Narritive Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Narritive - Essay Example Daisy wondered as to why the nurses were so nice to the patients when they were not even related to them and she used to think as to why they worked selflessly to take care of the people living in the nursing home. Daisy was highly inspired by these nurses and she made up her mind to follow a career in nursing. She kept on visiting the old age home and she started spending greater time there. As she spent more time at the nursing home, she realized that the picture of the nursing home that she had developed as a child was not totally a true reflection of the nursing home. The old people living in the nursing home still loved Daisy but she saw the sorrow and the sadness in the eyes of most of them. She did not understand the reason for their unhappiness as she felt that the nursing home was a very joyful place where all the needs of the people were fulfilled. She tried to think over and over again but she could not reach to any conclusion. One day while she was visiting the nursing ho me, she saw a man who had come to visit Jane who was a resident at the nursing home. The man was there with his wife and children and when Daisy questioned the other residents, she found out that he was Jane’s son. Daisy could see the happiness on Jane’s face. But the man and his family had a very stern expression. Daisy hid herself and started listening to them. â€Å"You are here to take me home this weekend with you, right?† The man maintained the same stern expression and said, â€Å"Mother we have guests coming over and we do not have enough space to accommodate you at the same time.† Jane felt helpless and started pleading to her son as she said that it had been months that she had not visited the family home where she had spent her entire life before being moved to the nursing home. Her son did not respond to her requests and finally he left without saying goodbye to Jane. This incident was an eye opener for me. Daisy was shocked and her image of t he nursing home as a beautiful house shattered at once. She understood that were greater depths behind these happy faces and there were many grief’s that they had no one to share with. Daisy became more observant and she started noticing several similar events at the nursing home. There were people, who were visited by their families and were brought gifts for, but there were many others who were not frequently visited and some did not have any guardians coming to see them at all. Daisy started noticing these occurrences and they worked towards maturing her thought process and making her understand the reality of life. Daisy was shocked to see the contrast that existed between the nurses who worked day and night for taking care of the people who were not related to them in any way. On the other hand, there were blood relatives who did not care about the people who brought them up and loved them the most when they were helpless little beings. The incidents at the nursing home taught Daisy the true meaning of good and bad. She understood that this world is a place where different kinds of people live. There are those who value and cherish their relationships whereas there are others who have their own selfish motives and care about themselves and no one else. Daisy remained committed to her career choice of nursing as she wanted to place herself amongst the good people of the society. She wanted to be a helper and a person who would

Saint Thomas Aquinas Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Saint Thomas Aquinas - Research Paper Example The influence of Thomas Aquinas on Western philosophy and thought is undeniable. This is demonstrated from the fact that a considerable portion of modern philosophy has been conceived either as an agreement to or a reaction to the ideas of Thomas Aquinas. This is particularly true when the areas of ethics, metaphysics, natural law and political theory in modern Western philosophy and thought are explored. For these reasons and others, the Catholic Church has designated Thomas Aquinas as the model teacher for anyone studying for priesthood (Davies, 2004). Saint Thomas Aquinas is best known for his Summa Theologica and Summa Contra Gentiles and is one of the thirty three Doctors of the Catholic Church. Furthermore he is considered as the greatest philosopher and theologian available to the Catholic Church and his services have been recognized on a number of occasions. This text will explore the ideas of Saint Thomas Aquinas within the domain of philosophy and will compare them to other more modern thinkers to gauge their standing. 2. Philosophy Saint Thomas Aquinas is considered as a Scholastic philosopher (Jordan, 2006) as well as a theologian by the thinkers who came after him. Within his life, Saint Thomas Aquinas did not consider himself to be a philosopher and was highly critical of philosophers. He considered philosophers as pagans for always â€Å"falling short of the true and proper wisdom to be found in Christian revelation† (Davies, 2004). Keeping this in context, the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas show limited reverence for Aristotle who is simply referred to as â€Å"the Philosopher† in the Summa. The majority of his works reflects on various philosophical issues and so it can be considered as a work of philosophy. As mentioned before, the ideas of Saint Thomas Aquinas have had great effect on subsequent Christian theology in general and on the Roman Catholic Church’s theology in particular. This influence has borne its mark clearl y on subsequent Western philosophy and thought in general. Through his works, Saint Thomas Aquinas has stood for change in the traditions of Aristotelianism and Neo-Platonism. Saint Thomas Aquinas penned several significant commentaries on Aristotle such as Nicomachean Ethics, On the Soul and Metaphysics. These works are associated in large part with William of Moerbeke’s translations of the works of Aristotle from Greek to Latin. 2.1. Epistemology Saint Thomas Aquinas was a staunch believer of divine help required for garnering human intellect without which he believed that human beings would remain limited in knowledge. He states (Jones, 2010): "...that for the knowledge of any truth whatsoever man needs divine help, that the intellect may be moved by God to its act." However it must be stressed that these ideas were limited to garnering further knowledge as per Saint Thomas Aquinas. On the other hand his ideas relate that human beings had an innate capacity to know various things without the need for special divine revelation. Still he contended that such divine revelation occurred from time to time (Aquinas, 2005): "...especially in regard to such (truths) as pertain to faith." Hence it may be surmised that Saint Thomas Aquinas contended that human beings knew of many things around them from innate capacity while matters pertaining to faith could only be advanced through divine revelation. However this stands in stark contrast to the ideas presented by later Western philosophers and