Martin Luther King, Jr. Essays - Counterculture Of The 1960s

Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the most influential people of this century. King is not a great figure in history just because he is famous; he is great because he served the cause of peace and justice for all humans. King is best remembered for his humanity, leadership and his love of his fellow man regardless of their skin color. This presence of strong moral values developed Kings character, which enabled him to become one of the most influential leaders of our time. Through reading I Have a Dream Writings and Speeches that Changed the World, we learn that his values of integrity, love, truth, fairness, caring, non-violence, and peace were what motivated him to greatness. Integrity is a central value in a leaders character and it is through integrity that King had vision of the truth. The truth that one-day this nation would live up to the creed, all men are created equal. No man contributed more to the great progress of blacks during the 1950s and 1960s than Martin Luther King, Jr. He was brought up believing one man can make a difference, and this is just what he did. Integrity has a large effect on what we think, say, and do. It is because of Kings thoughts and actions so many people put their trust and faith in him. King believed that America, the most powerful and richest nation in the world, would lead the way to a revolution of the mind. This revolution will change the way society views itself, shifting from a materialistic society to a spiritual society. When this occurs, King believed that racism could be conquered. Kings unconditional love for all humans was another value that strongly influenced his character. King described his meaning of love in one of his many speeches, A Time to Break Silence: When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door, which leads to ultimate reality. King was called an extremist, which he was not sure how to deal with at first. After careful consideration he believed that if he were to be called an extremist for love, it could only be taken as a compliment. He believed that the world was in dire need for more extremists like him. King did not want to be remembered after his death by the Nobel Peace Prize or his many other awards. He wanted people to say ...that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. And I want you to say that I tried to love and save humanity. Even when his own life and the life of his family were threatened, King did not react with hatred or violence, he found more strength and courage. He told his fellow men, I want you to love your enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know you love them. Therefore, Kings love for the human race led him to focus his ministry and speeches in obedience to Jesus Christ, who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them. Kings ability to speak the truth is another value that made him such an influential leader. This ability is one reason why King was asked to be the leader of so many important protest marches and sit-ins. His mother was aware of Kings ability to speak the truth very early in his life. Kings followers believed that he would speak nothing but the truth. But, in Kings famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, he could only hope that what he had written will be seen as the truth: If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates me having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me. King also believed that all people should be treated with equality and fairness. This became the basis for the Civil Rights

Marketing Definition

Marketing Definition Marketing is an important aspect in the business world, but what exactly is marketing? This question is vital to know in order to be successful in the business world. Marketing definitions may be worded differently by different people, but the definition is the same across the board. Marketing is also important for organizational success, once the definition is fully understood.Marketing is the process that businesses use in order to interest customers in their products/services. It is important to remember this is a process. There are many other key factors involved in marketing including researching, promoting, selling, and distributing the products/services. BusinessDictionary.com defines marketing as ‚“Management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. As a philosophy, it is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. As a practice, it consists in coordination of four elements called 4P's: (1) identification, selection, and development of a product, (2) determination of its price, (3) selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer's place, and (4) development and implementation of a promotional strategy.Market Square, EnniscorthyMarketing differs from selling because (in the words of Harvard Business School's emeritus professor of marketing Theodore C. Levitt) "Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs" (2009). Another definition of marketing from MarketingPower Inc. states, ‚“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clie nts, partners, and society at large‚” (2009).In order...

