No Mans Land Essay Example for Free

No Mans Land Essay I tiptoe through the night, scared for even my sweat to make the slightest noise as it drips off my face and onto the ground. I am not thinking of anything at the moment but my survival and how my life will be once I am free of the Soviet grip around my wrists. My heart feels like it is breaking through my ribs and protruding out of my chest with every breath I take as I run faster and faster towards the barrier that has incarcerated me over the years. As I throw myself over the eleven-foot concrete wall with barbed wire at the top, I can hear gunshots all around, and I pray they are not intended for me. I hit the cold, hard ground on the other side, but I am not even close to being safe any time soon. I am in no mans land now. I would be better off asking for someone to shoot me than to make it out of here alive. I have only one chance. At least that is how I imagined it would have been like if I were in trapped in the tribulations of East Berlin trying to escape into the desired West Berlin between 1961 and 1989. However, it is a gray December day in 2004, and if it werent for remains of the Iron Curtain and Checkpoint Charlie, people would not be able to relive that part of history or be reminded of the dictator that destroyed so many lives. The temperature was eight degrees Celsius as the gloomy sky attempted to cough up snow onto Berlin. Before that moment I had only heard of the Berlin Wall through history books and stories. I would sit and listen to travelers tales told by my courageous father who had walked through Checkpoint Charlie and into East Berlin in seventy-five. He told me how he had to exchange West Berlin money into East Berlin money at Checkpoint Charlie before entering East Berlin. Then going back into West Berlin he had to drop it in a rusty tin can at Check Point Charlie because you were not allowed to keep East Berlin money. He witnessed two tourists getting assaulted by the guards for trying to smuggle East Berlin money into West Berlin. My only expectations of Berlin came from the adventures of my dad. I expected Checkpoint Charlie to be a barricade miles long with tollbooths that have the arms that swing up and down. Similar to the tollbooths that run across the freeways of really large cities, or at the airports you go through after short-term parking. Once you pass through the chomping arms of the tollbooths I imagined East Berlin to be scattered with desolate buildings and run down streets. But as I approached the once controlling wall and Checkpoint Charlie I realized nothing was as I imagined it at all. It was like walking down any other street in a big city. A few people who were always pushing their way through the gaps that opened up between the wandering men and women, obviously in more of a hurry than anyone else on the street. Christmas lights clung to the tall buildings that ran down the streets of Berlin. People popped in and out of the busy stores, squeezing their last bit of Christmas shopping in before the Holiday. Suddenly the bustle of people slowed like a murmur in time as I stood right before the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie which are now surrounded by the commercial buildings of downtown Berlin. My gaze dropped to an engraved brick in the ground that now serves as a commemorative plaque for the Berlin Wall. A chill ran from the tip of my toes all the way to the ends of my hair as I realized how lucky I was to be standing right there in no mans land. I can now speak of the Berlin Wall, not as hearsay from a history book, but as a memory. No mans land, a memorial now, is where 171 people who attempted to escape into West Berlin were shot, and left to bleed to death like a deer on the side of the road. This area contained walls on either side with mines and stern East Berlin guards to make it almost impossible to escape. As I stood in the middle of no mans land facing East Berlin, I looked over my left and my right shoulders only to see black, wooden crosses a little taller than I am. The crosses looked as if snow had only given them the pleasure of its company and nothing else around them, when really it was just white sand covering the ground. I took a deep breath in as if I was trying to swallow it into my memory, making sure to keep it forever. I am motionless. Where the median strip of the road would have been, an American soldiers somber picture was enlarged and hoisted up on a pole staring out towards West Berlin. On the opposite side was a Russian Soldier keeping close watch over East Berlin. Below the soldiers pictures was Checkpoint Charlie. Wilted flowers surrounded this one room shack that once controlled the passage of people from East to West Berlin. Now it also stands as a memorial for people who died crossing over into West Berlin. On either side of me, there were remains of the wall still standing. I got an eerie feeling as I stared at them. My sense of time was completely altered. There I stood at one of the most historical sites imagining what it would have been like to be boxed in by a concrete wall that was suffocating you more and more each day. But when I looked around I was in the middle of one of the largest cities in Germany. It was like time slowed when I was walking through no mans land, but everything else around no mans land and Checkpoint Charlie was full of life. I was in my own little bubble. I walked about a block and returned to the normal noises and the packed sidewalks of what use to be the Soviet controlled East Berlin. My view of Berlin has been altered for the better, with a greater understanding of the saying seeing is believing.

