Creating a Successful Community Service Project :: Community Service Essays

Introduction Our class at State University has been tasked with creating and implementing a community-service project. A community-service project refers to a service that a person or group performs for the benefit of his or her local community. The team which I was part of decided to sponsor a Mother’s Day spaghetti dinner for the athletic department at a local Christian school. The funds would be used exclusively to build dug-outs for the girls softball team at a small private Christian school located in our town. The Christian school serves our community by providing a preschool program for children 3 and 4. It also conducts school for K-5 through 12th grade. Our team is made up of four people. The team began the decision making process by first exploring the parameters involved in a community project and the possibilities to work towards a worthy cause, while applying organizational behavior principles. The spaghetti dinner seemed perfect for our purpose of collecting money to build the girls softball team some dugouts. We wanted to engage in a community project that included certain characteristics such as an activity that would produce long-lasting benefits for the community. The team also wanted an uplifting and positive experience for all involved and a process that included a variety of challenges which would demonstrate our individual talents. As a team we all participated in the decision making for the entire project. Each participant showed leadership and demonstrated motivation to get the project underway and completed with a successful turnout.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once the team came up with a general consensus for the project, the decision making was shared at all levels. Sometimes, the team had to rethink certain approaches quickly, for example by becoming more persistant and persuasive with merchants. As the dead line for the dinner approached we needed to take into consideration all factors surrounding the cause and try and get as much as possible from each merchant. In most cases, there was reluctance about donating something to a group that was not very well known and in other cases there was resistance in general to donating at all. Many merchants wouldn’t donate without first receiving a request in writing, so we created a letter designed to overcome this obsticle. We have included a copy of this letter at the end of this paper for your review. The team had multiple different personality types and traits that would allow us to pull on multiple strengths from different team members. Creating a Successful Community Service Project :: Community Service Essays Introduction Our class at State University has been tasked with creating and implementing a community-service project. A community-service project refers to a service that a person or group performs for the benefit of his or her local community. The team which I was part of decided to sponsor a Mother’s Day spaghetti dinner for the athletic department at a local Christian school. The funds would be used exclusively to build dug-outs for the girls softball team at a small private Christian school located in our town. The Christian school serves our community by providing a preschool program for children 3 and 4. It also conducts school for K-5 through 12th grade. Our team is made up of four people. The team began the decision making process by first exploring the parameters involved in a community project and the possibilities to work towards a worthy cause, while applying organizational behavior principles. The spaghetti dinner seemed perfect for our purpose of collecting money to build the girls softball team some dugouts. We wanted to engage in a community project that included certain characteristics such as an activity that would produce long-lasting benefits for the community. The team also wanted an uplifting and positive experience for all involved and a process that included a variety of challenges which would demonstrate our individual talents. As a team we all participated in the decision making for the entire project. Each participant showed leadership and demonstrated motivation to get the project underway and completed with a successful turnout.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once the team came up with a general consensus for the project, the decision making was shared at all levels. Sometimes, the team had to rethink certain approaches quickly, for example by becoming more persistant and persuasive with merchants. As the dead line for the dinner approached we needed to take into consideration all factors surrounding the cause and try and get as much as possible from each merchant. In most cases, there was reluctance about donating something to a group that was not very well known and in other cases there was resistance in general to donating at all. Many merchants wouldn’t donate without first receiving a request in writing, so we created a letter designed to overcome this obsticle. We have included a copy of this letter at the end of this paper for your review. The team had multiple different personality types and traits that would allow us to pull on multiple strengths from different team members.

Victor as the Monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein :: essays research papers

Monsters can come in various physical forms, but all monsters share the same evil mentality. A Monster is a being that harms and puts fear within people. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example of how appearance does not determine whether a creature is a monster or not. In the story, Victor Frankenstein tries to change nature by creating a super human being. The being appears to be a monster. Victor becomes so obsessed with his creation and then rejects it. Victor is the real monster because of his desire for power, lack of respect for nature, and his stubbornness. Because of Victor’s need for fame and desire for power leads to Victor becoming a monster. Victor begins his quest to bring life to a dead person because he does not want anyone to feel the pain of a loved ones death. At first he is not obsessed with his project. As he moves along in the project he thinks about what will happen to him. "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." (Shelley 39) He realizes that he will become famous if he accomplishes the task of bringing a person back to life. The realization that he will become famous turns him into an obsessive monster. He wanted to be admired, and praised as a species creator. He isolates himself from his family and works on the creature. â€Å"I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation, but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.† (Shelley 156) By spending most of his time inside on his experiment, he has no time to write or contact his family. He puts fear within his family because they fear for him. Victor has a lack of respect for the natural world that leads him on the path to becoming a monster. In creating the monster Victor is trying to change the natural world. He is trying to play the role of god by creating life.

