Critical Reading and Response on the Article “Letting Go” Essay Example for Free

Critical Reading and Response on the Article â€Å"Letting Go† Essay In the article â€Å"Letting Go† that was being published in The New Yorker, Atul Gawande addresses the issues regarding to the current medical care system that fails to meet the needs of the patients with terminal illness. Gawande points out that the patients want to spend more quality time with their family members and having some special last moments rather than struggling to stay alive when they know that the chances are thin. Knowing the time to let go was one of the crucial part of the art of dying which people nowadays has forgotten. Gawande argues that choosing the hospice care would sometimes be a better choice for the terminally ill patients. He uses statistics such that the patients that choose hospice lives longer or than other patients and they tend to suffer lesser to support his argument. Hospice care tends to go with less pain treatment and focuses on the needs of the patients. It increases the quality of life of the patients during the last moments of their live. The patients’ family members are less likely to suffer from depression when they have chosen to go with the hospice care mainly because they have prepared themselves to face the death of the patient when time has come. Gawande’s argument is that the medical care system nowadays fails to meet the needs of the patients. His argument is convincing because he appeals to the emotions of his reader through both his own and others experience and statistics. Gawande reels in his readers’ attention and interest through some of the real life experience before he educates them. That makes it easier for the readers to absorb what Gawande is trying to deliver to his audience. In order to make it even more convincing, Gawande uses two extreme cases as a comparison to prove his point that hospice care would be the better choice for terminally ill patients. He uses the story of the â€Å"lucky† guy-Dave Galloway who died â€Å"at home, at peace, and surrounded by family† contrast with the poor old lady-Lee Cox who was died due to cardiac arrest and followed by a series of actions to bring her back to live. â€Å"They pulled off her clothes and pumped her chest, put a tube in her airway and forced oxygen into her lungs, and tried to see if they could shock her heart back† (Gawande 133). Such contrast comparison and strong words that would impact the readers’ thoughts on how the process of death can vary through different circumstances. After that, he again embraces the benefits of choosing hospice care rather than going to hospital for intensive medical treatments. Other than that, Gawande uses research statistics to support his argument. â€Å"A study led by the Harvard researcher Nicholas Christakis found out that sixty-three percent of doctors overestimated survival time and the average estimate was 530 percent too high† (Gawande 136). The statistics shows that how the medical system is failing to help the patients to get a grasp on how much time they still have in order to achieve the things that they want in live before their last breath. Since the research was carried out within the well-known institution-Harvard University, readers tend to believe the statistics more and agree upon Gawande’s view. By doing this, Gawande was trying to point out the flaw in our medical system so that his reader would be agreeing upon his argument. Gawande also uses different statistics to support his argument. â€Å"Executives at Aetna, the insurance company, started a two-year study on letting a group of policyholders with a life expectancy of less than a year to receive hospice services without forgoing other treatments. The result is that the people that have chosen hospice service leaped from 26 percent to 70 percent† (Gawande 142). The result shows that people were visiting the hospital lesser after they were introduced to hospice care. Gawande was trying to use the statistics to tell the readers that there were a lot of people that was in the same situation as they are, and they have chosen hospice care over hospital treatment after trying it. That implies that the hospice care would benefit the patients more than the hospital would. The overall structure of the Gawande’s article was well organized. He was able to convince his readers by giving a main idea of what he is trying to deliver through stories and then continue by some straight-forward points that he made. He then supports his arguments with examples to further enhance his point. The wording that he uses is simple yet it gives the readers some images that connect with their emotion. For example, â€Å"Sara would always arrive smiling, makeup on and bangs bobby-pinned out of her eyes. She’d find small things to laugh about, like the tubes that created strange protuberance under her dress† (Gawande 137). Gawande was trying to show that how sad it could be when a person is going through those surgery and treatment in order to get â€Å"fixed†. He would then use that emotion to bring up the point that is other solution to this problem which is the hospice care. I do think that the current medical care system doesn’t meet the needs of the patients as there are some miscommunications between doctors and their patients. Doctors were always looking at the bright side of the illness of their patients which is good in some sense but at the same time, they have to prepare the patients for their worst case scenario. It is hard for the patients to accept the truth that their illness were beyond â€Å"repair† and doctors educate them to accept the truth so that they could go through a less torturing path for their spare life. So, what I am trying to say is that we shouldn’t lose hope but at the same time we have to prepare our self for the worst outcome. If prolonging the patients’ life means that they have to suffer from surgeries and treatment that they need until the end of their life, why not just do things that are more meaningful? Despite all the flaws that we had in our current medical care system, hospice care seems to be the solution for the problem because it offers comfort and satisfaction in the ending life of the patients.

The Jazz Age :: essays research papers

The Jazz Age   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many of the influential artists of the past came from the jazz age such as Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Basie and Crosby, Sarah Vaughan, Cab Calloway, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, and many others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Frank Sinatra was dominating the scene in 1947. He had a voice that was carefully articulated, and had meaningful quality that could make everyone feel that he was sending a private message in his songs to everyone in the audience. It was not however a happy scene. This was widely known as Sinatra’s career skidding down. His personal appearances were gone along with the screaming fans. His once top charted recordings were now near the bottom, if they even placed at all. His contracts with filmmakers and record dealers were thinking about dropping him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sinatra’s problems were due to a few factors with his career. One of them was the fact that he held friendships with Mafia bosses, and his obvious womanizing of all fans and press. There were outside sources too, including the introduction to newer singing styles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sinatra wasn’t the only one hurting during this time. The big band swing era was on its way out too. The bands started taking strike after the war and singers became the main attraction as apposed to the band. People were paying more attention to the singers as the main performer and the band were placed somewhere less needed. Sinatra had been undermining the band swing era that had been his foundation. Sinatra’s orchestra was the foundation of his career and what had originally made him famous, but by 1947 his orchestra was no longer in existence. For several years Sinatra kept singing expertly but he was very modest about it. His musical career was instant and fantastic, and he was once again a superstar reaching a status that is so great.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1948, Billie Holiday was at her peak, physically and musically. Surprisingly the main reason due to her transformation was her spending time in a federal reformatory for the possession of narcotics. While she was in the federal reformatory she was stripped of her narcotics and because of this she lost her pudginess and became a strikingly beautiful woman. Even after not singing for so long her voice was retained and was said to be even richer and more refined than before.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Billie Holiday was unable to work at nightclubs because of police restrictions with performers with criminal records.

