What Made Amitaba Buddha's Pureland Speical to Sentient Beings Essay

What Made Amitaba Buddha's Pureland Speical to Sentient Beings - Essay Example However, Pureland Buddhism exalted the idea that even people who had no special knowledge could eventually one day reach the purelands if they had the desire to reach them. Pureland Buddhism stresses that â€Å"†¦ordinary beings are not born in a land of [a buddha in his body of] glory [because they have not ... can earn this distinction if they take refuge in the Vows of Amitabha Buddha and aspire for Birth in his Pure Land†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 1 This is a revolutionary concept because usually it has been necessary for someone to devote his or her life to religious practice before one can become an arhat, or person who is a foe destroyer. A foe destroyer is basically a person who has cleansed himself of all delusions, any hatred, and any greediness. Once the person becomes an arhat, he or she is enlightened and has reached the pinnacle of his or her spiritual practice. What is so amazing about Pureland Buddhism is that one can reach the stage of nirvana in Pureland practice, without h aving to be an arhat. This is significant because it was previously thought, in many situations, that a person would have to dedicate his or her entire lifetime in order to attain the worlds of the purelands available. However, it is now known that one need not be anyone special or revered in order to attain buddhahood in Pureland Buddhism. Simply the desire to want to have that knowledge grants the person to reach the purelands. Any ordinary, feeling or â€Å"sentient† beings have access to the Purelands if they so desire. That leads one to the next point. As long as someone had not committed one of the five inexpiable sins in Buddhism, reaching the purelands was possible for an ordinary person. These five inexpiable sins—which are basically sins that cannot be atoned for—include the following: 1) killing one’s mother; 2) killing one’s father; 3) killing an arhat (foe destroyer); 4) drawing blood from a tathagata (a buddha’s body); and 5) c ausing dissension within the sangha (the spiritual community). These are sins that cannot be forgiven. As long as none of these sins have been committed, the person is still able to achieve getting to the level of navigating any purelands through which the person desires to travel. Sentient beings, feelings beings, therefore, must not commit any of the five inexpiable sins in order to be able to attain the level of entering into the purelands. Anyone who had right intentions as a sentient being also was able to access the purelands with his or her own mind. Multiple worlds lay just beyond the reach of the ordinary person whose heart was in the right place. As such, that is how Pureland Buddhism differs from other branches of Buddhism. â€Å"[T]he most important statement of the buddha's covenant with sentient beings [was] promising to bring them to his Pure Land if they have the right attitude†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 2 In Pureland Buddhism, what is most essential is a person’s intentio ns. If the seeker has the right attitude, and he or she has a pure and good heart—it is much more likely that the seeker will find what is being searched for, which are the purelands. In search of the purelands, it is thought that anyone who sincerely has the desire to attain them will indeed be able to access them—not including those people who have committed any of the five inexpiable sins. In order to have proper intentions, it is important that the seeker purify his or her mind and make sure that his or her heart has only good and true intentions. That means that he or she is honest with everyone in every sense of the word. Some people are truthful but they are emotionally

Management of change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Management of change - Essay Example ctively utilize the employees as well as suggesting suitable human resource management strategy that can be used to manage and empower the employees within the organisation. Implementing a new order in an organisation is concerned with change of the current operational system and in most cases change is met with resistance by many employees as a result of many factors. For the initiative to be successful, there is need for re-orientation of the workers through provision of basic training and development which would be closely monitored upon implementation as going to be illustrated using the lessons learned from the case study of Image Makers. The Image Makers advertising agency was founded in Switzerland in 1990 by two graduates who studied together at University. Over the years, the agency has grown and has received recognition within the industry for its innovation and creativity, particularly in the use of information technology which continued to develop tremendously. Inspired by the positive growth of the organisation, the two directors recently embarked on an initiative to establish Image Makers as an international company with offices across the globe. This was also necessitated by the organisation’s good reputation for being an innovative as well as a renowned company for attracting and retaining talented workers. However, this initiative redefined its performance history as well as its operations. This meant that some of the skilled workers were to be relocated to other countries where the organisation intended to open up offices. This led to the resignation of two managers, loss of two accounts personnel as well as some form of resistance from other employees which has led to poor performance among other things. Thus, the major aim of this essay is to suggest strategies that can be adopted and give a critical analysis of the best structure, culture, and systems that are necessary to make the change initiative work. A reflection about the action plan

