Creationism Essay -- essays research papers fc

In a typical American high school, Mr. Doe, the science teacher begins his discussion on the theory of evolution. John, a student opposes the idea the humans came from apes and evolved. John believes that men came from God and that man was created in 6 days. Jane hears this and argues against John, â€Å"How could anything possibly be created in 6 days? This sort of project would take millions of years!† By using up all 45 minutes of class time discussing creationism and evolution, this is a metaphor to the eternal debate as to the origin of the human species. The question of how man came into existence is one of the great debates of this century. There is not enough evidence to support creationism, yet there is even less to support evolution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The controversy on the origins of life is still hotly debated to this day. The origins of life can be conceived from the theory of evolution or the theory of creationism. The argument is old earth [evolution] versus young earth [creationism] (Seely 2). An astounding 95% of Americans believe in God or a universal spirit, as compared to the 9% who conclude not to have a religion at all (Sheler 2). People have geared towards a more eclectic background on their â€Å"spiritual journey to meet our own personal need† (Sheler 2). Throughout history, humans have been through a gradual accretion rather than one â€Å"sporadic event† after another (Tattersal 58). It is only in the United States that this debate is such a conflict. Humans have an impulse to look unto a higher being rather than a human leader who has faults similar to their own. The higher being [God] should be one of pure perfection. It is the development or creation of man which is what is so intriguing, it is the mystery of man. As individuals and as a whole, people tend to get uneasy between their â€Å"religious compulses and our [their] unwavering commitment to a secular society† (Sheler 1). As a contradiction within itself, â€Å"we [humans] profess fidelity to traditional morality yet champion individual freedom and resist religious authoritarianism† (Sheler 1). Our own manifestations of how we originated and where we came from, the debate of â€Å"the chicken or the egg† is just blurred by the ambiguities between creationism and evolution. Was it the egg? If so, where did the egg come from? Eggs come from chickens, but then where did the chicken come ... ...act that we come from something and somewhere, it’s just the fact that we are searching for answers. Works Cited â€Å"Creationism.† World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 4, 1994:1123. â€Å"Evolution.† World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 6, 1994:436-443. Graham, Charlotte. â€Å"The Eternal Debate.† SIRS. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst- ar†¦&type=ART&sound=no&key=CREATIONISM. 22 Oct. 1994:1-3. Gould, Stephan Jay. â€Å"Nonoverlapping Magistera.† SIRS. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst- ar†¦&type=ART&sound=no&key=CREATIONISM. March 1997:1-8. Marlantes, Liz. â€Å"The evolution of a controversy.† ProQuest. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?TS=†¦&sid=1&1dx=25&Deli=1&RQT=309&Dtp=1 23 Dec. 1999:1-2. Onken, Michael. â€Å"Physics.† Microsoft Explorer. http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec96/835000890.Phr.html. 18 June 1996:1. Sagan, Carl. The Dragons of Eden : Ballantine Books, 1997. Sheler, Jeffrey L. â€Å"Spiritual America.† SIRS. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst- ar†¦&type=ART&sound=no&key=CREATIONISM. 4 April 1994:1-10. Sullivan, Robert. â€Å"2000 Years of Christianity.† Life. December 1999:50-68. Tattersal, Ian. â€Å"Once We Were Not Alone.† Scientific American. Jan. 2000:56-62.

