My Philosophy Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers

My Philosophy Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers My Philosophy My Philosophy You can only appreciate things that are fun after you work hard to achieve them. Fortune Cookie, 2000 My philosophy of life is that if you work hard enough, you will achieve the things you want. In other words, Practice makes perfect. The feeling that you get from having fun is great, but it is important to work hard to achieve this fun thing. The feeling of having fun is irrelevant if hard work was not involved in achieving it. An example to illustrate this point is when someone begins a new sport. At first, you will be bad at the sport and will have a great deal of difficulty, but with hard work and a great deal of practice, improvement will become possible. I can relate this to my personal experiences with ice hockey. I had never played before this past October and had only skated four times in my life. From October until the season ended in March, I practiced every Monday and Wednesday. I felt that I was working very hard at getting better and by March, I could actually perform adequately and no longer embarrassed myself every time I go on the ice. I felt very good about my achievement in this sport. Another example of feeling a sense of satisfaction from hard work happened from my last biology exam. I studied more than I had ever studied for a biology test before. Many hours of review were put into this particular unit of study. I studied both at home and in support class. The final product of all this effort was a 99 percent on my test. Never before did I do this well on any test. The feeling I had when Mrs. Wysocki handed me back my test was fantastic. I felt a true sense of achievement because of all the time and effort I put into studying. My third and final example of feeling a sense of satisfaction from hard work happened last year in baseball. I wasnt the fastest kid on the team, or the longest hitter, and I didnt have an exceptionally strong throwing arm, but I had a lot of heart and luck. I worked hard every practice (like in hockey), and I started to improve all my skills. By the end of the season I was a pretty well rounded ballplayer, and I became the best outfielder on my team (I had 5 sliding catches, and 4 diving catches). Since my team pulled together so well, we made it to the playoffs. The first team that we played was amazing; they were undefeated in the regular season. We played a long hard fought game, and we went into extra innings. The other team scored two runs, and then since we were the home team we got a chance to bat. I was the fifth batter up, a man on first and third, and with two outs and two strikes against me (imagine the pressure), the pitch was perfect and I hammered it into deep center. I ran the fastest that I have ever ran before, men on first and third scored, so my coach gave me the stop sign (like Id listen), but kept on running. The outfielder threw it to the cut off man, who then threw it home to the catcher. It was just me and the catcher now (just imagine what my coach mustve been thinking during this). I ran full speed and delivered an enormous body check to the catcher, which caused the ball to fly out of his mitt, and then the ump shouted SAFE!!! My whole team ran onto the field and picked me up at home plate, I was so proud. Im not sure but until this day, I think that my dad was so proud that his eyes were filled with tears of joy. In my mind, my philosophy couldnt be more true. If you work hard and practice a lot, youll get better at something, and then you have a lot of fun doing it.

Free Essays on Sauls Conversion

The Damascus Road Experience I decided to do my paper on Acts 9:1 though Acts 9:9. I chose this passage because I believe it made a huge difference in Christianity. After his experience on the road, Paul became one of the most influential men in the Bible. He also wrote two- thirds of the New Testament. Paul was one of the most intelligent men of his time. This is why his conversion was so important. Luke wrote this book. It was written around 62 A.D. This was a letter originally written to Theophilus. The purpose of writing to Theophilus was to give him greater insight into the origins of Christianity. It is thought that he was a converted Gentile. This miraculous event occurred on the road to Damascus. Saul was a member of the Sanhedrin. It was the middle of the day, and Gods light shined brighter than the sun. The bright light blinded Paul, maybe to show him his blindness in persecution. Paul was blown away when he heard â€Å" I am Jesus, whom you persecute†. Because he experienced this event himself, there was no way