The Role Play of Chinese Woman Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Role Play of Chinese Woman - Research Paper Example The first chapter, No Name Woman starts with a clever talk story about an Aunt Maxine Kingston had no idea whether she even existed. As the story weaves its self using the narrator’s voice, we learn that Kingston’s aunt killed herself and baby by way throwing herself into the family well. This was primed on the stifling knowledge that her aunt had begotten an illegitimate child out of wed lock. Getting a child out of wed lock was something that was prohibited in the Chinese culture, therefore, when one become such a victim was perceived an outcast, and thought to have brought disgrace to her family. Ideally, when Kingston had this story from her mother, it dawns on Kingston that she is not supposed to utter the name of her aunt by all standards. She thus decides to confine the memory of her aunt in her imagination only. In the same context, Kingston manages to rekindle the terrible experience of her aunt giving birth in a pigsty, but no one bothers to give her gifts as it is with the Chinese culture, after one gives birth (Kingston 12). The second chapter White Tigers is concerned with another story talk about the mythical female hero Fa Mu Lan. Fa Mu Lan. This story is told through first person narration. Fa Mu Lan practices thoroughly to become a hero when is only seven years old. He captains over men by way of pretending to be a man herself. She does this with a view to fighting against corrupt tycoon and monarch. After Fa Mu Lan wars are completed, she commits herself to the roles of both a wife and a mother. This revelation provides a sharp dissimilarity between Ha Mu Lan and Kingston different lives. Kingston stayed in America which had visible vestiges of racism. Her bosses were purely racist, and there was no she could stand up to them. So the resolutely resorted to fighting them using her own words as the sole weapon (Dickson 13). The third chapter threads through Kingston’s mother, Brave Orchid, and her senile traditional life bac k in China. Kingston’s mother was very influential doctor, midwife. Going by the story her mother was also a destroyer of ghosts. To Kingston, her mother’s past is as incredible as it is petrifying. Brave Orchid’s tales she regaled to her about the Chinese babies left to die; child traffic involving young girls disturb Kingston for many eons (Kingston 34). Towards the end of the chapter, Kingston comes home after being away for many years. Eventually, the two reconcile and mend holes that dented on their relationship after disagreeing and disputing over certain issues for a long time. The fourth chapter At the Western Palace is based on another of Brave Orchid’s talk-stories. These talk stories touch on the subject of an emperor who had married two wives. This story is somewhat intoned with analogy for Kingston’s sister Moon Orchid. When you delve dipper into the story, you learn that Moon Orchid’s husband, an accomplished doctor based in Lo s Angeles, had left her back in China and married a second wife in America. She goes later to America to claim her due as his wife. She hardly knows any English. Furthermore, things worsen for and she left to provide for herself in America. In the end, Moon Orchid goes mad and succumbs to her illness in a California state mental hospital (Kingston 145). Lastly, the final chapter A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe is matter of factly a memoir. This story talks in great lengths about Kingston herself and her

Enterprise systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Enterprise systems - Essay Example Advanced analytics Furthermore, due to the development of enterprise systems and its functionalities, all the market analyst and correspondents join together to give new names for enterprise systems. The names that are suggested mainly are â€Å"enterprise commerce management† or â€Å"ERP II† (Fingar, Kumar and Sharma). 2 Purchasing Concepts and Organization in SAP The purchasing process in SAP starts with the warehouse sub process. If we take an example of Reynolds Corporation the process of purchase requisition is created and moves forward to another sub process called as purchasing. The purchasing sub process establishes and transmits the purchase order. The purchase order is than received by the warehouse sub process of Reynolds Corporation that initiates the function called as material receivables. Moreover, after this function, the purchasing process enters in the accounting function of Reynolds Corporation. Likewise, the accounting function received the invoice and sends the payment (Stewart 2005). Reynolds Corporation position to gather the profit from information flows that are present inside and outside the firms. This can be done by integrating bonus procedures along with a main financial system. On the contrary, some of the organizations are deploying enterprise systems functionalities as no company ever reported to completely finish implementing enterprise systems procedures (Becker et al. ). ... For Reynolds Corporation, the below mentioned values must be operational: Integrate enterprise systems is combined and synchronized along with the organizations significant data and procedures. This is done to utilize the system to connect with the procedures related to the organization and customers. Optimize best enterprise systems software’s are normalizing to give high performance and compete with the organizations significant procedures and strategies. The term â€Å"Informate† is used when the information is transformed into work in any organization. The transformation of data as mentioned in enterprise systems is done by information that is rich in context and information that allow analysis of business and facilitates decision-makers to numerous work forces. If we are talking about enterprise systems, many organizations do not implement it to its optimal level. Likewise, by constructing the rare technical components of Reynolds Corporation, it can only provide a limited value. Relatively, the research highlights the significant advantages not only for Reynolds Corporation that is in process of processing the raw components and entitles itself for the ownership to meet the distinctive vision of the organization. After placing the preconditions of cost and time, the prediction of the model that demonstrates the perceived value from enterprise systems for Reynolds Corporation emphasis on three main features that are mentioned below: 2.1 Integrate On the value scheme of integration, enterprise systems were originally formed. An enterprise system certainly recommends the assurance of incorporation through centralizing information that is operational in a habitation from where it will be