An Act of Kindness

Helene Cooper 3/27/13 A Teenage Random Act of Kindness As a teenager not many held much hope for my future. I was constantly in trouble cutting school, fighting, drinking alcohol and just had an outright horrible attitude towards anyone that attempted to set me straight. There were many reasons behind my anger that this paper doesn’t warrant going very deep into. I knew right from wrong and I also knew that I wasn’t a â€Å"bad† person.That being said, I found myself suspended from school for 20 days after a fairly brutal fight. Being that my suspension was so long I was required to attend the Option Center in Lawrenceville for my core classes. My mornings now required me to take a bus from Mt. Washington to Downtown and another to Lawrenceville. My afternoons just worked in reverse. My father (who I hadn’t lived with since the age of three) now caring for me, gave me money to get lunch on a daily basis.After my second day was over and I arrived Downtown, I was entering McDonald’s when I noticed an old homeless man sitting with his dog. What made him seem so different to me from the other homeless people that I had encountered was that he looked happy. This both caught my curiosity as well as confused me. A man so seemingly content with having what I thought was nothing. The third day was the same. The same the elderly man covered in dirt with his little dog with matted hair that matched his masters, sitting in the sun taking in the warmth.As I exited McDonald’s I handed the man my lunch. He accepted it with gratuity on his face and I continued my walk to my next bus stop. After walking about a half of a block I heard a raspy voice yell â€Å"Hey! † I turned to find the old man walking very fast after me with his dog in hand and holding the food and drink I had just given him. Being a fifteen year old girl, alone Downtown, I was a little startled to say the least. I began walking faster toward my destination when the man caught up to me.The man, very winded at this point, had one simple question for me. â€Å"Is†¦ this†¦pop†¦diet? † I looked at him confused when he went on to explain that he was diabetic. At this point I felt both a little bad and silly at the same time for making this poor man run after me for such an innocent question. The pop was not, in fact, diet. He thanked me and handed it back to me. I saw this man, whose name was Charlie, every day during my suspension and every day I gave him my lunch, always making sure the pop was diet.

Military Life in Vietnam in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They...

