Trilateral Commission Essays - Recipients Of The Legion Of Merit

Trilateral Commission Everyone remembers the times in early childhood when their dad would hand them a picture book and ask them what they saw. Unbeknownst to the child, the picture contained a hidden picture or message. Although difficult to see, it was there. Even if refused by acknowledgement, it still existed. Such is the case with today's government. The so called "world leaders" are only puppets acting under the control of the great puppeteers. Whether it is soaring gas prices, a fluctuating economy, or shifts in political power; secret entities of elite caliber are the masterminds behind all world affairs. These expert manipulators covertly gather behind closed doors and make decisions that affect the lives of every human being on the face of the earth. By exploiting political positions, exclusive members of the Trilateral Commission secretly direct, manipulate, and are making advances to eventually control the governments of the world, as a whole. The Trilateral Commission is an American based, political super power that claims to have its interest asserted in shaping and protecting foreign policy. The founder of the Trilateral Commission and chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, David Rockefeller, wrote to the New York Times and said: My point is that far from being a coterie of international conspirators with designs on covertly conquering the world, the Trilateral Commission is, in reality, a group of concerned citizens interested in identifying and clarifying problems facing the world and in fostering greater understanding and cooperation among international allies. (Rockefeller 22.1) It is easy to say that their cause is benevolent, but are there ulterior motives? Is the Trilateral Commission attempting to mold public policy and construct a framework for international stability in the coming decades? Commission members such as David Rockefeller and former President Jimmy Carter are in such influential positions of power that world domination is not far from their clutches. Although a one-world government sounds foolish, it is not far from the truth. The Trilateral Commission describes their organization as a multicultural, transnational including members from Japan, Canada, and various other countries. John B. Oakes of the New York Times commented on the behalf of the Commission's members: The Trilateral Commission is neither super-government nor secret society. It is rather a loosely defined "think tank," godfathered by David Rockefeller and nurtured in its early years by Zbigniew Brzezinski. Most of its 250 invited members come from the super-elite of international business, banking, and finance in the developed countries of the West and Japan, with a sprinkling of high-level academics and former officials, a few legislators, and even a stray leader or two. At their periodic closed- door meetings, they debate the economic and political roles of the industrialized democracies. (Oakes A27) This article, which was written in 1980, tells us the commission was founded by David Rockefeller, includes 250 mostly upper class citizens from the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. It warps the truth by failing to mention that over 90% of the members are American citizens that belong to the Council on Foreign Relations (Road Show of Deception). Council membership is by invitation only, and restricted to American citizens. The Trilateral Commission is an inner circle of Council on Foreign Relations members. A list of 1992 Commission members is contained on a website entitled Road Show of Deception. It contains 337 names, 316 are found on various Council on Foreign Relations membership lists. Another 21 people are either Americans not found on these Council on Foreign Relations rosters, or are European and Japanese members (Road Show of Deception 2). By distorting the truth, the Trilateral Commission clearly manipulates the media into reporting false information to the public so that their hidden agenda can pass by na?ve eyes. The Trilateral Commission capitalizes on political positions to add to their number of influential power-heads. For example, George Wald, an emeritus professor of Biology at Harvard and co-recipient of the 1967 Nobel Prize for Medicine, wrote a letter to the New York Times concerning the Trilateral Commission: An extraordinary fraction of the Carter Administration was drawn from its membership: President Carter himself, Vice President Mondale, Security Advisor Brzezinski, ex-Secretary of State Vance, ex-Secretary of Treasury Blumenthal, Secretary of Defense Brown, Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Deputy Secretary of Energy Sawhill, Federal Reserve Chairman Volcker, Special Assitant Hedley Donovan, Counsel to the President Lloyd Cutler and a scattering of other high functionaries. (All such persons continue to be listed by the Trilateral Commission as "Former Members in Public Service.") (Wald 14:4). By gaining more and more dynamic men in high places, more power is consumed by

Digging and Early Purges Essay Example