Google Books Essay Example for Free

Google Books Essay The Google Books project has been a working progress ever since Google was created. The co-founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page had been working on a research project that was supported by the Stanford digital Library Technologies Project in 1996. Google intends to scan every book ever published and make all of the text searchable so that people can find the relevant information they need about book. They want to make books more accessible to the public and create an easy mechanism of sorting a book’s content and relevance to a subject. In 2002 a secret â€Å"books† project was launched and research was underway to identify the challenges that lay ahead of them. Over this period, Googlers discovered a quick and harm free way to scan books and began to meet with Libraries to begin the digitalization of books. In December 2004 Google announces the launch of the â€Å"Google Print† Library Project thanks to partnerships from Harvard, The University of Michigan, The New York Public Library, Oxford and Stanford. Together it is said that these libraries exceed 15million volumes. In 2005 Google Print is renamed Google Books which is a more fitting title as it better explains it’s use. With the launch of Google Books and its fast development many will argue of the advantages and disadvantages of the site. The whole project seems a little bit overly ambitious and it obviously has many flaws in its system. It is a timely process to scan hundreds of millions of books and the pivotal question here is â€Å"Are Google books doing it right? † Scanning books is an extremely time consuming process so once Google books have done it, it seems unlikely that the books will be rescanned. If some of the books are not scanned properly, important literature and information could become obscured or lost through the process of digitalization. Geoff Nunberg (2009) published an article Google books: A Metadata Train Wreck and pointed out many errors in the system. One example being that he googled the name of an author and restricted the search to the works published before their year of birth. It was found that 182 hits came up for Charles Dickens alone. The Chief Engineer for Google Books, Dan Clancy claimed that the incorrect dates where the fault of the libraries. However, when the matter was investigated further it shows that the first ten full read books published before 1812 and that mention Charles Dickens are correctly dated in the catalogues that they had come from. Although one can argue that the correct information is given on the title page, there have been some other inexcusable errors too. Google Books has classified many of its books incorrectly and once again Dan Clancy has claimed that both the libraries and publishers where to blame because the classifications were drawn from the BISAC codes that is given to booksellers. BISAC codes have only been around for about 20 years meaning that any book that was put in the wrong category before this time is a mistake of Google themselves. Google have decided to take on an extremely large project but it seems apparent that they are not doing it very well. They are quick to push the blame on others and the whole project is based more towards commercialism rather than to help make knowledge available to the world. Project Gutenberg was one of the first â€Å"digital† libraries and was created by volunteers. This project seems to focus more on the importance of literature and the quality of the books available are much greater than those on Google Books. The books are proof read by human beings and their workers are not paid which is a clear sign that they actually care about making books more available to people. Google Books produces books in a much larger mass but they should be aware that people will value â€Å"quality over quantity† most. Google quickly scan these books and it’s obvious that they rarely check them for errors. In Paul Duguid’s (2007) essay Inheritance and Loss? A Brief Survey of Google Books, He addresses the Google books system hands on by using Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy as an example. He choose the first link that appeared in the search engine and claims his results were as follows; The book he was examining did not start with the word â€Å"wish† meaning that the left hand side of the page that had the word â€Å"I† was missing. On page seventeen the left hand side of the page is not legible because the gutter of the book is blocking the first few letters and by page twenty-seven, Sterne quoted Hamlet’s phrase â€Å"alas, poor Yorick! † and