Contemporary Middle Eastern History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Contemporary Middle Eastern History - Essay Example I believe that some of his ideas are a stark reflection of the underlying reality and can offer some insight into present religious/cultural relations. That is, there is actually a tension of sorts between identifiable groups of humanity in the present day. However, Samuel Huntington makes a gross oversimplification of things without an in-depth understanding of the nature of present-day conflicts and the complex characteristics of cultures. So, there is no ‘clash of civilizations’ as such. Significantly, his theory fails to satisfactorily explain the post September 11th world. Samuel Huntington outlines a future where the â€Å"great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural† (Huntington 1993:22) and on this basis divides the world into seven civilizations. I agree with his broad idea of the significance of culture and that this is the basis upon which humankind can be differentiated. But, his differentiation is largely based on religion with some exceptions and the fact that he has ignored Buddhism altogether. Also, he puts Israel together with the West, thereby combining Jews with Christians, which is strange if we look at history. He does correctly identify nation-states as a relatively new phenomenon, and that economic and military power drives conflicts. He is also correct in saying that the concept of a global or universal culture is a relatively recent on originating in the West and that the West considers its own policies as positive for the rest of the world and therefore to be imposed upon it. As far as human rights is concerned this does not hold water because Islam conferred human rights over a thousand years ago, so this is more a reflection of the changed times rather than differences. Also, we could give examples of the not too distant past when for example inter-racial problems were severe, civil and women’s rights was obtained. So, America has no strong foundations

Fnancial Accounting Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Fnancial Accounting - Case Study Example Our opinions, based on our audits, are presented below. In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated balance sheets and the related consolidated statements of income, of stockholders' equity and of cash flows present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Ford Motor Company and its subsidiaries at December 31, 2006 and December 31, 2005, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2006 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits of these statements in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstate ment. ... We conducted our audits of these statements in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit of financial statements includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion. Our audit was conducted for the purpose of forming an opinion on the basic financial statements taken as a whole. The accompanying sector balance sheets and the related sector statements of income and of cash flows is presented for purposes of additional analysis and is not a required part of the basic financial statements. Such information has been subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audit of the basic financial statements and, in our opinion, is fairly stated in all material respects in relation to the basic financial statements taken as a whole. As discussed in Note 27 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed the manner in which it accounts for conditional asset retirement obligations in 2005. As discussed in Notes 23, 12, and 10, respectively, the Company changed the manner in which it accounts for defined benefit pension and other postretirement plans, the timing of its annual goodwill and other intangible assets impairment testing, and its amortization method for special tools in 2006.Internal control over

Influence Motivation Through Appraisals: Activating Goals

Influence Motivation Through Appraisals: Activating Goals Another way in which emotions may influence judgments is by activating goals or motives. For example, emotions can affect judgments and behavior by priming different goals (Garg, Wansink, Inman, 2007; Hoch Loewenstein, 1991; Leith Baumeister, 1996; Tice, Bratslavsky, Baumeister, 2001; Winterich Haws, 2011). One outcome to view the interplay of different motivations is self-regulation. Self-conscious emotions affect self-regulation by way of activating different goals in different situations. Wilcox, Kramer, and Sen (2011) found that incidental pride (a discrete emotion with appraisal of self as having been responsible for outcomes) had dual effects on self-regulation leading to indulgent choices when pride promotes a sense of achievement and virtuous choices when pride promotes self-awareness. Participants primed with pride (vs. happiness vs. control) increased indulgence under low cognitive load because availability of high cognitive resources allowed participants to feel the complex sense of achievement and they felt a sense of having made progress in their long-term goals. In contrast, under high self-awareness, which has been shown to enhance individuals’ motivation to behave consistently with the long-term goals (Diener Wallbom, 1976; Patrick, Chun, MacInnis, 2009[D1]), in cidental pride (vs. control) led to lower choice of indulgent foods and increased effort towards goal progress. This research highlights the need to take a nuanced view of the motivational influences of incidental emotions. Influences of emotions extend to social motivations (such as actions in service of relationship repair) and affect subsequent consumption decisions. In a field study, Dahl, Honea and Manchanda (2005) found that a consumers lack of purchase led consumers to feel guilty when they perceived a social connectedness with the salesperson and considered self to be responsible for the purchase. When consumers experience guilt, they intend to pursue reparative actions during future purchase interactions with the salesperson to repair their relationship. It is to be noted that in this research, the guilt is induced by past purchase behavior and is not incidental. However, this serves as an example regarding how social emotions might influence motivations and opens the line of enquiry about similar effects from incidental emotions. The influence of emotions on goals or self-regulation is not limited to self-conscious emotions. Other appraisals can work through a different set of goals to impact self-regulation. For example, an appraisal dimension that is relevant to self-regulation is temporal focus of the incidental emotion because temporal focus is central to the trade-offs between long-term goals and short-term indulgences (Hoch Lowenstein, 1991). Winterich and Haws (2011) found that future focused positive emotions such as hope (vs. pride, which is past focused) aided in making healthier food choices. In contrast, future-focused negative emotion (e.g., fear) did not influence self-regulation. This research indicates that a combination of appraisals (temporal focus and valence) influences self-regulation through differential goal activation. Influence on coping strategies through appraisals. Several of the studies earlier had a component of coping or regulating the emotion to feel better or rid oneself of negative appraisals[NA2]. Herrald and Tomaka (2002) found that when participants who felt angry or ashamed reported to cope with negative emotions by regulating their negative emotional responses through seeking social support or engaging in defensive processing to a greater extent than those who felt pride. In a more specific link to coping strategies, distinct cognitive appraisal tendencies elicited by different emotions can also influence subsequent judgments and decision making via an activation of particular coping strategies. Duhachek, Agrawal, and Han (2012) suggest that guilt-laden individuals are more likely to activate problem-focused coping strategies, which refer to efforts to manage the source of stress directly (Lazarus Folkman, 1984), because guilt is associated with high self-efficacy appraisals (i.e., I can fix the problem; Tangney, Stuewig, Mashek, 2007). In contrast, shame-laden individuals are more likely to use emotion-focused coping strategies, which refer to efforts to regulate emotional responses toward the stress (e.g., stop thinking about it, let negative emotions out; Lazarus Folkman, 1984), because shame is associated with low self-efficacy appraisals (i.e., I cannot fix the problem; Tangney, Stuewig, Mashek, 2007). Consistent with the proposed theorizing, they found that guilt-laden participants activated greater problem-focused coping when they were shown the gain-framed messages whereas shame-laden participants evoked greater emotion-focused coping when they were shown the loss-framed messages. By studying the motivations associated with each emotion, we can better identify how emotions affect judgments and decision-making. Influence mindsets through appraisals Another way that emotions may affect may affect decisions is by activating a cognitive procedure or a set of associations that then automatically apply to the tasks conducted under the emotion’s influence. And example of this process can be found in studies where distinct emotions can activate different cognitive mindsets. Han, Duhachek, and Agrawal (2014) showed that guilt elicited low construal level mindset whereas shame elicited high construal level mindset based on the different cognitive appraisal tendencies associated with these two emotions. Specifically, previous research has shown that guilt is experienced when individuals appraise negative outcomes to their specific behaviors (i.e., behavior specific appraisals, such as â€Å"I did a bad thing†) whereas shame is experienced when individuals appraise negative outcomes to their global self (i.e., global self appraisals, such as â€Å"I am a bad person†). Based on these findings, Han, Duhachek, and Agrawa l (2014) propose that these distinct cognitive appraisals elicited by two emotions activate local (in case of guilt) or global (in case of shame) appraisal tendencies which lead individuals to appraise the subsequent event in a manner consistent with their behavior-specific appraisals (in case of guilt) or their global-self appraisals (in case of shame) and that these local or global appraisal tendencies will activate either low or high construal level mindsets. Consistent with their theorizing, Han, Duhachek, and Agrawal (2014) found that the local appraisal tendency of guilt activated lower construal mindset and the global appraisal tendency of shame activated higher construal mindset, which in turn affects judgment and decision-making. Thus emotions may influence judgments by providing information, goals, mindsets or coping processes. Understanding which appraisal is likely to trigger which process would allow researchers to predict the effects of different emotion more precisely. LEVERAGING THE PREDICTIVE POWER OF APPRAISALS BY UNDERSTANING HOW TWO APPRAISALS MAY INTERACT While we have discussed how two emotions may vary on an appraisal dimension, we have also discussed the potential for conflicting