Tuesday, November 5, 2019
The History and Geography of Greenland
The History and Geography of Greenland Greenlandà is a located between the Atlantic andà Arcticà Oceans, and although it is technically a part of the North American continent, historically it has been linked with European countries like Denmark and Norway. Today, Greenland is considered anà independent territoryà within the Kingdom of Denmark, and as such, Greenland is dependent on Denmark for the majority of its gross domestic product. By area, Greenland is distinctive in that it is the worldsà largest island,à with an area of 836,330 square miles (2,166,086 square kilometers). It is not a continent, but due to its large area and the relatively small population of 56,186 people, Greenland is also the most sparsely populated country in the world. Greenlands largest city, Nuuk, also serves as its capital. Its one of the worlds smallest capital cities, with a population of only 17,984 as of 2019.à All of Greenlands cities are built along the 27,394-mile coastline because it is the only area in the country that is ice-free. Most of these cities are also along Greenlands west coast because the northeastern side is comprised of the Northeast Greenland National Park. History of Greenland Greenland is thought to have been inhabited since prehistoric times by various Paleo-Eskimo groups; however, specific archaeological research does show the Inuit entering Greenland around 2500 B.C., andà it wasnt until A.D. 986 that European settlement and exploration started, with Norwegians and Icelanders settling on Greenlands west coast. These first settlers were eventually known as theà Norse Greenlanders, though it wasnt until the 13th century that Norway took them over, and subsequently entered into a union with Denmark. In 1946, theà United Statesà offered to buy Greenland from Denmark but the country refused to sell the island. In 1953, Greenland officially became a part of the Kingdom of Denmark and in 1979, Denmarks Parliament gave the country powers of home rule. In 2008, a referendum for greater independence on Greenlands part was approved, and in 2009 Greenland took over the responsibility of its own government, laws, and natural resources. In addition, Greenlands citizens were recognized as a separate culture of people, even though Denmark still controls Greenlands defense andà foreign affairs. Greenlands currentà head of state is Denmarks queen, Margrethe II, but the Prime Minister of Greenland is Kim Kielsen, who serves as the head of the countrys autonomous government. Geography, Climate, and Topography Because of its very high latitude, Greenland has an arctic to a subarcticà climateà with cool summers and very cold winters. For example its capital, Nuuk, has an average January low temperature of 14 F (-10 C) and an average July high of just 50 F (9.9 C); because of this, its citizens can practice very little agriculture and most of its products are forage crops, greenhouse vegetables, sheep, reindeer, and fish, and Greenland mostly relies on imports from other countries. Greenlands topography is mainly flat but there is a narrow mountainous coast, with the highest point on the islands tallest mountain, Bunnbjà ¸rn Fjeld, which towers over the island nation at 12,139 feet. Additionally, most of Greenlands land area is covered by an ice sheetà and two-thirds of the country is subject to permafrost. This massive ice sheet found in Greenland is important to climate change and has made the region popular among scientists who have worked to drill ice cores in order to understand how the Earths climate has changed over time; also, because the country is covered with so much ice, it has the potential to significantly raiseà sea levelsà if the ice were to melt withà global warming.