inserted a black page of mourning. However the version that is on Google books has left out this page and is somewhat ignorant to the fact of how iconic it is to the astute reader. On further investigation of Duguids essay I clicked on the links that were given to the book and realised that it was no longer a link to the book. I then searched Tristram Shandy just had Duguid had done into Google Books. I clicked on the first link which is the same Harvard edition that Duguid was referencing and discovered that the first page had the word â€Å"I† before â€Å"wish† and page seventeen was now fully legible. Although some corrections had been made the black page that was to follow on from page twenty seven has still not been inserted. This is perhaps due to the fact that the people scanning these books are not scholars themselves. It is very easy to recognise a page with a missing word or one that is not fully legible but many would mistake a black page as an error in printing. Another flaw in the digitalization in books is the actual book itself. There is something so pleasant about flicking through a book and holding it in your hand while you read. The book in its own physically is magnificent, depending on how old it is it could have been passed on from generation to generation. The book itself is a story in its own right. Throughout its lifespan the book can acquire various annotations, signatures and other interesting characteristics. There has also been a lot of conflict with regard to the publishing industry and the digitalization of books. Google has offered to provide a search engine what they aspire to be every book ever published but for those which are copyrighted and cannot be viewed online, Google provides the option to purchase them online through sites such as Amazon or Barnes. In January 2007, Google held a conference on the future of the publishing industry. The conference quoted Charles Darwin and projected it on a screen: â€Å"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor is it the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. † Toobin (2007) states in an article Google’s Moon Shot: â€Å"As Laurence Kirschbaum, a long time publishing executive who recently became a literary agent, told me at the conference, â€Å"Google is now the gatekeeper. They are reaching an audience that we as publishers and authors are not reaching. It makes perfect sense to use the specificity of a search engine as a tool for selling books. †Ã¢â‚¬  This statement has a lot of truth because since the growth of technology, the popularity of books has fallen drastically. People in the 21st century care more for mindless television shows and tacky magazines than a good well written piece. Reading books challenges the mind and fuels the imagination and by incorporating literature with technology it is a great attempt to try and revive such an excellent thing. Despite Google’s attempts, it looks as if they are not doing a good job. Many authors and publishers filed a lawsuit against Google Books claiming that Google has violated their copyrights by scanning the books, creating an electronic database and displaying short excerpts without their permission. The Authors Guild filed a lawsuit against Google Books alleging copyright infringement and after four years of discussion a settlement was finally reached in 2009. It was decided that Google was allowed to copy, display and sell millions of books that were out of print but still in copyright. However the agreement was reviewed several times and was summarily rejected in March 2011. This gave organizations a chance to voice their concern about the privacy policy for users of the system. Google claims that it has reviewed its privacy policy and that an advance policy has been created for Google Books but it seemed that the policy still left a large number of gaps and something appeared to be quite vague. On September 4th 2009 the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) entered a motion to intervene in the Google settlement case to help the readers of Google Books regarding their privacy online. EPIC states that readers will be required to part with particular information that will be stored in a database to create detailed profiles of preferences of the reading with regard to their purchases and browsing. Marc Rotenberg appeared in court on February 18th 2010 and stated that: â€Å"A person at any library or any university in the United States that attempted to retrieve information from Google’s digital library would be uniquely tagged and tracked. There is simply no precedent for the creation of such power†. The court rejected the settlement but it did however state that Google should review it’s privacy policy to better protect its users. Google should not have the right to disclose any information to government or third parties and secure browsing should be a priority. Many people do not realise that these profiles are being created or that their privacy is being invaded. If this is supposed to be the library of the future, then it should be dealt with in the correct manner. People should be able to browse through books anonymously and have their own thoughts kept private. Google Books seem to have rushed the whole process of scanning such a vast amount of