findings across appraisal dimensions. This highlights the need for us to study the interactions between two appraisal dimensions. How would two appraisal dimensions (say valence and self/other responsibility) interact to determine consequences? Research on specific emotions has focused mostly on one appraisal dimension. . However, because each emotion has multiple cognitive appraisals, some of the findings on the same emotions show inconsistent results. For example, shame sometimes leads to withdrawal behaviors (e.g., Duhachek, Agrawal, Han, 2012) but sometimes leads to prosocial behaviors (e.g., de Hooge, Breugelmans, Zeelenberg, 2008). These inconsistent findings on same emotion suggest that unidimensional cognitive appraisal approach may not fully capture how each emotion affects behavior and judgment. Thus, it is worthwhile to investigate how two app raisal dimensions interact to influence outcomes or consequences. One way that two appraisals have been studied is to show different effects of valence across a set of emotions varying along another dimension as well. For example[NA3], SHAME and ANGER finding. Now say valence changes nature of finding: PRIDE GRATITUDE finding. Even thought the studies were different studies for postiiv ena dnegative emtoions, what we have is a conceptual interaction. A few researchers have recently investigated the interactive effects of two appraisal dimensions associated with discrete emotions on consumer behavior and judgments. For example, Agrawal, Menon and Aaker (2007) showed that for sadness and agitation, the valence dimension and self/other relatedness dimension both interactively affects the effectiveness of health messages. Specifically, they showed that when the primed emotion was positive, the fit between the focal referent in the message (self or family) and discrete emotion enhanced the processing of aversive health information whereas when individuals were primed with a negative emotion, the fit hindered the processing of health information. Appraisal dimensions based on motivations could interact with other dimensions to result in motivation-matching mechanisms. For example, Labroo and Rucker (2010) proposed a joint model of emotions categorized by two dimensions: motivation orientation (along the dimensions of approach vs. avoid) and valence. This framework provides a richer view of the affect regulation mechanism through showing that when participants were focused on their affective experiences, ‘orientation matching’ of emotions (for example, positive approach emotions (e.g., happiness) provided to regulate negative approach emotions (e.g., anger)) provides more affective regulation benefit than merely providing any positively valenced emotions. In particular, they found that when individuals experienced a negative emotion associated with approach orientation (e.g., angry), they showed more favorable attitudes toward the brand when they were shown and ad which activated positive emotions associated with same approach orientation (e.g., happiness). Moreover, when emotions with differing appraisals interact, it can coactivate a tendency when one emotion alone would have showed a different tendency. Morales, Wu, and Fitzsimons (2012) showed that fear can elicit an action tendency when combined with disgust. Fear is associated with uncertainty and motivates people to escape from the threat. Fear has been known to be associated with both avoidance behavior and hesitation and freezing behaviors (Smith Ellsworth, 1985). People show freezing behaviors initially and then take action when the fear eliciting object is unavoidably near. On the other hand, disgust is associated with strong certainty and strong impulse to avoid and distance oneself. Morales, Wu and Fitzsimons (2012) showed that when disgust was incorporated within the fear appeal, it enhanced persuasion and message compliance when fear alone did not. Interactions of appraisals might be a useful way to think about divergent findings or ways to reconcile conflicting findings in the literature. CONTEXTUAL INFLUECNES AND THE IMPACT OF EMOTIONS And finally, (E) how would these emotion appraisals interact with the contextual information from the environment to influence judgments. The various and inconsistent findings on same emotion suggests that studying specific emotion should broaden the scope and deviate from the framework of emotion leading to certain cognitive appraisal that subsequently leads to specific behavior and judgment. An overarching framework should include how motivational, situational factors interact with certain cognitive appraisals and how certain cognitive appraisal could lead to different mindset. For example, cognitive appraisal can lead to different motivations depending on the contexts. Fear is known to lead people to show freezing type behaviors, but it can lead to higher need for affiliation when a situation allows people to have someone or brand nearby (Dunn Hoegg, 2014). Only through accounting for what type of situation and motivation drives the cognitive appraisals, the different findings co uld be reconciled. Contextual factors could influence not only the nature of event appraisals, but also the intensity of the cognitive appraisals and consequently, the intensity of the felt emotion. Hung and Mukhopadhyay (2011) showed that the visual perspective (actor vs. observer) taken while appraising an event could influence the intensity of the felt emotion. Participants who imagined the same hypothetical situation through an observer’s (vs. actor’s) perspective felt higher intensity embarrassment. While recalling a past experiences or imagining a hypothetical