Education and Act 48 Essay -- Education School Legislation Teaching Es

Education and Act 48 On November 23,1999 Governor Ridge signed Act 48 of 1999, enacting new requirements for professional education (formerly professional development) plans. The legislation also requires that all certified educators complete six college credits, six credits of continuing professional education courses, 180 clock hours of continuing professional education, or any combination of collegiate studies, continuing professional education courses or learning experiences equivalent to 180 hours every five years. For the purposes of calculating hours and credits, one credit of collegiate studies or continuing professional education courses is equivalent to 30 hours of continuing professional education. The professional education requirements take effect July 1, 2000 for all certified educators and will support achievement of the Pennsylvania Academic Standards, the Chapter 49 Teacher Certification Standards, and high standards for all educators and student. The information below has been rese arched directly from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Act 48-Professional Development Plan. The Act 48 plan requires that â€Å"upon expiration of an existing professional development plan, each school entity (district, intermediate unit (Ill), area-vocational-technical school (AVTS), joint school district, charter school, the Scotland School for Veterans Children and the Scranton School for the Deaf) submit a three-year professional education plan to the Department of Education for approval.† Approved schools for special education are also required to comply with Act 48 by the Bureau of Special Education. This plan is based on national standards, state standards and the individual needs of the district. Professional education plans from IUs, approved schools for special education and state-owned schools are submitted by June 30 in two phases. School district and AVTS professional education plans are due with a strategic plan by September 30 in the assigned phase. Private schools may also submit a professional education plan for approval so they can be an approved professional education provider. This, however, is an option to private schools and is not mandated by the state because they do not receive federal funding in the way that public schools do so. Wallenpaupack Area School District is currently in phase one of the strategic plan... ...www.ed.gov/pubs/PrisonersOfTime/index.html] Professional development: Changing times. (1994). Policy Briefs, Report 4. Oak Brook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. ED376618 State Higher Education Executive Officers Association [SHEEO]. (1991, August). Higher education and school reform: Creating the partnership. Denver, CO: Author. ED 337,110. Tanner, B., Canady, R. L., & Rettig, R. L. (1995). Scheduling time to maximize staff development opportunities. Journal of Staff Development, 16(4): 14-19. EJ522303 Taylor, T. A. (2000, May 24). Congress confronts Goals 2000, national service. AACTE Briefs, p. 1. Troen, V., & Bolles, K. (1994). Two teachers examine the power of teacher leadership. In D. R. Walling (Ed.), Teachers as leaders. Perspectives on the professional development of teachers (pp. 275-86). Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation. ED379283 Voices from the field: 30 expert opinions on America 2000, The Bush administration strategy to "reinvent" America's schools. (2001, April). Washington, DC: Institute for Educational Leadership and William T. Grant Foundation, Commission on Work, Family, and Citizenship. ED 336 823

An Overview of Freedom Greeting Card Company Inc

Freedom Greeting Card Company Inc. (www.freedomgreetings.com) is a greeting card company that recently decided to create a website that would provide wholesale and retail customers with online services (Aspin, 2005). In the past, the company relied entirely on fax and phone orders. It grew into a multi-billion dollar business without even having a web site. However, as customer began demanding faster service and the industry expanded, Freedom†s leaders realized that they would be eliminated by the competition if they failed to give the customers what they wanted (Aspin, 2005). The Internet seemed to be the offered a viable solution to keep in contact with a large customer base. Jay Levitt, president of Freedom Greeting, aimed to create a solution that would be easy to use and effectively boost productivity, while saving money on traditional methods of reacting to increases in demand such as staff and infrastructure expansion. Levitt looked into the possibility of extending his existing business applications. Since 1999, the company was a customer of Aspin Management Systems, a software house based in the United Kingdom (Aspin, 2005). Freedom had invested in AMSolveâ„ ¢, an accounting and back office system which the company produces. The system handles many area of Freedom†s operation, including account ledgers, stock control, order processing and fulfillment. Levitt decided to extend the company†s services to the Internet. The company found a solution that would give trade customers an easy to use method of quickly ordering products, without the need for customers to invest in expensive applications to interface with the company†s server (Aspin, 2005). This solution is a website that provides a catalogue of over five thousand products that can be ordered by industry customers. Customers login and browse the products, adding items or requesting stock through the Grid Ordering process. According to Aspin Intercative (2005): â€Å"The customer or agent specifies the grids and pocket to re-order and the system displays the available stock for pockets as specified in AMSolve. The user then reviews the order, makes any adjustment to quantity and clicks a button to place the order. There is no need to enter any payment details and the order is encrypted and sent directly to Freedom†s AMSolve server for processing. Once the order is placed notification is sent via email, however, an agent representing a client or the customer themselves can log into the website at any time and place, and check that the order is in the system and once shipped, they can check its delivery status.†