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Systems Thinking and Constraint Management Part II Assignment
Systems Thinking and Constraint Management Part II - Assignment Example Until now, the difference I find between your organization and mine in the way they approach systems thinking has to do with the emphasis your organization but on people in making the system work, while we focus on the system in making the people work. Example of the system is the performance model used in my organization. Shireman, W. K. (1999). Business strategies for sustainable profits: Systems thinking in practice. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Syst. Res., 16(5), 453ââ¬â462. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. Very readily, what I have learnt from your posting is that organizational growth is a continuous process, which requires that companies will constantly keep up with their efforts towards growth (Jacob, Bergland & Cox, 2010). This comes from the number of efforts I identify your company as putting in place to make systems solution work. To add to your thoughts however, I am of the opinion that it is time your organization focused on the organizational culture as a resource in itself and trying to make this work for the organization. This can be done by creating an organizational principle where each person is expected to function according to the business culture that prevails in the organization. Because the business culture is often set with the goals of the organization in mind, each person would then become a contributor towards constraint management because they will be acting not for themselves but for the larger organization (Shireman, 1999). already, I see a similarity betwee n your organization and mine in the way you emphasize on systems instead of people. It is for this reason that I believe this approach can work best for you. Shireman, W. K. (1999). Business strategies for sustainable profits: Systems thinking in practice. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Syst. Res., 16(5), 453ââ¬â462. Retrieved from the Walden Library
Thursday, October 31, 2019
O.J. Simpson Crime Scene Evidence Research Paper
O.J. Simpson Crime Scene Evidence - Research Paper Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A. Accusations of Evidence Tampering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 - 6 B. Police Inexperience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 C. Cross-contamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 D. Bloody Fingerprint on the Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 IV. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 V. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Abstract A celebrity case like that of the O. J. Simpson twin murders case draws a lot of media attention. The issue of race had also been injected into the case trial because of claims of racist behavior from some police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and one of them was Mark Fuhrman who happened to be also the first among the police offic ers to arrive on the crime scene. When racism becomes an issue, there is the motivation and the suspicion that an investigator like Fuhrman could not be above planting or tampering with evidence especially if it concerns on his behavior towards blacks and inter-racial unions. If the prosecution lost the case, then they have only themselves to blame for it. There were a lot of mistakes made when they did the initial investigation and even during the trial proper; some officers were found to be perjured. In addition to accusations of racial biases and evidence tampering, inexperienced police officers were assigned to the case; from the collection of samples up to the examination of blood samples which kept turning up as evidence even days and weeks into the investigation. There were many instances of cross-contamination also between the crime scene and the residence of Simpson that was initially not considered as possible crime scene. The failure to get the proper search warrant also invalidated much of the evidence that was gathered. A very crucial piece of evidence like a bloody fingerprint, containing the fingerprint of the probable killer and the DNA itself, were not utilized by the prosecution to the fullest extent as a strong corroborative and direct evidence. Keywords: blood, DNA, Fuhrman, fingerprint, glove, samples, Simpson LAW: O. J. Simpson Crime Scene Evidence Introduction Today's societies are often engulfed in a wave of crimes, both property and index crimes that people are rightly afraid for their safety and security. There comes sometimes a crime that is quite unique because of the circumstances and personalities involved. This specially if the crime involves famous personalities such that the public is enthralled and mesmerized by sort of media circus and details of the crime are often obscured. The media can turn crime reporting into a kind of entertainment in the pursuit of a good story. The story then becomes a good fodder for society gossip and diverts the true objective of a crime scene investigation which is to catch the criminal. There is also a long-accepted principle in jurisprudence that flight is indicative of guilt. This is certainly true in most cases where the suspected criminal becomes a fugitive in trying to stay ahead of the arm of law. However, it is also not entirely impossible that a person who can be initially considered innocent takes to flight out of confusion, fear or simply panic on not knowing what proper courses of action to take. A good crime investigation takes not only the