emotional event, participants taking the observer (vs. actor) perspective were more likely to think about how others might evaluate them and therefore felt more intense self-conscious emotions. Such contextual antecedents to cognitive appraisals could have interesting and significant influences on incidental emotions. Another approach to understand the interaction of contextual information with incidental emotions is through studying compatibility effects. Compatibility of external information with emotional appraisals could have complex outcomes depending on the domain and specific appraisal dimensions. Agrawal, Menon, and Aaker (2007) showed that appraisal dimensions of valence and self-other reference invoked by incidental emotions interact with the referent in a health message presented to participants to produce complex compatibility effects. When the incidental emotion is positive (e.g., happiness, peacefulness), the compatibility between the message referent (self vs. other) and emotional appraisal (self vs. other) fosters the processing of health information presented. In contrast, when the incidental emotion is negative (e.g., anxiety), then the compatibility of message referent and emotional appraisal hinders the processing of health message. Similar[D4] external information and emotiona l appraisal compatibility effects could be explored to understand consumers’ response to external stimuli in presence of incidental emotions. Another rich area of enquiry is how other people present (or considered) in the context could vary the nature of the emotion or interact with the incidental emotions to lead to different behavioral outcomes. Presence of other people in the context could interact with the appraisal rendered by an emotion and influence the fluency of the emotional experience and subsequent evaluations. In a series of interesting experiments, Fisher and Dube (2005) presented same-gender and mixed-gender pairs of participants with advertisements that invoked a positively valenced emotion with high agency (e.g., enthusiastic, excited) or low agency (e.g., calm, relaxed). Subsequently measured viewing pleasure and attitudes towards advertisements were significantly lower when males watched a low-agency ad in presence of another male (vs. in presence of a female). This effect was seen only in public ratings of the ad and not in private. These findings indicate a social desirability effect and favorability o f context-congruent emotions (for e.g., high agency is a desirable social stereotype for males). Future research could explore similar context-congruency effects of emotional appraisals and how they might influence behavioral outcomes. Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, and Pieters (2011) show that the nature of envy varies based on the deservedness appraisals of the envy targets. Benign envy is elicited when the others’ superior position is deserved. In contrast, a feeling of malicious envy is elicited when the others’ superior position is appraised as not deserved. The type of envy felt predicts the â€Å"Envy Premium† (higher willingness to pay for a product that elicits envy) of the product in such a way that benign envy leads to higher envy premium for a product owned by the superior person whereas malicious envy leads to higher envy premium for a product not owned by the superior person. This finding demonstrates how evaluative information about the context (whether others’ superior position) is deserved or not) changes the nature of the emotional reaction elicited. Future research could extend this finding to apply to incidental emotions[K5]. In addition to the interaction between incidental emotions and contextual information, research could examine how integral emotions and contextual information interacts to influence the subsequent judgments. Duhachek, Agrawal, and Han (2012) examine how the fit between emotions of guilt and shame and message framing influences subsequent message compliance. Specifically, they showed that high or low self efficacy appraisals evoked by guilt or shame interact with gain or loss framed messages to induce the match-based persuasion effects. It has been shown that since guilt-laden people believe that they can fix the problem (i.e., high self-efficacy appraisals), they prefer the message which emphasizes the positive outcomes of following the action described in the ad (i.e., gain frame). In contrast, shame-laden people believe that they cannot fix the problem (i.e., low self-efficacy appraisals), thus leading them to prefer the ad message which highlights the negative outcome of not follo wing the action. Consistent with the proposed theorizing, they found that when guilt (shame) appeals primed with gain- (loss-) framed messages, participants felt greater fluency and showed less intention to binge drink. Studying the impact of context on emotional influence on judgments is a rich avenue for future research. [K6] [D1]From Wilcox et al. (2011). You can find citations for these two papers in Wilcox et al. 2011. [NA2] World renowned coping expert Adam can tackle this: Need to bolster this section more. Maybe begin with mood repair†¦. Or nature of coping changes by nature of emotion. More build up will be good. [NA3]Da hee, please can you elaborate on our paper here†¦. [D4]We may add Agrawal and Duhachek (2010) if necessary. [K5]Meta appraisals. How I feel about how I feel, certainty/confidence/ I am uncertain about my anger. Or validity, I am angry but I know I shouldn’t be. Adam, pls add to GD [K6]Also the self literature, the role of self guilt. Or self anger. Mad at past version of myself for what I did. Adam, please add to GD.

