Creating a story Essay Example for Free

Creating a story Essay This is a story about William, a seventeen year old son of sir James – once a powerful feudal aristocrat in England. Sir James used to own a large portion of land in the Wales, but times have changed. As money started to be used, sir James lost parts of his land because he could not afford to keep it. On top of that, some of his peasants have left and became mercenaries who were hired by sir James’s neighbor. These days, around year 1200, sir James is still among the few noble English families left, noble but yet not belonging to magnates. It is William that sir James counts on to move up the social ladder. William is not a true son of sir James, the boy was born to sir James’s brother, sir Henry. 10 years ago sir Henry died and his brother, sir James, exercised the right of wardship – he started taking care of William and of those lands that used to belong to his father. William started living with his uncle when he was seven years old. As soon as he moved in to sir James’s castle, William became a student of many studies – he was being prepared for a court life. William is trained to become a good hunter, but also to be able to charm a court lady – he has teachers who teach him to sing songs, tell stories, flirt, dance, he has a special teacher who teaches him the rules of different ceremonies in court, the terminology to use, how to behave, how to dress. All of these activities are taking place in the castle of sir James, which is neither small nor large. A stone castle is surrounded by several wooden homes of sir James’s peasants who are busy with manufacturing of flax, wool, growing of geese and pigs for the inhabitants of the castle. The whole territory is surrounded by a stone wall. William’s day begins early in the morning. A servant brings him a basin with water to wash. When he is ready, William goes on to morning hunting exercise, which takes place until breakfast. At breakfast William usually meets sir James, they discuss William’s morning practice and talk about the upcoming tournament. After that, William has music and dancing lessons followed by yet another practice. During his free hours William either sleeps or goes for a walk into the country where he spends hours dreaming about his romantic love for lady Mary, whom he met at the last tournament. After dinner, William spends hours with his teacher of court manners and another one with whom William reads and writes poems. In other words, William spends his days doing and learning everything that chivalry behavior requires. Once done will all classes, William puts on his armor and goes horse riding into the woods. Supper is usually late in the evening with lots of meat and wine. These days William is busy more than usual with horse-riding and weapon usage practices due to the coming tournament. Being of a noble family William is allowed to participate in knight tournaments where he hopes to attract attention of lovely lady Mary, on whose patronage is also counting sir James. Lady Mary is a heiress of a wealthy magnate and her hand would provide William and sir James a higher status and allow them to enter a narrow circle of English aristocracy. The previous tournament was a good one for William – he conquered his opponent winning his horse and armor, and on the other hand, at the banquet following the tournament, he was able to speak with lady Mary and got an impression that he has actually charmed her and now she is favoring him. Patronage of lady Mary, who’s father is not only very wealthy but also in a good relationship with the monarch himself, would definitely secure William a place among nobility. The only person who disapproves of William’s lifestyle is his step-father – a priest in the local church, father John. Father John finds that William’s attraction to lady Mary and court life in general diverts him away from God. However, William is convinced that his chivalry lifestyle is the highest expression of worldly conduct, and is the best path to choose if one has already made a choice in favor of secular and spiritual life path. Thus, William spends his life in accordance with the requirements of his time when feudal aristocracy was in the past giving a place to nobility class which claimed to have a special, highest social ranking and privileges given to them by their right of birth.

The Case For Christianity, The Worlds Last Night :: essays research papers

I. Introduction II. Brief Biographical Information III. The Case for Christianity - Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe IV. The Problem with Pain - Divine Omnipotence V. The World's Last Night - The Efficacy of Prayer VI. Conclusion A Critique of C. S. Lewis "A Relativist said, 'The world does not exist, England does not exist, Oxford does not exist and I am confident that I do not Exist!' When Lewis was asked to reply, he stood up and said, 'How am I to talk to a man who's not there?'" - C. S. Lewis: A Biography Clive Staples Lewis was born, in 1898, in Belfast. C. S. Lewis was educated at various schools in England. In 1914, Lewis began studying Latin, Greek, French, German and Italian under the private tuition of W. T. Kirkpatrick. He then moved to Oxford where his studies were interrupted by World War I (1917). Two years later he was back in Oxford resuming his studies. In 1924, Lewis was "elected" to teach Literature and Language at Magdalen College, Oxford and remained there till 1954. During this time period in his life, Lewis wrote the majority of his work. Lewis moved to Cambridge for the remainder of his life teaching Medieval and Renaissance Literature.1 C. S. Lewis was a man dedicated to the pursuit of truth who" believed in argument, in disputation, and in the dialectic of Reason. . ."2 He began his pursuit of truth as an atheist and ended up as a Christian. His works the Problem of Pain and Mere Christianity dealt with issues he struggled with. Mere Christianity consists of three separate radio broadcasts. One of the broadcasts was titled The Case For Christianity. In The Case For Christianity, Lewis discussed two crucial topics in his apologetic defense of Christianity. They were the "Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe" and "What Christians Believe". This critique will address the first chapter. "Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe", can be broken into three parts. The first deals with moral law and its existence. The second addresses the idea of a power or mind behind the universe, who, is intensely interested in right conduct. Also that this power or God is good. Good as in the area of truth, not soft and sympathetic. The third point moves to Christianity, its attributes and why it was necessary for the long" round-about" approach .

