suppliers. At the same time, China has also experienced a significant decline in the export market due to the tension between it and Japan. This has become costly for the Japanese government since China has been its long time largest export market. Bloomberg News (2013) reveals that currently the U.S. has overtaken China as the largest export market for the Japanese products. Bloomberg News (2013) also noted that as China continue with its territorial claim over the island, the bilateral trade between the two countries, w hich tripled from 2000 to over $300 billion, is likely to decline significantly. The latest flare-ups had been reverberated by Xi Jiping of the Chinese Communist Party when he criticized the move by Kunioki Kurihara, a Japanese developer to sell three of the disputed islands to the Japanese government for just $23 million, calling this a farce according to Bloomberg News (2013). The dispute between the two nations is reported to have resulted in a decline, in Japanese growth, by about one percent. Meyer (2011) argues that this percentage decline has the potential of keeping the economy in recession up to September this year. The fall out is also projected to have caused a

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Essay Example for Free

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Essay The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas presents ideas about World War 2 and the holocaust. The movie shows what fear and Punishment and the innocence of childhood would have been like during WW2 and the holocaust. During World War 2 and the holocaust, fear within the Jewish race was created by the soldiers. Soldiers had the power and right to abuse and attack the Jewish people â€Å"when it pleased them. † Under Hitler, the soldiers had the next amount of ultimate power and used it to their advantage to pressure the Jewish people under the influence that if they misbehave they will be punished. In the movie ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ this fear is seen when Lieutenant Kotler walks into the dining room and sees Schmuel eating a pastry and Bruno talking to him. The Lieutenant is shot from a low camera angle to show his power and strength. Schmuel and Brunos eyes widen and jagged breaths escape from their mouths as the soldier interrogates them with his strong, stern voice about the pastry and the talking that was occurring, Because of the fear with which the lieutenant filled the boys, Bruno lies to Lieutenant Kotler because he is afraid of what will happen. He betrays his only friend and Schmuel is the one who gets the beating for it. Fear is also shown in the film when Bruno’s mother discovers the true information of what it happening a few hundred metres from her home. She confronts her husband and is stricken with fear for what is happening to the Jewish race, she cowers in the corner in a foetal position as her husband come close to support her and explain himself. The camera is above her, which show how small and insignificant she is and how large and fearful her husband can be. The fear created and explored in the movie The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas displays what it would have been like for the Jewish race during World War 2 and the Holocaust. The holocaust and World War 2 was a time of punishment and pain for the Jewish race. The Jewish race was punished for not fitting into Hitler’s idea of a â€Å"perfect race. † Punishment wasn’t just for those who did something wrong. A Jew could be punished for looking at a guard the wrong way or making a small error that would be considered insignificant in any other situation. Punishments could vary from a beating, to a bashing to the death chamber. In the movie ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ punishment on a Jew is seen when Lieutenant Kotler bumps the servant Pavel while he is pouring red wine. It’s not Pavel’s fault but because he is Jewish he is be blamed for the soldier’s mistakes. The Lieutenant drags the servant into the hall way and begins to bash him while the family are in the next room eating in silence, listening to the punishment that Pavel is enduring. Another Example of Punishment in ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ is when Lieutenant Kotler find Schmuel and Bruno talking in the dining room. The Lieutenant see’s Schmuel eating a pastry a questions the boys. When he finds Schmuel ‘guilty’ of stealing food he is taken away. The next day when Bruno goes on his adventure to the camp the audience can see that Schmuel has been punished for his actions. Schmuel is shown to have had a beating and as a result he has a swollen eye with cuts and bruises all over his body. The Punishment that seen throughout â€Å"The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas† displays what it would have been like during the holocaust and World War 2 for the Jewish race. During World War 2 and the Holocaust children were put through a living nightmare, being exposed to killings, torture and punishment for something unknown to their innocent minds. Children were not in the know, being put through a hell of a time and not being able to understand how they are different to their best friends of another race. The Innocence of a childhood is displayed in the ‘Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ when the commandant and his soldiers are in the office watching the propaganda film created to persuade and demonstrate to the rest of the world that they are treating Jews with ‘excellent’ living conditions and an ‘average’ and ‘happy’ lifestyle. When Bruno peeks in on the propaganda film, he is placed under the belief that where his friend Schmuel is living is a happy place with play areas, a cafe with excellent food and time is lost with all the ‘fun and games’ that they provide. When Bruno makes the decision to cross the electric fence and help his friend Schmuel who has lost his father, he discovers that the film he watched was actually a lie and doesn’t understand why everyone is so sad and the area is constantly monitored by armed soldiers. Bruno is unaware of the situation and becomes scared and wishes to go home. In this time he discovers that everything he saw in the movie is a lie, the cafe, the play areas, the giggling children. Within â€Å"The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas† the innocence of a childhood is displayed by the propaganda film which inflicts the belief of a lie onto an innocent child who doesn’t understand the ways of the real world and his surroundings, this demonstrates how a childhood was influenced by lies during the Holocaust and World War 2. The movie â€Å"The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas† displays the previous ideas of how fear, punishment and the innocence of a childhood creates a scene which demonstrate what World War 2 and the Holocaust would have been like for The Jewish race, soldiers, innocent children and the surrounding onlookers to the War that was taking place.

Educational Philosophy :: Education Teaching Teacher Essays

Educational Philosophy I have wanted to be a teacher since the 2nd grade. My teacher was wonderful. No problem seemed too small or insignificant to her. She was always there for my every need. Her love for children, like my own, is one of the reasons I want to be a teacher. It is my belief that every child is a precious gift from God. The biggest reason I am pursuing my education degree is to make a difference. Through the path of life there are many people who influence us, and help us to make the right decisions. It is my dreams to touch the children of America through this path, as did my 2nd grade teacher touch me. I myself want to be an elementary teacher; my own philosophy of education is a mix between Idealism and Pragmatism. Idealism fits me because I want to be a master teacher and know my content area very well. I will encourage my students to take on new challenges and learn new things. I think that every student learns differently and shouldn’t be labeled by a test score. I fit as a Pragmatist because I think the classroom should be a community of learns. Not only will I teach my students; they too will teach me things not found in textbooks. I also believe that the three R’s should be taught, but in conjunction with other important subjects such as health, art, and history. My classroom will have group seating. I will group the children in a way that will help them learn. For example, if Bobby is having trouble with his math problems I will group him with Kelly who is doing well. Kelly is on Bobby’s mentality level so she may be helpful in his learning. Every so often I will change the groups around to cut down on the cliques. I want each student to have the opportunity of sitting with every other student. The bulletin boards in my classroom will be full of my students’ work. When we complete an art assignment I will place all of my students’ pieces up, not just the best ones.