Jane Eyre :: essays papers

Jane Eyre Throughout history in literature achievements of widening popularity always seem to create tension. In Charlotte Bronte's novel, "Jane Eyre," the pursuit of dependence and self-fulfillment is confronted by her romantic characteristics in a Victorian age. "What makes Victorians Victorian is their sense of social responsibility, a basic attitude that obviously differentiates them from their immediate predecessors, the Romantics"(Landow 1) who are more open-minded, much like Jane. Although her romantic qualities simply identify herself , they create tension between the Victorian idea's of gender, status, realness, passion and emotion. The uniqueness of Jane's personal and artistic identity is confronted by the containment of feminism and stature. The tension between Jane and those who are under Victorian beliefs, such as Mr.Brocklehurst, and Mrs.Reed is created directly by their indifference's towards women and the poor. The feminisitic views that are abundant in Jane's life creates tension to the point where "she has trouble settling into society, not just because of her over-jealous passions, but also because of her gender.(Jackson 1)" Early in her life Jane encounters feminism not only on herself but many others. At Gateshead Jane is unaware of the purpose of Lowood School and "indeed would like to go to school"(Bronte 30) despite not knowing its reputation. At Lowood School Jane encounters the gender problem which puts herself and the others into a position which isn't favoured. The "black pillar"(Bronte 63) upholding the conditions of feminism at Lowood is Mr.Brocklehurst who has a superior effec t. The authoritarianism of Brocklehurst is exemplified by the intention to "teach them to clothe themselves with shame-facedness and sobriety"(Bronte 75). The reason behind his cruelty to the students is of intentions not to "mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh" but to render them hardy, patient, and self-denying. Although feminism is evident for the reasoning of Brocklehurst, Maggie Berg states that " Lowood deprived its pupils of their female individuality because of their corporate identity as orphans."(48) This prudence towards the originality of Jane and the other students creates a level of stature that isn't respected by the higher authority of Lowood. The "custom" of feminism in the Victorian age is riddled by this status which Jane encounters while growing up as an orphan. "It is abundantly evident that women continued to rank as second-class citizens"(Norton 903) to men and Jane realizes this through her work as a governess.