Digging and Early Purges Essay Example Digging and Early Purges Paper Digging and Early Purges Paper Essay Topic: Poetry Seamus Heaney Poems For the Diverse Cultures assignment, I have studied pieces by Seamus Heaney. These include Digging and Early Purges. All the poems relate back to his young life in Limavady in the County of Derry, Northern Ireland. When Heaney was young, he wanted to follow in his fathers and grandfathers footsteps of being farmers. Not just that, but being the eldest child in his family, he was expected to. Instead however, he turned his back on his familys great tradition, and decided to become a writer instead. As said, Heaney did want to become a farmer, this was expressed in the poem Follower, where he describes the way his father used to plough fields. The title itself shows there was once an ambition to follow. Furthermore, the pride that Heaney expresses in his familys age-old tradition is articulated in the poem Digging: By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man. He goes on to describe that his grandfather was the finest turf-cutter on Toners bog. His chosen option not to follow rural convention created an entirely diverse world for Heaney. The fact that he went to a boarding school in a city (St. Columbs college) would be enough of a culture shock. There were no kittens being drowned, as described in Early Purges, here. That type of thing was seen as inhumane, but to him, a simple farmers son, it was seen as necessary. That was the type of differentiation he experienced. As I stated earlier, Heaneys poems all relate back to his younger, adolescent life. In the poem Early purges, he describes young kittens being drown on the farm, which was, and still is, quite commonplace in some rural areas of Ireland. Many see this as barbaric, but coming from an Irish, farming family myself, I can understand their reasons for doing this, which Heaney also later realised. His maturity is shown when he says using hindsight And now, when shrill pups are prodded to drown, I just shrug, Bloody pups . That poem was very sad, and I get a feeling of sadness from all his poems at some point. For instance, even in a seemingly happy poem, Blackberry picking, a poem recalling the habitual picking of ripened and inked up berries, the element of the (inevitable, with Heaney) sadness comes where the somewhat foolish children forget about the berries and leave them to rot in the byre, something which happened every year. There is no clearer depiction of an Irish, Catholic background than that found in Half-term break, where Heaney is taken from boarding school to find out his four-year-old brother is dead. The traditional wake is described in this poem, something that is uniquely Irish. He says old men standing up to shake my hand and tell me they were sorry for my trouble'. I have a perfect picture of this in my head as I have been to a few wakes. I can even imagine the whispers circling the room in the colloquial, sharp, Derry accent. After reading through his poems that relate to farming, I get the feeling that he regretted not following the tradition which so many families in the area of rural Northern Ireland had. Although I cannot substantiate this statement with any apparent evidence I think he felt somewhat disloyal to his roots and to his father. The poem Digging, Heaney takes time to intricately describe the way his father digging and cutting turf. The language that Heaney uses is extremely simple and colloquial. The majority of words are only one or two syllable and this makes the writing very accessible and uncomplicated. This is much the same as other pieces by Heaney. This sharp language is typical of the local tongue of Northern Ireland and Derry in particular. Having been to the region several times I cannot only imagine Heaneys style of speaking, but I can picture a farmer Nicking and slicing on the local bog. As said, Heaney tries to carefully convey the picture and the skill of his father. He uses onomatopoeias to appeal to our auditory senses. He also carefully describes his fathers and his grandfathers methods with great knowledge of what they were doing, thus showing his familys tradition being passed down. The first and final sentences are basically the same, with the repetition of Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests, snug as a gun. Heaney then ends with Ill dig with it. I think this means he will make his life out in a different way to his father, instead of using a spade; he will use a pen to make his way. In the poem The Early Purges, Seamus Heaney tries to describe the habitual drowning of small kittens. Again, he tries to use sensory language to appeal more and give the reader a better personal depiction of events. For instance, when describing the kittens, just after their death he quite vividly says, Like wet gloves they bobbed and shone tell he sluiced them out on the dunghill, glossy and dead. He goes onto say watching the three sogged remains turn mealy and crisp as old summer dung. This is very graphic writing, and some could say, quite disturbing. I personally think it adds to the atmosphere of the poem. I think that the up until the final two verses, Heaneys outlook is that of a young boy, who doesnt understand why something so cruel should happen. Heaney then shows his maturity by showing his understanding that the kittens, or pests as they and other such animals were collectively known, basically had to be removed. The language used by Heaney also expresses the fact that little was thought of these so-called nuisances. He says they are slung and Dan Taggart describes them as scraggy wee shits. This shows the way people who owned farms perceived the killings, which was a stark contrast to those in urban communities. Blackberry picking is a poem about Heaney blackberry picking in the late August summer. Once again, Heaney vividly describes what happens, appealing to our senses. He talks about berries inking up and describes the different