Critical Thinking - Analyze the possible consequences of conflict

Throughout human history, conflicts have arisen many occasions and people have come up with many ways to resolve them. People have conflicts between them due to many different reasons, and different people have different ways to compromise and come up with their own solutions. It is important to resolve conflicts in a proper manner or else, it can cause diversity among people or sometimes even war.

In order to resolve a conflict properly, we must first understand what exactly a conflict is and why people have conflicts in the first place. Conflicts among men arise mainly due to differences in thinking, opinions and culture. When two parties do not agree on an idea, they naturally will voice their opinions out and begin to compare and listen to their reasoning. Sometimes, when both parties understand both points of view, they may agree that people have different opinions or accept each other’s reasons. However when they do not agree or accept and finding means and ways to change each other’s idea, violence could get involved and turning into an armed conflict. Therefore it is important to first listen and analyze each other’s opinion carefully. Before debunking the other party’s view, we must first check if we had misinterpret the tone and whether we understand how their culture or religion or tradition view the matter before we jump into a conclusion. The French war of religion would be a good example of unresolved conflicts. As the initial conflict was not resolved properly, it leads on to seven wars and several assassinations.

When a conflict occurs, people will begin to have division among themselves into the different group of thoughts. In an organization or country where there is a population and management or a government, the main aim usually would be getting everyone having the same thought and mindset. However during conflicts as everyone is trying to voice out their opinions, those who agree with each other will naturally form a group among themselves to add on for support. When conflicts are not settled properly, they cause diversity among the people. For example, during the French wars of religion, the division was between the French Catholics and the Protestants. Although the war has ended, tension between both parties still exists even until today. When there is diversity within a country or organization, chances are conflicts would arise again.

When an armed conflict occurs, it can escalate into war. An armed conflict is when verbal conflict has involved violence between both parties. The idea of compromising becomes rather vague and either party is interested in reaching an agreement or compromise anymore. At this point, both parties would be focusing more on either changing or forcing upon each other’s point of view or simply just getting rid and eliminating the other party. The French wars of religion are a good example of eliminating and conquering, and eventually resulted in division among people. When an authority fails to keep tension between both parties in control and an agreement is unachievable, diversity and tension would remain throughout between both parties. Many other conflicts in human history resulted in war, such as World War I and II, Mexican Revolution and Arab war etc.

In conclusion, we must understand that conflicts are bound to happen when there is communication and interaction. They are inevitable but it is through conflicts that we learn and understand different perspectives. However when one fails to understand the concept of learning, one became negative towards new opinions and rejects progress. Therefore it is important to resolve and understand conflicts in order to keep in pace within an organization or the world.

Reference List:

Cline, A., (N.D.) French War of Religion. About.com. Retrieved on 2011, August 16^th from http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/western/bldef_frenchwarsreligion.htm

(N.D.), Conflict History. Retrieved on 2011, August 16^th from http://www.conflicthistory.com/#/period/1966-1970

(633 words)

English Fundamentals Movie review – Life is Beautiful

Plot

The movie is about Guido, an Italian Jewish man who came to Italy hoping to open a bookstore. He took up a job as a waiter with his uncle and falls in love with a local school teacher, Dora. After several attempts of impressing her and even stealing her away from her own engagement party to another man, they eventually got married and had a son, Giosuè. However World War II broke out and the whole family was taken away and separated to a concentration camp. Throughout their internment, Guido had to find means and ways to convince his son everything is okay by telling him they are participating in a game. Just one night before the Americans took over; Guido was caught outside trying to find Dora and was shot to death by a Nazi soldier. The movie then ends with young Giosuè reuniting with his mother, not knowing that his father had died, and a grown up Giosuè narrating in the background of his father’s sacrifice for him.

Plot Holes

The film shows inconsistencies in terms of information and facts regarding the war and the storyline of the characters. Audiences were shown that Guido was to open a bookstore, but somehow being a waiter with his uncle without much explanation. Also the film does not show enough information to let audience know that the Holocaust period was approaching. There wasn’t ample background information about the film setting.