he could deny it. He understood that this vision was from the God he had been trying to serve, only to learn that he had badly misunderstood God. He saved Saul just in time. He was taking orders from the high priest of the Sanhedrin, which gave him, power to extradite all Christians who had fled due to persecution. Saul was known as the most zealous representative of the Jewish community when it came to persecution. Saul believed he was being religious and doing the right thing in persecuting Christians. The main theme is salvation, plain and simple. The Lord saved Paul from a life of sin. In turn, The Lord also saved many lives by reversing Paul’s beliefs when he did. Who knows how many would have died if Paul and his entourage would have killed in Damascus. This is how the passage goes according to me: Saul was talking about abusing and murdering Christians. He goes to the boss to ask for the pa... Free Essays on Saul's Conversion Free Essays on Saul's Conversion The Damascus Road Experience I decided to do my paper on Acts 9:1 though Acts 9:9. I chose this passage because I believe it made a huge difference in Christianity. After his experience on the road, Paul became one of the most influential men in the Bible. He also wrote two- thirds of the New Testament. Paul was one of the most intelligent men of his time. This is why his conversion was so important. Luke wrote this book. It was written around 62 A.D. This was a letter originally written to Theophilus. The purpose of writing to Theophilus was to give him greater insight into the origins of Christianity. It is thought that he was a converted Gentile. This miraculous event occurred on the road to Damascus. Saul was a member of the Sanhedrin. It was the middle of the day, and Gods light shined brighter than the sun. The bright light blinded Paul, maybe to show him his blindness in persecution. Paul was blown away when he heard â€Å" I am Jesus, whom you persecute†. Because he experienced this event himself, there was no way he could deny it. He understood that this vision was from the God he had been trying to serve, only to learn that he had badly misunderstood God. He saved Saul just in time. He was taking orders from the high priest of the Sanhedrin, which gave him, power to extradite all Christians who had fled due to persecution. Saul was known as the most zealous representative of the Jewish community when it came to persecution. Saul believed he was being religious and doing the right thing in persecuting Christians. The main theme is salvation, plain and simple. The Lord saved Paul from a life of sin. In turn, The Lord also saved many lives by reversing Paul’s beliefs when he did. Who knows how many would have died if Paul and his entourage would have killed in Damascus. This is how the passage goes according to me: Saul was talking about abusing and murdering Christians. He goes to the boss to ask for the pa...

Various Institutions of Social Structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Various Institutions of Social Structure - Essay Example The Conflict Paradigm applies in this scenario as the institutions in place in New Orleans were for the protection of the wealthy while the poor were exploited. After the hurricane had passed, the pictures coming out of the city showed the plight of poor, mostly African American, and this further strengthened the Conflict Paradigm. When FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) started giving out help, it required that aid recipients register online or through an 800 number. Once again the social structure favored those with an internet or phone connection and those really needing the aid had no way to ask for it. In the months following the Hurricane, as New Orleans was being resettled, the rich and the wealthy were the first to return while the poor are still struggling and living as refugees all over the country. This, once again, only reinforces the conflict paradigm. 1b) According to the Functionalist Paradigm the â€Å"member of the society see the social structure as legitimate and therefore strive to maintain that social structure.† The Functionalist Paradigm sees the social structure as being stable and in equilibrium and its members striving to maintain the status quo. Post-Katrina was a time of rapid change in New Orleans. The social structure quickly moved to a balanced stable society and the various social institutions chipped in to help rebuild the city. However, once a certain level of stability had been achieved, i.e. once a certain number of citizens had returned and resumed their normal life, the stabilization process slowed down. This resulted in a new equilibrium being set in the post-Katrina New Orleans.