literature and by doing so they seemed to have forgotten about â€Å"quality over quantity. † It seems that the dream of creating a digital library will remain one for the foreseeable future due to the numerous flaws that the system has. Whilst Google Books are trying to correct their many errors it is apparent that the whole project was done quite carelessly and insufficiently. It is evident that Google Books motive leans more to the commercial side of things rather than making knowledge available to a wider audience. This is particularly clear with regards to their privacy policy. Google will suggest recommended pages and sites by analysing all of your browsing. The option to purchase a book that is not available online makes Google Books more of a digital bookstore rather than a digital library. The concept of Google Books is a great one and though it has some advantages, the disadvantages outweigh the good. Bibliography: †¢Duguid, Paul. Inheritance and Loss? A Brief Survey on Google Books. N. p. , Aug. 2007. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. . †¢Nunberg, Geoff. Language Log. A » Google Books: A Metadata Train Wreck. N. p. , 29 Aug. 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. http://languagelog. ldc. upenn. edu/nll/? p=1701 †¢McSherry, Corynne. Good and Bad in Google Book Search Settlement Decision | Electronic Frontier Foundation. Good and Bad in Google Book Search Settlement Decision | Electronic Frontier Foundation. N. p. , 23 Mar. 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. . †¢Rogers, T. Google Books: Good for Knowledge, Bad for Privacy. Information Privacy Law. N. p. , 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. http://www. brianrowe. org/infoprivacylaw/2011/03/28/google-books-good-for-knowledge-bad-for-privacy/ †¢Google Books. Google Books. N. p. , n. d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. .

A critical analysis of Liquidity, Profitability and Efficiency

A critical analysis of Liquidity, Profitability and Efficiency the industry average of current ratio is 2.2:1.company A is showing better current ratio of 2.63 as compared to industry average of 2.2 which mean that the company A bears a greater ability to paid its bills . Company B and C have less current ratio as compared to the industry average which means that the performance of these companies are not up to standard however company Cs current ratio is slightly greater than the industry average which shows that the performance of company C is satisfactory. The industry average of quick ratio is 1.5 whiles the average quick ratios of companies A B and C are 1.99, 1.54 and 1.71 respectively which shows that the said companies posses a greater ability to pay their bills however only the company D quick ratio is slightly less than the industry average ratio which is 1.48 which mean the company needs to review its liquidity plans . PROFITABILITY The industrys average of ROCE is 15% and the average ROCE of companies A Is 19.3%, company B is 21.26%, company C is 28.24% and company D is 31.13 which means that the companies are earning a good return on their capital employed. Company C and D gross profit ratios are 53.14% and 56% which are comparatively better than the industrys average of 48% however company B gross profit ratio is 48% which equals the industrys average but company A GP ratio is 43.75% which is less than the industrys average. It is suggested that the company A should reduce its cost of sale or increase its sales revenue. The industrys average of operating profit ratio is 40% unfortunately company A and B both have low operating profit ratio which are 33.75% and 38.28% respectively which indicates that both companies A and B has low control in their operating expenses on the other hand companies C and D have better operating profit ratios which are 46.63% and 48.73 showing that the management of both companies bears a good control on their expenses. EFFICIENCY Companies A B and C have high stock turn over which are 63.88, 75.43 and 71.22 all three companies exceeds the industrys average of 35 days which means that there could be a problem in their demand and supply due to which companies inventory is not easily converted into finish goods hence there are not able to effectively sale their products. Note: Company D stock turn over ratio cannot be calculated because of unavailability of required data. The industrys average of total turnover ratio is 0.9 time and in this regard all the four companies have good total turnover ratio which are 0.95, 0.93, 1.01 and 1.06 showing the good return on their assets. INVESTMENT There is no such parameter by which one can compare the earning per share with the industrys standards. However we can compare EPS among the four companies that EPS of companies C and D are 0.98 and 0.88 is comparatively good than the companies A and B of 0.54 and 0.56 respectively. As far as the position of best company is concerned company D is said to be the best company because of better ROCE 31.13 which means the company is earning highest profitability, EPS 0.88 indicated earning per share is very good and dividend cover 3.68 the shareholders of the company receiving handsome dividend. ANSWER 1 (B) Company D shows a good charm for the shareholders because its