Mcnamara and the “Fog of War”

Rebekka Carter 11/15/2012 McNamara and the â€Å"Fog Of War† Sometimes negotiation and peace is the only way to avoid catastrophe that could destroy us all. The first lesson of the â€Å" Fog of War,† that McNamara gave was to empathize with your enemy. McNamara thought it was a must and that is was important to put ourselves into the enemy's shoes. He discussed in the interview that later became a documentary, the possible serious consequences we could face as a nation if we didn’t empathize with Cubans during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. We must try to put ourselves inside their skin and look at us through their eyes, just to understand the thoughts that lie behind their decisions and their actions,† McNamara justified. If we could negotiate and settle, we might can work something out to benefit both the U. S. , and the Soviet Union. During the Cuban missile Crisis, McNamara tried to persuade President Kennedy not to press on and invade Cuba. He coul d give the president advice because he was a member of the president's cabinet. Robert McNamara was the Secretary of Defense in office. He persuaded him along with Tommy Thompson whom was the former U. S.Ambassador to Moscow. They gave them advice on two messages we received from the Soviet Union. McNamara described this as a â€Å"hard message† and a â€Å"soft message. † The soft message said they would remove the missiles from Cuba as long as we promised not to invade. On the other hand, Kennedy also received the hard message which basically revealed that if we pressed on and invaded Cuba,they would respond with massive military force. McNamara stressed how important it was to empathize with Cuba,if we didn't the consequences could be a nuclear war holocaust. Kennedy ended up empathizing with them by responding to the first message.This action could of saved us from a possible Nuclear War and from devastation, disaster, and from loosing trillions of innocent America n people. McNamara describes the relationship between empathy, morality, and war. He thinks that during war in order to be victorious you have to see the way the enemy sees and try to make peace with them. From a moral stand point, do what's best for the common good. It's best to make peace or at least negotiate and come to an agreement to avoid any consequences that could threaten innocent civilians. I think he believed more in peace and harmony than in war.It was best to just avoid it if possible and negotiate then avoid conflict. Later on in the documentary, McNamara describes the fire bombings of Japanese cities. He argues is it moral to take the lives of 100,000 of Japanese civilians in one night just to win the war. On top of burning the cities, Lemay wanted to drop a bomb. McNamara argued that proportionality was a guideline in war. We shouldn't overdue it just to win. We should have it evened out with the enemy on casualties and civilian deaths. Lemay considered his actions to be thought immoral if they had lost.So judging from that I’d say that if his side lost, then loosing that many people would have been for nothing. If they would of won, it would have been moral is the conclusion I'm drawing from this. Is it ever legitimate to criticize your country's actions in a time of war? I think so yes, and I wouldn’t consider it to be unpatriotic for disagreeing with the government. Freedom of Speech is one thing our country is founded on and everyone can have their own personal view or criticism. One can still have love for one's country and not agree with their policies or in this particular case, war tactics.Some people may not be for war because of the innocent lives lost: men,women, and children. Some people might especially be against nuclear war because of innocent lives and it just causes more danger and conflict. In my opinion it is legitimate to argue or criticize about war or any other action a country carries out. This documentary opened my eyes and changed the way I truly saw Nuclear War and the effects and consequences it can have. The Cuban Missile Crisis had very high stakes to cause not only a Nuclear War, but a Nuclear war Holocaust. With being struck with one bomb, there is a possibility we would of bombed Cuba back.I don't believe we would of surrendered. Other countries would of gotten involved and devastation and loss as of a result from this would have been very great. The fire bombings described in Japan was very disproportionate and unevenly scattered. Cities everywhere in Japan had different numbers of deaths and injuries. Lemay thought this had to be done in order to win the war, even though it was considered â€Å"immoral. † This documentary was an eye opener and it really gave good insight on the key ways to being successful in a war. McNamara called it â€Å"The Rules of War. †

Security Threats Of Network Security - 1412 Words

As the technology is growing the security threats are also increasing at higher rate. So, as to protect an organization from such network security threats severe actions and several steps have to be taken by network security administrators. In any large organization that is having large number of big servers, firewalls and interconnected network of hundreds of computers, security is one of the most important aspects so as to secure its network from intruders. Within the organization, all the computers and devices are interconnected in a LAN network or using a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). So, the most important task of network security administrator to secure its internal as well as external network from intruders because there are several ways intruders can sniff the network and resulting in heavy loss of data. There are several threats that can affect network security of an organization such as: Wireless Sniffing, DoS (Denial of Service), sniffing of VoIP network, trojans and unauthorized access to FTP server. Wireless Sniffing and potential measures to secure wireless Networks In today’s business scenario, within the organization most of the operations taken place over a wireless network such as transferring data between systems using wireless, accessing internet and sending Mails over Internet. Large number of rooters is used for providing internet access and wireless access to computers. Consider a situation, in which if one of the network get sniffed byShow MoreRelatedSecurity Threats Of Network Security1412 Words   |  6 PagesAs the technology is growing the security threats are also increasing at higher rate. So, as to protect an organization from such network security threats severe actions and several steps have to be taken by network security administrators. 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