colours and there texture. The overall look of the poem is he and his accomplices hunting their treasure. He makes references to the famous, murderous pirate, Bluebeard, who killed his wives and had his hands covered in their blood. Our hands were peppered with thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeards. The poem shows the innocence of childhood, where the centre of attention and prized possessions change so quickly. This is echoed by the fact that after so much anticipation and eagerness to find the berries, they simply forget about them and leave them to go stale, much to Heaneys disappointment when he remembers about them and finds that they have started to rot and smell. Heaney did this for many years in a row as the final sentence says, I always felt like crying. It wasnt fair that all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Each year I hoped theyd keep, knew they would not. The final poem, which I am going to analyse, is called Mid-term break which is a sad poem about the death of Seamus Heaneys brother. I find that Heaney reveals very little about his brother (there is no mention of a name), the way he died (there is only a vague mention of a bumper, which might connote he was hit by a car) and his own, private emotions and how hard the death of his brother hit him. I get the Heaney is locking this up deep inside him in this poem. The Irish wake is a big part of this poem and it shows how people react to a death, especially that of someone in their immediate family. For instance Heaney saw a no doubt different side to his father, In the porch I met my father crying he had always taken funerals in his stride. The language used in this poem is quite descriptive, although not as much as the previous poems I covered. Heaney, however, vividly describes the room in which his brother is in, Snowdrops and candles soothed the bedside. He goes on to say, I saw him for the first time in six weeks. Paler now wearing a poppy bruise. I think the poppy reference is to do with the fact that it relates to death, along with the earlier line Counting bells knelling classes to a close, where knell relates to death. As with most of Heaneys poems, the final sentence leaves its mark and stands out more than other lines, No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear. A four-foot box, a foot for every year. This is the only line that rhymes in the entire poem, which I think, brings more emphasis to it.

Destination Recent Development for Study Trip Essay

Destination Recent Development for Study Trip - Essay Example spite various advantages that the economy is facing at the recent time, still a careful evaluation is required in order to enhance its growth potentials in the future. International business in Brazil International business describes the overall business transaction occurring between two nations. The objective of every international business transaction is to increase the sales and reduce the amount of risk. BP is reported to increase its business with Brazil in order to produce ethanol from sugarcanes. The company also wants to increase it’s the share in the Bio fuel company in Brazil which is named as Tropical BIO Energia (BP global, 2011). In order to strengthen the countries business relation with the immigrants, the â€Å"Chattanooga area chamber of commerce international business council† is supposed to plan a meeting on 22nd of September (The Chattanooga.com, 2011). Following the regime of globalisation and privatisation, Brazil has been successful in encouraging inflows of private investment in many sectors. In terms of internet development, Brazil is among the most promising nations. Sale of E commerce has doubled over the years. The electronic business sales have also increased in recent times. The mobile phone company in Brazil has expanded too over several years. As per the reports of National telecommunication Agency, a tremendous growth in the data market had taken place. The Anatel statistics reveals that the telecom market plays an important role in increasing the revenue of the nation (The economist, 2011). Recently there has been an agreement between Brazil and America to expand the mainstream business in telecommunications such as the mobile and online business. Previously the combined ventures between the nations have helped in expanding business... Brazil is among the fastest growing economies of the world. The Brazilian economy together with China, India and Russia forms the BRIC nations, which is predicted by the Goldman Sachs to the global powers by 2050. Brazil encourages various foreign investments and is also the major recipient of foreign direct investment. Brazil’s growth potential and high rate of interest makes it an attractive destination for the investors. It is however believed that despite various advantages that the economy is facing at the recent time, still a careful evaluation is required in order to enhance its growth potentials in the future. BP is reported to increase its business with Brazil in order to produce ethanol from sugarcanes. At present Brazil comprises of 37% of the pharmaceutical company of Latin America. Following the regime of globalisation and privatisation, Brazil has been successful in encouraging inflows of private investment in many sectors. Companies all over the world are willin g to expand their business in Brazil due to its excellent market opportunities as well as fine climatic conditions Most of the international services, fraternal and social organisations are present in Brazil.