earning per share is higher is 0.88 as compare to other companies like A and B but slightly less to company C which EPS is 0.98 however company D also have better dividend cover of 3.68 which depicts that it is paying its shareholder more than any other said company pay however company C once again a big rival in payment of dividend has a dividend cover of 3.38. On the other hand management of company D plays a remarkable role in utilising the shareholders funds hence reducing the long-term liabilities option because of less long term liabilities company D also has to pay less amount of interest on these loans as compare to other companies. Therefore it is suggested to invest in company D from shareholder perspective. ANSWER 2(a) ANSWER 2 (A) CRITICAL ANALYSIS The net present value is a discounted cash flow approach to capital budgeting. The net present value (NPV) of an investment proposal is the present value of the proposals net cash flow less the proposals initial cash outflow. If an investment projects net present value is zero or more, the project is accepted, if not, it is rejected. In this case of Tridad ltd the NPV is -6384.24 which means the value is less than zero therefore the project is not viable for the company. ANSWER 2(B) The internal rate of return is 13% ANSWER 2(C) If a refinancing option (overseas loan) were to be taken then there are many risks that the company might face like FINANCIAL RISKS: forex risk hedges overseas government policies WAYS TO DEAL : There are couple of ways which can be use to deal with the said financial risks Loan with fixed interest rate Buy futures which will give the company assurity of the expected future cash outflow- Reduces uncertainty and any cash problems that could be used due to this. ANSWER 3(A) Proposed profit 91,552 Proposed profit 78,832 Break-even hours 1,393 Break-even hours 1,574 Break-even Sales 208,955 Break-even Sales 340,000 ANSWER 3 (B) Boris Plc has an operating profit of 91552 in scenario 1 and 78832 in scenario 2 at the sale turnover of 345600 and 497664 in scenario 1 and 2 respectively. For achieving the break-even at least 1393 hours in scenario 1 and 1574 hours in scenario 2 have to be sold out so that variable cost can be observed. Break-even techniques are based on marginal costing therefore fixed cost plays a significant role companys operating results and performance. In the long haul fixed cost needs to be fully observed hence absorption costing approach is critical to be planned in the long term decision making plan.

Inside the Cuckoos Nest Essay -- Film

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a film directed by Czech Milos Forman in 1975. Using potent elements of fiction--characters, conflict, and symbolism--Forman illustrates the counterculture of the 1960’s. This film depicts American society as an insane asylum that demands conformity from its citizens. The film begins with a conniving convict being assigned to the asylum. R. P. McMurphy is sent to the asylum to be evaluated by the doctors and to determine whether or not he is mentally ill. He is unaware that he will be supervised by an emasculating woman named Nurse Mildred Ratched who watches the patients’ every motion from her nurse’s station. R.P. McMurphy is a lively, rebellious, and rational patient that has recently been escorted into the insane asylum. Once in the bin, Randle becomes the self-proclaimed champion of the rights of the other ward patients, his adversary being Nurse Ratched (New York Times). He scrutinizes the asylum and the patients deciding that he needs to lighten the atmosphere. According to Filmsite, Movie Review McMurphy encourages the patients to participate in activities that will heighten their spirits and change their monotonous routines. McMurphy decides to challenge Nurse Ratched when he notices that the patients of the ward are overly organized and controlled through a rigid set of authoritarian rules and regulations that McMurphy questions: â€Å"God Almighty, she’s got you guys comin’ or goin’. What do you think she is, some kind of champ or somethin’?†--- â€Å"I bet in one week, I can put a bug so far up her ass, she don’t know whether to sâ€⠀t or wind her wrist watch† (OFOTCN). Entertainment Weekly implies that McMurphy is unwilling to surrender to Nurse Ratched’s belittling power and rebels against corr... ...ok place in America all have one thing in common with the film: they are filled with people who have had enough and had a leader willing to take leadership towards making that change. McMurphy represents that leader as his sacrifice made way for the others to find freedom. Works Cited Canby, Vincent. "nytimes.com." The New York Times. 20 November 1975. The New York Times Company. 5 April 2012. â€Å"Filmsite Movie Review: â€Å"One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.†. Filmsite.org. American Movie Classics Company. 2012. Web 12 March 2012. Movie Reviews: â€Å"One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.† Rogerebert.com. Chicago Sun-Times Media Company. Web 3 April 2012. Nashawaty, Chris. â€Å"Cuckoo’s Nest Turns 35.† Entertainment Weekly 1120/1121 (2010): 128. MAS Ultra School Edition. Web. 5 Apr. 2012 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Dir. Milos Forman. Warner Brothers, 1975 Film.