Winesburg

The word grotesque is an oxymoron in itself. It means beautiful ugly. How a person can have both of these adjectives is the theme of Winesburg, Ohio written by Sherwood Anderson. His characters become grotesque by holding onto one truth that make them distorted but unknowingly make them beautiful simultaneously. Anderson uses the motif of isolation on Seth Richmond, the Stranger and Tandy to develop their grotesqueness by making the characters' isolation be the reason why they hold onto one truth causing their grotesqueness.On the other hand, the author ses biblical allusion to help clarify the truth Jesse Bentley lives by that causes his grotesqueness. Anderson uses the motif of isolation in order to enhance the grotesqueness of Seth Richmond, as the character's self-imposed isolation causes his grotesqueness. Seth Richmond grows up with his mother, Virginia Richmond who does not know how to discipline him and a deceased father. Seth only stares at his mother apathetically when she scolds him that causes his mother to withdraw from her displeasure.Seth also only shows indifference in things other boys engage in and finds him different rom others, since he does not feel the same emotions people would usually feel. Hence, he holds onto the truth that he does not belong in the town and â€Å"he [wishes] that he himself [be] stirred by something† (133). Seth's self-imposed isolation is what causes his grotesqueness. He thinks Just because he doesn't have the same interest as the others and is not â€Å"stirred by something† makes him an outcast and unlike. When in fact, the people of Winesburg admire him because he comes off as a passionate and mature man.Nevertheless, Seth does not acknowledge the people's houghts because he lives by his truth that he does not fit in Winesburg because he is indifferent about things the people our engaged in. For this reason, he is distorted and grotesque for believing one truth and not accepting the others' truths. Later, Seth fancies a girl named Helen but with him imposing that he does not belong in the town and wants to leave, he soon drives away Helen and begins to think that the reason of her departure is because of his truth that he is an outcast.When in reality, Helen departs to avoid further sentiment because Seth tells her that it was their last ime they'll see each other. Nonetheless, He continues to say, â€Å"when it comes to loving someone, it wont never be [him]. It'll be†¦ someone who talks a lot – someone like that George Willard† (142). Seth continues to hold onto his truth and imposes that he needs be isolated further more from the town and needs to leave Winesburg. This eventually drives Helen away, but Seth believes it is because of his social skills.Hence, he becomes Jealous of George Willard and wants to be like him because he thinks that if he were George, Helen would not have left him. However, George Willard is not that social either, Seth assumes he is a social butterfly because he is a reporter but as a matter of fact he only listens well. Seth is grotesque because he believes in a truth that is not absolute. He believes that Helen left him because he is not as social as George Willard, when it is not the case. He is grotesque tor believing a truth about George Willard that is not true.The author also uses the motif of isolation to develop the grotesqueness of the Stranger and Tandy, as the characters' isolation causes them to hold onto one truth aking them grotesque. Tandy Hard lives only with her father, Tom Hard because her mother is dead. Tom Hard spends most of his time being an atheist, wrecking the ideas and belief that God exists causing his daughter to be neglected. Not having anyone to nurture her and guide her, she becomes lost and continues to live without an identity, as implied by the author when he does not mention her real name until she the stranger names her Tandy.The stranger comes to Winesburg, Ohio in ord er to cure his alcohol addiction and addiction to an image of a lover. He claims that his over is named Tandy who has â€Å"the quality of being strong to be loved,† and the only reason he is not with her is because â€Å"she did not come in [his] time† (145). As a result of the stranger being lone and isolated for not having a lover, he holds onto the truth that his lover is named Tandy and she was not born in his time for the stranger does not