Bmw Culture

With over 90 years in the industry the culture at BMW is an anomaly in the car manufacturing business. BMW teaches their employees the history of the company and their mission from day one. Problem times from years past are also told to the new employees. For example when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1959 and was saved by a local business man, these mishaps are used as learning tools to stop history from repeating itself. Regardless of your job title all levels work together to create ideas to better the brand and product. The regular hierarchy that you see within a company is not an obstacle when voicing your thoughts and ideas. Team brainstorming is done on a regular basis and everyone’s input is valued. BMW was one of the first companies to offer profit sharing in Germany to its employees. The leadership at BMW is one the values the employees and listens to their ideas. The type of open door leadership BMW allows for employees to feel as if they have value to the company and its achievements. Informal powwows are used to brainstorm for ideas with all levels of employees. It is sometimes referred to as a freewheeling idea factory. Employees from all different departments are known to get together and work on a single project. This culture allows for employees to feel as if they are valued and that their ideas are appreciated. No one is looked down upon when they present an idea even if they are not as â€Å"high up† as the other people in the room. This allows for great ideas to be given and fostered. The work environment at BMW is so highly sought after that over 200,000 applications are received annually. The job characteristics model involves increasing the amount of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback in a job. Three critical psychological states: (1) experienced meaningfulness of the tasks performed, (2) experience personal responsibility for tasks outcomes, and (3) knowledge of the tasks performed. Managers at BMW seldom have formalized training to learn their jobs. This forces them to work closely with other managers and their teams to figure out ways to improve the business. This is another example of how employees are tightly knight and feel as if their opinions matter. The line between management and subordinates is very thin. They work so closely together that the hierarchy is not as pronounced as in most companies. The heavy involvement of all employees increases productivity and job satisfaction. Organizational creativity is fostered at BMW in many ways. BMW looks to its workers to come up with ways to save the company money. Individuals whose ideas save the plant money receive bonuses. The more ideas you present the more money you earn. This pushes employees to come up with solid ideas that will benefit the company. This is a win win situation for both BMW and the employees. Satisfied and motivated employees are a vital part of BMW. Interdepartmental brainstorming is very common and they work closely to come up with ideas. People aren’t criticized for their ideas no matter how off the wall they might be. They are encouraged to think outside the box. The culture and work environment at BMW greatly influences the performance and production of its workers. Workers are so happy with their employment they are willing to work extra hours on heavy productions days and not get paid overtime. This practice is unheard of in most companies. Very rarely are employees willing to work extra hour and not be compensated with hour time pay. This is offset by the accrual of days off instead. Workers are also willing to move away from home for extended periods of time and work long hours. All of these things create job stability for the employees and help reduce layoffs. BMW is the leader in car customization. They are able to complete over 170,000 changes a month in their orders. This is unheard of in the car manufacturing industry. Such changes would set other manufacture back months but BMW is able to make the changes and stay on schedule due to the dedication of its employees. Other manufactures are looking to BMW to try to duplicate this process but have yet to reach this level. BMW is the leader of the pact when it comes to innovation and employees moral. More companies regardless of their industry need to follow this awesome example of teamwork. They would be able to produce more and spend less which is always the goal when running a business. After reading this case I see why over 200,000 people apply for a position there yearly. It seems like a great place to work and grow.

Leadership Styles And Leadership Skills - 887 Words

Leadership is a concept that people cannot grab. People assume that when you become a manager or a supervisor you are anointed with leadership skills. John Maxwell, who has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies and has sold more than 25 million books thinks this about leadership â€Å"Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.† (Maxwell, 1998) This leadership paper will cover examples from my personal experience while evaluating the examples and if they were effective or appropriate. It will also cover the leadership style that I most identify with and use an example to illustrate. The majority of my life I have been employed by horrible people with worse leadership skills. The owner/manager of the company had a regressive way of leadership now that I can reflect on the behavior not being in such a toxic environment. Rue describes their directive leadership skills with the autocratic style correctly â€Å"focus primarily on successfully performing the work.† (Rue, 2014, p. 282) The autocratic style was exactly their approach. I was not aware there were even words already out there to describe this behavior besides the derogatory ones that my coworkers and I would call them. A brief example of such wrong leadership ability was one employee forgot to put some plaques on the truck. At this point in the season, which was over halfway finished, has not happened yet. This problem happened before in seasons past, and we haveShow MoreRelatedLeadership Styles And Leadership Skills1256 Words   |  6 PagesAccording to our textbook, â€Å"leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes† (Daft, 2014, pg. 5). 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