Why Sports

Why Sports!! Why wouldn't you play a sport? Everyone has something that they like that they are good at. Whether you are good at skating on ice, throwing balls, hitting balls, running, etc. , there are many different sports to learn about and play including baseball, basketball, hockey, and football. Just by observing these sports you might see you're into one that you like. I say everyone should play a sport. First of all baseball is a terrific team sport. It is a simple sport in that there is a diamond of bases and an outfield.Your goal on offense is that you want to hit the ball so that you are safe on one of the bases (the bases go clockwise). If the ball gets to the person on the base before you get there then you are out. On defense you are put in a certain position and if the ball comes to you on the ground you must throw it to which ever base that the runner is running to. If the ball is hit in the air and it's caught then you are automatically out. There are nine innings in baseball. An inning is the period which each team hits once. Choose this sport if you like a nice, aggressive team game.Basketball is another simple sport that consists of two baskets and one ball. The first basketball hoop was made of peach buckets. The goal is to shoot the ball into the basket that your team is going at. Each basket is worth 2 points but if you shoot it from beyond the three point line then you get three points. There are certain rules like you can't hold on to the ball and run or it's traveling. And there are physical fouls like slapping and tripping stuff like that. If you get fouled then you get foul shots which count as one point. Choose this sport if you want to develop coordination.Football is a physical sport with hard hitting and a lot of running. Football was so popular that Galileo played it. The goal of this game is to get the football to the touchdown zone. If you accomplish this there then you get six points and then you can try for the extra point. F or the extra point you have to kick the football through the field goal. In this game there are downs. If you obtain a 4th down then you will lose the football but if you make it past you have to get past the line then you keep the ball with a first down. Choose this sport if you like a fast, hard hitting game.Now if none of hose sports interest you then you might like calmer sports like golf, bowling, swimming or cheerleaders. Or there are extreme sports like sky diving, mountain climbing, cliff diving, air kicking volcano surfing, etc. Will not go into deep detail with these sports but if you are interested then check them hope you will hopefully try one of these sports for yourself. Sports out. Are fun and good exercise for your body. And even if you don't do sports then try to go out an hour a day.

Esther: From Rags to Riches Essay

It is the dream of every little girl and the theme of at least half of all box office movies. It is the story of an ordinary girl who grows up to marry a king and live in a castle. In this case Esther was raised by a cousin, because her own parents had died. She was not a child of wealth or status, but a simple Jewish girl, who had the gift of beauty. She not only became a queen, but had the rare opportunity to save many of her people from certain death. The story of Esther plays out like an exciting and at times frightening fairy tale, in which the poor little orphan grows up to marry the king and live in a fabulous castle. The story would make an excellent Disney movie because it follows the fairy tale formula exactly, complete with an evil villain and the required happy ending. Anyone who hears or reads the story might be tempted to think it sounds like a common story and lose interest. What people will discover when they dig a little more deeply into the story find that it is far from ordinary. Esther was a very unique individual as was her story. The most unique aspect of the story is that it is a true story. Although virtually all young girls grow up dreaming about the handsome prince or king that will arrive and take them away from their boring or humble life, those same little girls grow up to discover that fairy tales do not happen in real life. The exception is the case of Esther. It is a fascinating story to read and even better when people realize the impact Esther had in the lives of her people. Through her faith in God and her quiet courage, the Jewish people in the country of Persia were saved from certain death. Besides the story itself, Esther showed uniqueness through her unyielding faith in God, her obedience to both God and her cousin Mordecai, her natural beauty and quiet disposition. Her actions in the face of fear demonstrated her uniqueness as did her well timed actions. She became a heroine in a time in which women were rarely considered significant for anything other than procreation simply by having faith and following through on it. Some of the most unique aspects of Esther’s story happen at the beginning of it. She was the daughter of a man named Abihail, of the tribe of Benjamin. He and Esther’s mother both died when Esther was very young. She was taken in by her cousin Mordecai, who was the son of Abihail’s brother (Konig, 2008). There was no mention of a woman or wife of Mordecai being involved in raising Esther. In modern society Esther would have been considered an under priviliged child with minimal hope of future success. She would have been labeled as one of the children at risk of â€Å"slipping through the cracks and being forgotten†. Esther was a quiet, unassuming young lady, who did not ask for special treatment or privileges. She accepted her position in life and did what her uncle asked her to do. The exciting changes in her life began in the palace of King Ahasuerus, who at the time was the ruler of 127 provinces (Henry,). He was having a feast