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Tobacco advertising should be banned Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Tobacco advertising should be banned - Essay Example ââ¬Å"Each year smoking kills some 431 000 people in the community, 110à 000 of them in Britainâ⬠ââ¬â such lamentable statistics is suggested by Vickers (p. 1995). Hence, addiction to cigarettes remains to be an important and relevant problem for people in Europe and this problem may be straightforwardly related to tobacco advertising. It is definite fact that tobacco advertising should be banned and such kind of publicity for product which kills peopleââ¬â¢s lungs and takes away its lives should be prohibited. Actually, ââ¬Å"in 1999, the European Parliament approved a ban on all forms of advertising for tobacco productsâ⬠(K.M. Lancaster and A.R. Lancaster, 41). This decision is considered to be appropriate and wholesome. There are some straightforward reasons for such an idea and they are absolutely logical and reasonable. The essential point which is worse to mention is stopping children to become addicted to the cigarettes. It is suggested that five of six adult smokers commence this horrible addiction at the age of sixteen (Vickers, p. 1995). This is the time of rebellion and adolescent extremist orientations. Children in that age do not realize all consequences and harmfulness of cigarette addiction. And three influential factors which induce young people to smoking addiction due to Nelson (808) are: They all are connected and presuppose young person to harmful habits like smoking for example. Advertisements itself is related to social environment sphere as we can observe them everywhere in the streets, on television or newspapers. We are a consuming generation, so advertisements are considered to be our environment. At the same time an appealing advertisement may attract attention of young generation and encourage them to buy a pack of cigarettes. Such advertising compose a wrong perception of what cigarettes are and what implications their usage may cause. Moreover, advertising campaigns create false
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Importance Of Corporate Social Responsibility Within Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay
Importance Of Corporate Social Responsibility Within Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay It is recognized fact that the complicated and serious environmental and social issues need strict and serious concerns of business and investment societies. Apart of the challenges this provides professionals a golden chance to contribute in solving these issues through their corporate social responsibility policies and make their business or brand well known. The following formal report shows how and why Corporate Social Responsibility is important in a business specially in hospitality industry and how big hotels implement their Corporate Social Responsibility policies in their organisations to achieve their goals and what did they get in result. Many groups of hotels such as Marriott, Lancaster and Apex are implicating different CSR policies, plans and strategies and having positive results. Approximately 275 Marriott hotels and buildings have changed in green hotels and have achieved Energy Star Label from the Environment Protection Agency. On the other hand Lancaster hotel which is holder of Green Tourism for London Silver Award has its own green team who investigates and suggests the ways how to reduce carbon emissions and wastes. Most of the restaurants can include in corporate social responsibility by recycling their cooking oil. For example in the UK McDonalds started to convert their cooking oil into bio-diesel and now it is running its vehicles on that cooking oil. Olympic 2012 games are going to be held in England, the following report includes how many extra visitors are going to visit UK. Some problems indicated which could be faced by hospitality industry and report includes some suggestions for these problems. Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing promise by organisation to act graciously and provide to the economic expansion while improving the quality of life of the employees and their families as well as of the local society(www.mallenbaker.net) According to Andriof and Mclntosh (2001) Corporate Social responsibility is that an organisation does has some flow-on effect either outside or inside the organisation, from employees and customers to communities and the environment. They argue that these impacts have ripple effect on society that can be divided into three categories. These are: Social Education, social issues and employee volunteering etc. Economic Jobs, product value and trading standards etc. Environment Emissions and waste control, energy use, product recycling and sustainability progress etc. IMPORTANCE OF CSR IN BUSINESS Now a days businesses specially hospitality industry is emphasizing on the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in business. CSR is not only about doing good things, it also proposes business benefits and the best way to have attraction of media, publicity, respect in society and in its customers and customers not only want to go to respected business, they persist on it. This way on one side companies are doing good things to the community and customers and on the other hand increasing their business. These are some reasons organisations pay attention on their CSR policies and always try to improve them. BENEFITS OF CSR IN BUSINESS There are many benefits of CSR in business, some of them are Social Engagement with the local community and authorities Good reputation of business Globalization Economic If an organisation has good reputation it is easy to recruit people Less