Developmental Case Study Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Developmental Case Study - Personal Statement Example Considering two theoretical models and developmental theories the developmental challenges could be highlighted with research findings related to social, biological, emotional and cognitive development. Understanding the social and emotional aspects of development would be as important as understanding the other environmental or biological factors and how these affect overall development of an individual. In this case particularly my development as a father and as a [professional would be examined within the social, environmental, emotional and biological context. The developmental challenges are shown considering contemporary developmental theories and the social and emotional aspects of development within this specific case study are also considered. The perspective here is from my own. I am a 28 year old African American male and I live in California, working for a San Diego middle school where I work as a counselor. ... I will focus on how these two developmental theories fit in within my case and how the professional or personal development of a counselor in a middle school could be explained with the help of such theories and perspectives. Consedine and Magai (2003) carried on studies that delineated the patterns of attachment of children and young adults and highlighted that more attention should be given to the concept of lifespan development. Bowlby's claim to the attachment theory has implications for an entire lifespan and shows the relations between attachment and emotions in older adults. In this study by Consedine and Magai(2003) , a sample of 1118 adults completed measures of attachment on differential emotions scale and different dimensions of attachment were related to different emotions. With more attachment to people or particular tasks, there would be less feelings of guilt or shame or contempt and more happiness. However less attachment would also imply less joy. Avoidance has been associated with anxiety in a situation and the life or young and the old tend to show similar patterns of attachment-emotions relations although there may be some developmental differences. The developmentalist- functionalist theories of emotions bring out the implications on how emotions function in attachment systems and how they drive social relations across the lifespan of an individual (Consedine and Magai, 2003). This would have direct relations with this particularly case study as a 28 year old father of two and school professional would also be shaped by his different emotio ns and attachment and this would define his interactions, professional as well as personal relationships. Thus through the developmental stages I have developed as a boy to a

Effective Study Skills Essay Example for Free

Effective Study Skills Essay Study is the devotion of time and attention to acquiring knowledge on an academic subject and the skills are the ability and capacity acquired through deliberate systematic and sustained effort. For some students the motivation and ability to study comes easily. However for those students for whom it does not it is necessary to develop effective study skills. The aims is to provide the sole foundation of a sound education. These are necessary for the student to realise their full potential and acquire good grades. Without these skills the student would not be aware of their ability to learn in the best way and to maximise this. She states: 1) It is essential to be rested (sleep affects performance) and to sit comfortably. A change of scenery stimulates the brain and helps creative thinking. 2) To be hydrated, drinking water helps the electrical connections of the brain. 3) To be unstressed. When stressed the brain only concentrates on ‘escape’ not on tasks in hand. 4) To enjoy.  5) To learn to see something several times, little and often works better than trying to understand something in one sitting. Cottrell points out that effective study skills are needed to facilitate time management and to meet deadlines. She states spare time must be used effectively to give relaxation time, to rest and enjoy oneself as well as independent study time. According to Cottrell it is essential to learn from one’s own mistakes and feedback which give a way to improve performance and above all else, not to give up. Time management is essential, not giving excessive time to favoured topics rather than those necessary. It is essential to stay on target, stay motivated and not to let things get on top of you, to stay in control and maintain the correct direction of the studies. General tips are to identify the task in hand and work out exactly what is being asked for, setting clear goals and staying focused towards them. To develop the meaning of the task or how things work makes taking in material, reading and retaining the subject matter easier. To find links with the wider world such as the internet and journals helps. Working with others can also help by sharing ideas and getting mutual help. Finally to look for reasonable

Costs and Benefits of Globalization and Localization Essay example -- G