Final the Relationship Between Hiv and Aids and Poverty Is Synergistic and Symmetrical in Nature

BACHELOR OF SOCIAL SCIENCES HONOURS DEGREE IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES [BLOCK RELEASE 2. 2]FACULTY : HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCESDEPARTMENT : DEVELOPMENT STUDIES STUDENT ‘NAME : EMMANUEL R MARABUKA STUDENT’ ID NUMBER : L0110064TMODULE NAME : HIV AND AIDS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA LECTURER :MR D.NYATHIDUE DATE : 01 MARCH 2013EMAIL ADDRESS : [email  protected] com QUESTION : The relationship between HIV and AIDS and Poverty is synergistic and symmetrical in nature†. Comment. [25] | HIV and AIDS are issues of concern worldwide they are associated by many implications which affect negatively in human lives. HIV and AIDS are mainly spread through unprotected sex with an infected person. HIV weakens the antibodies which are responsible for fighting diseases.Therefore once the white blood cells are damaged by virus it cannot resist diseases result a person into many opportunistic infections at this stage a person will have AIDS. Therefore for now HIV and AIDS have no cure yet. Therefore, HIV and AIDS and poverty are synergistic and symmetrical in nature. Meaning to say the impacts of HIV and AIDS and poverty complement each other in destroying human’s well being. Also they have same power or they are parallel in destroying human lives. However this essay seeks to comment on the notion that, the relationship of between HIV and AIDS and poverty is synergistic and symmetrical in nature.According to Mwambete and Justin-Temu (2011) poverty is defined as a state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions. The World Bank defines poverty as â€Å"the inability to attain a minimum standard of living† and produced a â€Å"universal poverty line†, which was â€Å"consumption-based† and comprised of two elements: â€Å"the expenditure necessary to buy a minimum standard of nutrition and other basic necessities and a further amount that varies from country to country, reflecting the cost of participating in everyday l ife of society.Poverty can be caused by unemployment, low education, deprivation and homelessness. Therefore, HIV and poverty reinforce each other, with poor, vulnerable and powerless women being a significant driver of the disease while also bearing the burden of its impact (Scott et al 2011) Poverty, characterized by limited human and monetary resources, is therefore portrayed as a risk factor to HIV/AIDS. Moreover, HIV/AIDS deepens poverty and increases inequalities at every level, household, community, regional and sectoral.Poverty pervades subgroups such as the unemployed and migrants. As a result of the condition of poverty, people become more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, since these are the people who have less access to the necessary facilities to prevent or treat HIV Scott (2011). This means poor people have less access to HIV/AIDS treatment which increases the progression of AIDS. HIV HIV/AIDS appears to interact strongly with poverty and this interaction increases the depth of vulnerability of those households already vulnerable to shocks (Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005).Poverty is associated with vulnerability to severe diseases like HIV, through its effects on delaying access to health care and inhibiting treatment adherence (Bates et al, cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005). The costs incurred when seeking diagnosis and treatment for HIV/AIDS are common causes of delays in accessing health care especially for the poor. Poor households may not necessarily have the financial resources to seek help from health centres, nor food security to enable members to adhere to their treatment.It should be emphasised that poor people infected with HIV are considerably more likely to become sick and die faster than the non-poor since they are likely to be malnourished, in poor health, and lacking in health attention and medications (FAO 2001). Therefore, lack of resources is significant cause of the delays in accessing health services by poor households which lead them to chronic illness because of HIV and AIDS. The relationship between HIV and AIDS and poverty is seen when HIV compromise health of an individual and because of poverty that individual lack resources to access health thereby leading to chronic illness or death.More so, HIV increase financial constraints to a household already poverty stricken and it increases debts related to health. HIV/AIDS and poverty impact significantly especially on the household and its ability to cope with the epidemic. Household impact is one of the points at which AIDS and poverty demonstrate their intertwined relationship (Piot et al cited Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005). At the household level the HIV-afflicted patient’s labour input gradually diminishes as the patient uccumbs to sickness, and the labour of other household and extended family members is often diverted to care for AIDS patients during this period, the most critical impact being when the patient becomes incapacitated before dea th. De Waal & Whiteside (2003) have found that diversion of labour coupled with the care of children orphaned as a result of the death of their parents to AIDS related diseases further impoverishes the household. The HIV/AIDS epidemic undercuts the ability of the households to cope with shocks. Assets are likely to be liquidated to pay for the costs of care.Sickness and caring for the sick prevent people from migrating to find additional work. In the longer term, poor households may never recover even their initial low standard of living (UNDP 2009). This clearly shows the linkage between HIV/AIDS and poverty at household level because it leave a poor household in chronic poverty such that it will be difficult to come out of it. Like poverty, HIV/AIDS epidemic is affecting the sub-continent of Saharan Africa more severely than any other parts of the world with 63% of global AIDS cases occurring in the region (Mwambete and Justin-Temu 2011).This shows a relationship between HIV/AIDS and poverty in the region because in sub Saharan high Africa there is high poverty as well as HIV prevalence. Jooma, cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager (2005) cited that, the number of Africans living below the poverty line (less than 1 US dollar per day) has almost doubled from 164 million in 1981 to 314 million people today. She further contends that 32 of 47 African countries are among the world’s 48 poorest nations.Therefore, HIV is high in Africa as compared to other continents of the world as well as poverty. However poverty and HIV and AIDS have a close link in diminishing human lives. Poverty and mobility are critical dimensions of vulnerability to HIV transmission (FAO 2001). Therefore, driving force behind migratory movements is poverty. ILO (2005) put forward that, poverty increases the risk of HIV/AIDS when it propels the unemployed into unskilled migratory labour pools in search of temporary and seasonal work, which increases their risk of HIV/AIDS.UNDP (2009) in the same vein eludes that, poverty especially rural poverty, and the absence of access to sustainable livelihoods, are factors in labour mobility of the population including cross border migration and acceleration of the urbanization process, which contributes to create the conditions that sustain HIV transmission. However such situations widens the web of sex networking, and in this way it will facilitate the early rapid spread of HIV. This means that, poverty increases people’s mobility exposing them to infection when they are away from their families.In this way poverty and HIV are synergistic and symmetrical in nature because in this essence, poverty create a migration platform which at the end expose people to HIV infection because of long time away from sexual partners. HIV and AIDS and poverty have strong