for all of the princes and officials in the kingdom. During this time his queen, Vashti held a banquet of her own for the women. After drinking wine, the king decided to summon Queen Vashti to show her beauty to the other men (Bible, New American Standard). The queen refused to go to the banquet when requested. The king asked the advice of his advisors on how to deal with her disobedience. They told him that if she was allowed to get away with being disobedient to him, other men’s wives would rebel against them as well. For this reason, they encouraged him to banish her. The king took their advice in order to send a message to the wives of the kingdom to obey their husbands. Once Queen Vashti was banished, the king needed to find a new queen. At this point he sent messengers out around the kingdom in search of virgins to be brought to the palace. These virgins were to be in the care of the king’s eunich Hegai. This is the point in the story where Esther and King Ahasuerus’ lives meet. Esther was one of the virgins who was sent to the palace from which the new queen would be selected. Esther did not go by her choice, but because she was told to go. Since Esther was a young woman of faith, she went as she was told. Esther would spend the next twelve months among many other young women at the palace, where she would undergo beauty treatments and preparation to be sent before the king. Most of the young women were there because they chose to be. They all hoped to be the next queen. Esther had no expectations along these lines, because the only reason she had gone was obedience. Many of the other girls whom Esther spent the year with had probably come from wealthy homes in which beauty treatments were normal rituals during growing up. Esther had undergone none of these things as a child. She still somehow with her quiet obedient manner and natural beauty, managed to capture the attention of everyone she met. Hegai favored her to the extent that he provided her with seven of her own maids and moved her to a place at the head of the harom (Bible, New American Standard Version). The competition was like the ultimate beauty contest or one of the new reality television shows in which the best girl wins the heart of the king. Since Kings usually chose their brides from one of the seven most important families in Persia, it was unique that in this case the king chose to select his new bride from the available virgins in the country (Bryce, 2006). When the time came for the girls to be presented to the King, each girl could take whatever she wanted with her. Esther chose to take only what was recommended for her to take by Hegai (Bible, New American Standard version). Each girl would be presented to the king for one night. The next morning she would be taken to a second harem for the concubines (Bible, New American Standard Version). The only way a girl would return to the king again was if he asked for her by name. When Esther was presented, the king was taken by her physical beauty and her quiet obedient nature. He chose her as his new queen. ). By winning the beauty contest that all the other girls dreamed of, she was placed in the perfect position at exactly the right time to have the opportunity to spare the lives of the Jewish people. She did this in the same calm obedient manner in which she had conducted her entire life, making her a true heroine. Her cousin Mordechai worked outside of the palace gates in a lowly position. At one time he heard two of the palace guards plotting to assassinate the king. Out of concern for the king, he passed this information on to Esther. Esther notified the king with the information in Mordecai’s name and it was documented that Mordecai was the person who was responsible for saving the king. The report was investigated resulting in the death of the conspirators and the appreciation of the king towards Esther and Mordechai. Later in the story, the King appoints a man named Hamon as his chief advisor and second in the country. He was a man who was very proud of himself and wanted a great deal of attention paid to him (Stewart, 2007). Hamon treated the king as a â€Å"person stroking a cat† (Kajer, 2007) which means he knew the one way to boost his ego and make sure the king would listen to him. He would make suggestions that would often appear to be the kings ideas. Because of this, Haman had a great deal of power and influence in the king’s decision making. He convinced the king to require everyone who saw Haman to bow before him. Mordechai refused to bow to Haman, because he was devoted to God and refused to bow to anyone except God. Some of the castle guards noticed that Mordechai did not bow as Hamon walked past. They asked him why and he said the reason was because he was a Jew (Bible, New American Standard Version). The castle guards reported to Haman that Mordechai was refusing to bow to him. This made Hamon very angry. Haman developed a strong dislike for Mordechai and decided to punish all of the Jewish people, because he did not want it to look like he was making a decision based solely on his dislike for one man. He proposed a plan to the king to execute all of the Jews on a specific chosen day, based on the information that the Jewish people had customs that went against the Persian customs. Haman went so far as to offer to deposit a large amount of his own money in the treasury to help pay for the army. The king showing little interest either way gave Haman his signet ring (Bible, New American Standard Version) and told him to keep his money and to do as he pleased with the Jews. Haman had the king’s scribes help him develop an edict stating that on a certain day all of the Jews young and old would be killed. Mordechai and the other Jews go into mourning at this time. Mordechai dressed in sackcloth and went to the palace gate. It was reported to Esther