...English 102 16 February 2012 Save a life, Mine or Yours Winston Churchill said it best, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give” (qtd. in Gibbs). His words of wisdom reinforce the idea that donating blood can save lives. The U.S. Federal News Service states there is a need for blood donations all year (“Every Season there is Reason to Give Blood - Nov. 15-16 at Fort Riley”). A single donation of blood can help save three lives. Every two seconds someone needs this life saving fluid, and someday it may be you (“Cancer; Donate Blood Today- -Save Up to Three Lives”). When blood is processed, red blood cells, platelets, and plasma remain. Each product has its own unique purpose. While whole blood is kept in its entirety, the shelf life is limited and ranges from twenty-one to thirty-five days (“Blood Components”). Robert L. Jones MD, President and CEO of the New York Blood Center, states, “There is no substitute for human blood, and the only place to get this precious resource is from volunteer blood donors” (qtd. in “Cancer; Donate Blood Today- -Save Up to Three Lives”). A top reason people refrain from donating blood is the fear of needles, but there are benefits, such as receiving a mini-physical exam, reduction in heart disease, and saving lives. Nevertheless, not all individuals can physically donate blood. Health conditions, medications, pregnancy, and world travel can prevent an individual from donating, while emotional deterrents are also...
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...How to Save a Life Ever since I can remember comma saving a life was always my dream. I wasn't the type of kid who wanted to be the president, a lawyer, or a teacher. I played doctor with my baby dolls, not dress-up. Barbie and Ken would be rushed to the doctors’ office because Barbie had too much lipstick on and Ken's shirt was too tight! Unlike Barbie and Ken, I was hardly ever sick as a child, but when I was it was always bad comma and that usually meant that I had to go to the doctor's office. That office was never my type of atmosphere. I hated the doctor with a passion! Eventually I began to realize that the doctors and nurses were only doing what's what was best for you me and that's something I liked. I loved that they always cared about me and my wellbeing, and that was an amazing feeling to me. When high school came around, I had to decide on a career plan. I was so torn and confused because I didn't want to make the wrong decision. The career plan that I was going to pick was going to decide my classes to help me in the future. That's when I came to a decision that nursing was most certainly my way to go. The reason that I chose nursing is not for the money or the benefits you get from it. It is absolutely but for the burning passion that is in my soul to save a life. I care so much about the health and wellbeing of others, and I want to assist with their medical needs the best way that I can. Also, human anatomy really interests me. I absolutely love to learn...
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...Prologue I leaned over the toilet for the fourth time this morning spilling whatever was left in my stomach. I dry heaved for the next five minutes trying to rid whatever was giving me this ill feeling. Once I finished I wiped the sweat off my forehead and laid back against my cold tub. It felt good against my warm skin. I removed my sweat drenched shirt and just laid against the tile floor. I have never experience such pain and nausea in my life. I didn’t want to think about the many possibilities that could be wrong with me. "Ki you alright?" asked my eight year old brother behind my bathroom door. "Yes boo just go get me a bottle of water." I could hear him scurrying off down the stairs to the kitchen. I tried my best to stand up but I just felt too weak. All of a sudden my body grew very tired and I couldn’t get my body to move. I heard my door open and a scream. "Mom, Dad hurry!" yelled my brother Jasone. I didn’t understand why he was screaming until I followed his horrified eyes down to my floor and there was blood everywhere. I slowly reached up to touch my nose and I felt the blood all over my hands and I knew something was definitely wrong. My brother rushed over to me and held my head in his lap as he cried. I tried to reach up and touch him but it all hurt too much. "Lord please I’m not ready to die." I said to myself. "Mom!!" my brother cried out again. "Jasone what is you doing in your sister room and screaming on-" she couldn’t continue her sentence as she...
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...Testing to Save a Life Genomic testing is a way of studying an individual's genes for complications that could lead to health problems like diseases or cancers. Tests became more popular in the 1990’s when they were available directly to the customer rather than from a health professional (Goldsmith). Testing is used for more than just screening for potential complications. They can also be used to help determine why pre diagnosed diseases occurred and determine the best treatment option to pursue. The testing can help individuals become educated about their own body while determining solutions to health issues. Genomic testing has very few physical health risks. The main struggles people face are financial, emotional, or social stress....