"Globalization is unstoppable. Even though it may be only in its early stages, it is already intrinsic to the world economy. We have to live with it, recognize its advantages and learn to manage it," said Maria Livanos Cattaui in her article, The global economy - an opportunity to be seized (Business World, 1997). Many authorities agree that as the world enters into the twenty-first century, many economic, political, and cultural changes will take place due to what some people are simply calling the latest buzzword. The fact that globalization exists is not necessarily the important issue here. Rather, the world's eyes must focus on costs and benefits of both globalization and localization, and how countries are affected by both of these opposite tendencies of international politics. James N. Rosenau, in his article, The Complexities and Contradictions of Globalization, defines globalization as "'something' that is changing humankind's preoccupation with territoriality and the traditional arrangements of the state system." In other words, globalization is causing countries to break their territorial boundaries economically, politically, and socially, and in doing so, open themselves up to outside international influences. Such worldwide influence has proven to have many benefits throughout the world. Through globalization, the world has seen a significant expansion of economic, social, and political benefits. Particularly, globalization has expanded investments, trade, and production far beyond any individual country?s boarders. According to the article, The Global Economy, by Maria Livanos Cattaui, " International trade in goods and services now stands at more than US$ 6000 billion per year [while] the accumulated stock of ... ...of globalization are much more uniformly widespread than the social or political benefits. Therefore, in determining whether the things gained by globalization are more fundamentally important to people?s lives than the things gained by localization, I would argue on the basis of sustained economic growth due to globalization, that yes, they are. Works Cited Cattaui, Maria Livanos. "Global Economy." Business World, Internet. Available: http://www.iccwbo.org/html/globalec.htm Rosenau, James N. "The Complexities and Contradictions of Globalization." World Politics 98/99. Connecticut: Dushkin/McGraw Hill. Sanger, David E. "After a Year, No Letup in Asia?s Economic Crisis." New York Times. 6 July 1998. Sutherland, Peter D., and John W. Sewell. The Challenges of Globalization. Internet. Available: http://www.odc.org/ges.html

Part Three Chapter VI

VI Things denied, things untold, things hidden and disguised. The muddy River Orr gushed over the wreckage of the stolen computer, thrown from the old stone bridge at midnight. Simon limped to work on his fractured toe and told everyone that he had slipped on the garden path. Ruth pressed ice to her bruises and concealed them inexpertly with an old tube of foundation; Andrew's lip scabbed over, like Dane Tully's, and Paul had another nosebleed on the bus and had to go straight to the nurse on arrival at school. Shirley Mollison, who had been shopping in Yarvil, did not answer Ruth's repeated telephone calls until late afternoon, by which time Ruth's sons had arrived home from school. Andrew listened to the one-sided conversation from the stairs outside the sitting room. He knew that Ruth was trying to take care of the problem before Simon came home, because Simon was more than capable of seizing the receiver from her and shouting and swearing at her friend. ‘†¦ just silly lies,' she was saying brightly, ‘but we'd be very grateful if you could remove it, Shirley.' He scowled and the cut on his fat lip threatened to burst open again. He hated hearing his mother asking the woman for a favour. In that moment he was irrationally annoyed that the post had not been taken down already; then he remembered that he had written it, that he had caused everything: his mother's battered face, his own cut lip and the atmosphere of dread that pervaded the house at the prospect of Simon's return. ‘I do understand you've got a lot of things on †¦' Ruth was saying cravenly, ‘but you can see how this might do Simon damage, if people believe †¦' ‘Yes.' Ruth sounded tired. ‘She's going to take those things about Dad off the site so, hopefully, that'll be the end of it.' Andrew knew his mother to be intelligent, and much handier around the house than his ham-fisted father. She was capable of earning her own living. ‘Why didn't she take the post down straight away, if you're friends?' he asked, following her into the kitchen. For the first time in his life, his pity for Ruth was mingled with a feeling of frustration that amounted to anger. ‘She's been busy,' snapped Ruth. One of her eyes was bloodshot from Simon's punch. ‘Did you tell her she could be in trouble for leaving defamatory stuff on there, if she moderates the boards? We did that stuff in comput – ‘ ‘I've told you, she's taking it down, Andrew,' said Ruth angrily. She was not frightened of showing temper to her sons. Was it because they did not hit her, or for some other reason? Andrew