that Mordechai was at the gate dressed in sackcloth. She sent him clothes, but her refused them. He then sent a message back to her explaining the situation and asked her to talk to the king about the and tell him about haman’s evil reasons for wanting to kill the Jews. He told her to reveal her true identity as a Jew herself. Esther expresses her concern for her people, but explains to him that by going to the king she would be putting her life in danger as well. At that time there was a law stating that no one was allowed to go in to the king unless they were summoned by him. Anyone who broke this law and went into him could be put to death (Bible, New American Standard Version). The only exception to this rule was if the King raised his golden scepter to the person to allow them to approach and address him. Mordechai sent back another message saying that maybe the reason God had put her in the position of queen was to save her people. Because of her obedience to her cousin and her faith she was able to overcome her fear. She told him to have all the Jews fast and pray for three days and then she would go in to the king to see what happened. After the three days of fasting and prayer, Esther went before the king, he did not have her put to death, but instead promised her anything she wanted up to half of the kingdom. She could have asked at this point to have her people spared, but Esther knew the time was not right to reveal Haman’s plot. She simply asked for the king and Haman to join her for a dinner the following night. During the dinner, she invited both to a dinner again the next night. By that time Haman believed he had won Ester’s favor as well as the king’s. He went home quite happily and told his family about the two dinners he had been the only person besides the king Esther had invited. He felt good enough he decided to propose to the king that Mordechai be executed the next day. He was confident in enough in his power over the king that he had gallows built to hang Mordechai on as an example to the Jews. Ironically that same night, the king was unable to sleep and had the scribes come to read to him from the records. One of the things read during this time was the incident in which Mordechai had warned the king of the assassination plot against him (Bible, New American Standard). The king asked what had been done to thank Mordechai for saving him. The answer was that nothing had been done. At that time Hamon entered with the intention to tell the king of his plan to kill Mordechai. The king asked him what should be done for the person the king wanted to honor. Haman in his excessive arrogance (Stewart, 2008) thought that he must be the person that the king wanted to honor. He told the king to put the robes on him and have him ride through the town. The king told him to do that for Mordechai. This is a truly unique twist in this story as Haman must honor the man he wanted to kill. At the second dinner, Esther finally revealed that someone had plotted to kill her people and she would like for them to be spared. When the king asked who was plotting against her people, she explained it was Haman, The king was upset to the point that he had to leave the room. Haman then fell to the floor at Esther’s feet and begged for mercy. When the king returned to the room, he saw Haman with Esther and thought he was attacking her. At this point he demanded that Haman be executed. Haman was executed on the gallows he had built to execute Mordechai on. The King was unable to completely withdraw the decree he had sent out about attacking the Jews, because once a decree was signed and sent out, it could not be changed. He instead sent out another decree allowing the Jewish people to defend themselves by whatever means they needed. This resulted in fewer people attacking them and many of those who did were killed. It was extended into a second day and the Jews killed many of the people who hated them. Esther was the perfect person for God to choose for this job. She began life very humbly and was raised by a man who was her cousin with no mention of a maternal figure. In those days women were considered insignificant except for the purpose of procreation, therefore the very fact that a woman would carry out the task of saving the Jewish people from certain death was amazing. Esther was not an outspoken person or any kind of rebel. She was the kind of person who would be least likely to stand out in a crowd except for the Bible’s description of her obvious physical beauty. She was portrayed in the Bible as a young woman who followed authority with little question. Whatever Morechai asked of her she did, even if she would have preferred not to. This was evidenced by her hiding her Jewish heritage at the request of Mordecai (Bible, NIV) and entering the king’s throne room at the risk of her own life. She additionally was obviously a person who followed God’s wishes and who showed great faith in spite of the difficult youth she had endured. God used Esther through her faith to be an instrument for saving his people. Esther was raised to be an obedient faithful person who through that faith became one of the most influential women in the Bible. She did nothing outstanding nor was she a great fighter, but she showed a great amount of bravery in the face of possible death. She simply acted on obedient faith and allowed herself to be the instrument for God to use to save the Jewish people from a death caused by an angry bitter man. Her belief in God and her obedience made her the person to save her people. Only God could have designed a plan in which a young Jewish woman could end up married to a Persian king at the tight time to save an entire race (Platz, 2007). It is amazing how God works through people who have done nothing outstanding and whose only amazing trait was her incredible natural beauty.