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example As revealed, Bill Gates’ philanthropic thrusts extends to his applying concepts of CSR in his organizations; including the establishment of Bill & Melinda Gates’ Foundation. On the contrary, Steve Jobs’ main thrust was focused on coming up with innovative ideas on Apple’s products and little emphasis in applying CSR was exemplified. The differences in ideals and philosophies on CSR as exhibited by Apple and Microsoft actually revealed inconsistent conclusions with that advocated by the concept. It was revealed from the concepts presented in class about CSR that the benefits of organizations for investing in CSR include: customer loyalty, workforce satisfaction, community support, and exhibiting a better corporate image. From the experiences of both Apple and Microsoft, it was confusing to realize that despite Microsoft’s application of CSR, the organization was surpassed by Apple (the organization that has not invested in CSR) in term of leadership, popularity, and financial returns. In analyzing the comparative thrusts of each organization regarding investing in CSR, one actually expected that the organization that aptly invested in CSR should exhibit greater popularity and financial returns. However, from the experience and from the information revealed in the video, the opposite effect was noted. It was therefore concluded that comparing one to the other in terms of their investment in CSR could be insufficient to validate that this factor alone was contributory to the financial success of Apple. From the perspectives of the owners, it determining factor was that the investment and application of CSR had been instrumental to the feeling of fulfillment that Bill and Melinda Gates have experienced. Their main thrust for Microsoft was not merely to generate financial returns, nor to project a positive corporate image. For Bill and Melinda Gates, the self-actualization

Ethical Systems Essay Example for Free

Ethical Systems Essay Ethical systems form the basis of moral beliefs; they are the moral philosophies that order moral principles systematically. (Thomson and WardSworth, 2005) Ethical systems can be broadly classified into deontological and teleological ethical systems. A deontological system concerns itself with the nature of an act that is under judgment, if an act is good but results in bad consequences than if it still considered a good act. Teleological systems judge consequences of an act, if an act is bad but results in beneficial consequences then it is considered moral. Ethical formulism judges the intent of the author thus, it is a deontological system. If a person performs an action from goodwill and it results in bad consequences, it is a moral action. This system also uses predetermined principles to judge goodness: that people should not be used as a means to an end, that behavior is moral when it is freely chosen and autonomous (someone worked to do a good thing is not really moral. ) and that actions should be based on behavior being universal. Utilitarianism is a teleological system whose goal is judged by consequences of an action. In this case when an action contributes much to the good of majority it is moral, regardless of the individual or minority who may have suffered because of the action. Following this system, Winston Churchill by allowing Coventry to be bombed in World War II so the Germans would not know the Allies had cracked their military code did a moral thing even though hundreds of English people were killed, when they might have been saved had they been warned. A smaller group was sacrificed for the sake of the greater good in this case, ending the war earlier and saving thousands more. Religion is a frequently used ethic system based on a willful a rational God. For believers there is no reason to question the authority of God’s will. The controversial issue is the interpretation of God’s will. According to Barry when is a dilemma; God’s will can be found in 3 ways; if one feels uncomfortable about a certain action, it is probably wrong. Religious authorities can provide guidance on right and wrong and thirdly the scripture provides answers to moral dilemmas. (Thomson and Wadsworth, 2005) The natural law ethical system proposes that ‘what is good is natural and what is natural is good’. These are innate instincts for example self-preservation is inborn, natural and basic and all actions related to it such as self-defense, prohibition of murder are moral acts. The basic problem with this system is where it is difficult to identify what is consistent and congruent with human nature. Focus on basic inclinations make this a teleological system because an action like killing may be wrong but if it is done in self-defense then it is considered a moral act since it is line with the self-preservation instinct. The ethics of virtue is a system that focuses on defining a good person as opposed to a ‘good action’. Here reason cannot be used to find out what is good. This system is teleological as it conserved with achieving a good end and more specifically happiness. One does good because of one’s character, if one has a bad character they will usually choose the immoral path. For example, a person who is broke and sees a stranger drop money without realizing calls the strangers back and gives him his money, he has performed a moral act because he has a habit of integrity. Someone else would steal because it is in his or her character to do so. The ethics of care system emphasizes human relationships and needs. It has been referred to as a feminine morality as it is founded on the natural human response