bi-directional linkages. HIV/AIDS is both a manifestation of poverty conditions that exist, taking hold where livelihoods are unsustainable and the result of the unmi tigated impact of the epidemic on social and economic conditions (ILO 2005).HIV/AIDS is at the same time a cause and an outcome of poverty and poverty is both a cause and an outcome of HIV/AIDS. HIV and AIDS mainly affect the productive age of 15-60. ILO (2005) argues that, HIV/AIDS causes impoverishment when working-age adults in poor households become ill and need treatment and care, because income is lost when the earners are no longer able to work, and expenditures increase due to medical care costs. Therefore, this means HIV reduces household income generation because labour will be diverted to care for the sick person.Unlike other sicknesses, HIV/AIDS does not target the poor. Whereas poverty may increase an individual’s susceptibility to infection by HIV/AIDS and vulnerability to its physical, social, and economic impact, HIV/AIDS itself is not ex ante linked with poverty. In addition HIV and AIDS increase consumption at the expense of production. Moreover, households often expend their savings and lose their assets in order to purchase medical care for sick members. Assets may have to be sold when many households are facing the same need, and such distress sales are often ill-timed and at a loss.This lead to chronic poverty and it directly affect livelihoods. Women are more vulnerable than men to HIV infection because of, biological, cultural, lack of education, inheritance among other factors. In the same vein FAO (2001) alludes that, in many places HIV infection rates are three to five times higher among young women than young men. In addition to Mwambete and Justin-Temu (2011) posits that, fifty-eight percent of all Tanzanian adults living with HIV/AIDS are women. This shows women are most likely to be infected by HIV and AIDS.Scott et al (2011) argues that, gender inequality and poverty deprives women of their ability to fulfil their socially designated responsibilities, and therefore debases them, often forcing them into prostitution which exposes them to HIV infection. Therefore, children raised in poor households face a large risk of achieving a low level of educational attainment and dropping out of school. Girls especially are removed from school as a coping strategy, and also because the girls education is viewed as â€Å"less of a priority†, since it is expected that they will marry and will belong to another family.Women in Tanzania also have severely limited access to education, employment, credit, and transportation as a result northern coastal women—married and unmarried, young and old—are increasingly turning to sex work, exposing them to a high risk of HIV infection (Mwambete and Justin-Temu 2011). This increases poverty in women which expose them in risk behaviour such as commercial sex. This is because if women are denied to access education they will not find employment in a formal to cope with their basic needs also they will be vulnerable to sexual exploitation by men because of p overty.ILO (2005) alludes that, poverty drives girls and women to exchange sex for food, and to resort to sex work for survival when they are excluded from formal sector employment and all other work options are too low-paying to cover their basic needs. Therefore, commercial sex exposes women to infection and it is mostly necessitated by poverty. In this essence a link between HIV and AIDS and poverty is when poverty forces people to enter into risk behaviour in order to gain living.Therefore, poverty create reasons for women to practice commercial sex also because of poverty they can justify themselves for example women in Mkwaja village Tanzania in who were saying they accept that it is now the female burden to provide for their children, they said they risk dying from AIDS for the sake of our children (Mwambete and Justin-Temu 2011). HIV/AIDS and poverty have a link in affecting the food security at both household and national level. Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager (2005) argues that, HIV/AIDS and poverty combined have a debilitating effect on agricultural sector of the poor countries, and more effect in poor households.Therefore, a major impact on agriculture includes the depletion of human capital, diversion of resources from agriculture, and loss of farm and non-farm income, together with other forms of psychological impacts that affect productivity. Since agriculture is the only source of food, reduction of labour cause severe food shortages in HIV and AIDS affected households. Households experiencing food shortages as a result of poverty and effects of HIV/AIDS increase the chances of fast progression of the illness and inevitable death of the ill person.Given that malnutrition is a function of poverty, there is thus a good reason to assume that poverty helped hasten the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa (Nattrass, cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005). Therefore, both HIV and poverty exert tremendous pressure on the household’s ability to provide for the basic needs like food. Poor nutritional status is linked to vulnerability to progression from HIV infection to mortality. Poor nutrition weakens the body’s defence against infection, and infection in turn weakens the efficiency of absorption of nutrients Mwambete and Justin-Temu (2011).HIV is often associated with morbidity leading to labour shortage and loss of income. In the same line UNDP (2009) postulate that, people with chronic illness are often unable to work, therefore, leading to income reduction. They also need care from other household members, thus limiting their productive activities and doubling the loss of income which results in poverty. (Wyss et al cited in UNDP 2009) found that time lost due to illness by people living with HIV was approximately 16 days per month, while uninfected household members spent 8. days on average to care for affected family members, reducing their time for other activities and occupations. This clearly shows that HIV/AIDS divert labour to attend to a sick person. The link between HIV/AIDS and poverty in this essence is that, HIV deepens poverty through income reduction necessitated by labour diverted to attend to the sick person. Also on top of income reduction HIV increases consumption of available resources through medical expenses thereby leading to chronic poverty. UNDP (2009) reveals that, among the poor, up to 47% of income went to coping with the disease.Although the relationship between, poverty and HIV/AIDS are synergistic and symmetrical in reducing people’s wellbeing. There are circumstances which they are not linked for instance in least developed countries a large number and a substantial fraction of public sector personnel with a capital of skills, training, and education, and of experience in management and policy-making – notably in the fields of health and education – are being removed from the labour force as a result of AIDS at a time when the need for their se rvices is greatest for development (ILO 2005).Therefore this shows that, AIDS can affect people regardless of their economic status. Therefore, not only poverty expose people to HIV infection by risk behaviours such as multiple sex partners associated with wealth. More over availability of income may cause individuals to be mobile and being exposed to commercial sex workers. In another study, HIV and education had a negative relationship in urban areas and a positive link in the rural areas (Hargreaves and Glynn cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005).Where a positive link was found, the authors suggested that persons, especially men, with greater levels of education may have more disposable income which, in turn, allows them greater access to travel and increased opportunity for contact with commercial sex workers. The study found that generally the highest prevalence of