The Things They Carried is a story based on the experiences of young American soldiers fighting during the Vietnam War. The story begins giving you insight into the thoughts of the soldiers, describing to you what they humped along with them through their walk in the deep jungle of Vietnam. Some of those things were necessities P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing-gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets (81) and some were objects to give them hope. Throughout the story you follow a young platoon of men on their journey through the jungle never knowing which day could be the last day of their lives. The author, Tim O’Brien, using very accurate description and detail gives us†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"They plodded along slowly, dumbly, leaning forward against the heat, unthinking, all blood and bone, simple grunts, soldiering with their legs, toiling up the hills and down into the paddies and across the river s and up again and down, just humping, one step and then the next and then another† (86). The story focuses on the emotions of the soldiers and describes how they endured extreme emotional torture during their time at war. All of them taken away from their homes and being thrown into a terrorizing unfamiliar area then given a gun and being told to fight most of them being young and having no combat experience. Tim O’Brien explains the amount of emotional stress each man carried â€Å"They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing-these were intangibles, but intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight† (89). He describes how their fear affected even what supplies they brought with them from the amount of ammunition, to pocket knives, and even food. One of the soldiers in the story, Ted Lavender carried tranquilizers with him because he was scared of the physical pain he might endure. â€Å"Depending on numerous factors, such as topography and psychology, the riflemen carried anywhere from 12 to 20 magazines† (82). All the men struggled throughShow MoreRelatedTim O Brien : A Man Who Has Positively Affected The World1119 Words   |  5 Pageshelps us understand the truth.† This quote by Minnesota author and veteran, Tim O Brien, displays his passion for writing stories that make truth come to life. Tim O’Brien is a remarkable man who has positively affected the world through his literary works regarding the Vietnam War. His personal life and authorship through his military experience, have led to making him one of the most influential war authors to date. Tim O’Brien was born in Austin, Minnesota on October 1, 1946 (Glerean). He spentRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1621 Words   |  7 PagesTim O’Brien’s use of fictionalized writing in the delivery of â€Å"The Things They Carried† was the best writing style possible for a war story. Fiction, as opposed to a more conventional historical account, allows him to paint a more realistic portrayal of soldiers’ actual combat experience during the Vietnam conflict by use of imagery, real life accounts, and third person omniscient point of view. â€Å"The Things They Carried† is a story that I can personally relate to because of my service in the UnitedRead MoreThe Things They Carried Questions1139 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Things They Carried† Questions a) The main topic of this novel is burdens. O’Brien is writing about what burdens the soldiers and he had to carry throughout war, physically and emotionally. One way I know is because of the title- â€Å"The Things They Carried.† This title almost summarizes the whole book. O’Brien frequently showed and explained the burdens that were inner conflicts of his and outer conflicts too. In the chapter â€Å"The things They Carried,† O’Brien showed an emotional burdenRead MoreThe Man I Killed, By Tim O Brien1580 Words   |  7 Pagesaway everything he has, and ever will have; and in War, death is inescapable. Vietnam War veteran Tim O’Brien was drafted to fight in the War in 1969 and states in the book as his â€Å"character/narrator† self that he attempted an escape to Canada out of fear. But the stronger fear of people being ashamed of him took over and had him turning back to home to enlist in the U.S. Army. O’Brien publis hed The Things They Carried in 1990 and explored the physical and mental realms of war-time combat with storiesRead MorePersuasive Essay : The Things They Carried Essay1189 Words   |  5 PagesPersuasive Essay: The Things They Carried Are moral standards in the eye of the beholder? According to one author, â€Å"we’ve seriously lost our way†, going on to state, â€Å"we are like mean adrift at sea without a compass† (Hulme). In literature as in biology, the mantra of form fits function applies and heightens a reader’s appreciation of a writer’s choice and how they contribute to a work of literature. In Tim O’Brien’s collection of short stories, The Things They Carried, the narrative, the experienceRead More Myth of Courage Exposed in The Things They Carried Essay2662 Words   |  11 Pagessuch as Tim OBriens The Things They Carried (THINGS) challenge those very notions. Like The Iliad, THINGS is about war. It is about battles and soldiers, victory and survival, yet the message OBrien gives us in THINGS runs almost contradictory to the traditional war story. Whereas traditional stories of war take place on battlefields where soldier battles soldier and the mettl e of man is tested, OBriens battle occurs in the shadowy, private place of a soldiers mind. Like the Vietnam War itselfRead MoreThe Vietnam War Has Far Reaching Consequences For The United States1710 Words   |  7 PagesFailure is a hard word, and no matter how you analyze the Vietnam War, that is precisely what it was. The War was a personal failure on a national scale. From its covert commen- cements, through the bloodiest, most tenebrous days and determinately to the acrid end, this ten-year period of American history is a national disgrace. This research paper will deal with some of the more intriguing aspects and effects of this war. Since the Vietnam conflict made absolutely no sense politically, militarilyRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien Essay1646 Words   |  7 PagesAn Emotional Toll The Vietnam War was the largest, most prolonged military conflict for the United States of America in world history, besides the recent war in Afghanistan. Many Vietnam veterans have written books and novels about their experiences, however, Tim O’Brien, an American who was drafted into the Vietnam war and an American writer, has written numerous books about his war experiences. In particular, Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, tells all his experiences in detail aboutRead MoreIn Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, he emphasizes a chapter on â€Å"The Man I Killed†, which900 Words   |  4 PagesIn Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, he emphasizes a chapter on â€Å"The Man I Killed†, which describes the characteristics of a young Vietnamese man in which O’Brien may or may not have killed with a grenade. The novel is not chronologically sequenced, which leaves more room for the reader to engage in a critical thought process that fully bridges the author’s mind to their own. In O’Brien’s chapter, â€Å"The Man I Killed†, he attempts to humanize the enemy in a way that draws little separation betweenRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien899 Words   |  4 PagesDuring the Vietnam War, a range of emotions occurred within every soldier. Even though some veterans can move past their memories of war, many soldiers became haunted by their dark memories. In Tim O’Brien’s fictional novel The Things They Carried, O’Brien takes his readers through several different events and emotions that occurs to his character during the Vietnam War. Although his character sometimes faces a tough time telling the story, O’Brien manages to inform his readers of the different