Adolf Hitler :: essays research papers

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was born on April 20,1889. This was the beginning with horrible plans for power and control of other people.Some of the things that Hitler did throughout his life were very cruel things; first of all, he was a man who loved war and fighting. Second, he was in charge of putting all of the innocent Jews into Concentration Camps and killing them. Third, he wanted one dominate race of all the same kind of people. Fourth, he had a life long obsession with danger. Fifth, he blamed the Jews for the war debt and sentenced them all to die. So as you can see already Hitler was a very cruel person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fact that he wanted one dominate race was unbelievably true. First of all, the fact he would kill everyone one way or another that didn’t have blond hair and blue eye and was of German descent, was a frightening fact. The idea of this gives me quite a scare my self, because I have brown hair, and brown eyes and would I have been killed just because I did not Hitlers physical standards. Also Hitler himself did not have blond hair and blue eyes. Next, I don’t think that you should judge anyone by the way they look or what they do; that is very wrong. Hitler’s idea of one dominate race was a very bad one.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Adolf Hitler was born in an Austrian town known as Braunau am Inn. Hitler was the son of a man named Alois. Alois Hitler’s father was a Custom official’s, and his mother was named Klara. Alois was illegitimate, first of all he used his mother’s name, Schicklgruber until 1876, when he adopted the name Hitler. Adolf’s father was very strict with him, and ignored him most of the time because Adolf liked to dream. As you can see Adolf did not idealize his father very much, and his death in 1903 actually came as a relief to Adolf. Adolf really idealized his mother, whose death in 1907 had a traumatic effect on him. So as you can see Adolf lead a very mixed up childhood.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As Hitler grew up, he failed as a student in the classical secondary schools. This led Hitler to new opportunities, for instance his desire to become an artist. Adolf tried to pursue this dream but, was unable to attain admission to the Academy of Fine Arts. Since he was unable to do anything, he lead a shadowy, alienated existence in multicultural Vienna until 1913. Hitler was described as living his life in melancholy, aimlessness, and racial hatred.

