Module 7 HomeworkModule 7 HomeworkSteven McCordAllied

Module 7 Homework

Module 7 Homework
Steven McCord
Allied American University

Author Note This paper was prepared for COM 120, Module 7 Homework taught by Katherine Tracy.

Part 1

My audience consists of young parents, people not so fortunate with money and people on a fixed income.

Are you nervous, anxious, or moody? Do you feel sad and often become frustrated over little things? Are you forgetful due to the fact that you have trouble keeping things straight and thinking clearly? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you are in a state of tension or pressure, which is also known as stress. Everyone experiences stress at times - adults, teenagers, and even children. Because of this, you should learn more about stress, its causes, its symptoms, its effects on our body or related disorders, and how to minimize it in your life.

In medicine, stress is a physical, chemical, or emotional development that causes strains that can lead to physical illness. In psychology, the term stress is used to refer both to heightened mental and body states and to the cause of such states. In, general, we can say that stress is your body's natural response to anything that you perceive as overwhelming, may it be positive or negative. It could be juggling too many sporting events for your children which you love, or juggling an overwhelming amount of debt.

Stress is a natural part of life, without it, you would lose your energy for living. Too much or too little of it will limit your effectiveness, so it is important to find your optimal level of stress - the balance at which you are most motivated. Excessive stress hinders your relationships at home, in school, and even at work. It also reduces your liveliness and energy resources that could be used for enjoyment. Aside from this, you can also become negatively influenced in your attitudes and feelings about yourself. In addition, medical research estimates that as much as ninety percent of illnesses, disorders, and diseases are stress-related. According to the United States Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, "Eighty-three percent of deaths for adults between the age of twenty-one and thirty-five are a result of stress.

Stress symptoms may be affecting your health, even though you might not realize it. You may think illness is to blame for that nagging headache, your frequent insomnia or your decreased productivity at work. But stress may actually be the culprit. Indeed, stress symptoms can affect your body, your thoughts and feelings, and your behavior. Being able to recognize common stress symptoms can give you a jump on managing them. Stress that's left unchecked can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Some of the common side effects of stress include but are not limited to, head, muscle and chest pain, fatigue, sadness, social withdraw and over or under eating.

It may seem that there’s nothing you can do about stress. The bills won’t stop coming, there will never be more hours in the day, and your career and family responsibilities will always be demanding. But you have more control than you might think. In fact, the simple realization that you’re in control of your life is the foundation of stress management. Managing stress is all about taking charge: of your thoughts, emotions, schedule, and the way you deal with problems.

Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in your life. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Your true sources of stress aren’t always obvious, and it’s all too easy to overlook your own stress-inducing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Sure, you may know that you’re constantly worried about work deadlines. But maybe it’s your procrastination, rather than the actual job demands, that leads to deadline stress.

If your methods of coping with stress aren’t contributing to your greater emotional and physical health, it’s time to find healthier ones. There are many healthy ways to manage and cope with stress, but they all require change. You can either change the situation or change your reaction. When deciding which option to choose, it’s helpful to think of the four As: avoid, alter, adapt, or accept. Learn how to say “no”. Avoid people who stress you out. Weed down your to do list and stay away from anything that stress you.

Since everyone has a unique response to stress, there is no “one size fits all” solution to managing it. No single method works for everyone or in every situation, so experiment with different techniques and strategies. Focus on what makes you feel calm and in control.

It is important that we live our lives with merely a small bit of stress in it. We only live once and we don’t want to live this life so stressed out that we don’t get to enjoy it. I am 32 years old. The statement at the beginning says it all. I don’t want to stress myself into an early grave. Thank you

PART II: SHORT RESPONSE

Prompt: You will select a topic for your FACT persuasive speech. Limit the scope of your topic based on the idea that you can present the actual speech in four to seven minutes.

Description of the audience for your speech (you get to define your audience) My audience consist of room full of students and colleagues in a medical field. Most likely geriatrics (dealing with the elderly)
Topic DOCTOR ASSISTED SUICIDE SHOULD BE LEGAL
Specific purpose TO SHOW THAT IT IS NOT A TERRIBLE THOUGHT
Thesis Some people would call it murder, I call it humanity.
Question based on thesis Would you want to be in such agonizing pain that you couldn’t do anything or even explain the pain you are in?
Three to five main points

Physician-assisted suicide should be a lawful medical procedure for competent, terminally ill adults, because it is a compassionate response to relieve the suffering of dying patients. Controversy about this stems from fear that vulnerable populations may be coerced into premature death, on the one hand, and from fear that dying and helpless patients may be either abandoned or subjected to unwanted and unnecessary medical treatments, on the other hand. But would you want to be in such pain that you couldn’t speak or do anything to end it yourself? Knowing you were going to die?