California Vaccine Mandate Bill Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

California Vaccine Mandate Bill - Research Paper Example Initially, the philosophical exemption law protected some groups of Americans against mandatory vaccination based on their religious and philosophical perspectives of them. It means that while it is almost necessary that children are vaccinated before they enter school, some children were exempted. However, the California vaccine mandate bill will eliminate the privilege starting 2016 (McGreevy, 2015). Therefore, the implication of the new bill is that families with negative religious beliefs will no longer be exempted. The new bill demands that a greater number of Californian children is vaccinated before they enter schools. According to the LA Times (April 22, 2015), the Senate passed the legislation on Wednesday 28, 2015 and will become a law beginning 2016 (McGreevy, 2015). The bill also provides that have negative perception of vaccines as a way of protecting their interests. There is a question of how suitable the proposed legislation is towards safeguarding of the rights of re ligious minorities in the state. While there is an acknowledgement of the rights of minority groups in the state, the new legislation will undermine such a privilege. The rationale for the deduction is that as some parents already complained, the number of children in schools will go lower. The reasoning is simple because parents with such beliefs will opt to keep their children away from schools as a way of protecting their interests. Some may argue that the legislation provides for parents with such opinions to home school their children.

A Case Study Of Mental Health

A Case Study Of Mental Health Mental health has become a major global problem. It affects 450 million people and one in four of us will suffer from mental ill- health at some time in our lives (WHO, 2001). Mental Health is used positively to indicate a state of psychological well- being, negatively to indicate its opposite ( as in mental health problems) or euphemistically to indicate facilities used by, or imposed upon , people with mental health problems ( as in mental health services). During the nineteenth century, all patients were certified under lunacy laws. That is, the State only made provisions for the control of madness. The fledgling profession of psychiatry ( this term was first used in Britain in 1858) was singularly preoccupied with segregating and managing lunatics . With the emergence of the First World War, soldiers began to break down with shellshock now called post traumatic stress disorder . From this point on, psychiatry extended its jurisdiction from madness to versions of nervousness provoked by stress or trauma. In the twentieth century, more abnormal mental states came within its jurisdiction, such as those due to alcohol and drug abuse and personality problems. Today, mental health services may be offered to, or be imposed upon, people with this wide range of problems, although madness or severe mental illness still captures most of the attention of professionals .Another aspects of the term mental health problems is that some people, criti cal of psychiatric terminology, object of scientific or logical grounds to notions like mental illness or mental disorder. In the 1983 Act and equivalent Scottish legislation mental illness is not defined. However, Article 3(1) of the Northern Ireland Order does define it as a state of mind which affects a persons thinking, perceiving, emotion or judgement to the extent that he requires care or medical treatment in his own interests of other persons. Neither the Scottish nor Northern Ireland definitions include psychopathic disorder and there has recently been some discussion in the context of review of the Mental Health Act about removing it in England and Wales. Issues concerning mental health have been raised substantially in the consciousness of politicians, the media, and the public. Moreover, the burden of mental disorder is regarded not just as a if not the- principal cause of human misery, but as a significant impediment to social and economic growth. Measurement of the years of potential life lost and the years of productive life lost through mental ill- health could reach 15% of all diseases and deaths globally by 2020 (WHO, 1999). A further dimension of inequalities in the apparent scale of mental health problems is race. Race is controversial to define. Genetic distinctions between groups of humans ( other based on sex) have little empirical basis. Racial distinctions arose from anthropological investigations carried out by colonized indigenous people. However, because of colonization, the social identity of these people became real for them and others. In the United States black patients are overrepresented in mental institutions, and have become increasingly so over the postwar period. This has particularly been the case within state mental hospitals, where minority groups constitute 35 per cent of the hospital population, and are subject to higher rates of admission and readmission. In a review of eight epidemiological studies conducted in the United States between the late 1950s and mid- 1970s, Kessler and Neighbors (1986) found that among persons with low incomes black people exhibited significantly more distress than white people. They claimed, therefore, that race is an important independent variable in determining the likelihood of an individual becoming mentally ill. There is some dispute over what to make of this evidence. Cockerham (1990) maintains that the majority of studies on the incidence and distribution of mental health problems suggest that race is not an independent variable: race alone does not appear to produce higher rates of mental disorder for particular groups. Rather, it is because more black people are in the lower social cases that they tend to demonstrate more signs of mental distress. Others, however, disagree. Halpern (1993) argues that minority status can be demonstrated to result in a tendency towards psychiatric problems. As with gender, a number of studies have been conducted indicating that racial bias exists in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental health problems. It has been found, for example, that white therapists generally rated their black clients as being more psychologically impaired than did black therapists. Patients who are uncooperative, threatening or abusive are more likely to be diagnosed as being mentally ill if they have minority status. In particular, it has been found that being black tends to increase the chances of a person being diagnosed as being schizophrenic (Wade, 1993). Certain groups such as people of Afro- Caribbean origin tend to be more likely than whites to