Pressures Of Higher Education Essay

It is a brisk day in October, and all the leaves are crackling as every college student around the country is headed to his or her library, trying to get some studying in for the next exams. Some fully understand the subject matter and will constantly pressure themselves to keep on getting better; Others do not fully understand the subject mater and are too busy thinking about how they intend to pay for this class again once they fail. Most belong somewhere in the middle, constantly contemplating why they even put the stress of higher education onto themselves. Higher education is the catalyst to advancing our society to unknown boundaries. The pressures that come along with higher education vary from relaxed to extremely exhausting. These pressures are showcased nonstop in community colleges, state universities and lastly Ivy League private universities. While community colleges have often been looked down upon as a relaxed version of actual higher education, community colleges have been proven to raise the amount of pressure and stress on the enrolled students. The levels of difficulty of the curriculums are indeed lower than those of other colleges and universities. That is not necessarily a bad thing knowing that the typical student enrolled in community college either was not fully prepared for the challenge of other colleges or universities, or they just were not financially ready to make that step up. These struggling students need more time to work on their problems. Students can pursue an Associates Degree in their major without feeling overwhelmed by the pressure of trying to get a bachelor’s degree too early, leading them into failing grades. The students that are enrolled simply because of not having the financial means to enroll into other colleges and universities tend to have a high level of stress, not because they feel stunned by the subject matter, but because of the opposite. Not feeling challenged enough can create pressure on them because they do not feel as if they are getting the education they truly deserve. Community college may come off as a pressure free area, but in reality it has its pressure provoking aspects like all other outlets of higher education. The pressures of state universities are easily visible from the outside vantage point. To start, the number of majors offered at state universities is astounding. Most people that are given that much choice tend to realize that they do not really know what they want to major in. This epiphany leads them into declaring undecided. To go along with the high number of majors, the curriculums of all these majors often are just as breathtaking in difficultly. The number of students to teacher ratio is usually staggering, which creates more pressure for a student to grasp the concepts the first time. The tuition for state universities averages around twenty thousand annually. Most full time students cannot afford this price; therefore, students are forced to rely heavily on financial aid and scholarships. When that many people are competing for the same pile of assets, some tend to get left without enough. This increases the focus on the pressure of finding enough money for every semester’s expensive needs instead of focusing on the actual classes they are paying for. Even though the average students that attend a state university tend to have more control over the pressures of higher education, they can still feel the pressure. The pressures of higher education are substantially more evident in Ivy League students, due to the utmost need to succeed. The term â€Å"Ivy League† is defined as a group of long established eastern colleges and universities having high academic and social prestige. It is not hard to understand why the Ivy League schools are in their own prestigious bubble of higher education. Every student that enrolls in these schools was once part of the highly pressured top five percent of his or her high school. These students often have a genuinely hard time with transitioning from a fairly easy curriculum into their new extremely rigorous curriculums. A smooth transition is needed in order to earn a degree from their respective schools. Without that smooth transition, the students will start to feel overwhelmed, and the pressure will overcome them. Another contributing factor of pressure in Ivy League schools is the fact that the prices of attending these schools match the arduousness . The average tuition for an Ivy League school reaches into figures above fifty thousand annually. Grants, scholarships and financial aid play a very substantial part in full time students’ lives. If they were to receive unsatisfactory grades, then they would lose everything. Being forced to find a way to pay that much for their education would pressure them into dropping out, effectively ruining every high aspiration that student once had. Even though the Ivy League students have tremendous control over pressure, the pressures of higher education like money and making perfect grades, can lead to the failure of an otherwise perfect student. It does not matter whether a student is enrolled in a basic community college, state university or an Ivy League school, students will be faced with pressured situations. For a community college student, the pressures of worrying about not being fully ready for the challenges of college, or just not having the financial means to pay for it, will present themselves. Having control over how pressure affects them, and having the means for state universities, does not guarantee you will be ready for the feeling of being lost in the crowd instead of being an individual. Even though you would assume Ivy League attendees are perfect, sometimes the pressures of having to live up to that standard can overwhelm the student. No matter the level of difficultly, pursuing higher education will always create pressure on a student; the different routes of higher education will just affect the student in their own unique ways.