find her yet.His reasoning makes him distorted because he continues to believe the truth that there is a Tandy that was not born at his time and not acknowledge the truth that there might not be any Tandy at all. In addition, his isolation also makes im grotesque because it makes him live by the truth that his lover is someone like Tandy and does not acknowledge the truth that there are other women out there that can be his potential lovers without necessarily having the same quality as Tandy.Nonetheless, the stranger imposes o n the daughter that she should be Tandy and she should be strong and brave in order to beloved. Consequently, the daughter not having an identity starts to incline on the idea of Tandy. When her father calls her, she retaliates and says, â€Å"[she] want[s] to be called Tandy – Tandy Hard† (146). After he daughter's statement demanding she wants to be called Tandy, it is implied that she will continue to live as Tandy. For that reason, the daughter is grotesque for not accepting that she can have her own truth to live by and not Just the truth of the stranger.However, the only reason she holds onto the stranger's truth is because she does not acquire her own identity from the isolation and lack of nurture she gets from her father. Therefore, her isolation because of the lack of guidance from her father causes her to live by another person's truth distorting her and making her rotesque. Anderson uses biblical allusion to help clear up the truth Jesse Bentley lives by cr eating his grotesqueness. Jesse Bentley inherits a colossal amount of land from his dead father and brothers.Before inheriting the land Jesse Bentley studied to be a minister, so returning home he is filled with religious thoughts. Hence, he begins to think that his farm is an empire of God and thinks that his lands need to be protected from â€Å"the hands of the Philistines† (73). As a man who studied to be a minister, it is understandable to return with the words of God. However, Jesse Bentley ssociating his life to the Bible and calling his neighbors Philistines is Just absurd and twisted.He lives by the truth that his life is parallel with Jesse's life from the Bible, and even goes to the extent of calling his neighbors Philistines implying that they are enemies. For this reason, Jesse Bentley is grotesque because he lives by the truth that his neighbors are Philistines like in the Bible, causing his distortion and grotesqueness because his truth is not really true. As I said before, Jesse Bentley commences to equate his life to the Jesse of the Old Testament. The Jesse from the Old Testament is known as Christ's key ancestor.As a result, Bentley prays to God that his wife conceives a son that can be named David in order for the lineage to start. However, his wife conceives a girl, Louise that gives birth to a son named David. Jesse Bentley then starts to get obsessive about contacting God through his grandson David. He thinks that through David they â€Å"will see the beauty and glory of God† (100), so he brings a sheep to sacrifice and uses David as a host in the forest. Jesse Bentley holds onto the truth that he can be a significant person like the Jesse from the Old Testament through his grandson.He strongly believes that his life is parallel to the life of the Bible's Jesse when it is not the case. In addition, the fact that he still tries to equate his life into the bible when there's a generation gap and the story that he is reenactin g is Abraham and Isaac and not Jesse and David shows that he is so desperate to communicate with God and feel significant that it makes him distorted and grotesque. Furthermore, because Jesse Bentley is blinded by his want to be significant and the truth that he can communicate with God, he does not accept the ruth that God may not exist making him grotesque.In conclusion, the characters' isolation leads them to live by one truth that enhances their grotesqueness. Additionally, the author uses biblical allusion to explain and clarify the truths the characters' hold onto that makes them grotesque. In some way, the characters' or in general people's grotesqueness can be seen as beautiful. People's faith in a certain truth can be considered beautiful and no matter how distorted it makes them seem, it's the fact that people stand on their ground and fght for what they believe in, makes them admirable.