Plot Twist

The film started out as being a romance and comedy film but after Guido and Dora was shown settling down with their son; the plot took an immediate twist. Dora who just fetched her estranged mother to attend her son’s birthday, came home to the whole house being ransacked and both Guido and Giosuè were gone. From there the film starts depicting the characters being taken away to the concentration camp.

Characters

Guido Orefice is the film’s protagonist. He came across as someone being smart and funny, very quick to react to situations and very witty. Despite his Jewish backgrounds he was able to fit in with the locals well. He appears to be very friendly and someone who does not care much about race or politics. One could tell that Guido was very determined as he went through a lot to impress Dora, who was not Jewish and came from a wealthy family while he had nothing. During his internment in the concentration camp he was also very protective towards his son, making sure Giosuè does not feel threatened about the real situation. He put himself in many dangerous situations just to maintain his story right for Giosuè about them participating in a game. As he was separated from Dora and does not know where she is, he tried means and ways to ensure Dora that he and his son are safe and still loves her, by using the loud speakers. It really shows how much he loves her and all the effort he would put in to protect and ensure the people he loves that he is there for them always. He was killed by a Nazi soldier while trying to find Dora in the camp, just one day before the Americans came in to take over the camp.

Dora is the film’s second protagonist. She was local school teacher from a wealthy family, initially engaged to a wealthy man. However she was not happy about the engagement and having met Guido and amused by him, she falls in love with him and runs away from her own engagement with him. They settled down, had a son Giosuè and Guido succeeded in opening his own bookstore. However Guido and Giosuè were taken by the Nazis when World War II started. She was not captured as she was not Jewish, but she was determined to be with her family and demand on being in the same train as her family. It shows how much sacrifice she was willing to make just to be with them.

Giosuè Orefice is the son of Guido and Dora. He was about 4 years old in the film and was a very clever child. He was taken to the concentration camp during the Holocaust with his father and being an innocent child, believed that they were participating in a game as told to him by Guido. In the film he was seen mostly being taken care of by Guido, but kept questioning the situation.

Theme

The theme of the film is rather hard to determine as there are elements of relationship, comedy, sacrifice and struggle throughout.

Critique – Likes and Dislikes

I personally loved the way the film started, very classic 90s setting in Italy and thought it was a romantic and comedy film. All the tricks that Guido used to impress Dora were very funny and witty. However I thought the film could show a bit more of how they eventually overcome the part where Dora’s family did not like the idea of her marrying a Jewish man who is not very well to do and how Giosuè came about. The film was somewhat hasty in that as suddenly, they were settled down, showing that the film is beginning to rush into something. Also another part that I did not like is the ending. I was not aware of the film being narrated by a son telling of his father’s story from the start. It felt as though there has to be some way to end the film and the director did not know how to end it, and therefore resort to a narrator.

Strength and Weakness

One of the strength I think the movie has is that it has got all the elements of all emotions. There are parts when audiences are laughing, worried, nervous, confused, sad, angry and relieved. One could sense that there should be a strong meaning behind the film. However it does not come across as being a war film as it doesn’t start as one; but when it ends one might think there is a very strong anti-war sentiment. It could come across as not being clear enough: One might not be sure what exactly the director is trying to portray more: a Jewish man going after a non-Jewish woman in a time where race can be a problem, a father’s love for his son or the cruelty of the war.

Opinions

Generally I think it is a good film to give people the general idea of what Jewish families go through during World War II. It does portray the racism and a little bit of the problems Jewish people went through back in those days. However the history and information was not enough to inform the audience how bad the situation was exactly. Also there is no balance in the film in terms of the comedy, the romance, yet not entirely about the war either. Audience could be laughing away at the front as all the funny parts are there, but totally heart wrenched as there is almost no sense of humor at the later part of the movie. Also given all the information we get on history today, one would definitely know that the movie is entirely made up as life in a concentration camp is definitely not that easy during the Holocaust. There is no way you can hide a child in a camp so long with no other people in the same camp telling it out.