turnover because of good reputation can decrease cost of recruitment Workers are more productive Good publicity in media could be the cause of rise in profit Environmental Friendly and green environment Energy saving Waste control Recycling THE ROLE OF CSR IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY The increasing pressure in the media, from government and customers for more actions on the environment is forcing increasing hospitality industry to implement new strategies, plans and environmentally friendly policies. Many hotels are adopting new technologies to reduce their wastes, recycling procedures and saving energy by acting on environment policy. For example. Lancaster hotel (holder of Green Tourism for London Silver Award) has its own green team who calculate everything hotel is doing and advise ways how to reduce carbon emissions and wastes. Lancaster hotel is using energy saving bulbs in their rooms to save energy and when a guest comes in room they have a message on TV that how we are working with green environment and how you can help. They collect different wastes separately such as bottles, papers and cardboard which helps to recycle waste easily. By doing so they have saved 7000 pounds this year against their landfill cost (www.bighospitality.co.uk). According to the Paul Sault Apex Hotels group director of revenue and commercial strategy, the paybacks of the environment and waste policies are not only restricted to the cost, we have also developed encouraging relations with customers, suppliers and the local society. (http://www.hotel-industry.co.uk) On the smaller level, many hotels in the UK have already agreed to use beginning green actions such as, most of the hotels are using now card key switches for air conditioning and electricity, linen cards for sheets and reusing towels, making sure that energy bills are much reduced.( www.hotel-industry.co.uk) For helping local community and other communities Lancaster hotel has got almost half of its guests support. New strategies of the management was they added à £1 donation with every guests invoice and at the end hotel raised à £2,443. They donated this money for charity purposes. To boost the knowledge of the hotels green policies between staff, guests and suppliers hotel raised à £500 in another fund raising effort, and donated in the green project called Lets Go, Lets Grow (www.bighospitality.co.uk) On the other hand it is really hard to tell whether hotel is actually green or not. Marriott is trying hard to be in the front row of hotels for the attention of green travel in the world. By comparing itself with other brands such as Hilton and Wyndham Marriott set out many new steps, organisation can act on specifically in five key areas: water, waste, green building, supply chain, helping protect the rainforest and guest and employee engagement. One of the programs Marriott has launched is Green Your Stay in which they offer every guest who book with them $10 for minimum stay or $1 for each day for carbon produced during their stay. Another plan of Marriott to act on is green hotels and buildings. Approximately 275 hotels have already achieved Energy Star label from the Environment Protection Agency.( www.earthandindustry.com) RECYCLING CSR STRATEGY Most of the restaurants can include in corporate social responsibility by recycling their cooking oil. For example in the UK McDonalds started to convert their cooking oil into bio-diesel and now it is running its vehicles on that cooking oil. By doing so McDonalds estimated that it can save per year 1,675 tons of carbon which is equal to removing 2,424 cars from the UK roads.( www.caterersearch.com) If all restaurants start following this procedure and send extra diesel to the fields for tractors they can help a lot to the environment to go green and can save thousands of tons of carbon every year. This procedure almost cost nothing if we compare to the benefits. Already many hotels and restaurants have started this recycling procedure and helping society and saving their cost for disposing the oil. Cost Recycling cooking oil into bio-diesel cost is almost nothing if we compare with benefits. For average restaurants Bio Diesel Processor is available only for à £315 in the UK and it can generate 160 liter oil per day with very little effort.(www.yorkshiregreenfuels.co.uk) Benefits This recycling procedure has many benefits such as, if restaurants start recycling cooking oil rather than disposing into the sewerage system they will help to decrease pollution from the environment. It will help to generate their own oil and will increase their profit They will not have to pay for their recycling oil Save energy and recourses Decrease of pollution HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY AND OLYMPIC 2012 GAMES What hospitality industry going to do for Olympic 2012 Games? UK going to be one of the busiest countries of the world in 2012 because of Olympic games. 