Snowboarding History

As the excitement of fall winds down, many people fall into a depression. The leaves are gone, the woods are desolate, and the chill of winter air has crept upon us. While most people find this sad, I find it exciting! Why? Because it is time for my favorite sport, snowboarding. Snowboarding’s a new, challenging sport that’s attracting new fans from all around the world. It has really changed since it was first invented. It’s become one of the largest and fastest growing sports in the world. Everywhere, people, including myself, are waiting for the snow to get a chance to go snowboarding.Snowboarding is the cross between surfing and skateboarding. Snowboarding use to be known as a child’s story, but now has evolved into a great sport. Since it was first invented, it has changed from a child’s sport to a new competitive sport that is great for both men and women. Some people saw snowboarding as an alternative to skateboarding, skiing, and surfing. Pe ople who could not afford to buy surfboards, like Jake Burton, used snowboarding as an alternative. Skateboarders saw snowboarding as a new sport that they could make their mark on.Nobody knows who truly invented the first snowboard. But in 1929, M. J. â€Å"Jack† Burchett invented one of the first snowboards. He used clothesline and horse reins to secure a piece of plywood to his feet. Thirty years later, Sherman Poppen, a chemical gases engineer invented â€Å"The Snurfer† as a toy for his daughter. He made the â€Å"snurfer† by bounding two skis together and putting a rope at the nose, so that the rider could hold it and keep it stable. Poppen licensed his idea to manufacturer when his daughter’s friends wanted a â€Å"snurfer† too.In 1966, â€Å"the snurfer† sold over a half million times. In 1979, Poppen left the snowboarding business after Jake Burton came up with the bindings and went back to his old profession. Jake Burton, another i nventor of the snowboard, became interested in snowboarding after taking part in Poppen’s â€Å"snurfer† competitions that were organized by Poppen. His parents wouldn’t buy him a surfboard so riding the â€Å"snurfer† was a new and cool thing to do. In 1977, after he finished college, Burton moved to Londonderry, Vermont to make different types of the Snurfer.He made his first board out of laminated hardwood. In 1979, while at a Snurfer competition, Burton shocked everyone by using his new board that had the first binding. It made a big difference that allowed him to control the board and made it easier to beat the other riders. In 1969, Dimitrije Milovich, after he got the idea from sliding down a hill on a cafeteria plate in college, started making snowboards. His snowboards were based on surfboards combined with the way skis work. In 1972, he started a new company called â€Å"Winterstick†.He produced lots of snowboards and even got articles in magazines like, â€Å"News Week†, â€Å"Playboy†, and â€Å"Power†. In 1980, he left the snowboarding business, but was still known as a very important pioneer of the sport. At the same time that Jake Burton was producing his snowboards Tom Sims produced his first snowboards in 1977. Sims was an avid skateboarder who made a â€Å"snowboard† in a junior high school shop class. He made his out of carpet wood and aluminum. He glued some carpet to the top of a piece of wood and put an aluminum sheet on the bottom.He started making snowboards in 1977 in his garage with his friend and employee Chuck Barfoot. Barfoot actually made the boards and came up with the â€Å"Flying Yellow Banana†. It was a skateboard deck on top of a plastic shell with skegs. During 1980 Sims signed a skate-snowboarding deal with a big company called Vision Sports. Signing the deal helped Sims get out of his financial problems, but his friend Barfoot, was left out and tried to go into business for himself. He couldn’t compete with big competitors like Sims and Burton.The first modern competitive snowboarding contest took place in Leadville, Colorado in 1981. Then snowboarding competition took off from there and became worldwide. In 1982, the first national snowboarding race was held in Suicide Six, outside of Woodstock, Vermont. Because of the conditions of the hill, the goal of the race appeared to be mostly just surviving the race. The race was on a steep icy downhill run called â€Å"The Face†. Paul Graves put it on and Tom Simms and Jake Burton competed. Doug Bouton won first place overall.This race marked the last time that snowboards and snurfer’s raced together. In 1983, Jake Burton puts on the national snowboarding championships in Snow Valley. A couple of months later Tom Sims holds the inaugural World Snowboarding Championships at Soda Springs Ski Bowl in Lake Tahoe. That contest featured the first contest with a half pipe. In 1986 the World Snowboarding Championships moved from Soda Springs to Colorado. In 1986, a new European snowboarding generation launched. Then the Europeans began to organize their own regional events like the Swiss Championships in St. Moritz. In 1987, a group of riders and manufacturers formed the N. A. S. B. A. (National Association of State Boards of Accountancy) whose main goal was to create a unified World Cup tour with the Europeans. In 1988 N. A. S. B. A. got its wish and the first world cup was held in both Europe and the United States. It was the most expensive snowboarding contest ever. In 1994 everybody was happy because snowboarding was declared a Winter Olympic sport. It was finally accepted as a real competitive sport and was first seen in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

