What effect did the first world war have on the health of the British Essay

What effect did the first world war have on the health of the British population - Essay Example For example, in examining the Great Depression of the 1930s, it is typically determined that government policies together with statistics published by health officials reveal a decline in health and an increase in hunger. Bryder argues that perhaps a more localized study would reveal a more realistic account of the health of a population at any given time.3 In this essay, we examine various studies and reports documenting the health of the British population on the health of the British population during the First World War. Bourke demonstrates that the First World War had a significantly detrimental effect on the bodies of surviving soldiers. This is turn had a detrimental impact on the quality of their lives in the post-war era. Many of these men joined the war as â€Å"middle-class volunteers† who were â€Å"eager to do their bit†.4 As Bourke points out: The decisive impact of the Great War on men’s bodies can be seen most clearly by looking at the war-maimed. Irrevocably re-moulded by their experiences, these men struggled to create new lives that challenged their status as physically disabled.5 The gravity of dismemberment is captured by statistics provided by Bourke. According to Bourke, the number of mutilated and maimed men during the First World War was at the time unprecedented and a shock to the British morale. More than 41,000 British soldiers experienced amputated limbs during the First World War. Among the amputees, 69% lost a leg, 28% lost an arm and 3% lost both an arm and a leg. In addition, 272,000 sustained damages to the limbs, although amputation was not required. Approximately 65,500, soldiers sustained head or eye injuries. Another 89,000 suffered grave bodily harm.6 The number of maimed and disabled soldiers returning to civilian life would obviously impact the health or at least the well-being of the general population. The economic conditions would have obviously declined as a result of the expense involved in figh ting the war. Yet, post-war expenses would have increased over expenses in the pre-war era. As Bourke points out, the number of disabled persons relying on public funds necessarily increased as a result of the war experience. For example, up to 1920, 31, 500 soldiers were still on disability for amputations.7 There was also a psychological impact of war in that the mental health of the soldiers during the First World War was arguably unavoidable and this would also add to the public’s financial burden. During the First World War, surviving soldiers witnessed the mass burial of their fallen and mangled colleagues. As Bourke reports, men were systematically buried wherever they happened to fall since there was no time or resources to retrieve the bodies and take them to a place of dignity for property burial.8 Harrison maintains that although the First World War itself contributed to the spread of disease and as such posed a threat to the health of both the civilian and soldier population, it had positive outcomes for the long-term health of the general population overall. As Harrison reports, historically, during war times, more soldiers died of disease than those who died from war-related injury. However, during the First World War, this trend changed in that more soldiers died of war-related injury than those who died of disease. While it is quite possible that this turn around in the ratio of disease-related

Are good Team Players good Human Beings too Essay

Are good Team Players good Human Beings too - Essay Example in Greenwood & Kanters, 2009, p.299). This paper contends that team sports can potentially improve the players' character, but some conditions have to exist, particularly the existence of a â€Å"properly structured team sports program† that integrates character development. It is based on the belief that in order for team players to be â€Å"good† people, their coaches should also provide specific instructions that train and reward the former for â€Å"good† behavior too. This paper argues that a properly structured team sports program can develop good character by honing discipline, confidence, self-esteem, and teamwork attitudes and behaviors. A â€Å"properly structured team sports program† is not focused on winning alone, but includes a shift in thinking about sports, where character development takes a central seat. Greenwood and Kanters (2009) defined the shift of team sports toward positive youth development (PYD). Positive youth development uses f ive development indicators, also known as 5 C's: connection, character, competence, confidence, caring or compassion, where these indicators are based from the studies of Lerner, Fisher, and Weinberg (2000) and Pittman et al., (2001) (as cited in Greenwood & Kanters, 2009, p.299). ... that sports can build good character, although some studies already indicate that it can be structured to improve several attitudes and behaviors (Greenwood & Kanters, 2009; Camire & Trudel, 2010). This paper argues that PYD is only one of the many ways that team sports can be structured to develop good character, especially since it actively connects sports with good character. It is important that sports is structured to enhance character so that it can impact character. Being a sports achiever can develop intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as improve discipline. Participating in team sports can enhance discipline, because it is a structured game with definite goals. Team sports is about end goals that can be attained through relentless practice. Coaches encourage players to work hard by enhancing their mental, physical, and emotional abilities. These abilities cannot be improved over night and so the players practice numerous times, so that they can physically improve the ir bodies to fit their respective team positions and its demands. This embeds discipline ethic among players, which they can use also in other aspects of other life. For example, in school, they will also be motivated to study harder for subjects they have difficulty with. Furthermore, team sports enhances the mind because of the visualization needed to win the game. The players should also â€Å"think† to win so that they can win. This can be quite useful in thinking about other endeavors also, such as in doing exams and being a better son, daughter, or Christian. In addition, team sports enhances the players' emotional abilities, such as the ability to accept failures and victories (Austin, 2010). Players also learn perseverance, because when they lose, it does not mean that they should

JFK assassination Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

JFK assassination - Research Paper Example The sheer emotion and rawness of the coverage appealed to people’s senses that brought the people closer to the news. It was also by no means dismissible that at the heart of the breaking news were America’s affable and media-savvy president and the grief-stricken first family devastated by a tragedy. Overnight, the mostly newspaper-reading and radio-listening nation has turned their attention to their television sets to get a blow-by-blow update of the latest news. Merriman Smith, a United Press International (UPI) newsman, was riding in the presidential press pool car just behind JFK’s limousine on that fateful day in Dallas when they heard three loud shots. The second and third sound made it unmistakable that they came from gunshots. Smith immediately grabbed hold of the car’s radio phone and contacted the UPI headquarters to deliver the news update. Cronkite, inside the CBS studio in New York, was just informed of the president’s assassination coming across through the UPI teletype machine. As Cronkite’s news team breaks the station’s regular programming to deliver the assassination news unsure of the president’s condition, Smith was in Parkland Hospital with more breaking story. Smith informs UPI that President Kennedy has died at 1:00pm. Breaking the soap opera slot, Cronkite emotionally delivers the news.2 Smith rushed to the office and fed the whole world with the news through the five bells that rang on the recipient UPI machine to indicate the urgency and weight of the message. Walter Cronkite was a close confidant of Smith’s. He knew exactly what Smith meant by the message fed to the world in such a short span of time. Cronkite took to the television immediately, putting a break to the ongoing programs. He had to go on audio, as the available camera was slow at loading images. Cronkite became the most trusted person in America at that time.3 From the time of