In my opinion, I think it should be an option. In a workable system, the option of physician-assisted suicide would arise only after all treatment options are exhausted, the best of hospice and palliative care has failed to relieve unbearable suffering, and if a mentally competent patient continues to request assistance in dying. Then, with outside opinion concurring, a physician would be permitted to prescribe medication that the patient could use to hasten death at a time of the patient's choice. If you think about it, a 92 year old woman in a nursing home getting roxinal, is essentially being kept “comfortable” while dying. Some would say the amount of morphine is what is actually killing her.

These safeguards would preclude abuse of the handicapped, the incompetent, minorities, the elderly, or other vulnerable populations. Patient and family anxiety about future suffering and death would be reduced; care and comfort at the end of life would be improved. The individual would be able to make this most private and basic of decisions personally, without unwarranted and unnecessary intrusion by the state or religious opposition. A more rational law than the current ban on assisting a terminally ill patient who requests help in dying will extend the length of lives of those who are dying by preventing the suicide of those who will benefit from relieved suffering.

In closing I think that everyone should look a little deeper into this one. There are too many people suffering. Being kept alive at their families wishes on vents and other breathing machines. I know I would rather be dead than a vegetable the rest of my life. What about you?

PART III: SPEECH

I feel as though more and more laws are being put in place to keep us in our place all the time. I mean, I can’t even fathom the ideas I have heard going around lately about censoring our internet by order of the government. First, there are some very controversial topics that are learned about in school, how will children search for the information they need online? Will this information still be available? Second, How about protecting our first amendment? Does freedome of speech mean nothing anymore? Lastly, What about our privacy? How much farther are they going to take it? It is very possible that next they are going to bug every phone in the nation until every bad person is killed. I don’t get it. What is the point? Censoring the internet would be a huge loss for our government on too many levels.

Every individual in America has the right to read or view whatever book or magazine they choose. How should this be different from viewing the same type of material on the Internet? In fact, the same battle with censorship has happened with novels. Books such as James Joyce’s Ulysses, J. D. Salinger’s Catcher In the Rye, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have all been subjected to regulations by school “authorities” who know what is best for student morale. The Supreme Court’s reaction to the correlation between books and Internet regulation is “. . . that differences in characteristics of new media justify differences in the First Amendment standards applied to them” (Turner 30). Their reasoning process for this is correct: new problems facilitate new regulations and laws. However, new regulations contradict the Constitution’s amendments, therefore depriving individuals of their right to free speech. One might think that the government does not understand the differences between other media, such as television, and the Internet. The Internet is an interactive experience in which the user selects what he or she will view. Also, the technology of the Internet does not allow people who post information to control who receives it. Overall, the Internet is an extremely different form of media, but that fact should not subject it different censorship laws. While filters get implemented with the best of intentions, they are not a cure-all to hiding inappropriate content. For instance, in schools with a filter designed to keep out inappropriate content may not be able to access content about the book "Moby Dick," as pointed out by Mitch Wagner of Computer World. Further, if a person is trying to find information on a more controversial topic -- such as sexuality or drug use -- to educate himself, he may not be able to access the resources he needs to be as self-educated as possible.
Also, implementing a censorship system, either small scale within a facility or large scale within a government, takes time and resources. In addition to the cost of the labor and equipment required to set up a filter, firewall or other form of censorship, the system needs to be maintained, occasionally upgraded and repaired as time goes on. Whether the cost of this comes from schools, corporate budgets or government budgets, the money could be more effectively spent on more important issues, no matter what the scale.
Businesses can be negatively impacted by Internet censorship. First, they cannot be accessed by all possible consumers; especially on an international scale. Second, these businesses are unable to access the best websites and businesses for supplies and services. If a business owner can't access certain parts of the Internet, she may not be able to compete fully on a global scale, or access the best resources for products and services required.
Let’s just come to the conclusion that the censorship of the internet will cost us all money somehow, take away part of our first amendment rights and potentially lessen the educational benefits of our children. I don’t see anything good coming from it, do you?