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...1113 29 October 2015 Summary 5 Mark Edmundson is his article “Can Music Save Your Life,” discusses how the effect of music provides constantly revelation of emotions which seems like a basic human right to everyone which we should exercise for our own pleasure. The author refers to different musicians who built their opinion about the melody of songs on one’s life decisions in his text. He also raises the question about what roles does music plays in peoples’ life or why they listen to that kind of music? And does music save our lives? Can music still kick open a door in our mind? Music helps us think about things differently and helps us through difficult times in our lives. It brings drama in our lives and makes students able to prevent boredom in their lives. Therefore, it is compulsory to listen to music which makes you feel gratified and contented inside as well as outside the world regardless of others liking it. The author experienced that he had heard different songs before but by listening to Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” he was not only enjoying the melodious tones but also got puzzled about a language of it. He says that he could sense the signer been betrayed by someone and that his words were intense and angry which made author listened to it 50 times or so and helped got over it. On the other hand, throughout the author’s life, he was not sure what things he wanted in his life to satisfy –whether it was a desire to have girlfriend, a motivation to be an...
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...Third Level Question: What are some of the traits Mr. Shiftlet portrays? The Life You Save May Be Your Own In “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O’Connor, Mr. Shiftlet arrives at a farmhouse looking for work. Shiftlet demonstrates a devious style, hypocritical personality and opportunistic ideas. The story takes place in an old woman’s house, who lives with her disabled daughter. With them, Shiftlet displays his deviousness, hypocriticalness, and opportunistic style through actions and phrases. Shiftlet reveals his devious style when he wants something and aims to get it. Getting the car is the main reason Shiftlet traveled to the house. Each of Shiftlet’s actions led to him getting the car in the end of the story, while shows his deviousness, “Mr. Shiftlet’s pale sharp glance had already passed over everything in the yard.” Shiftlet’s deviousness appears in the story by acting nice and marrying the daughter just to get the car. After, Shiftlet ends up ditching the daughter and taking the car. Shiftlet reveals his deviousness when he says, “I can tell you my name is Tom T. Shiftlet and I come from Tarwater, Tennessee, but you never have seen me before.” Shiftlet reveals his hidden motive; to acquire the car. Shiftlet displays his hypocrisy attitude through his actions. Shiftlet says one thing, but ends up doing the opposite. Shiftlet presents hypocrisy when he says, “Nothing is like it used to be lady, the world is almost rotten.” Shiftlet planned...
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...Can we save the earth? While reading The Creation: An Appeal to Save life on Earth by E.O Wilson a lot of ideas popped up in my head. I have to admit some were crazy ideas but reading this book sparked them all. If the course didn’t require me to read at least two books from professors Isenhour list I probably wouldn’t have read this book. I’m glad I did because this is an issue that I have heard a lot about but never gave it importance. All my ideas which I will explain later on all lead to a question even if we do all that we can, can we save the earth? First, the author is trying to tell us the importance of saving life on earth. He wants religion and science to come together. He makes his point within the first chapter of the book....
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...Many people wish to save the lives of other people, but so often we forget that we also have a life that needs protecting, and quite often, saving. However, the ways in which people go about guarding themselves aren’t always the healthiest for the people around them. Often humans scramble to aid their best interests and survival in ways which harm other people, even if they believe they are doing the other individual a favor. In Flannery O’Connor’s The Life You Save May Be Your Own¸ she explores the idea through her exaggerated characters about the ironies of life, and the struggle to protect your own interests and well-being at cost to others. The initial character, Mrs. Crater, is well-meaning toward her daughter and the world, but her...
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...In the story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O'Connor, the author describes an elderly woman and her thirty-two year-old, deaf-mute daughter, both named Lucynell Crater and a wandering one-armed man named Tom Shiftlet. Shiflet wishes for the inoperative automobile which Mrs.Craters husband left behind when he passed away. O’Conner uses symbolism and irony several times throughout the story. For instance the title of the story is taken from the road sign that says “Drive carefully. The life you save may be your own” Tom Shiftlet sees as he drives. This suggests that Shiftlet should be more apprehensive about his own redemption than for being anyone else’s savior. O’Connor uses peacocks to symbolize unrecognized beauty and Lucynell’s significant innocence as her eyes are described as “blue as a peacock’s neck.” The turnip-shaped cloud also hold significance. The fact that the cloud is exactly the color of the hitchhiker’s hat emphasizes the hitchhiker’s role as deliverer of Shiftlet’s moment of grace. When Shiftlet speaks to the hitchhiker about his...