receive psychotherapy. Minority groups have proved less able to make use of community- based services. This is partly because they have lacked the resources to participate in the development of community care, and partly because of the lack of interest in or understanding of the specific cultural needs of minority groups when establishing services ( Wade, 1993). The term Afro- Caribbean refers to black people who either still live in Caribbean or who moved to Britain. Britain is an ex-colonial power, which enslaved and forcibly transported African people. Afro-Caribbean people have higher rates of diagnosis for schizophrenia but lower rates for depression and suicide than indigenous whites. An unresolved debate about over- representation is whether it is actual ( black and Irish people are mad more often) or whether it is a function of misdiagnosis . The data of Irish people highlight why the stresses of racism, based purely on skin colour, are not an adequate explanation of differences in mental health status. Although Afro- Caribbean people are vulnerable to psychosis, prevalence rates of all diagnostic categories are higher than for the indigenous ( non- Irish)whites in Britain. What are the implications of comparing and contrasting these two ex-colonized groups for our understanding of the relationship between race and mental health? The first point to emphasise is that given the white skin of the Irish, racism based on skin colour may be a stressor but is not one that accounts for racial differences in mental health. A second point is that while both groups are post-colonial remnants of forced migration, the circumstances for each were different. Third, the circumstances of migration to Great Britain were similar in some ways but not others. Employment opportunities governed population movement in each. Fourth, as ex-colonized, Afro- Caribbeans and the Irish have been recurrently stigmatized and rejected. A confirmation of this point is that these groups are also over-represented in the prison population, not just in involuntary specialist mental health services. Fifth, and following the previous point, whatever the causal explanations for over- representa tion, the racial bias means that these groups are disproportionately dealt with by specialist mental health services. As the latter are dominated by coercion, this outcome can be thought of as a form of structural disadvantage for these groups. The needs, issues and concerns of black and minority ethnic people (BME) with mental health problems have been pushed to the fore of the national health policy agenda (Department of Health, 1999; Department of Health, 2005). Britain is a multi- cultural society where the percentage of the population that is from minority groups is steadily increasing. In 2001 minority groups comprised seven per cent of the population, with a concentration in London and other inner city areas. BME communities occupy particular positions of disadvantage in the United Kingdom. Inequalities are reflected across all indices of economic and social well- being.They generally have higher rates of unemployment, live in poorer housing, report poorer health, have lower levels of academic achievement and higher rates of exclusion from schools. The tragic but significant marker for BME communities was the death of David Bennett while being restrained by nursing staff on a medium secure ward. After a long campaign by his family, an independent inquiry report concluded that the NHS mental health services are institutionally racist'( Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA, 2003). The government subsequently published an action plan for Delivering Race Equality (Department of Health,2005). This plan has three building blocks: to develop more appropriate and responsive services, to provide better quality information on the mental health needs of BME, to encourage greater community engagement in the planning and delivery of mental health services. DRE focuses on organisational change, but fails to appreciate the heterogeneity within the BME population, and the complex range of identities and practices it contains.It also fails to appreciate that the inequalities in mental health for black people exist within a broader historical and contemporary context of social and economic inequalities and prejudice. Moreover, the problem seems to have been framed in the context of culture- thus, the focus in the DRE strategy on developing a culturally competent workforce. Fernando (2003) argues that a focus on culture can itself be racist and therefore has to be examined in this context. Another issue to consider is the impact of racial disadvantage and discrimination on individuals , their families and communities. Petel and Fatimilehin (1999) suggested that the impact of racism is psychological, social and material. The effects of these are likely to be detrimental to mental health, but it has to be borne in mind that for some it may be minimal, while for others it may be of great significance to their emotional well-being. The effects of racism on the individual may have wider impacts on families and communities . The impact of racism therefore has to be analysed in the context of histories of migration, histories of alienation, the subordination that resonates for these groups, and the way in which these groups have been stigmatised and continue to be stigmatised in society today. There are many competing discourses and perspectives on what constitutes mental illness. Bracken and Thomas (2005)argue that our knowledge of mental illness and distress is indeterminate and new ways of thinking about mental illness are constantly emerging. Coppock and Hopton (2000)suggest that there is ample evidence to show that mental illness is affected by social and political circumstances. Mental illness can be deeply dehumanising and alienating. It is generally regarded with anxiety and fear and loads to rejection and exclusion. A report by the Social Exclusion Unit (2004) found that people with mental health problems are among the most disadvantaged and socially excluded groups in society. The stereotype of big and dangerous has been fixed in the popular case of Christopher Clunis- a back man who had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, who randomly killed a stranger to him, Jonathan Zito, in a London underground in 1992. Keating et .al (2002) have demonstrated that such stereotypical views of black people, racism, cultural ignorance, stigma and anxiety associated with mental illness often combine to influence the way in which mental health services assess and respond to the needs of BME communities. There are at least three factors that underpin black peoples experiences of the mental health system: one, how black people are treated in