knew that her face must ache as badly as his own. ‘So who d'you reckon wrote that stuff about Dad?' he asked her recklessly. She turned a face of fury upon him. ‘I don't know,' she said, ‘but whoever they are, it was a despicable, cowardly thing to do. Everyone's got something they'd like to hide. How would it be if Dad put some of the things he knows about other people on the internet? But he wouldn't do it.' ‘That'd be against his moral code, would it?' said Andrew. ‘You don't know your father as well as you think you do!' shouted Ruth with tears in her eyes. ‘Get out – go and do your homework – I don't care – just get out!' Yet the deletion of the post could not remove it from the consciousness of those who were passionately interested in the forthcoming contest for Barry's seat. Parminder Jawanda had copied the message about Simon Price onto her computer, and kept opening it, subjecting each sentence to the scrutiny of a forensic scientist examining fibres on a corpse, searching for traces of Howard Mollison's literary DNA. He would have done all he could to disguise his distinctive phraseology, but she was sure that she recognized his pomposity in ‘Mr Price is certainly no stranger to keeping down costs', and in ‘the benefit of his many useful contacts'. ‘Minda, you don't know Simon Price,' said Tessa Wall. She and Colin were having supper with the Jawandas in the Old Vicarage kitchen, and Parminder had started on the subject of the post almost the moment they had crossed the threshold. ‘He's a very unpleasant man and he could have upset any number of people. I honestly don't think it's Howard Mollison. I can't see him doing anything so obvious.' ‘Don't kid yourself, Tessa,' said Parminder. ‘Howard will do anything to make sure Miles is elected. You watch. He'll go for Colin next.' Tessa saw Colin's knuckles whiten on his fork handle, and wished that Parminder would think before she spoke. She, of anyone, knew what Colin was like; she prescribed his Prozac. Vikram was sitting at the end of the table in silence. His beautiful face fell naturally into a slightly sardonic smile. Tessa had always been intimidated by the surgeon, as she was by all very good-looking men. Although Parminder was one of Tessa's best friends, she barely knew Vikram, who worked long hours and involved himself much less in Pagford matters than his wife. ‘I told you about the agenda, didn't I?' Parminder rattled on. ‘For the next meeting? He's proposing a motion on the Fields, for us to pass to the Yarvil committee doing the boundary review, and a resolution on forcing the drug clinic out of their building. He's trying to rush it all through, while Barry's seat's empty.' She kept leaving the table to fetch things, opening more cupboard doors than was necessary, distracted and unfocused. Twice she forgot why she had got up, and sat down again, empty-handed. Vikram watched her, everywhere she moved, from beneath his thick eyelashes. ‘I rang Howard last night,' Parminder said, ‘and I told him we ought to wait until we're back up to the full complement of councillors before we vote on such big issues. He laughed; he says we can't wait. Yarvil wants to hear our views, he said, with the boundary review coming up. What he's really scared of is that Colin's going to win Barry's seat, because it won't be so easy to foist it all on us then. I've emailed everyone I think will vote with us, to see if they can't put pressure on him to delay the votes, for one meeting †¦ ‘†The Ghost of Barry Fairbrother†,' Parminder added breathlessly. ‘The bastard. He's not using Barry's death to beat him. Not if I can help it.' Tessa thought she saw Vikram's lips twitch. Old Pagford, led by Howard Mollison, generally forgave Vikram the crimes that it could not forget in his wife: brownness, cleverness and affluence (all of which, to Shirley Mollison's nostrils, had the whiff of a gloat). It was, Tessa thought, grossly unfair: Parminder worked hard at every aspect of her Pagford life: school ftes and sponsored bakes, the local surgery and the Parish Council, and her reward was implacable dislike from the Pagford old guard; Vikram, who rarely joined or participated in anything, was fawned upon, flattered and spoken of with proprietary approval. ‘Mollison's a megalomaniac,' Parminder said, pushing food nervously around her plate. ‘A bully and a megalomaniac.' Vikram laid down his knife and fork and sat back in his chair. ‘So why,' he asked, ‘is he happy being chair of the Parish Council? Why hasn't he tried to get on the District Council?' ‘Because he thinks that Pagford is the epicentre of the universe,' snapped Parminder. ‘You don't understand: he wouldn't swap being chair of Pagford Parish Council for being Prime Minister. Anyway, he doesn't need to be on the council in Yarvil; he's already got Aubrey Fawley there, pushing through the big agenda. All revved up for the boundary review. They're working together.' Parminder felt Barry's absence like a ghost at the table. He would have explained it all to Vikram and made him laugh in the process; Barry had been a superb mimic of Howard's speech patterns, of his rolling, waddling walk, of his sudden gastrointestinal