HIV was found amongst the well off individuals/households, particularly affecting rich women, as opposed to poor er and rural households (Shelton et al cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005).The findings pointed out that wealthier people tend to have the resources which lead to greater and more frequent mobility and expose them to wider sexual networks, encouraging multiple and concurrent relationships. But it was also observed that the wealthier people tend to have greater access to HIV medications that prolong their lives and are more likely to live in urban areas, which have the highest prevalence (Mwambete and Justin-Temu 2011) However, there are, exceptions to the relationship between HIV/AIDS and poverty, in particular in Africa where some countries with very high HIV prevalence rates are also among the richest UNDP (2009).In line with this argument (FAO 2001) alludes that, there are some powerful critiques of the poverty-AIDS argument, which claim that many of the worst affected African countries such as Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa are among the most economically developed in t he region, poverty does seem to be a crucial factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS. In conclusion, HIV and AIDS and poverty are related and they complement each other.Therefore, high HIV prevalence is mainly fuelled by poverty which leads into migration and exercise of commercial sex by women to gain a living. Moreover poverty increases the progression of AIDS because of lake of medical services. More impacts of HIV and AIDS are seen in poor households because they cause more health defects as compared to a rich household. One may argue that, poverty creates a platform for people to be infected by HIV and if they are infected poverty further deepens its roots.This is because of liquidation of productive asserts in trying to cope with disease. Although HIV affects all people with and without income, it has great impacts to a poor person. Finally impacts of HIV and AIDS in rich countries and households are not visible because of access to medical facilities. The impacts of HIV and AIDS are mainly visible in poor household who do not have funds to access treatment. Therefore the relationship between HIV and AIDS and poverty are synergistic and symmetrical in nature without compromise.REFERENCES De Waal, A. and Whiteside, A [2003] The New Variant Famine Hypothesis, Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia FAO (2001) The Impact of HIV/AIDS on rural households and land issues in Southern and Eastern Africa. Economic and Social Development Department http://www. fao. org/wairdocs/ad696e/ad696e04. htm [Accessed on 12/02/2013] ILO (2005) HIV/AIDS and poverty: the critical connection, Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work www. ilo. rg/aidshttp://www. ilo. org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_protect/—protrav/—ilo_aids/documents/publication/wcms_120468. pdf[Accessed on 12/02/2013] Mwambete, K. D. and Justin-Temu, M. (2011). Poverty, Parasitosis and HIV/AIDS – Major Health Co ncerns in Tanzania, Microbes, Viruses and Parasites in AIDS Process, http://cdn. intechopen. com/pdfs/20651/InTech-poverty_parasitosis_and_hiv_aids_major_health_concerns_in_tanzania. pdf [Accessed on 12/02/2013] Scott, E. Simon, T. , Foucade A. L. , Theodore K. , Gittens-Baynes, K. A. 2011) Poverty, Employment and HIV/AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago Department of Economics The University of the West Indies. International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 15; THULISILE GANYAZA-TWALO and JOHN SEAGER – HSRC – (2005) Literature Review on Poverty AND HIV/AIDS: Measuring the social and Economic Impacts on Households http://www. wsu. ac. za/hsrc/html/ganyaza-twalo. pdf [Accessed on 12/02/2013] UNDP, (2009). Impact of HIV/AIDS on household vulnerability and poverty in Viet Nam. United Nations Development Programme. Viet Nam. Culture and Information Publishing House. Final the Relationship Between Hiv and Aids and Poverty Is Synergistic and Symmetrical in Nature BACHELOR OF SOCIAL SCIENCES HONOURS DEGREE IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES [BLOCK RELEASE 2. 2]FACULTY : HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCESDEPARTMENT : DEVELOPMENT STUDIES STUDENT ‘NAME : EMMANUEL R MARABUKA STUDENT’ ID NUMBER : L0110064TMODULE NAME : HIV AND AIDS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA LECTURER :MR D.NYATHIDUE DATE : 01 MARCH 2013EMAIL ADDRESS : [email  protected] com QUESTION : The relationship between HIV and AIDS and Poverty is synergistic and symmetrical in nature†. Comment. [25] | HIV and AIDS are issues of concern worldwide they are associated by many implications which affect negatively in human lives. HIV and AIDS are mainly spread through unprotected sex with an infected person. HIV weakens the antibodies which are responsible for fighting diseases.Therefore once the white blood cells are damaged by virus it cannot resist diseases result a person into many opportunistic infections at this stage a person will have AIDS. Therefore for now HIV and AIDS have no cure yet. Therefore, HIV and AIDS and poverty are synergistic and symmetrical in nature. Meaning to say the impacts of HIV and AIDS and poverty complement each other in destroying human’s well being. Also they have same power or they are parallel in destroying human lives. However this essay seeks to comment on the notion that, the relationship of between HIV and AIDS and poverty is synergistic and symmetrical in nature.According to Mwambete and Justin-Temu (2011) poverty is defined as a state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions. The World Bank defines poverty as â€Å"the inability to attain a minimum standard of living† and produced a â€Å"universal poverty line†, which was â€Å"consumption-based† and comprised of two elements: â€Å"the expenditure necessary to buy a minimum standard of nutrition and other basic necessities and a further amount that varies from country to country, reflecting the cost of participating in everyday l ife of society.Poverty can be caused by unemployment, low education, deprivation and homelessness. Therefore, HIV and poverty reinforce each other, with poor, vulnerable and powerless women being a significant driver of the disease while also bearing the burden of its impact (Scott et al 2011) Poverty, characterized by limited human and monetary resources, is therefore portrayed as a risk factor to HIV/AIDS. Moreover, HIV/AIDS deepens poverty and increases inequalities at every level, household, community, regional and sectoral.Poverty pervades subgroups such as the unemployed and migrants. As a result of the condition of poverty, people become more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, since these are the people who have less access to the necessary facilities to prevent or treat HIV Scott (2011). This means poor people have less access to HIV/AIDS treatment which increases the progression of AIDS. HIV HIV/AIDS appears to interact strongly with poverty and this interaction increases the depth of vulnerability of those households already vulnerable to shocks (Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005).Poverty is associated with vulnerability to severe diseases like HIV, through its effects on delaying access to health care and inhibiting treatment adherence (Bates et al, cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005). The costs incurred when seeking diagnosis and treatment for HIV/AIDS are common causes of delays in accessing health care especially for the poor. Poor households may not necessarily have the financial resources to seek help from health centres, nor food security to enable members to adhere to their treatment.It should be emphasised that poor people infected with HIV are considerably more likely to become sick and die faster than the non-poor since they are likely to be malnourished, in poor health, and