500,000 extra visitors are expected 27,500 media and broadcasters 14,700 athletes will visit the UK and 18 million meals are expected to be served . These extra visitors are going to boost UK economy but is UK ready to take this challenge? The 2012 Olympic games give employers an exclusive chance for encouraging their personnel to volunteer and have concerned in maintaining sports and events in their communities. Chief executive of volunteering England, Justin Davis Smith says that I would urge to all employers to get involved in 2012 games by sustaining their staff in volunteering it will be a massive one off the national carnival. (www.volunteering.org.uk) As hundreds of thousands of visitors are coming to UK there will be a problem for their accommodation and hotels will need more staff for busy timings. So this plan for volunteering new staff could be helpful for their business. It will help them in many ways such as on one side it is good thing to do on other side it will help employees to develop their new skills and improve their motivation and mainly it can be helpful when economic atmosphere is miserable for some people and they are helping their local community by creating more volunteering vacancies. This is one of the good examples of corporate social responsibility for 2012 Olympic Games. (www.volunteering.org.uk) IS HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY READY FOR OLYMPIC 2012? SUGGESTIONS As mentioned above in 2012 Olympic Games 500,000 extra visitors are expected in the UK with 14,700 athletes and 27,500 from all over the world. The main problem will be accommodation for that number of visitors in one year. Some people prefer to stay in big luxurious hotels and some cannot afford to stay in that hotels and they stay in guest houses. There could be shortage of guest houses in the surrounding area of Olympic Village and it could be difficult in future. Big hotel organisations should invest and help small hotels and guest houses for that situation and they should open some new small hotels and guest houses in the surrounding areas. This will help hotel community to share their profit and deal with the busiest situation and that could be profitable for big hotels as well. By doing so they can earn profit as well as helping their community. As we know people are coming from different places of the world and they speak different languages, probably they will not be very good in English language. Hotels can play vital role in this situation by providing their guests travel books and other informative recourses in different languages. Big hotels also should higher some translators for that situation to assist their guests. In this case they will help society and their customers and they can attract more customers by providing these facilities. Another problem could be food problem, mentioned above 18 million meals are due to be served by FB. Big restaurants need to higher chefs from different origins who know how to make different kind of food according to different countries for their customers comfort. CONCLUSION Corporate Social Responsibility plays a key role in business. People are becoming more aware of the environmental issues and they prefer to be customers of eco-friendly businesses, therefore CSR has become a need for any business. Hotels are trying to be in the first row of the green travel in the world, for example, Marriott and other big groups of hotels such as Apex and Lancaster hotels are also implementing CSR policies in their organisations to be the part of green environment. This way they have increased their profits and helped to create eco-friendly environment. Hotels and restaurants need to adopt new CSR policies as McDonalds is recycling cooking oil into bio-diesel and driving its vehicles on this oil and Lancaster hotel is collecting donations and donating them in different charity organisations. England has won the tender of Olympic 2012 Games with CSR and now it is responsibility and challenge for big industries (hospitality industry) that how they implement their CSR policies in 2012 Games. Hospitality industry is going to face many challenges which are mentioned above such as, accommodation, different languages and variety of different meals and they need to prepare for these challenges.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Narrative and Opinion in Notes of a Native Son Essay -- James Baldwin
Choices James Baldwin is considered to be one of the great writers of modern time. There are many characteristics of his writing that could be used to show his talent but the one that is most often cited is his ability to interweave narrative and opinion seamlessly into his essays. One example of this ability is in his ââ¬Å"Notes of a Native Sonâ⬠essay. He interweaves narrative of his father and his death with his opinions about the relationship between blacks and whites at that time. James Baldwin uses contrasting ideas such as public vs. private, father vs. son, and past vs. present to switch back and forth between the narrative and his opinions. The major contrasting idea that Baldwin uses in the essay is the contrasting idea of public life vs. his own personal private life. The first paragraph starts by giving the date of his fatherââ¬â¢s death, then moves to telling about the Detroit riots and then brings them together in the end of the paragraph by stating that they ââ¬Å"â⬠¦drove my father to the graveyard through a wilderness of smashed plate glassâ⬠(63). This shows how both their personal life had been ââ¬Ëshatteredââ¬â¢ and also the town around them. But this is only a hint of how Baldwin switches between his personal, private life and his public life in society. However, he always manages to pull what seems like two completely opposite ideas together into one combined thought. By drawing similarities between his public life and his private life, Baldwin is able to create the sense that the problems facing society were very similar compared to those that he faced on a personal level. Be cause of this Baldwin is able to make his opinions apply to the reader on a more personal level. The best example of Baldwin usi... ...art when taking a stance on an issue. That way you are sincere in your decision and you stand behind it. But he is also saying in the rest of the essay that when you are deciding if you should take a side or when you decide what side you are going to take, you must not rely on merely the past or the present. You must not merely on the word of society or the word of your private family. And you must not rely on the words your father says because you are his son. You must look at the entire picture, both past and present, both public and private, and both your thoughts and your fatherââ¬â¢s when you make a decision on a subject. Only in this way will the world ever be fair and just, and without racial tensions. Works Cited Baldwin, James. ââ¬Å"Notes of a Native Son.â⬠1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Respect In The Army