The Runaway Pilgrim Point essay :: essays research papers

In the poem, The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Browning based the poem on past experience due to the fact her family had owned slaves in Jamaica for several generations. Once these slaves were set free in 1833; sixteen years later abolitionist repudiated the â€Å" unjust- power of the white slave owners.† ( Stephenson, 43). With Browning rejection of her once slave owning father’s irrational authority to refuse his children to marry and leave home, this poem empowered the rage she had suppressed by years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Foremost, The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point is a dramatic monologue in ballad form. The speaker is a young black slave woman who has escaped from the plantation the day before her narrative begins and has to run to Pilgrim’s Point where â€Å" exile turned to ancestors† ( Cooper, 43). Browning breaks the story into three parts. The first two parts the speaker dresses to â€Å"the pilgrims soul† at pilgrim point, (those who first come to the America as a and of freedom). In the last part of the poem the speaker addresses the â€Å"hunter sons† of the original pilgrims who have perused her to stone her to death (Cooper 44).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Furthermore, the opening â€Å"I stand† sets e assertive tone in the [poem. The speaker never falters in presenting the complexity of her situation, as a woman, a black [person], and a slave. The tone set at the beginning also aid the audience to recognize that the speaker in the â€Å"white man’s violent system† is divided by women, and black by whites. The slave employs metaphors, which Barrett use to dramatized imprisonment behind a dark skin in a world where God’s work of creating black people has been cast away. To further illustrate this she described the bird as â€Å" little dark bird†, she also describes the frogs and streams as â€Å" dark frogs† and â€Å" dark stream ripple† Through the use of her diction she convey to readers that in the natural world unlike the human one, there is no dark with bad and light with good, and no discrimination between black and white people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In essence, Elizabeth Barrett Browning dramatic monologue proved a powerful medium for Barrett Browning. Taking her need to produce a public poem about slavery to her own developing poetics, Barrett Browning include rape and infanticide into the slave’s denunciation of patriarchy. She felt bound by women’s silence concerning their bodies and the belief that â€Å" a man’s private life was beyond the pale of political scrutiny† (Cooper, 46).