lacking in health attention and medications (FAO 2001). Therefore, lack of resources is significant cause of the delays in accessing health services by poor households which lead them to chronic illness because of HIV and AIDS. The relationship between HIV and AIDS and poverty is seen when HIV compromise health of an individual and because of poverty that individual lack resources to access health thereby leading to chronic illness or death.More so, HIV increase financial constraints to a household already poverty stricken and it increases debts related to health. HIV/AIDS and poverty impact significantly especially on the household and its ability to cope with the epidemic. Household impact is one of the points at which AIDS and poverty demonstrate their intertwined relationship (Piot et al cited Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005). At the household level the HIV-afflicted patient’s labour input gradually diminishes as the patient uccumbs to sickness, and the labour of other household and extended family members is often diverted to care for AIDS patients during this period, the most critical impact being when the patient becomes incapacitated before dea th. De Waal & Whiteside (2003) have found that diversion of labour coupled with the care of children orphaned as a result of the death of their parents to AIDS related diseases further impoverishes the household. The HIV/AIDS epidemic undercuts the ability of the households to cope with shocks. Assets are likely to be liquidated to pay for the costs of care.Sickness and caring for the sick prevent people from migrating to find additional work. In the longer term, poor households may never recover even their initial low standard of living (UNDP 2009). This clearly shows the linkage between HIV/AIDS and poverty at household level because it leave a poor household in chronic poverty such that it will be difficult to come out of it. Like poverty, HIV/AIDS epidemic is affecting the sub-continent of Saharan Africa more severely than any other parts of the world with 63% of global AIDS cases occurring in the region (Mwambete and Justin-Temu 2011).This shows a relationship between HIV/AIDS and poverty in the region because in sub Saharan high Africa there is high poverty as well as HIV prevalence. Jooma, cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager (2005) cited that, the number of Africans living below the poverty line (less than 1 US dollar per day) has almost doubled from 164 million in 1981 to 314 million people today. She further contends that 32 of 47 African countries are among the world’s 48 poorest nations.Therefore, HIV is high in Africa as compared to other continents of the world as well as poverty. However poverty and HIV and AIDS have a close link in diminishing human lives. Poverty and mobility are critical dimensions of vulnerability to HIV transmission (FAO 2001). Therefore, driving force behind migratory movements is poverty. ILO (2005) put forward that, poverty increases the risk of HIV/AIDS when it propels the unemployed into unskilled migratory labour pools in search of temporary and seasonal work, which increases their risk of HIV/AIDS.UNDP (2009) in the same vein eludes that, poverty especially rural poverty, and the absence of access to sustainable livelihoods, are factors in labour mobility of the population including cross border migration and acceleration of the urbanization process, which contributes to create the conditions that sustain HIV transmission. However such situations widens the web of sex networking, and in this way it will facilitate the early rapid spread of HIV. This means that, poverty increases people’s mobility exposing them to infection when they are away from their families.In this way poverty and HIV are synergistic and symmetrical in nature because in this essence, poverty create a migration platform which at the end expose people to HIV infection because of long time away from sexual partners. HIV and AIDS and poverty have strong bi-directional linkages. HIV/AIDS is both a manifestation of poverty conditions that exist, taking hold where livelihoods are unsustainable and the result of the unmi tigated impact of the epidemic on social and economic conditions (ILO 2005).HIV/AIDS is at the same time a cause and an outcome of poverty and poverty is both a cause and an outcome of HIV/AIDS. HIV and AIDS mainly affect the productive age of 15-60. ILO (2005) argues that, HIV/AIDS causes impoverishment when working-age adults in poor households become ill and need treatment and care, because income is lost when the earners are no longer able to work, and expenditures increase due to medical care costs. Therefore, this means HIV reduces household income generation because labour will be diverted to care for the sick person.Unlike other sicknesses, HIV/AIDS does not target the poor. Whereas poverty may increase an individual’s susceptibility to infection by HIV/AIDS and vulnerability to its physical, social, and economic impact, HIV/AIDS itself is not ex ante linked with poverty. In addition HIV and AIDS increase consumption at the expense of production. Moreover, households often expend their savings and lose their assets in order to purchase medical care for sick members. Assets may have to be sold when many households are facing the same need, and such distress sales are often ill-timed and at a loss.This lead to chronic poverty and it directly affect livelihoods. Women are more vulnerable than men to HIV infection because of, biological, cultural, lack of education, inheritance among other factors. In the same vein FAO (2001) alludes that, in many places HIV infection rates are three to five times higher among young women than young men. In addition to Mwambete and Justin-Temu (2011) posits that, fifty-eight percent of all Tanzanian adults living with HIV/AIDS are women. This shows women are most likely to be infected by HIV and AIDS.Scott et al (2011) argues that, gender inequality and poverty deprives women of their ability to fulfil their socially designated responsibilities, and therefore debases them, often forcing them into prostitution which exposes them to HIV infection. Therefore, children raised in poor households face a large risk of achieving a low level of educational attainment and dropping out of school. Girls especially are removed from school as a coping strategy, and also because the girls education is viewed as â€Å"less of a priority†, since it is expected that they will marry and will belong to another family.Women in Tanzania also have severely limited access to education, employment, credit, and transportation as a result northern coastal women—married and unmarried, young and old—are increasingly turning to sex work, exposing them to a high risk of HIV infection (Mwambete and Justin-Temu 2011). This increases poverty in women which expose them in risk behaviour such as commercial sex. This is because if women are denied to access education they will not find employment in a formal to cope with their basic needs also they will be vulnerable to sexual exploitation by men because of p overty.ILO (2005) alludes that, poverty drives girls and women to exchange sex for food, and to resort to sex work for survival when they are excluded from formal sector employment and all other work options are too low-paying to cover their basic needs. Therefore, commercial sex exposes women to infection and it is mostly necessitated by poverty. In this essence a link between HIV and AIDS and poverty is when poverty forces people to enter into risk behaviour in order to gain living.Therefore, poverty create reasons for women to practice commercial sex also because of poverty they can justify themselves for example women in Mkwaja village Tanzania in who were saying they accept that it is now the female burden to provide for their children, they said they risk dying from AIDS for the sake of our children (Mwambete and Justin-Temu 2011). HIV/AIDS and poverty have a link in affecting the food security at both household and national level. Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager (2005) argues that, HIV/AIDS and poverty combined have a debilitating effect on agricultural sector of the poor countries, and more effect in poor households.Therefore, a major impact on agriculture includes the depletion of human capital, diversion of resources from agriculture, and loss of farm and non-farm income, together with other forms of psychological impacts that affect productivity. Since agriculture is the only source of food, reduction of labour cause severe food shortages in HIV and AIDS affected households. Households experiencing food shortages as a result of poverty and effects of HIV/AIDS increase the chances of fast progression of the illness and inevitable death of the ill person.Given that malnutrition is a function of poverty, there is thus a good reason to assume that poverty helped hasten the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa (Nattrass, cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005). Therefore, both HIV and poverty exert tremendous pressure on the household’s ability to provide for the basic needs like food. Poor nutritional status is linked to vulnerability to progression from HIV infection to mortality. Poor nutrition weakens the body’s defence against infection, and infection in turn weakens the efficiency of absorption of nutrients Mwambete and Justin-Temu (2011).HIV is often associated with morbidity leading to labour shortage and loss of income. In the same line UNDP (2009) postulate that, people with chronic illness are often unable to work, therefore, leading to income reduction. They also need care from other household members, thus limiting their productive activities and doubling the loss of income which results in poverty. (Wyss et al cited in UNDP 2009) found that time lost due to illness by people living with HIV was approximately 16 days per month, while uninfected household members spent 8. days on average to care for affected family members, reducing their time for other activities and occupations. This clearly shows that HIV/AIDS divert labour to attend to a sick person. The link between HIV/AIDS and poverty in this essence is that, HIV deepens poverty through income reduction necessitated by labour diverted to attend to the sick person. Also on top of income reduction HIV increases consumption of available resources through medical expenses thereby leading to chronic poverty. UNDP (2009) reveals that, among the poor, up to 47% of income went to coping with the disease.Although the relationship between, poverty and HIV/AIDS are synergistic and symmetrical in reducing people’s wellbeing. There are circumstances which they are not linked for instance in least developed countries a large number and a substantial fraction of public sector personnel with a capital of skills, training, and education, and of experience in management and policy-making – notably in the fields of health and education – are being removed from the labour force as a result of AIDS at a time when the need for their se rvices is greatest for development (ILO 2005).Therefore this shows that, AIDS can affect people regardless of their economic status. Therefore, not only poverty expose people to HIV infection by risk behaviours such as multiple sex partners associated with wealth. More over availability of income may cause individuals to be mobile and being exposed to commercial sex workers. In another study, HIV and education had a negative relationship in urban areas and a positive link in the rural areas (Hargreaves and Glynn cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005).Where a positive link was found, the authors suggested that persons, especially men, with greater levels of education may have more disposable income which, in turn, allows them greater access to travel and increased opportunity for contact with commercial sex workers. The study found that generally the highest prevalence of HIV was found amongst the well off individuals/households, particularly affecting rich women, as opposed to poor er and rural households (Shelton et al cited in Ganyaza-Twalo and Seager 2005).The findings pointed out that wealthier people tend to have the resources which lead to greater and more frequent mobility and expose them to wider sexual networks, encouraging multiple and concurrent relationships. But it was also observed that the wealthier people tend to have greater access to HIV medications that prolong their lives and are more likely to live in urban areas, which have the highest prevalence (Mwambete and Justin-Temu 2011) However, there are, exceptions to the relationship between HIV/AIDS and poverty, in particular in Africa where some countries with very high HIV prevalence rates are also among the richest UNDP (2009).In line with this argument (FAO 2001) alludes that, there are some powerful critiques of the poverty-AIDS argument, which claim that many of the worst affected African countries such as Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa are among the most economically developed in t he region, poverty does seem to be a crucial factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS. In conclusion, HIV and AIDS and poverty are related and they complement each other.Therefore, high HIV prevalence is mainly fuelled by poverty which leads into migration and exercise of commercial sex by women to gain a living. Moreover poverty increases the progression of AIDS because of lake of medical services. More impacts of HIV and AIDS are seen in poor households because they cause more health defects as compared to a rich household. One may argue that, poverty creates a platform for people to be infected by HIV and if they are infected poverty further deepens its roots.This is because of liquidation of productive asserts in trying to cope with disease. Although HIV affects all people with and without income, it has great impacts to a poor person. Finally impacts of HIV and AIDS in rich countries and households are not visible because of access to medical facilities. The impacts of HIV and AIDS are mainly visible in poor household who do not have funds to access treatment. Therefore the relationship between HIV and AIDS and poverty are synergistic and symmetrical in nature without compromise.REFERENCES De Waal, A. and Whiteside, A [2003] The New Variant Famine Hypothesis, Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia FAO (2001) The Impact of HIV/AIDS on rural households and land issues in Southern and Eastern Africa. Economic and Social Development Department http://www. fao. org/wairdocs/ad696e/ad696e04. htm [Accessed on 12/02/2013] ILO (2005) HIV/AIDS and poverty: the critical connection, Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work www. ilo. rg/aidshttp://www. ilo. org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_protect/—protrav/—ilo_aids/documents/publication/wcms_120468. pdf[Accessed on 12/02/2013] Mwambete, K. D. and Justin-Temu, M. (2011). Poverty, Parasitosis and HIV/AIDS – Major Health Co ncerns in Tanzania, Microbes, Viruses and Parasites in AIDS Process, http://cdn. intechopen. com/pdfs/20651/InTech-poverty_parasitosis_and_hiv_aids_major_health_concerns_in_tanzania. pdf [Accessed on 12/02/2013] Scott, E. Simon, T. , Foucade A. L. , Theodore K. , Gittens-Baynes, K. A. 2011) Poverty, Employment and HIV/AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago Department of Economics The University of the West Indies. International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 15; THULISILE GANYAZA-TWALO and JOHN SEAGER – HSRC – (2005) Literature Review on Poverty AND HIV/AIDS: Measuring the social and Economic Impacts on Households http://www. wsu. ac. za/hsrc/html/ganyaza-twalo. pdf [Accessed on 12/02/2013] UNDP, (2009). Impact of HIV/AIDS on household vulnerability and poverty in Viet Nam. United Nations Development Programme. Viet Nam. Culture and Information Publishing House.