interruptions. ‘I keep telling her, she's letting herself get too stressed,' Vikram told Tessa, who was appalled to find herself blushing slightly, with his dark eyes upon her. ‘You know about this stupid complaint – the old woman with emphysema?' ‘Yes, Tessa knows. Everyone knows. Do we have to discuss it at the dinner table?' snapped Parminder, and she jumped to her feet and began clearing the plates. Tessa tried to help, but Parminder told her crossly to stay where she was. Vikram gave Tessa a small smile of solidarity that made her stomach flutter. She could not help remembering, as Parminder clattered around the table, that Vikram and Parminder had had an arranged marriage. (‘It's only an introduction through the family,' Parminder had told her, in the early days of their friendship, defensive and annoyed at something she had seen in Tessa's face. ‘Nobody makes you marry, you know.' But she had spoken, at other times, of the immense pressure from her mother to take a husband. ‘All Sikh parents want their kids married. It's an obsession,' Parminder said bitterly.) Colin saw his plate snatched away without regret. The nausea churning in his stomach was even worse than when he and Tessa had arrived. He might have been encased in a thick glass bubble, so separate did he feel from his three dining companions. It was a sensation with which he was only too familiar, that of walking in a giant sphere of worry, enclosed by it, watching his own terrors roll by, obscuring the outside world. Tessa was no help: she was being deliberately cool and unsympathetic about his campaign for Barry's seat. The whole point of this supper was so that Colin could consult Parminder on the little leaflets he had produced, advertising his candidacy. Tessa was refusing to get involved, blocking discussion of the fear that was slowly engulfing him. She was refusing him an outlet. Trying to emulate her coolness, pretending that he was not, after all, caving under self-imposed pressure, he had not told her about the telephone call from the Yarvil and District Gazette that he had received at school that day. The journalist on the end of the line had wanted to talk about Krystal Weedon. Had he touched her? Colin had told the woman that the school could not possibly discuss a pupil and that Krystal must be approached through her parents. ‘I've already talked to Krystal,' said the voice on the end of the line. ‘I only wanted to get your – ‘ But he had put the receiver down, and terror had blotted out everything. Why did they want to talk about Krystal? Why had they called him? Had he done something? Had he touched her? Had she complained? The psychologist had taught him not to try and confirm or disprove the content of such thoughts. He was supposed to acknowledge their existence, then carry on as normal, but it was like trying not to scratch the worst itch you had ever known. The public unveiling of Simon Price's dirty secrets on the council website had stunned him: the terror of exposure, which had dominated so much of Colin's life, now wore a face, its features those of an ageing cherub, with a demonic brain seething beneath a deerstalker on tight grey curls, behind bulging inquisitive eyes. He kept remembering Barry's tales of the delicatessen owner's formidable strategic brain, and of the intricate web of alliances that bound the sixteen members of Pagford Parish Council. Colin had often imagined how he would find out that the game was up: a guarded article in the paper; faces turned away from him when he entered Mollison and Lowe's; the headmistress calling him into her office for a quiet word. He had visualized his downfall a thousand times: his shame exposed and hung around his neck like a leper's bell, so that no concealment would be possible, ever again. He would be sacked. He might end up in prison. ‘Colin,' Tessa prompted quietly; Vikram was offering him wine. She knew what was going on inside that big domed forehead; not the specifics, but the theme of his anxiety had been constant for years. She knew that Colin could not help it; it was the way he was made. Many years before, she had read, and recognized as true, the words of W. B. Yeats: ‘A pity beyond all telling is hid at the heart of love.' She had smiled over the poem, and stroked the page, because she had known both that she loved Colin, and that compassion formed a huge part of her love. Sometimes, though, her patience wore thin. Sometimes she wanted a little concern and reassurance too. Colin had erupted into a predictable panic when she had told him that she had received a firm diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, but once she had convinced him that she was not in imminent danger of dying, she had been taken aback by how quickly he dropped the subject, how completely he reimmersed himself in his election plans. (That morning, at breakfast, she had tested her blood sugar with the glucometer for the first time, then taken out the prefilled needle and inserted it into her own belly. It had hurt much more than when deft Parminder did it. Fats had seized his cereal bowl and swung round in his chair away from her, sloshing milk over the table, the sleeve of