Free Essays on Puritans

The earliest form of Puritan political correctness has greatly influenced the progression of American society. Past events have the ability to affect the reputation of the area in which they occurred throughout history. Distinguished events may become a model for future peoples. Notorious events may leave a stigma on the area. A region such as Nazi Germany is remembered today for the abhorrent Holocaust that took place there many years ago. As Germany is remembered for a certain event in the past, the Salem witch-hunt has left a dark mark in New England’s history. Paul Johnson, a historian, wrote an article for The Spectator on Puritan New England and the Salem witch-hunt. I both qualify and refute many of his ideas throughout the article. New England Puritans were led by their god to live humbly and dress modestly. They enforced their ideals in all aspects of life. Puritan society was very strict. Education was very important to those who wanted to preserve their central values. Religion was most important to the Puritans because they believed that God governed all. As Johnson states, the Salem witch-hunt was unnecessary. It is â€Å"the quintessential event of New England history†. It will forever be remembered that the witch-hunt took place there. Many innocent men and women were killed due to false accusations of witchcraft and communicating with the devil. Johnson believes that although it has been made public and discussed in politics for many years, it still remains peculiar to the region. I agree that many view the occurrence differently. Both ends of the â€Å"political spectrum† have different opinions. Some, as does Paul Johnson, believe that it was a horrible, needless event, and others belie ve that it can be justified in some ways. Today, there are also those who believe that it can be overlooked. I agree with Johnson’s statement that all will agree that it was excessive, irrational, pious, and moralistic. The Salem w... Free Essays on Puritans Free Essays on Puritans The earliest form of Puritan political correctness has greatly influenced the progression of American society. Past events have the ability to affect the reputation of the area in which they occurred throughout history. Distinguished events may become a model for future peoples. Notorious events may leave a stigma on the area. A region such as Nazi Germany is remembered today for the abhorrent Holocaust that took place there many years ago. As Germany is remembered for a certain event in the past, the Salem witch-hunt has left a dark mark in New England’s history. Paul Johnson, a historian, wrote an article for The Spectator on Puritan New England and the Salem witch-hunt. I both qualify and refute many of his ideas throughout the article. New England Puritans were led by their god to live humbly and dress modestly. They enforced their ideals in all aspects of life. Puritan society was very strict. Education was very important to those who wanted to preserve their central values. Religion was most important to the Puritans because they believed that God governed all. As Johnson states, the Salem witch-hunt was unnecessary. It is â€Å"the quintessential event of New England history†. It will forever be remembered that the witch-hunt took place there. Many innocent men and women were killed due to false accusations of witchcraft and communicating with the devil. Johnson believes that although it has been made public and discussed in politics for many years, it still remains peculiar to the region. I agree that many view the occurrence differently. Both ends of the â€Å"political spectrum† have different opinions. Some, as does Paul Johnson, believe that it was a horrible, needless event, and others belie ve that it can be justified in some ways. Today, there are also those who believe that it can be overlooked. I agree with Johnson’s statement that all will agree that it was excessive, irrational, pious, and moralistic. The Salem w... Free Essays on Puritans Man’s Deep Thoughts in Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening Robert Frost’s poem Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening is a poem that deals with the inner thoughts of a man. The speaker stops to soak in his surroundings on his way home. He begins to realize there are many beautiful things surrounding him. His thoughts begin to wander as he thinks about the snow, what the owner of the woods might think if he caught him stopping there, and what the horse thinks. The speaker of the poem stops to rest for a moment. While he is stopped, he begins to look around. He sees the snow and hears the wind: â€Å"of easy wind and downy flake† (line 12). He realizes that the woods are filling up with snow. This is a beautiful sight. The frozen lake is far from him and it is the darkest day of the whole year. As the speaker notices that the woods are filling up with snow, he begins to wonder â€Å"whose woods these are I think I know† (line1). This makes him wonder what the owner of the woods might think of his stopping out in the middle of the woods â€Å"between the woods and frozen lake† (line7). He soon reassures himself â€Å"the owner will not see me stopping here† (line 3) because his house is in the village though† (line 2). Next, he wonders what the horse thinks: â€Å"my horse must think it queer† (line 5). He is not stopped close to a farmhouse, and the only thing one can hear is the falling snow and the horse’s bells: â€Å"The horse shakes his bells to ask if there is a mistake; he gives his harness bells a shake to ask if there is some mistake†(lines 9-10). The horse is probably tired and wants to hurry home, so the stop puzzles him. The narrator stops to take in the beauty of the wintry surroundings. The whole scene that surrounds him has absolutely captivated his mind. The speaker thinks the woods are lovely, dark and deep. He also realizes that he must be on his way because he has promises to keep: â€Å"but I have pr...