society; two, how people with mental health problems are treated in society and three, the power of institutions to control and coerce people with mental health problems. Black peoples experiences in society have an impact on their mental and emotional well- being; these experiences in turn influence how they experience and perceive mental he alth services, and their position in society affects how they are treated in mental health services. Eradicating the disparities in mental health treatment and outcomes for a black people requires change in individual practices, but this can only be successful if supported by changes at the organisational level. Efforts to improve mental and emotional well- being for BME communities should be anchored in an understanding of history, broader societal conditions and contexts, and black peoples lived experiences: not just their experiences of racism, but also how they have survived in the face of multiple adversities. McKenzie (2002) has argued that the lack of definition of mental health from a British African Caribbean perspective and the use of diagnostic criteria based on white European norms rather than on the values and experience of the African- Caribbean population is problematic. Further evidence Hunt (2003), Keating, Robertson and Kotecha (2003) and McKenzie (2002) suggests that people from BME communities experience a number of social and environmental risk factors which adversely affect their mental health. These include high unemployment rates: poor housing, racism, low educational expectations, particularly for African and Caribbean boys (Grater London Authority/ London Health Observatory 2002); isolation; and a lack of access to opportunities for personal development. A report by the black mental health charity Footprints (UK) (2003), which works primarily with African Caribbean service users, has identified continuing issues of concern about care and treatmet as: the need for better assessment to promote more culturally acceptable interventions, concerns about medication, including high dosages and polypharmacy, resulting in numerous adverse side- effects and negative staff attitudes. Keating et al. (2003) have highlighted the point that black people see using mental health services as a degrading and alienating experience and that their perception is that service respond to them in ways that mirror some of the controlling and oppressive dimensions of other institutions in their lives, for example exclusion from schools and contact with police and the criminal justice system. The National Service Framework for Mental Health ( NSFMH) is an important driver and ways a key step in actively signalling that health services must ensure that the needs of people from BME communities are incorporated in the planning processes from mental health care. The framework emphasised the need for diverse communities to be consulted about the ongoing effectiveness and suitability of services. The NHS Plan is underpinned by ten core principles that are aimed at ensuring that people who use mental health services are at the centre of determining how services are delivered. The NHS Plan contains an explicit recognition of the diversity that exists within Britain. The recently published strategy on black mental health again underscores the governments commitment to race equality and outlines the underpinning roles of the NSFMH and the NHS Plan in ensuring that its modernisation programme within mental health is delivered. In conclusion the impetus and improvement for mental health service delivery to BME communities can be seen. Many people who use mental health services, however, would argue that what is less tangible is change in hospital wards, day centres, residential homes and engagements with community mental health teams; in essence, at the coal face. There is scope for substantial and sustainable change. It will require a recognition by mental health professionals of the strengths that service users and their families can bring in reshaping service delivery, partner- professionals and, most importantly, agreement by service providers and service users on clear and mutually agreed goals and outcomes about what constitutes improved care and treatment. Efforts to improve mental and emotional well- being for BME communities should be anchored in an understanding of history, broader societal conditions and contexts, and black peoples lived experiences: not just their experiences of racism, but also how they have survived in the face of multiple adversities. Beata Kulinska Student no: 09284805 Word count: 2999 References Pilgrim, D.(2005) Key Concepts in Mental Health. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Scull, A.(1979) Museums of Madness .Harmondsworth: Penguin. Stone, M,( 1985) Shellshock and the psychologists. London: Tavistock. Rogers, A. and Pilgrim, D.(2005) A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness.3rd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Wade, J. (1993) Institutional racism: an analysis of the mental health system. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.63(11): 536-544. Littlewood, M. (1980) Ethnic minorities and psychiatric services. Sociology of Health and Illness.2: 194-201. Sashidharan, S.(1993) Afro- Caribbeans and schizophrenia: the ethnic vulnerability hypothesis re- examined. International Review of Psychiatry. 5: 129- 144. Bracken,P.J., Greenslade, L., Griffen, B., Smyth, M. (1998) Mental health and ethnicity: an Irish dimension. British Journal of Psychiatry. 172: 103-105. Greenslade, L.(1992) White skin, white masks: psychological distress among the Irish in Britain. Leicester: Leicester University Press. White, A. (2002) Social focus in brie: ethnicity. London: Office for National Statistics. Healthcare Commission (2005) Count me in: results of a national census if inpatients in mental health hospitals and facilities in England and Wales. London: Healthcare Commission. Bhui, K., McKenzie, K., Gill, P. (2004) Delivering mental health services for a diverse society. British Medical Journal. 329: 363-364. McKenzie, K.(2002) Understanding racism in mental health. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Trivedi, P. (2002) Racism, social exclusion and mental health: a black service users perspective. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Department of Health (1999) National Service Framework for Mental Health: Modern Standards and Service Models. London: Department of Health. Department of Health (2000) The NHS Plan: A Plan for Investment, a Plan for Reform. London: The Stationery Office. National Institute for Mental Health England (2003) Inside/ Outside: Improving Mental Health Services for Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in England. London: Department of Health.