Let your life speak Essay

Questions for Reflection During which moments/activities do you feel most alive? What are your feelings about someone doing the right thing for the wrong reason? In what ways do you hear from God? What kinds of things most drain you? Stress you? What activities give you the space to reflect on what is going on inside you? How often do you do them? Consider the aphorism â€Å"Your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness.† What is the connection between your strengths and your limits? Suggested Activity Pray through St. Ignatius’ Prayer of Examen. See www.marshill.org/groups/hc/ Select the link titled Prayer of Examen in the Practices section. Parker Palmer Let Your Life Speak Chapter 2-Now I Become Myself Quotes to think about â€Å"What a long time it can take to become the person one has always been. How often in the process we mask ourselves in faces that are not our own† [p. 9]. â€Å"We ourselves, driven by fear, too often betray true self to gain the approval of others† [p. 12]. â€Å"But inspected through the lens of paradox, my desire to become an aviator and an advertiser contain clues to the core of true self†¦clues, by definition, are coded and must be deciphered† [p. 13]. â€Å"If you seek vocation without understanding the material you are working with, what you build with your life will be ungainly and may well put lives in peril, your own and some of those around you† [p. 16]. â€Å"In the tradition of pilgrimage†¦hardships are seen not as accidental but as integral to the journey itself† [p. 18]. â€Å"I saw that as an organizer I had never stopped being a teacher-I was simply teaching in a classroom without walls. Make me a cleric or a CEO, a poet or a politico, and teaching is what I will do† [p. 21]. â€Å"People like me are raised to live autonomously, not interdependently. I had been trained to compete and win, and I had developed a taste for the prizes† [p. 22]. â€Å"Because I could not acknowledge my fear, I had to disguise it as the white horse of judgment and self-righteousness† [p. 28]. â€Å"Self care is never a selfish act-it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on the earth to offer to others† [p. 30]. â€Å"They decide no longer to act on the outside in a way that contradicts some truth about themselves that they hold deeply on the inside† [p. 32]. â€Å"Some journeys are direct, and some are circuitous; some are heroic, and some are fearful and muddled. But every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need† [p. 36]. Questions for reflection What role does gaining the approval of others play in how you live your life? As Palmer recalls his childhood, he is able to uncover clues to his true self. Parents, siblings, and even spouses are great sources of information to find out what you were like when you were younger. What were your childhood fascinations? Were you an artist? Were you building forts in the woods? What sorts of things held your attention? Are there connections between the things that fascinated you then and the life that you want to live now? Half-truths go hand in hand with fear. In our fear, it is much easier to look at another person, institution, or situation and point out shortcomings than it is to look at our own. Fear may motivate us to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. What are some of the fears that â€Å"trigger† you to lash out at others? Palmer says that â€Å"self care is good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift that I was placed on earth to offer others.† He goes on to say that a lack of self care hurts not only the individual but others as well. What does â€Å"self care† look like for you? What restores you? What are the things in your life that make your soul tired? Who are the Martin Luther King Jr.’s, the Rosa Parks’, and Gandhis: of your life? Who are the people that you admire so much that you seek to model aspects of your life after them? Why these people? Learning who you are doesn’t simply mean learning your strengths but also your limitations. â€Å"Who are you?† is a very broad and difficult question to answer. I may not be able to tell you â€Å"who I am,† but I’ve got a list of stories to tell you who I am not! Finish the sentence â€Å"I could never_____ it’s just not me.† Suggested Activity Palmer says that â€Å"clues are coded and must be deciphered.† Turn a blank sheet of paper on its side and draw a straight line from the left side to the right side. The line will serve as a chronological timeline of your life from birth until now. Place significant experiences and events that have shaped who you are today on the timeline. Examples: family of origin, deaths, births, school and work experiences, relationships, spiritual journey, great moments of joy, or great moments of sadness. Take time to share with one another about what is on your timeline and why it is significant. Parker Palmer Let Your Life Speak Chapter 3-When Way Closes Quotes to think about â€Å"There is as much guidance in what does not and cannot happen in my life as there is in what can and does-maybe more† [p. 39]. â€Å"If you are like me and don’t readily admit your limits, embarrassment may be the only way to get your attention† [p. 42]. â€Å"As Americans†¦we resist the very idea of limits, regarding limits of all sorts as temporary and regrettable impositions on our lives†¦We refuse to take no for an answer† [p. 42]. â€Å"When I consistently refuse to take no for an answer, I miss the vital clues to my identity that arise when way closes-and I am more likely both to exceed my limits and to do harm to others in the process† [p. 43]. â€Å"There are some roles and relationships in which we thrive and others in which we wither and die† [p. 44]. â€Å"It took me a long time to understand that although everyone needs to be loved, I cannot be the source of that gift to everyone who asks me for it† [p. 48]. â€Å"When I give something I do not possess, I give a false and dangerous gift, a gift that looks like love but is, in reality, loveless-a gift given more from my need to prove myself than from the other’s need to be cared for† [p. 48]. â€Å"Our strongest gifts are usually those we are barely aware of possessing. They are a part of our God given nature, with us from the moment we drew first breath, and we are no more conscious of having them than we are of breathing† [p. 52]. â€Å"Limitations and liabilities are the flip side of our gifts†¦a particular weakness is the inevitable trade-off for a particular strength. We will become better teachers not by trying to fill the potholes in our souls but by knowing them so well that we can avoid falling into them† [p. 52]. â€Å"If we are to live our lives fully and well, we must learn to embrace the opposites, to live in a creative tension between our limits and our potentials. We must honor our limitations in ways that do not distort our nature, and we must trust and use our gifts in ways that fulfill the potentials God gave us† [p. 55]. Questions for reflection Can you identify a moment in your life when God used a â€Å"closed door† instead of an â€Å"open door† to guide your life in the direction it needed to go? Discuss your experience.  Palmer says that embarrassment is sometimes the only way we become aware of our limitations. Identify and discuss an embarrassing moment that helped you become aware of your limitations. How does humor get used to avoid dealing with our shortcomings? In American culture, weaknesses and limitations are often viewed as things that need to be turned into strengths. Palmer seems to argue that in trying to turn our weaknesses into strengths we become something that we are not and end up living outside of ourselves. How does the idea that weaknesses should be identified and honored rather than turned into strengths strike you? If our strongest gifts are usually the ones that we are most unaware of, what types  of things do people tell you are your strengths that you feel unaware of? Suggested Activity Identify and write down two recent moments in your life. 1. A moment when things went so well that you felt confident that you were born to do whatever you were doing at the time. 2. A moment when something went so poorly that you never wanted to repeat the experience again. Break into groups of two or three people and share these moments. In the groups, begin by helping one another see the strengths that made the great moment possible. After doing that, reflect with one another about the moment that went poorly. Instead of offering critiques, think about the strengths discussed in the first moment. Knowing that our strengths and weaknesses are often opposites, help each other identify if there is a connection between the strength of the first moment and the weakness of the second moment. How are they two sides of the same coin? When everyone has finished gather back together as one group and discuss what you discovered. Parker Palmer Let Your Life Speak Chapter 4: All the Way Down *Before your discussion of chapter 4, it is very important to lay a framework for your discussion. Anytime people are discussing their brokenness, it must be done in a place of safety and confidentiality. Ask the group to be attentive to not try to â€Å"fix† one another