to care for unborn child, ill and hurt. Some Eastern religious like, reject a rule-based form of ethics preferring instead to lead an individual in caring for needs. Braswell et al, 2002). The ethic behind rehabilitation is another illustration of ethics of care system. (Thomson and Wardsworth, 2005) This system is in line with teleological system of ethics because it does not simply classify action as wrong or right, rather it is concerned with the needs of others and effects of the actions on them, which learns more towards judging consequences corporations rather than the actions themselves. Egoism proposes that what is moral is what is good for one’s survival and personal happiness. This premise in its extreme directs that people should do whatever is beneficial to them. This disregards other people, using them as means to ensure happiness and in effect it means they have no meaning or rights (Thomson and Wadsworth, 2005) Egoism, sees an individual who performs a completely selfish act as immoral even impossible as it is not in line with true nature of human beings who like all other species have instincts for survival, self preservation and self in trust which is merely part of this natural instinct. This position is neither logical nor flexible single it would be in support of exploitation of the weak by the strong, which by all other systems is wrong. The system that closely matches my own beliefs is the religious ethical system. This is because the basis for ethics provided is rational since it can be identified wit a perfect God-figure. In addition, the similarity of the principles of these ethics in most of the religious are an indicator that they are acceptable to a wide majority hence they cover the needs of most of mankind adequately. In addition, scripture provides answers to ethical problems in all circumstances, something that most other ethical systems do not. The issue of say the birth contradicting only comes up when there is failure to understand the context of scripture. Belief in a God means that we do not have the responsibility of determining what is right, or wrong, since an unquestionable authority has determined them already.

us patriot act :: essays research papers

There are many issue with the Patriot Act. Yes it has prevented many attacks on us from terrorists, but would you really want to give up so much freedom in order to have better control of terrorists. Many people would support the act since it does offer more protection against those attacks. Other however, would totally disagree with the act. The Patriot Act is actually violating many of our Constitution rights. The act will allow the government rights to look into your personal life. If the government has enough proof this act will give the opportunity to look into your personal items such as phone taps, electronic communications, and even what is in your bank account. As a person would you really like to have the government go thourgh your personal life and belongings, just for a little more protection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The government has set up a boundary that allows them the chance to go into your personal lives. The main reasons that are noted that would give them a chance to violate your rights as an American. As noted on web page http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/, that only a certain event will allow a certain individual the chance to allow such things as wiretap. This will occur if an individual is committing one of a list of immune rated crimes, if that happens the communication concerning that offense, and the facilities in which the offender has used in connection with the offense. The only persons that came allow an interception would be only designated officials. The interception is only valid for a certain length of time. In order for a wiretap to be conducted it has to be authorized by a Judge that feels that it would be beneficial to the country. The USA Patriot Act, also known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, was set up in order to offer a greater feeling of security to Americans, however, I don’t feel that the Americans really know what the Patriot Act really stands for and what it will do to our rights as Americans. The bill was passed and signed into law by President Bush on October 26, 2001. The Patriot Act was a lot like

Uphill

â€Å"Uphill† by Christina Rossetti is about the journey of life, or death, to heaven. The poem is an exchange of a series of brief and succinct questions and answers between two speakers: an inquiring traveler who asks many questions about the journey of life or death in which she is heading to (heaven), and an ex-traveler or guide who has taken that path before answering with a assured, and perfectly calm tone. In the poem, the poet uses difference devices such as quatrain, common meter , and perhaps it is written in strict iambic meter with lines vary in length and in the number of feet. The poet uses imagery, and symbolism (allegory)to express emotion and picture a traveler who has to take the road â€Å"uphill†, and who hopes to find an inn at the end of her travel. The poem sends a message that though find life hard but there are always comfort, help, and generosity along the way. This poem illustrates two ways in which line length is varied in a strict meter. The first variation is seen in the first line, which has nine syllables. This is still a five foot line because feet are constructed by iterative parenthesis insertion from right to left, the leftmost foot is the last constructed and can fall short. The second variation involves the number of feet in each line. As can be