Feelings

I think the film definitely portray out the sense of unworthy well. For example, just one day after Guido was shot by the Nazis, the Americans immediately took over and Giosuè was reunited with his mother. The director was smart in the sense to make audience feel that it was just the next day after Guido died. Also, Jewish people may take to offense after watching the film, as the seriousness of their suffering during the Holocaust was just not depicted well in the film at all. There wasn’t really much suffering shown in the film. But that might be on purpose to maintain the light feeling of the film the director is trying to portray.

Overall, I did not regret watching this film as the actors are excellent and the plots and twists did caught me by surprise. However I would not recommend this film to anyone who is going after something that educates about World War II.

(1404 words)

How an Individual’s definition of Needs differ from one another?

Everyone has got their own set of needs and wants. A need is something that a person requires for daily usage and consumption, while a want is something that a person desires but will not affect his daily lifestyle if he does not have it. However as everyone is unique and different from one another, we may not have the same idea of what is a need and what is a want. What a person think is a need in life, may be interpreted as a want to another person because everyone has got different sets of needs.

As the living standards increases, it is generally harder to differentiate needs and wants as what was deem as a ‘want’ in the past, is now deem as a ‘need’. For example, a mobile phone was deemed as something only for businessmen or important people, at some point even as a luxurious item to show one’s status. However in today’s living standards, a mobile phone has turn into one of the basic needs as people need at least a simple phone to communicate. Another example would be branded goods. Brands that were seemed only meant for those in upper social group few years ago would be considered as a normal house brand for today. In fact in some societies, having at least a branded item is considered normal or even ‘necessary’.

Many people tend to confuse both needs and wants as it can be hard to prioritize what exactly a person needs, and what exactly a person can choose to live without. For example, a woman may think it is a need to have at least a few different pair of shoes in the closet for different occasions, while a man would think just one normal pair of shoe for all sorts of occasions would be sufficient. Because we all are brought up with different values, our perception of what is a need and what is a want can differ greatly from one another. Another example would be a child born in a well to do family may think having a maid in the house is one of a basic need at home, while a child born in an average class family would not think that way. Rather, the child may think a broom and knowing how to use it would be the essential need in the house.

However one important thing to note is that a person’s needs and wants changes as they get older. It changes every once in a while depending on our current situation. What we perceive as a want now, may gradually becomes a need. As we enter into certain phases of life our expectations of ourselves change. A person during his teenage phase would think of having a suit is a want. But as he enters adulthood having a suit is no longer a want as he may need a suit at work, therefore the suit becomes a need instead. It is then at this stage he may think an expensive suit would be a want. As he progresses further, the expensive suit may even go on to become a need, depending on his working environment and his change of perception. At this point, another person may think that the expensive suit is purely for vanity purpose and not an absolute need in life. One may say it’s a change of living standards, but may also argue that the person is being psychologically insecure as there is always a need to feel contentment.

End of the day, our definition of needs is something that is very unique and special to us as individuals. Perhaps two people may agree on some things in life as an essential need, but definitely no two people would agree totally and completely.

Eassy - How does one's perception of success influence his decisions?

Being successful is many people's ultimate dream. However it is almost impossible to thoroughly define success, as each and every one of us are individually special with individual goals. It is very hard to give a definition of success as everyone has got their own definition of success and it is a subject that is too generalized.

A person’s own definition of success depends on several factors, such as his characters, his perception and aptitude etc. Naturally we would all be asked what we wish to be in the future when we were children. From there interest begin to build up and we would set a goal, hoping someday we will excel in that venture and eventually gain certain rank or position in it. Whether we continue to pursue on that venture or not would depend on how motivated we are in getting to our goals. People who have very strong will power and competitive would naturally have lesser problems in achieving their goals and be successful in their own ways.

Being successful doesn’t always mean achieving high status or being a rich person. There are people who see success as finding contentment in life. Materialistic gains may not be the direct goals. What they aim for is being truly happy and enjoying whatever they have achieved so far in life. It could be something spiritual, emotional, or finding social well being within them. For example, some people think success is finding a stable job and having started their own family. While for travelers they might think success is being able to travel around the world to experience different cultures and freedom.