An analysis of “Night” and “Beloved” Essay

In the list of the most tackled themes for literary works, freedom and love probably top the list. The Novels â€Å"Night† and â€Å"Beloved† are some examples of the literary pieces which intertwine these two popular concepts. Basically, the books dwelled on stories of slavery and brutality which ultimately destroyed the lives of the fictional characters. In this paper, the researcher tries to examine how these books address the importance of freedom and love in terms of living a life of meaning and purpose. The Lack of Freedom Can Deny Worth Both literary pieces demonstrate that without freedom, a person can ultimately loose his sense of self, and thus stripping the individual of his love for himself and his worth as a human being. The lack of worth is often initiated by the perpetrators or those who enslave. However, through continuous exposure to maltreatment, discrimination, and intolerant violence, the enslaved may loose hope, and in the end – accept the fact that he and his life are indeed worthless and that there is no point of loving himself and his fellows. This is clearly shown in the first novel. In the beginning of the â€Å"Night†, the Jews who were brought to the Nazi camp found relief in caring for each other. They also turned to religion and their God at times when they feared for their lives. In particular, Eliezer excessively prayed seeking salvation, security, and purpose in his faith and believing that God would not let evil prevail. The Jews also tried to seek relief from supporting Zionism. To a certain sense, the captives tried to preserve their worth as a human being through loving and caring. (Wiesel) However, brutal experiences forced them to thwart their beliefs and their worth. They had to see babies that were burned in open pit furnaces. Such event is very demoralizing to people since babies are often regarded as symbols of pure and innocent lives which needed love, not brutality. Apart from that, they were also forced to watch the hanging of their fellow Jews, people whom they loved and cared for. Such experiences combined with the inhumane treatment of Nazis gradually led the Jews to believe that they were basically nothing but slaves – individuals who have no purpose in life but to serve the superior race. They were somehow, undeserving of love and life, which will only be wasted through unjustifiable and imposed death. In â€Å"Beloved†, the slaves were liberated but one can see that their liberation was probably too late in the sense that slavery already ruined their â€Å"sense of self†. Take the case of Paul D. As a slave, he was treated with utmost cruelty by the â€Å"school teacher†. When he tried to escape with Sixo, they were captured and Sixo was killed. Paul D was then subjected to humiliation when he was forced to wear an iron bit much like a horse. He also suffered from pitiless beatings and torturing of the ‘chain gang’. As a result of these inhumane treatments, Paul D often felt insecure and unconvinced of his humanness and manhood. (Morrison) In the case of Sethe, she was also treated as an inferior being that, as the school teacher notes, has â€Å"animal characteristics†. She was violated by men and even whipped almost to death, despite the fact that she was pregnant. As a result of these experiences, she felt a feeling of self-hatred for becoming a slave. Sethe also cannot find a sense of satisfaction or fulfillment in her own self. That is why she saw motherhood as the only chance for her to redeem her worth. Thus, she regarded her children, especially ‘Beloved’ as her â€Å"best thing. † By being so selfless to the point of martyrdom, it seems that Sethe did not possess any love for herself. Rather, every loving emotion is directed to her children. The Lack of Freedom Can Distort a Person’s Sense of Life and Love The two novels also showed that slavery can greatly alter a person’s view of living and loving. Basically, the lack of freedom can introduce seemingly irrational and unreasonable perspectives that are derived from sheer fright, panic and anxiety. In â€Å"Night†, the lack of freedom reduced the lives of the Jews as nothing but mere struggles for survival. Through the extensive â€Å"selection† process promoted by the Nazis, the Jews developed the idea that the fittest are truly the only ones who can live. This is demonstrated by the fact that those who were considered as ill and weak were quickly exterminated while the â€Å"strong† ones were used for labor. The idea of the â€Å"survival of the fittest† was further enforced by the scarcity of resources in the camp. There was too little food and water and this prompted the Jews to compete against themselves. What’s worse was that the competition even prompted the prisoners to lose their sense of love and respect for their fathers. As noted by one of them: Listen to me, boy. Don’t forget that you’re in a concentration camp. Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father. Here, there are no fathers, no brothers, (and) no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone. (Wiesel) In a sense, without freedom the lives of the Jews became â€Å"animalistic†. They lost their regard for familial relations along with the loss of their hopes to be free. Without freedom, they had no love; and without love, their lives seemed to have no meaning. Elizier further demonstrates this point through his narration of a son’s beating of his father because of a fight over food on the train to Buchenwald. (Wiesel) In â€Å"Beloved†, the most twisted result of slavery is shown through murder. In the story, the schoolteacher wanted to take Sethe and her children back into the barn where slaves were dehumanized. Instead of surrendering her children however, Sethe decided to kill them rather than forcing them into a life without freedom. Through this act, Sethe demonstrated that life without freedom is worse than death. She somehow equated death as the only way to escape slavery and achieve freedom. For her, the act of murdering her own children – cutting their throat with a handsaw – was an act of love. Paul D explained Sethe’s actions: She just flew. Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one could hurt them†¦Outside this place, where they would be safe. (Morrison) In conclusion, the two novels, â€Å"Night† and â€Å"Beloved† show that without freedom, individuals can lose their idea of â€Å"love† – both in terms of self-love and love for others. Continuous demoralization and dehumanization can ultimately ruin a person’s concept of love and life. Moreover, such acts can drain purpose and meaning in living. Works Cited: Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Knopf, 1987. Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam Books, 1960.