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...Having to choose between doing the right thing or consciously doing the opposite in order to achieve your personal desires can cause emotional conflict. In the stories “Al Roosten” by George Saunders and “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O'Connor, similar observations of the theme of identity and internal conflict are presented. Internal conflict causes frustration and confusion for both characters which reveals that despite the characters knowing what the right thing to do is, they consciously do the opposite. Their emotional struggles with knowing what is right and doing the opposite shows that they are unsure about choosing between the moral thing to do and what they want to do. In Saunder’s story, the internal conflict in...
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...Elizabeth Cohen begins her article “Health care refugees: Family Flees Florida to Save Daughter's Life” by stating families are leaving Florida because believe Medicaid is “killing” their children. Recent experiences of families in Florida on Medicaid reveals Florida Medicaid “refused to pay for most of the medications Abby was prescribed to prevent seizures, even though her doctors were adamant she needed those particular drugs” (Cohen 75). Abby is a 5-year old child born without half her brain. She is on Florida Medicaid and they refused to pay for drugs that could save her life. This startling fact clearly displays Florida Medicaid’s inability to treat or pay for services that could save a child’s life effectively “killing” them in the process....
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...Rusty Eric once stated “As long as greed is stronger than compassion, there will always be suffering.” This is relevant in our society because we are taught that having money is equivalent to having power; therefore, people crush the innocent in order to obtain what they perceive to be power. In Flannery O'Connor's The Life You Save May Be Your Own she demonstrates how money has driven a man to take advantage of a disabled girl and her poor mother. The desire for money is the motif that through steps brings to light the purity of one’s character. The underlying goal to con and steal someone’s hard earned money begins by earning his/her trust. Mr. Shiftlet’s eagerness for money has caused him to become a greedy, heartless con man who moves from town to town scamming innocent families. One family that he targets is a poor mother and her deaf daughter. In his aspiration for money Mr. Shiftlet has been...
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...In the short story “Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O’Connor Shiftlet remains the same throughout. Although Shiftlet had numerous opportunities of his own redemption, he passed it by each time. Throughout the story there was a plethora of indicators showing how he would remain stagnant. Shiftlet is a static character, because he remained selfish, corrupt, and ignorant. The author indicates Shiftlet’s selfishness, a contribution to his stagnation, in numerous occasions. During one of his discussions with the old woman Lucynell Crater his eyes were described as “Shiftlet's eye in the darkness was focused on a part of the automobile bumper that glittered in the distance.” This suggests Shiftlet’s main focus was the automobile ever...
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...This question is particularly controversial. There’s the option of trying to save a person in a heroic way, or simple saving yourself and sacrificing the other person, and avoiding death yourself. I believe that in it is acceptable to sacrifice the life of one person, to avoid two people dying. I think this because even though there is a chance of you saving the other person, but in most situations it is very unlikely and rational of the person to try and do so. Therefore, making the event of two people dying instead of one seems like a silly, stupid option, and all that for the off chance that you might save the person. Also, it is the duty of any person or society that when given a situation where at least one person will die, we should try to save as many people as possible. Therefore, we take the choice where there is the least amount of sacrifice: we sacrifice one innocent person, so that 1 may live. It's only common sense; better to have one dead than two. As humans, our moral duty is to save as many lives as possible in any given situation. Surely we should always you try to keep as many people alive as possible. On the off chance that the person risks their life and does save the other person, and then it was still a risk taken, but a risk also worthwhile. In terms of people’s morals and ethics, no-one would ever consider sacrificing the life off another person, as it would be against most people’s natural instinct. In the book ‘touching the void’, Simon...
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...German author, Eckhart Tolle once said, “To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.” The theme of one gaining salvation and grace through ones actions is evident in many of Flannery O’Conner’s short stories including, The Life That You Save May Be Your Own. O’Conner wrote her short stories so that her characters would come to learn the truth about themselves through an epiphany of self realization and all that they have done wrong and so that each person who was lying to get what they wanted and had hit rock bottom would have a chance at salvation and grace. Though not everyone in O’Conner’s short shotries accepts this salvation and grace. In Flannery O’Conner’s The Life That You Save May Be Your Own, Mr. Shiftlet denies his newly offered salvations even after having his epiphany. In Flannery O’Conner’s The Life That You Save May Be Your Own, Mr. Shiftlet was a character who manipulated his situation to benefit himself by lying to those around him and eventually leading him to have an epiphany of his wrong doings and was offered salvation. When Mr. Shiftlet arrived at the Crater family’s house he had every intention of...
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