Health Care Roles in Communication Essay

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross once said,† â€Å"We have to ask ourselves whether medicine is to remain a humanitarian and respected profession or a new but depersonalized science in the service of prolonging life rather than diminishing human suffering.† In the health care field there are many roles that balance each other. Whether it is the doctor, patient, or medical assistant all play a vital role in the care of others. The purpose of this paper is to compare the differences in communication between the different roles in the hospital. This paper will also be providing an appropriate solution for the scenario provided. The scenario provided is about a young Asian girl named Lena. She was taken to the emergency room by her friend Susie after she fainted in class. Raised in a culture, which has made Lena independent, She verbally attacks her friend yelling about how she is not weak. When she tries to leave, Susie retrieves the medical assistant. The medical assistant restrains Lena and is then sent away by the doctor. The doctor tries to reason with Lena and explain why she is there, but gets no response from her. Finally, the doctor leaves to care for other patients. For this scenario I will be examining the role of the doctor first. From the perspective of the doctor, Lena is very stubborn. This doctor has to see dozens of patients a day and does not have time to argue with one patient who does not want to be there. A doctor’s time is precious, especially in the emergency room. Although the doctor sees many cases which are easy, such as a runny nose or a broken finger, there are many emergencies that require immediate attention. If there was a call for a doctor to assist in a patient from a major auto accident , this doctor may choose to put a fainting girl on the sideline to assist with the trauma. On the other hand, the doctor should still attempt to treat the patient to the best of his or her abilities in the short time allowed. There are other ways to gain  information regarding Lena’s situation, which will be discussed later. The medical assistant was the first medical professional to confront Lena after she woke up. From the tone of voice portrayed in the scenario, the medical assistant wanted to help the patient. The assistant rushed to the patient’s side, knowing she was very sick and needed medical attention. Unfortunately, Lena could not be reasoned with between the time the medical assistant arrived and the time the doctor walked in. The medical assistant was not given enough time to calm the patient or explain the situation. Susie seems concerned for her best friend’s health and safety. Even though Susie knows her friend has an independent attitude, there has to be a reason she brought Lena to the emergency room. Unless Lena had been sick for a while or had fainted before, there would be no cause for Susie to rush her to the hospital. Susie also shows her concern for Lena by rushing to get the attention of the medical assistant when Lena tries to leave. Susie must believe that Lena’s health is important enough to bring her to a place where she can get the medical help she needs to get better. Finally, there is Lena, the patient. Lena was brought up to be independent and strong. Many residents raised in Southeast Asia that find it hard to conform to western medicine. Even though Lena has lived in the United States for 10 years, which means she has spent the majority of life around the medicinal practices of her parents and her culture. As an example, if Lena is from Vietnam her knowledge of medicine would be vastly different (Schultz, 1980). In most areas of Vietnam, residents and medical practitioners steer away from prescription medicine and favor herbs instead. Eastern medicine relies heavily on the spiritual element in the human body as much as western medicine relies on the chemical makeup (Vietnam National Administration Of Tourism, 2010). If Lena was used to Vietnamese eastern medicine her reaction to being in the hospital is not surprising. Her idea of medicine may come in the form of a root instead of a bottle. Within the scenario are many complications with the communication between individuals. First, there is the confrontation between Lena and Susie. Lena  instantly blames Susie for taking her to the hospital. While Susie is her best friend and is the one sitting in the room with her, it may not have been Susie’s choice to send Lena to the emergency room. Because Lena fainted in class, it would be the responsibility of her instructor to make sure she was taken care of. The instructor’s reaction may have been to call the paramedics to make sure the student received proper medical attention. There would have been nothing Susie could have said to prevent the paramedics and medical professionals from making the decision to take Lena to see a doctor. Once at the hospital, Susie could have worked to calm her friend down before rushing to find the medical assistant to restrain her. She could have also provided some insight, to the doctor, regarding Lena’s recent medical problems leading to the fainting. This may have softened the doctor’s approach to Lena’s silence. While the medical professional was doing her job by keeping the patient in the hospital, extra empathy should have been given. The initial approach was rough and direct. Each patient should be given the same consideration regardless of the circumstances. Instead of verbally attacking Lena, the medical assistant should have approached Lena in a different manner. Being too direct will put the patient in a defensive position rather than a position to listen. When the medical assistant states she doesn’t have time to deal with Lena, it lowers the value of the patients worth as someone who needs care. It is like saying the person with a bloody nose should take priority over someone who has fainted and may have a serious underlying