Child Abuse - 909 Words

Introduction Child abuse has been the most intriguing issue in most of the third world countries. The primary individual who receives more trauma, humiliation and stigma is the child. Abuse is not a good way to support the growth and development of the children. It is not also supported by the people namely social workers because of the negative effects that it may bring to the children which might reflect in their future self. Moreover, there are programs and organization that promotes the activities against the child abuse. Background and Problem Statement Child abuse is not only defined as the physical mistreatment or sexual aggressiveness, but also involved the child’s feeling of being†¦show more content†¦Significance of the Study Through addressing the prevalence of child abuse in the society, the people can be oriented about the effects of child abuse for their children. Moreover, the study is a great tool to voice out the different nature of child abuse, its existence in any parts of the world, and recommending ideas that can reduce the existence of child abuse. Literature Review The child abuse may range in physical (involves shaking, hitting, beating, burning, or biting a child), emotional (involves blaming or putting down a child, yelling, or shaming), sexual (incest in sexual activity, exposure to sexual stimulation which is not appropriate for the child’s age), and neglect (failure to attend the needs of a child). However, everyone can stop the child abuse. The parents who are under the stress might be the first people to show abuse on their children. With the child abuse, the child’s care, education, relationship, and safety are in peril. The consequences on children with the abusive environment, often the children are expected to behave like an adult. If the children failed to perform on the expectation of the parents, the children are often subject to punish just to control them. Apparently, the abusive parents have no idea on the right ways to teach the right behavior for their child. Moreover, the parents and caretakers abuse the child ren as the one responsible for their angerShow MoreRelatedChild Abuse1247 Words   |  5 PagesDiscipline, Child Abuse? Many people have noticed that parents are starting to get more frustrated with with their lives and are taking it out on their children. Parents start to under think their actions and instead of disciplining their children, they are abusing their children. There are many precautions that should be taken when dealing with situations like these. Many experiments can be done in order to determine if abuse is taking place in the home. In order to determine child abuse, authoritiesRead MoreChild Abuse1545 Words   |  7 PagesRunning head: CHILD ABUSE Title- Child Abuse SENTENCE OUTLINE TOPIC: Child Abuse TOPIC SENTENCE: Child abuse is any act or inaction on the part of a parent or caregiver on a child 18 years and under. THESIS STATEMENT: The UK Guidance working together to safeguard children 2010, says that, child abuse constitutes of neglect, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. SUB TOPICRead MorePhysical Abuse And Child Abuse716 Words   |  3 PagesChild abuse is all over the world in every state and in a big percentage of homes. Abuse is more than just physically touching a child. It’s talking down to a child to where they don’t care anymore, and when someone is touching a child in sexual ways. The thing about abuse, no matter what type it is they all tie together somehow. Physical, sexual, and mental abuse is known more common in teens and goes unspoken more than people realize and they don’t even know it’s happening around them. PhysicalRead Morechild abuse1271 Words   |  6 Pages Child Abuse Research Paper Most parents and other caregivers do not intend to hurt their children, but abuse is defined by the effect on the child, not the motivation of the parents or caregiver.Tens of thousands of children each year are traumatized by physical, sexual, and emotional abusers or by caregivers who neglect them.Child abuse as common as it is shocking. Most of us can’t imagine what would make an adult use violence against a child, and the worse the behaviorRead MoreChild Abuse1921 Words   |  8 Pagesor Outside: How Safe is my Child? 23/1/13, ICG A very good morning to all of you and a warm welcome to this seminar on ‘At Home or Outside: How Safe is my Child?† Thank you for sparing your valuable time to be here to discuss and deliberate on an issue that is slowly making our society hollow and will cause a major collapse of all value systems if timely action is not taken. It can be very difficult to talk about child abuse or more specifically child sexual abuse, which we are discussing todayRead MoreChild Abuse And Domestic Abuse1636 Words   |  7 Pagesin life that while not yet adults they are not quite children either. A factor that creates violent and aggressive adolescents includes being exposed to child abuse and domestic abuse. Moylan, T. Herrenkohl, Sousa, Tajima, R. Herrenkohl, and Russo (2010) look at the relationship between those who were exposed to either child abuse, domestic abuse, or both and the outcome of aggressive adolescents. Families were first assessed when children were in preschool, eighteen months to six years old. The secondRead MoreChild Abuse And Child Maltreatment918 Words   |  4 PagesThere are many types and faces of child abuse and child maltreatment in the world today that go unknown. This leaves many of our children unprotected to physical, sexual or emotional abuse, and neglect by parents. The problem is how are dealing with the violence against children inside and outside the home and with their f amily. Physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect are types of abuse, which I and have a deep concern. Too many of our children today are been abused, neglected, and killedRead MoreThe Effects Of Abuse And Child Abuse2622 Words   |  11 PagesNassau, New York, homicide squad, after finding three young children dead in their bed after their mother had killed them. (Qtd. In Juettner 12). Abuse doesn’t just affect children, it affects adults too. While many cases of abuse are reported, there are still many that go unreported. Abuse and child abuse is not something to be taken lightly, even after the abuse has been stopped there are long lasting effects. Could you imagine being abused by someone you thought loved or cared about you? According toRead MoreHistory of Child Abuse1113 Words   |  5 PagesHistory of child abuse BSHS/408 February 15 2016 Chiffone N Shelton Abstract In order to discuss child abuse and neglect it is important to have a clear understanding of what child abuse and neglect is and the different form of child abuse. How the various types of child abuse and neglect are different from one another, ill-treatment of children comes in many forms, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional ill-treatment, and child neglect. Child neglect comes in many forms and occurs whenRead MoreThe Problem Of Child Abuse1055 Words   |  5 Pagesyounger ones is child abuse. â€Å"In 2009, the child protective services across the country received 3.3 million reports of child abuse. The farther the child protective services would investigate they discovered more than 700,000 children that had been abused or mistreated.† (Kauchak and Eggen 51) The U.S Congress in the Family Services Act of 1988 came up with a definition of all types of abuse. (Mufson and Kranz 26) There is neglect, emotional, sexua, and physical abuse. â€Å"Over than 78% of abuse vict ims suffer