A Noncommissioned Officer's duties are numerous and must be taken seriously. An NCO's duty includes taking care of soldiers, which is your priority. Leaders must know and understand their soldiers well enough to train them as individuals and teams to operate proficiently. This will give them confidence in their ability to perform well under the difficult and demanding conditions of battle. Individual training is the principle duty and responsibility of NCOs. NCOs are responsible to fulfill not only their individual duties, but also to ensure their teams and units are successful.NCOs are accountable for your personal conduct and that of your soldiers. Noncommissioned officers have three types of duties: specified duties, directed duties and implied duties: specified duties, direct duties and implied duties. Specified duties are related to jobs and positions. such as Army regulations, Department of the Army general orders, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, soldier's manuals, Army T raining and Evaluation Program Publications and MOS job descriptions specify the duties. Direct duties are not specified as part of a job position or MOS or other directive. A superior gives them orally or in writing.Directed duties include being in charge of quarters or serving as sergeant of the guard, staff duty officer, company training NCO and NBC NCO. Implied duties often support specified duties, but in some cases they may not be related to the MOS job position. These duties may not be written but implied in the instructions. They're duties that improve the quality of the job and help keep the unit functioning at an optimum level. In most cases, these duties depend on individual initiative. They improve the work environment and motivate soldiers to perform because they want to, not because they have to.For example, while not specifically directed to do so, you hold in-ranks inspections daily to ensure your soldiers' appearance and equipment are up to standards. As a Noncommis sioned Officer and a leader you must ensure that your soldiers clearly understand their responsibilities as members of the team and as representative of the Army. Commanders set overall policies and standards, but all leaders must provide the guidance, resources, assistance and supervision necessary for soldiers to perform their duties. Mission accomplishment demands that officers and NCOs work together to advise, assist and learn from each other.There are two categories a Noncommissioned Officerââ¬â¢s responsibilities fall under: command and individual responsibilities. Command responsibility refers to collective or organizational accountability and includes how well the unit performs their missions. For example, a company commander is responsible for all the tasks and missions assigned to the company; his superiors hold him accountable for completing them. Commanders give military leaders the responsibility for what their sections, units, or organizations do or fail to do.NCOs are therefore responsible to fulfill not only their individual duties, but also to ensure that their team and unit are successful. The amount of responsibility delegated to you depends on your mission, the position you hold and your own willingness to accept responsibility. Individual responsibility means you are accountable for your personal conduct. Soldiers in the Army have their own responsibilities. Individual responsibility cannot be delegated; it belongs to the soldier that wrote the check. Soldiers are accountable for their actions, to their fellow soldiers, to their leaders, to their unit and to the United States Army.As a leader you must ensure that your soldiers understand clearly their responsibilities as members of the team and as representatives of the Army. Historically, officers were prominent aristocrats or landowners who received a commission from the countryââ¬â¢s ruler, giving them permission to raise and train military units. By contrast, the enlisted were â â¬Å"the common folkâ⬠the officers led into battle. This was once true even in the United States: Military units were raised for the Civil Was by wealthy and prominent community members, who would obtain a commission to recruit and train the people in their hometown.Today, commissioned officers in the United States Military are no longer aristocracy, and the enlisted far from being peasants. However, officers are still the primary source of authority in any military unit, and the position maintains some of its aristocratic pedigree, as embodied in the age-old phrase, ââ¬Å"officer and a gentleman. â⬠A commissioned officer's duty is to lead. If the civilian equivalent of a private is an low level blue collar worker, and the sergeant that of middle manager, then commissioned officers are the upper management and executives.Officers are expected to come out of training able to immediately take charge of about forty enlisted troops ââ¬â a platoon. An officerââ¬â¢s ca reer progresses by assuming larger commands and greater levels of responsibility; from a platoon to a company, a company to a battalion, and so on. Commissioned officers are expected to have a sharp mind and a well-rounded education, so with very few exceptions they must possess at least a bachelorââ¬â¢s degree to receive a commission.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Anglo Saxon Culture as Reflected in Beowulf