Sometimes a person’s definition of success could be imposed upon them by someone else such as a parent. There are parents who due to reasons unable to fulfill their own wishes, and hope their children would achieve their goals for them. Some parents are so strict to the point that they pose expectations onto their child, such as a parent who aim for his child to be an engineer would not deem the child as being successful in any other field, unless it is engineering. There are also people who wish to carry on a family business, to them being successful is continuing what the previous generation has started, and continuing it forever. These people deem success as upholding a family honor or continuing a tradition.

In general, every one of us would definitely have goals that we pose onto ourselves. It could be a form of self-challenge or sometimes even something we do to prove ourselves to others. However it is important for us to remember that success should not be something being expected out of us, but rather something we aim to achieve in our own standards, for ourselves.

Essay on Divorce

Recent studies had shown that the divorce rate in recent years has been increasing rapidly. A marriage can crumble due to many factors, especially among young couples due to high living standards these days. It is very hard for couples to maintain a marriage when there is no mutual trust and communication between them.

There are many reasons why people resort to divorce instead of working out their problems. Due to change in evolution and society status people tend not to put in much effort in maintaining a marriage as it can be time and emotionally straining. If a couple doesn’t spend ample time with each other, communication between them can be tough as they start to feel withdrawn from each other. As people nowadays tend to drown themselves in their education and career to maintain with the high living standards, having to put in more effort in maintain a marriage can be taxing. Therefore causing some people to have the mentality that marriage is no longer a need, but rather just another option one can opt not to take.

Another possible reason for high divorce rate in society nowadays is that the society status of women has changed. Women these days are better educated and are able to support themselves, therefore finding it not necessary to depend on men for support anymore. Women who are over capable may even feel that having to accommodate another person in their lives as a chore, therefore opting to stay single or not committing to a serious relationship. A career minded woman may think that by spending more time focusing on her career may gain her a higher position in the future, more salary and meet more financial needs, while putting time in nurturing a family may not achieve as much financially and have even bigger responsibility such as parenting. There are also cases whereby the wife exceeds what her husband can achieve, thus causing stress in the marriage as the husband may feel insecure that he is not as capable as his partner is.

If the couple does not see each other often due to work commitment, chances are they may not communicate as much. People may think that social networks like Facebook and emailing may help, but these means of communication does not convey tone and decreases a person’s ability of face-to-face conversations. Talking might even seem awkward. When communication comes to a halt, the understanding and mutual feelings both have for each other decreases day by day. Adding on to other commitments such as children and old parents, both parties may begin to have different expectation of each other yet not know about it due to the initial lack of communication. By then divorcing would seem like a better choice to ‘release’ each other off the stress of maintaining a marriage. Especially since the process of a divorce is getting more and more fast and convenient these days.

Trust is also one of the most important factors of a successful marriage. Both partners should have mutual trust for each other especially when one of the parties is away or in a vulnerable situation such as being overseas, pregnant or sick. Many marriages tend to break down during such timing when there is insufficient communication and trust between both are being put to test all the time. When a partner is in overseas or going through a pregnancy or fighting an illness, lack of assurance and feeling of security is crucial as the person directly involved can feel very lonely. Making a point to communicate with each other and assuring the other party strengthens the foundation of trust.

It is very tempting to call it quits when it comes to a marriage. However if both parties make it a point to communicate with each other and establish a strong foundation of trust, a healthy marriage is definitely achievable. Most importantly, both must remember that marriage is a promise to each other and not just an ordeal one has to face in life.

(671 words)

Movie Review – Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies is an anti-war movie depicting Seita and Setsuko, both siblings who were orphaned during the war at Kobe, Japan. The movie depicts of how Seita, the elder brother tries to protect and survive the war with his sister, overcoming their problems and difficulties but eventually succumbs to fate and dies.

The movie was very artistically filmed, first by showing a dying Seita on the streets, who dies and reunites with his sister’s soul, after a street cleaner dumps a candy tin that contained Setsuko’s ashes into a field of fireflies. The spirits were seen both dependent on each other, and as they sat alone in a train heading towards an unknown location, it gave the audience the thinking that they left with only each other in the world. Seita then relives the happenings to the audience.