his school shirt and onto the kitchen floor. Colin had let out an inchoate shout of annoyance as Fats spat his mouthful of cornflakes back into his bowl, and demanded of his mother, ‘Have you got to do that at the bloody table?' ‘Don't be so damn rude and disgusting!' shouted Colin. ‘Sit up properly! Wipe up that mess! How dare you speak to your mother like that? Apologize!' Tessa withdrew the needle too fast; she had made herself bleed. ‘I'm sorry that you shooting up at breakfast makes me want to puke, Tess,' said Fats from under the table, where he was wiping the floor with a bit of kitchen roll. ‘Your mother isn't â€Å"shooting up†, she's got a medical condition!' shouted Colin. ‘And don't call her â€Å"Tess†!' ‘I know you don't like needles, Stu,' said Tessa, but her eyes were stinging; she had hurt herself, and felt shaken and angry with both of them, feelings that were still with her this evening.) Tessa wondered why Parminder did not appreciate Vikram's concern. Colin never noticed when she was stressed. Perhaps, Tessa thought angrily, there's something in this arranged marriage business †¦ my mother certainly wouldn't have chosen Colin for me †¦ Parminder was shoving bowls of cut fruit across the table for pudding. Tessa wondered a little resentfully what she would have offered a guest who was not diabetic, and comforted herself with the thought of a bar of chocolate lying at home in the fridge. Parminder, who had talked five times as much as anybody else all through supper, had started ranting about her daughter, Sukhvinder. She had already told Tessa on the telephone about the girl's betrayal; she went through it all again at the table. ‘Waitressing with Howard Mollison. I don't, I really don't know what she's thinking. But Vikram – ‘ ‘They don't think, Minda,' Colin proclaimed, breaking his long silence. ‘That's teenagers. They don't care. They're all the same.' ‘Colin, what rubbish,' snapped Tessa. ‘They aren't all the same at all. We'd be delighted if Stu went and got himself a Saturday job – not that there's the remotest chance of that.' ‘ – but Vikram doesn't mind,' Parminder pressed on, ignoring the interruption. ‘He can't see anything wrong with it, can you?' Vikram answered easily: ‘It's work experience. She probably won't make university; there's no shame in it. It's not for everyone. I can see Jolly married early, quite happy.' ‘Waitressing †¦' ‘Well, they can't all be academic, can they?' ‘No, she certainly isn't academic,' said Parminder, who was almost quivering with anger and tension. ‘Her marks are absolutely atrocious – no aspiration, no ambition – waitressing – â€Å"let's face it, I'm not going to get into uni† – no, you certainly won't, with that attitude – with Howard Mollison †¦ oh, he must have absolutely loved it – my daughter going cap in hand for a job. What was she thinking – what was she thinking?' ‘You wouldn't like it if Stu took a job with someone like Mollison,' Colin told Tessa. ‘I wouldn't care,' said Tessa. ‘I'd be thrilled he was showing any kind of work ethic. As far as I can tell, all he seems to care about is computer games and – ‘ But Colin did not know that Stuart smoked; she broke off, and Colin said, ‘Actually, this would be exactly the kind of thing Stuart would do. Insinuate himself with somebody he knew we didn't like, to get at us. He'd love that.' ‘For goodness sake, Colin, Sukhvinder isn't trying to get at Minda,' said Tessa. ‘So you think I'm being unreasonable?' Parminder shot at Tessa. ‘No, no,' said Tessa, appalled at how quickly they had been sucked into the family row. ‘I'm just saying, there aren't many places for kids to work in Pagford, are there?' ‘And why does she need to work at all?' said Parminder, raising her hands in a gesture of furious exasperation. ‘Don't we give her enough money?' ‘Money you earn yourself is always different, you know that,' said Tessa. Tessa's chair faced a wall that was covered in photographs of the Jawanda children. She had sat here often, and had counted how many appearances each child made: Jaswant, eighteen; Rajpal, nineteen; and Sukhvinder, nine. There was only one photograph on the wall celebrating Sukhvinder's individual achievements: the picture of the Winterdown rowing team on the day that they had beaten St Anne's. Barry had given all the parents an enlarged copy of this picture, in which Sukhvinder and Krystal Weedon were in the middle of the line of eight, with their arms around each other's shoulders, beaming and jumping up and down so that they were both slightly blurred. Barry, she thought, would have helped Parminder see things the right way. He had been a bridge between mother and daughter, both of whom had adored him. Not for the first time, Tessa wondered how much difference it made that she had not given birth to her son. Did she find it easier to accept him as a separate individual than if he had been made from her flesh and blood? Her glucose-heavy, tainted blood †¦ Fats had recently stopped calling her ‘Mum'. She had to pretend not to care, because it made Colin so angry; but every time Fats said ‘Tessa' it was like a needle jab to her heart. The four of them finished their cold fruit in silence.