as you interact. If you sense this beginning to happen, remind everyone that you are not trying to fix one another but to help one another hear. Also, be sure to communicate how important it is that what is discussed remains confidential. Quotes to think about â€Å"I had no choice but to write about my own deepest wound†¦I rarely spoke to him about my own darkness; even in his gracious presence, I felt too ashamed† [p. 57]. â€Å"Second, depression demands that we reject simplistic answers, both  Ã¢â‚¬Å"religious† and â€Å"scientific,† and learn to embrace mystery, something our culture resists† [p. 60]. â€Å"I do not like to speak ungratefully of my visitors. They all meant well, and they were among the few who did not avoid me altogether† [p. 61]. â€Å"Depression is the ultimate state of disconnection, not just between people but between one’s mind and one’s feelings. To be reminded of that disconnection only deepened my despair† [p. 62]. â€Å"I heard nothing beyond their opening words, because I knew they were peddling a falsehood: no one can fully experience another person’s mystery† [p. 62]. â€Å"One of the hardest things we must do sometimes is to be present to another person’s pain without trying to â€Å"fix† it, to simply stand respectfully at the edge of that person’s mystery and misery† [p. 63]. â€Å"Functional atheism-saying pious words about God’s presence in our lives but believing, on the contrary, that nothing good is going to happen unless we make it happen† [p. 64].  Ã¢â‚¬Å"First, I had been trained as an intellectual not only to think-an activity I greatly value-but also to live largely in my head†¦Ã¢â‚¬  [p. 67]. â€Å"I had to be forced underground before I could understand that the way to God is not up but down† [p. 69].  Ã¢â‚¬Å"One of the most painful discoveries I made in the midst of the dark woods of depression was that a part of me wanted to stay depressed. As long as I clung to this living death, life became easier; little was expected of me, certainly not serving others† [p. 71]. Questions for reflection Identifying our wounds is a critical part of the inward journey. Think back to the timeline you drew in the Chapter 2 activity. What are the wounds you have suffered? In what ways does shame cause you to hide who you are from others? Discuss the following statement: Sometimes not having answers to some of life’s questions can be comforting. Do you agree? Why or why not? Do you feel it is important to â€Å"show up† when others experience hardship or tragedy? Why or why not? Discuss Palmer’s suggestion that no one can fully experience another person’s mystery and misery. How is the phrase â€Å"I know exactly how you feel† a positive statement between two people? How is it a negative statement? How do you see â€Å"functional atheism† in the world around you? In your life? What does â€Å"the way to God is down† mean to you? Palmer says â€Å"part of me wanted to stay depressed.† Why do you think we hold onto our pain despite the fact that we want it to stop? Suggested Activity Have someone read Job 2:9-13. What can we learn about how Job’s friends respond in these few verses? Read Job 4:8 and then Job 13:5. What is Eliphaz suggesting about Job in 4:8? What can be learned from Job’s response in 13:5? Parker Palmer Let Your Life Speak Chapter 5-Leading from Within Quotes to think about â€Å"I lead by word and deed simply because I am here doing what I do. If you are also here, doing what you do, then you also exercise leadership of some sort† [p. 74]. â€Å"Why must we go in and down? Because as we do so, we will meet the darkness that we carry within ourselves-the ultimate shadows that we project onto other people. If we do not understand that the enemy is within, we will find a thousand ways of making someone â€Å"out there† into the enemy, becoming leaders who oppress rather than liberate others† [p. 80]. â€Å"But why would anybody want to take a journey of that sort, with its multiple difficulties and dangers? Everything in us cries out against it-which is why we externalize everything. It is so much easier to deal with the external world, to spend our lives manipulating materials and institutions and other people instead of dealing with our own souls† [p. 82]. â€Å"Why would anyone want to embark on the daunting inner journey about which Annie Dillard writes? Because there is no way out of one’s inner life, so one had better get into it. On the inward and downward spiritual journey, the only way out is in and through† [p. 85]. â€Å"But extroversion sometimes develops as a way to cope with self-doubt: we plunge into external activity to prove that we are worthy-or simply to evade the question† [p. 86]. â€Å"the knowledge that identity does not depend on the role w e play or the power it gives us over others. It depends only on the simple fact that we are children of God, valued in and for ourselves† [p. 87]. â€Å"A few people found ways to be present to me without violating my soul’s integrity. Because they were not driven by their own fears, the fears that lead us either to â€Å"fix† or abandon each other†¦Ã¢â‚¬  [p. 93]. Questions for reflection Palmer suggests that anyone who is alive is a leader. He broadens the typical definition of leadership to include things like family dynamics and relationships. Discuss your thoughts on this.  What monsters do you need to â€Å"ride all the way down?† What might that look like?  What activities have you been part of in order to prove your worth or value? Palmer finishes the chapter by saying that it is possible for communities to be with one another in a way that is safe and honoring. What do you think makes communities feel unsafe? We are meant to support and journey with one another. What alternatives are there for journeying together beyond â€Å"fixing or abandoning?† Suggested Activity  Read Matthew 15:2,10, and 11.  Have someone wrap an empty box as you would a birthday or Christmas gift. Decorate the exterior with ribbons, bows, and other gift decorations. Set the gift in the middle of the room and ask people to make observations about the wrapping: What can we tell about the person who wrapped the box based on the wrapping? After several minutes of observation, have someone open the  gift to reveal the empty box. Jesus observes that the Pharisees are so concerned with the exterior that they neglect what is inside. How is this true in our lives? Parker Palmer Let Your Life Speak Chapter 6-There Is a Season Quotes to think about â€Å"Animated by the imagination, one of the most vital powers we possess, our metaphors often become reality, transmuting themselves from language into the living of our lives† [p. 96]. â€Å"We do not believe that we â€Å"grow† our lives-we believe that we â€Å"make† them† [p. 97]. â€Å"We are here not only to transform the world but also to be transformed† [p. 97]. â€Å"In my own experience of autumn, I am rarely aware that seeds are being planted† [p. 98]. â€Å"In retrospect, I can see in my own life what I could not see at the time-how the job I lost helped me find work I needed to do, how the â€Å"road closed† sign turned me toward terrain I needed to travel, how losses that felt irredeemable forced me to discern meanings I needed to know† [p. 99]. â€Å"There is in all visible things†¦a hidden wholeness† [p. 99]. â€Å"Until we enter boldly into the fears we most want to avoid, those fears will dominate our lives† [p. 103]. â€Å"If you receive a gift, you keep it alive not by clinging to it but by passing it along†¦If we want to save our lives, we cannot cling to them but must spend them with abandon† [p. 105]. â€Å"Authentic abundance does not lie in secured stockpiles of food or cash or influence or affection but in belonging to a community where we can give those goods to others who need them-and receive them from others when we are in need† [p. 108]. â€Å"Community doesn’t just create abundance-community is abundance. If we could learn that equation from the world of nature, the human world might be transformed† [p. 108]. Questions for reflection  What season do you feel that you are currently in? Why? In your mind, what is the weirdest most obscure animal in all of God’s good creation? Why do you suppose God is so detailed and extravagant with his creation? What things contribute to the loss of imagination? In what ways do you â€Å"make your life† rather than listen for what God desires to make of your life? God asks that his people join him in redeeming and restoring the world. How are you joining God to redeem and restore the world? Remember that God is about details and extravagance. We can sometimes feel that the way we join God is small and insignificant compared to the way others do. But it isn’t. God created you to be a gift to Him and to the world and you have something to offer. What is it? How is this process transforming you? The way of Jesus, which is the way of the cross, compels us to use our freedom and abundance for the benefit of others. What does it look like for you to live for the benefit of others? What does it look like for your community? Suggested Activity After discussing what it might look like for your community to live for the benefit of others, finish by holding hands in a circle and reciting the Lord’s Prayer. [Matthew 6:9-13].