condition. Admonishing a patient and telling them they are sick is worthless. Lena knows she is sick. She just wants to prove she can cure herself without the interference of doctors. Had the medical assistant shown more empathy and expressed her understa nding of Lena’s situation it may have diffused the angry encounter. Many communication conflicts with the doctor in regard to everyone else in the room. First is the treatment of the medical assistant by the doctor. From the scenario we can see that the doctor was close behind the assistant as she came through the door. The medical assistant did not have enough time to do her job before the doctor told her to leave the room. Had the doctor  allowed the medical assistant to stay in the room it may have had a positive effect on the patient. If the doctor is a male, Lena may have felt uncomfortable around him and the presence of a female assistant may ease the worry. The doctor could have gained immeasurable information about Lena’s condition from Susie. Had the doctor questioned the best friend it could have revealed how long this had been going on and what other symptoms Lena had been exhibiting. Instead the doctor completely ignores Susie and turns attention to Lena. When the doctor tells Lena what is going on he does not pay attention to how, she is reacting, only that she is not answering the questions. The doctor makes the assumption that Lena is quite on purpose and leaves to go treat other patients. In the scenario are a few key points that the doctor missed and misinterpreted. Just like with the medical assistant, more care should have been given to calming Lena down instead of becoming defensive. By being understanding, the doctor would have caught the signs of something more serious going on with Lena’s health. The blank look on her face may not have given much away, depending on her age. Many people who look blank or vacant when someone is telling him or her about a topic they know little about. However, her eyes may have helped the doctor realize something serious was happening. A blank look may mean nothing, but a glassy eyed stare could mean something. Lena had started to sweat profusely. Most hospitals keep the complex cooler than normal to help stave off nausea and fever in most patients. The sweating, blank stare, and non-responsiveness could have signaled the doctor there was something worse than just fainting in Lena’s condition. With just the few symptoms exhibited in the scenario, Lena could be suffering anything from heat exhaustion to a deadly pulmonary embolism (WebMD, LLC, 2010). Last, there is the patient, Lena. Her lack of communication is born from family traditions that go back hundreds of years. Even so, Lena has lived in the United States for 10 years. It would be impossible for her to live in this country and go to school here without seeing a western medicine doctor. She could be used to smaller clinics; however, her reaction to the emergency room is unwarranted. The scenario made it seem as if Lena did not want to  talk to the doctor because she resented being in the hospital. Her outburst upon waking, and her non-responsiveness to the doctor, may have been a part of her illness. She might not have been aware of where she was by the time the doctor was through explaining her condition. An appropriate solution for the situation should be patience and empathy. The medical assistant and the doctor should have been more understanding toward the patient. There should have been compassion toward a young girl who was upset and confused. More attention to detail was needed by the doctor. Susie should have spoken up when Lena could not. Her information could help her friend from getting worse. Lena, having lived in the United States for 10 years, should have been willing to hear what the doctor had found before making the decision to leave. I have been in the customer service field for 13 years. From Banking, to telecommunication, to healthcare, the only factor that changes is the service provided. There will always be someone else who needs the attention of the representative. The key to communicating to a customer is empathy. Allowing a person to realize you understand their situation and showing a willingness to help, makes the difference. When you have a patient who is screaming and upset, you cannot take it personally. They are hurt, confused, and afraid. A caregiver cannot treat patients the same if they take everything personally. Lena was not yelling because she hated the assistant or the doctor. She was yelling because she did not think she was as sick as the doctor did. Both the doctor and the assistant treated Lena as if she were wasting their time, instead of looking at the situation rationally. In conclusion, communication all comes down to how a person handles customer service. Each role in this scenario is a tough one to have. First, the patient, who is full of fear and has been raised to think differently. Next, the best friend, who is afraid of losing her friend to illness but is too scared to speak up. Third, the assistant, who has many other patients to see. Last, the doctor, who is skilled in what he does, but fails to see the obvious signs of something worse. All of these roles are true, from day to day. They are in every hospital, clinic, and emergency room. There should be  more classes within medical schooling that teach caregivers how to show empathy and understanding to their patients. There should also be continuing education for all caregivers to refresh what they have been taught. References WebMD, LLC. (2010). WebMD Symptom Checker. Retrieved from http://symptoms.webmd.com/symptomchecker Vietnam National Administration Of Tourism. (2010). Vietnam Traditional Medicine. Retrieved from http://www.vietvisiontravel.com/vietnam/travel-guide/Traditional_medicine/ Schultz, S. L. (1980, August). Southeast Asian Health Beliefs and Practices. Education Resources Information Center