seen in â€Å"uphill† all odd-numbered lines are pentameters, whereas the even-numbered lines vary in length between three and five feet, there are 5 trimeter lines, 1 tetrameter and 3 pentameters. This difference in length reflects the fact that the poem has the forms of a dialogue where each odd-numbered (pentameter) line represents a question asked by one speaker, and the odd-numbered lines are answers given by her guide. The difference in length of line reflects the different styles of the two participants in the dialogue. In addition, the poem can be considered it is in common meter which is a close kin to the ballad stanza, with the stanza following a characteristic ballad pattern of 4+3+4+3 stressed syllables to the line. The first stanza of the poem is an example of common meter, four line rimed a b a b and tending to fall into 8, 6, 8, and 6 syllables. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker asks, â€Å"Does the road wind uphill all the way? (Line 1), the road is representing for the journey of life, and â€Å"wind uphill† stands for difficulties, or struggles through life. The inquiring traveler seems very worried or wondering about how hard the journey will be, and the guide softly affirms her worse hope, is that this journey will absolutely take â€Å" to the very the end† (Ln 2). The second question has the same sort of relation to life ,†Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? /From morn to night, my friend† (Ln 3-4). Life is a road that takes â€Å"the whole long day† to bring us â€Å"to the very end. † The night is death that awaits us at the end of the journey. Just as an uphill journey is long, and lasting from morning to evening, life also is full of difficulties right from birth to death. From these two questions which reveals that the inquiring traveler is asking about aspects of living and the journey of life. In the following stanza is presenting a sort of reassurance answer out of the wisdom of the ex-traveler. To begin with the speaker asks, â€Å"But is there for the night a resting-place? † (Ln 5) which is answered: â€Å"A roof for when the slow dark hours begin† (Ln 6). The night is metaphor for death, the speaker is wondering that when her final come (death) will be there a place for resting. The ex-traveler is reassuring the inquiring traveler that she will have time for rest along the way, which can be metaphorically taken, as it already stated as the path of life. In these lines, the speaker was searching for some sign of relief to come along the way. Then speaker continue asks, â€Å"May not the darkness hide it from my face†(Ln 7) which is then responded, â€Å"You cannot miss that inn† (Ln 8) . An â€Å"in† symbolizes for a resting place or perhaps heaven. In this case, there seems to be a comfortable â€Å"inn† for her and other wayfarers to stay at along their journey. The speaker in each successive stanza, knows that life is hard but finds that there is rest and a final resting place. The third stanza is also a continuation of this reassuring tone. The speaker asks hopefully if she will meet other â€Å"wayfarers† along the way and â€Å"Those who have gone before†(Ln 10) was the response given. This just shows that the inquiring traveler will meet people along her lifetime that will show her the right path to take. â€Å"Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? /They will not keep you standing at your door† (Ln 11-12), the guide then again reassures her that she would not be left waited, but welcome. Thus, it suggests that though speaker has the choice to listen to the wise along the way, and she does not have to listen to anybody. Yet again, this is another stanza of reassurance answer from the ex-traveler on the subject of the inquiring traveler ‘s future life. The last stanza holds perhaps the most comforting lines in the whole poem. â€Å"Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? † (Ln 13) asks the inquiring traveler, and â€Å"Of labor you shall find the sum† (Ln 14) is answered by the guide. The speaker seems to worry that she will not find peace after â€Å"travel sore and weak†, and the guide has to calm the inquiring traveler nerves by giving her hope of future comfort. The first two lines offer compensation for labor: the fact that the inquiring traveler can only find as much comfort as much as she puts in labor. In other words, the uphill struggle of life will lead at last to heaven. This is the last stanza out of three that suggest future comfort, â€Å"Will there be beds for me and all who seek†/ â€Å"Yea, beds for all who come† (Ln 15-16), the beds also represent death and a final resting place. After the journey of the inquiring traveler is over, she is â€Å"travel-sore and weak†, and arrives at this resting place (the bed) which opens to anybody who searches for peace. Uphill† is an allegorical poem in which is regarded the journey of life as an â€Å"uphill† journey. Life is recognized as a painful task (it's up-hill all the way), yet it is the duty of mankind to undertake the trip in hopes of a peaceful rest in heaven as a reward, a reward for all obstacles that obstruct in life. All the pain and suffering are to be expected, not resisted. One benefits from them in the end. The poem ends with a note of hope that in heaven the weary souls will find comfort just like the travelers at the inn. Uphill â€Å"Uphill† is a poem that was written by Christina Rossetti in 1861. According to our textbook Discovering Poetry, this poem uses allegory, which is when various â€Å"symbols work together in a set pattern†. The various symbols portrayed by the author in this poem are consistent with those of a journey; a road, an inn, a resting