Every culture has its own set of beliefs values and customs. Cultural beliefs, values, and assumptions are directly and indirectly acquired throughout a lifetime. A culture is the sum of a groupââ¬â¢s way of life and this is no different with the ancient Anglo Saxon culture. Cultures usually have distinct figures that reflect their culture as a whole. The importance of religion, values, and heroes are reflected a great deal in the epic poem of Beowulf accurately showing the Anglo Saxon culture as a whole. Men dominated the Anglo Saxon society and the people loved a great hero like that of Beowulf. They believed a hero should be a keeper of his promises, be boastful and produce great physical strength. Also Beowulf was an outstanding fighter and loyal to everyone he met. He believed no one was greater than anyone else; Beowulf showed great respect even to his enemies by fighting them one on one (ââ¬Å"Anglo Saxonsâ⬠48). Even when Beowulf knows fate is against him and he is going to die; he continues to keep fighting; ââ¬Å"â⬠¦No prince so mild, no man so open to his people, so deserving of praiseâ⬠(Beowulf 60). Beowulfââ¬â¢s boastful self-confidence, his overpowering strength, and his victories in battle make him a classic legendary hero and a model for the Anglo Saxon culture. A very important element in the society of the Anglo Saxons was the mead hall. The mead hall was essentially a meeting place for dinners, story telling and the party for victories (Bjork 89). The mead hall symbolizes security, fellowship, and all that is good in the world (Bjork 90). The mead hall was thought to be the safest place in the entire Kingdom. In Beowulf the mead hall was described as ââ¬Å"the foremost of halls under heavenâ⬠(Orchard 77). This mead hall was called Herot serving as a palace for King Hrothgar. This is where Beowulf dismantled Grendel in an epic battle. Beowulf preferred to fight with his bare hands. The typical Anglo Saxon warrior was not blessed with the great talents Beowulf was blessed with so they used various weapons like: the spear, sword, shield, seaxe, and bow and sling. The spear was the most common weapon of choice and could be used as a missile or used in hand-to-hand combat. The sword was not a common weapon used at all because it was very expensive to produce. The sword was usually given to a great warrior who has demonstrated courageous acts in battle. All warriors had a shield that was made of wood and usually lined together by metal. A seaxe was a single bladed knife that was carried on the belt on the warrior and was used more as a tool than an actual weapon (Beowulf 112-113). Anglo-Saxons valued religion very highly. There is much controversy over Beowulf in dealing with pagan and Christian beliefs because historians believe both were integrated although Christianity seems to be more prevalent. Religion was the center of peopleââ¬â¢s life at this time and is demonstrated in Beowulf when Beowulf calling for God exclaims â⬠¦ ââ¬Å"the almighty the maker of the earthâ⬠. Up until the 6th century it is back and forth between Christianity and Paganism. The greatest sources of information on the pagan period of religion are from the 7th to 8th century testimonies, such as Beowulf (Orchard 25). Paganism dealt with the worshiping of many gods. The celebration of glory has such emphasis in Beowulf because human praise is the highest goal of the pagan characters. Anglo Saxon warriors wore helmets for battle with a pagan god on them named Freyr. Those who grew up praying to Thor to protect them with their shield and helmet before they went to battle were involved in the pagan religion (Orchard 33). Paganism seemed to be the religion of choice for many Anglo- Saxon warriors while Christianity did not evolve as quick in warriors (ââ¬Å"Saxons Cultureâ⬠). Margaret E. Goldsmith who wrote ââ¬Å"The Christian Theme of Beowulfâ⬠exclaimed the teaching of St. Augustine and St.à Gregory are incorporated in Hrothgarââ¬â¢s sermon. Goldsmith said Beowulf was sort of a Christian historical novel, with selected bits of paganism purposely laid on as ââ¬Å"local colorâ⬠such as the references to fate or Wyrd (Bloom 127). All considered Beowulf shows religion, expresses values of everyday life and explains what a true hero in all about in Anglo Saxon times. The Anglo Saxons express their cultures through wonderful literature such as Beowulf, which is a record of heroic deeds. The Anglo Saxon society believes in great men such as Beowulf that have good morals and exemplify devotion to their country. Beowulf derives its main plot from folk tales; and as W. P. Ker has said, ââ¬Å" it is difficult to give individuality or epic dignity to commonplaces of this sort (Bloom 14). The author of Beowulf recognized the obligation of giving his hero emotional and ethical value through association with events the Anglo Saxon people would recognize as hero-like. It was not enough that Beowulf should display unequaled strength and courage in his victories over gargantuan monsters but the value of these exploits must be enhanced by Beowulfââ¬â¢s deep and emotionally justified concern for those he fought (Bloom 14). The physical power of Beowulf does not give him the moral dimensions and the title of an epic hero. The loyalty and unselfishness Beowulf displays makes him the ultimate Anglo Saxon hero and the great epic of Beowulf will never be forgotten because there is no greater idol than Beowulf.
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