How to avoid the biggest mistake in business writing

How to avoid the biggest mistake in business writing How to avoid the biggest mistake in business writing Mention writing skills to most people and they will roll their eyes before launching into a confession about how spelling/grammar/punctuation/all three have always been their weakest link. Yet, when they do, they’re missing the point. These things matter, for sure. An email full of typos or a poorly punctuated proposal will almost certainly undermine your credibility and potentially leave the people who read it confused. But there are other mistakes that can do far more harm. Chief among these is failing to focus on what your reader needs and wants. Where it all goes wrong The trouble is that too many documents and messages focus on the needs of the writer rather than the reader. This is a big mistake, although it is understandable. After all, when were writing, our primary focus is to get the job done. Think about it for a few seconds. Imagine it’s Monday morning and you’re faced with a to-do list as long as the Great Wall of China. Right at the top is a board report that you’ve been putting off for the last three weeks and it’s due in by 5pm today. Is your primary focus to (a) carefully consider the members of the board and their individual priorities or (b) get the damn thing written so you can cross it off your list and relax again? Congratulations if you picked (a). Treat yourself to a cup of tea or latte from that artisan coffee shop around the corner. You’re on your way to being a business-writing superstar and don’t need to read any further. Probably. (Maybe read on just in case.) If you picked answer (b), congratulations too – for your honesty and for being a normal human being. You vs. the deadline This is because focusing on your own priorities first is a perfectly normal survival mechanism, developed through millions of years of evolution. Our Stone Age brains find it hard to differentiate between a looming deadline and a predator outside the cave that wants to eat us for lunch. Our first instinct is therefore to run away from it (which is why you didn’t write the report three weeks ago). And, when you can no longer run away from it (remember, youve now only got until 5pm, and you’re in a cave), your natural priority will always be just to get rid of the threat. So you muster all your courage and run directly at it, focused solely on your needs (avoiding the disapproval of the boss – although admittedly thats still marginally preferable to a grisly, violent death). Unfortunately, this rarely produces the best results, at least where deadlines are concerned. (If there’s a real predator outside the cave, you’d best go deal with that and come back to this blog post later.) Maybe you finally fire up a board-report template and fill in the blanks under the standard headings. Success soon becomes a word count that rises in fits and starts. And you’re done when you’ve filled enough pages, changed the date on the default title and emailed it to the chief executive’s EA. It won’t be your best work. But don’t worry: it also won’t be in any danger of changing the status quo or standing out from the other 17 board reports that were written in similar circumstances. It will just be another one on the pile. When business writing goes bad Board members are used to struggling through sub-optimal documents that look just like all the rest. Yours will be no different. Unfortunately, it’s also unlikely to mark you out as someone who’s above average and therefore wont advance your career either. To produce something that will do both these things, you need to step into the reader’s shoes. Yet most people don’t, because they’re naturally focused on their own priorities (which is why all those reports look the same). In fact, failure to step into the reader’s shoes is not just normal but usually the chief culprit when business writing goes bad. Nor are we just talking about board reports here. It also produces customer letters or emails that alienate the customer. And it’s why so many live chat helpdesk responses end up being no help at all. Remember that instant-chat conversation with your home broadband provider that took 20 minutes to tell you what you stated in your original question? The person who did so was probably distracted by answer targets and a big, red LED display in the centre of the office showing how many customers they still needed to respond to. This failure to connect with the readers perspective is also why so many proposals to win new business start with page upon page about how great the supplier is. Believe me, the client will only care about this if she thinks you can solve her problem. So focus on her problem first, then on your solution. (Do those things well and shell reach her own conclusion about your suitability. Then its just a case of confirming that view and reassuring her by describing your experience and perhaps giving a few client testimonials.) It can also lead us to give the wrong impression in even the simplest communications. For example, a notice from a store about opening hours that just says, ‘We are closed on Wednesdays’ is stressing the negative and essentially telling customers what the store can’t do for them (ie serve them on a Wednesday). It’s also missing an opportunity to say that they’re open six days a week – including at weekends. Beat your brains default wiring But, as I say, it’s still what most of us do, because it’s how we’re wired. And, given this natural bias towards ourselves, it can take an almost superhuman level of willpower to switch your focus to the person you’re writing for or to. So what can you do? One of the best ways I know is to start by writing down what you already know about your intended reader, including what they need and want most from the exchange, as well as what they know already. In a short communication (such as an email or helpdesk response), this may well be enough to shift your mindset from its default setting. Longer documents need a bit more effort. This is partly because they’re more complex and therefore contain far more traps that can lure you back to the writer-centred mindset. And partly it’s because we tend to put off writing them, so we’re more likely to be under a lot of pressure to finish by the time we do. (In other words, we’re focused again on our needs rather than the reader’s.) The five-step solution So you need to do something to snap yourself out of this mindset. Here’s how: 1. First, download our reader-profile questionnaire here (PDF) and print it out. 2. Then complete it (with a pen, not just in your head). This will start the process of reorientation. 3. From there, plan your document, using your preferred method. (I like mind maps, as they help me to see connections that might not otherwise be obvious.) But – and this is critical – continually refer back to your completed questionnaire so that you avoid defaulting to your needs. As you plan, put a question mark alongside anything you still need to check or find out. 4. Find the answers to any of the questions in 3. This is also crucial, as you need to do most of your thinking and address any uncertainties before you start writing. 5. Then, and only then, write your document. (I’ve explained how to do this quickly here.) Note that steps 1–4 should take most of the pain out of 5. So don’t think of them as wasting time. They’ll actually save you time in the long run. You should now have a document that is much more focused on the person you’re writing for and their needs, rather than on you and yours. That person may even thank you for it. But even if they don’t, you can take comfort from the knowledge that your document now stands a very good chance of being better than the others they’re reading, which can only be a good thing. Now youve definitely earned that latte. Just make sure you still check your document for typos and spelling mistakes. Image credit: Mircea Costina / Shutterstock