After losing their mother during a bomb raid, the siblings took refuge in their aunt’s house. Although initially welcomed into the family, hostility from their aunt arises due to difficult times of the war. Although some may think the aunt is cruel and not understanding towards the sibling’s sorry plight, one must understand during wartime everyone has no choice but to be selfish towards themselves. Also Seita showed no signs of planning ahead or intentions of being independent. He came across as being ungrateful sometimes, with scenes depicting him lazing around the house and just asking for food to be served.

One could sense the rebelliousness of the young teen in Seita when he went out to buy a stove with the money their late mother has left in the bank after the aunt ticked them off when Setsuko expresses her dislike for porridge while the aunt’s family gets rice balls. A scene of Seita and Setsuko’s spirits in red looking back during their living days was seen here, shutting their ears and unable to bear their Aunt’s shouting. From here one can conclude that the siblings didn’t like seeking refuge in their aunt’s place either but had no choice due to their situation.

The aunt showed signs of guilt when the siblings decided to leave and fend for themselves, yet the laughter of Setsuko gave audience the thinking that this could be a change for the better, hence hinting hope. They eventually found an abandoned shelter and lived in there. Life was good for the initial part. However due to lack of planning and Seita’s prideful nature, they both out casted themselves from the society, causing them to lost touch of what was going on with the country and unable to sought for help. Scenes of Seita refusing help or advices shows that he is too young to be socially mature enough to understand that one has to work in order to earn a living and human in general need to depend on each other for survival. One may argue that the society hadn’t been nice to the siblings, but being a Navy officer’s son it would be natural for people to expect Seita to be more courageous in facing his problems.

As for Setsuko, one can see that she is actually more mature and understanding as compared to her brother, given her very young age. There was a scene of her making a tomb for the dead fireflies they had captured the night before to provide light for the dark cave. There she calmingly revealed to Seita that she knows that their mother has died, and that she understood that all living things must die one day. Whereas her brother had chosen to be in denial of their mother’s passing, therefore breaking down when learned of Setsuko knowing the matter. It could be seen as finally accepting mother’s passing, or knowing how weak he has been as he avoided facing the matter of death himself.

Setsuko has also been a very thoughtful girl. Despite being really sick she has never made much noise or given much pressure to her brother. This can be seen when she was almost dying and craving for a droplet candy, she sucked on marbles imagining they were candies, hence showing her positivity and thoughtful nature. We can see that although Setsuko was dependent on her brother to protect and provide for her, she is actually the one giving Seita the moral support to go on in life.

In the scene where Seita was on the way to the hilltop to cremate his sister, Seita saw rich girls returning back to their lavish homes and showing the irony of the poor and the rich. One couldn’t help but to wonder if Seita had thought he is responsible for Setsuko’s death. Had he been more mature in thinking or not being so prideful, Setsuko may have survived.

The film depicted the harshness and cold hearted nature of human, but also irony between the poor and the rich. Especially during wartime, such differences are really prominent. An example would be the farmer who has been selling Seita food and supplies when they still had some money left. Despite being acquaintance, he did not hesitate at all in reporting Seita to the police when he has no more money to buy supplies and resorted to stealing from hi farm. The farmer knows very well of Seita and Setsuko’s situation. However he was still able to give Seita advises and even telling him how to cremate his sister when she passed on.

Before watching the movie I thought it wouldn’t be a good movie as I’m not a big fan of Japanese animation as they come across as somewhat pointless to me. Why watch anime when you can real human acting? However after watching Graves of the Fireflies I get it. The tinge of emotions and depression throughout the whole film is not achievable or could even be ruin if humans played it out. It is the lack of the human touch that allows the viewer to figure out the character’s ideas and thinking, hence watching ‘what the viewer themselves want to see’. And because there is no ‘actual’ human shown, the film used some really good music to capture the viewer’s emotions, for eg during the mourning scene for Setsuko and the scene where the siblings has lost their mother.

Seita’s unconditional love for his sister touches me really deeply. Overall I think it is really a good show to human nature during war times, and no matter who initiated the war, it’s always the commoner from both sides suffering the consequences.

(1085 words)