Reality of Sports :: Movies Film Basketball Essays

Reality of Sports Upon watching the films during this course we see many strong women. Female Athletes whose bodies are in peak condition from the real life champions in the documentary to the female boxer in Girl Fight and the passionate basketball player in Love and Basketball. However stories of real women are not always as ideal as those of Hollywood. Failure, both mentally and physically, is at times a harsh reality. Sometimes when somebody is physically injured it keeps an athlete from the game entirely, if the injury is severe enough. But one may recover physically and never have quite the same mental attitude. The main character in this plot will encounter both physical and mental set backs and either triumph over her hardships or be defeated. A fourteen-year old girl runs into the gymnasium of her middle school with her teammates. They do their warm up routine to stretch their muscles. Form one of two sets of bleachers a handful of people cheer, mostly bored younger siblings and parents supporting their little girls. The baskets have been lowered at opposing ends of the court. The referee sounds her whistle for the game to begin. The two tallest girls from either team stand toe to toe posed for the toss up. Third quarter, the away team has the advantage. The fourteen year old is playing with all of her strength of body and heart. The ball is thrown; she intercepts it. Dribbling down the court, she goes for the open lay up. In mid air she is struck by a vengeful for whom threw the misguided pass. They take a hard fall jumbled on the floor, out of bounds. The girl from the visiting team stands up. The other does not. She is on the floor grabbing her knee. The coaches run out to her, and lift her up to take her back to the b ench. The game continues as she sits with a towel over head to hide the tears of anguish. A few doctors later and her joint is still not quite the same. She struggles in high school trying to get back on a team, but her knee fails her. Eventually she becomes scared to even hoops in her backyard for fear of hr knee's health. She does not want to continue injuring the same knee for fear of becoming crippled. Eventually she gives up on joining a team.