place at night, and other wayfarers. The poem consists of four stanzas, in which an individual is posing questions in the first and third lines of each stanza, and in the second and fourth lines of the stanza someone is responding to those questions.In my initial readings of the poem, I was thinking of the communication taking place as that of a conversation between two individuals. For example, the person posing the questions was talking to their priest, or a child was asking their parents questions about life. However, after reading the poem numerous times, I began to view the interaction as not being an actual conversation, but rather an individual deep in prayer and having a conversation with God. Although God doesn’t usually speak directly to us, we often seem to find the answers we seek through prayer.In this poem the individual is posing their questions in prayer, and then receiving the response in their minds, which then offers comfort. I believe that the various symbols that are used in this poem are the authors attempt to describe our journey through life, and her vision that our place in the afterlife will be dependent on how we lived in our earthly life. The first stanza poses the questions â€Å"Does the road wind uphill all the way? †, and â€Å"Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? Here the author is using the symbols of a road, a day, and a journey to describe our life here on earth. Using â€Å"uphill† as a metaphor is indicative of the fact that she perceives life as difficult and challenging , and is wondering if the road through life will always be that way. Th e responses indicate that yes, the road will be an uphill one to the very end, and that we will face difficulties and challenges throughout our life. The challenges will last the entire â€Å"day† of our lives, from morn to night, or birth to death.The first stanza ends with â€Å"my friend†, indicating that the person answering the questions is someone who cares about the questioner and that they should trust them. In this opening stanza, it is as if someone is facing a hard time in their lives, and is praying to God for answers. The second stanza opens with the question â€Å"But is there for the night a resting place? † with the response being â€Å"A roof for when the slow dark hours begin†. Here the author is changing from the â€Å"day† of the first stanza, which was our life on earth, to â€Å"night†, which would be the afterlife.The questioner is wondering if there will be a place of â€Å"rest† or safety after we die, and the answer is that yes we will have a â€Å"roof† over our heads. This again follows the allegorical vision of a journey, with a person traveling an uphill road throughout the day of our lives, and at the end when darkness comes we all want a place of safety. The questioner is being told that yes, when it gets dark, or in the afterlife, we will have a roof over our heads, meaning we will be safe. The questioner then asks â€Å"May not the darkness hide it from my face? with the response being â€Å"You cannot miss that inn†. Here the questioner is worried that when we die there may be nothing, just darkness. However, they are assured that they cannot miss the inn, meaning that there is certainty of arrival in this place of safety. In this stanza, the person is continuing their prayer to God. They have already received a response that life is going to be difficult and challenging, and now they are being assured that there is an afterlife and that it will be a place of saf ety.The third stanza opens with the question â€Å"Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? † with the response being â€Å"Those who have gone before. † The use of â€Å"wayfarers† continues the vision of a journey, and here the questioner is asking if they will see other people in the afterlife. â€Å"Wayfarers† would be other people who have been on the same journey through life. The questioner then asks â€Å"Then must I knock, or call out when just in sight? † and is given the response â€Å"They will not keep you standing at the door†.Here the questioner is assured that when they arrive at the inn, or place of safety, their loved ones will be waiting to greet them. In this stanza the person is being assured by God that they will meet their loved ones in the afterlife. The fourth stanza asks the question â€Å"Shall I find comfort, travel- sore and weak? † with the response being â€Å"Of labor you shall find the sum†. In th e second and third stanzas, the questioner asked if they would find safety in the afterlife and if they would see their loved ones, and here they are asking if they will find comfort.The response is that the comfort they achieve will be dependent on the â€Å"labor† or work in their earthly lives. This indicates that there is some form of judgment in the afterlife of how we conduct our lives here on earth. The questioner then asks â€Å"Will there be beds for me and all who seek? † and is told â€Å"Yea, beds for all who come†. The term â€Å"seek† is important here, because here God is telling the questioner that there isn’t a bed for everyone, only those who seek Him.As you have read, the poem â€Å"Uphill† uses the symbols of a journey to create an allegorical vision of our life on earth and into the afterlife. In the final stanza of the poem, it is clear that the author is conveying the message that how we conduct our lives on earth will be a gauge for how we fare in the afterlife. While we will never know who the individual is that is answering the questions in the poem, I believe that it is God responding to the questioner through prayer, because God is the only one who would have the true answers to the questions.