Ambition Essay Example for Free

Ambition Essay Ambition is the strong desire to achieve something in life. A person without future ambition is like a relationship without trust. Having ambition requires continuous effort towards achieving it. One cannot achieve anything if one just day dreams and does nothing. My greatest ambition is to attend medical school, and become a doctor. I was inspired by my grandmother, as well as, the great passion I have in helping others. Seeing the person that one loves in agony is hard, but not being able to do something to help is even harder. I experienced something like this when my grandmother became very ill with liver cancer. She had always been a strong woman with a strong desire of helping others. But with her condition, she had to become dependent on us, something she hated. She came here to seek better medical care, because the medical care in Mexico is very poor. Her arrival brought many changes to my life; socially and mentally. I spent most of my time watching after her in the hospital and at home. The responsibility that was set on me was hard, but I enjoyed every moment, and memory that I obtain from it. That experience brought both negative and positive situations to my life, which shaped me into the person I am now. Like I said, the moments and memories spent with her are something that will stay with me forever. But, also, my overall performance at school was affected. The circumstances caused me to leave at half way through my 8th grade year. I can say now, that back in those days I cared little about school and didnt see leaving school as a big problem. But now that I have the opportunity to look back, I don’t regret the moments missed because I have the certainty that I did it for the best reasons. Seeing all the attention and help she received from doctors and nurses was the final factor that convinced me to become a doctor. My goal after I become a doctor, is to move back to Mexico to serve my country, and contribute in making medical attention better. In conclusion, planning one’s future by having an ambition that one is determine to accomplish is important. Sitting in hope that life will bring everything ones way will get one no further from where one started. And like my grandmother always use to tell me, â€Å"success consists of a series of little, daily, victories. †

Honesty VersusTruthfulness :: Definition Essay

Honesty Versus Truthfulness Honesty and simply being truthful seem, on the surface, to be one and the same concept. However, though they are closely related in definition and are in fact listed as synonyms, there are fundamental differences between the two. Truthfulness is defined as "consistently telling the truth, honest" in The American Heritage Dictionary, which also defines honesty as "the capacity or condition of being honest; integrity; trustworthiness." Honest means "not lying, cheating or taking unfair advantage." So what does that mean? The definitions are nearly identical, so one must turn to the connotations. Truthfulness is the more basic of the two, it implies, as the definition says, speaking the truth predictably. If one is truthful, one tells the truth when asked a question. One does not spread lies, and one faces reality as it is. However, it is possible to be truthful and still not be trustworthy. If someone tells everything he knows when asked the smallest question, would you want to trust that person with an important secret? Likewise, someone can be truthful and still not be lawful, or entirely in the "right." For instance, someone could be involved in something illegal, and, when asked about it, could tell the truth up to a point. The person in question would be consistently telling the truth, but it would not be the whole truth. Honesty is a somewhat more complex idea that covers a broader range of requirements. Honesty is truthful, reliable, trustworthy, and open. It encompasses the virtues of truthfulness without the gaps. Being honest implies that you are willing to tell the truth at cost of personal risk. It implies being open and truthful no matter the conditions one faces. Real honesty means telling the truth out of respect for others and for oneself. Someone who is honest does not necessarily have to be asked in order to tell the truth; it is their standard of conduct and communication. Of the two qualities, honesty is the more admirable because it is harder to both attain and maintain.

The Ethics of Enron

Reading Enron's code of ethics, on first impression, you would expect nothing but excellence from a respectable company. Their code of ethics relied heavily on effective communication, a high level of integrity, and nothing but excellence. Through this code they portrayed a business that was capable of exceeding greatness to the highest standard. This soon to be eluded fact jaded by the deception with Enron's unethical actions, which would ultimately lead to its untimely demise. Enron, at one point, was the seventh largest company within the Fortune 500. Careful accounting strategies allowed it to be listed as the seventh largest company in America, and it was expected to dominate the trading it had virtually invented in communications, power and weather securities. Instead it became the biggest corporate failure in history. Enron was formed in 1985, by Kenneth Lay, CEO. Lay graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in economics. He then went on to get his Ph.D. from the University of Houston. With his extensive background in economics, Lay began to work for Exxon Mobil, and thus began his life in the energy business. He soon began to get involved in the natural gas market, which led him to propose the idea of the deregulating energy. Lay merged his company, Houston Natural Gas, with Omaha, Nebraska's InterNorth to form Enron (Briefing 2012). In addition to traditional sales and transportation of natural gas, Enron, under Lay's direction, invested into, what at the time was, future markets. From around 1983-1987, oil prices fell drastically. Buyers of natural gas switched to newly cheap alternatives such as fuel oil. Gas producers, led by Enron, lobbied vigorously for deregulation (Briefing 2012). Once-stable gas prices began to fluctuate, spooking buyers. That's when Enron started marketing futures contracts guaranteeing a price for delivery of gas sometime in the future (Briefing 2012). The government, again lobbied by Enron and others, deregulated electricity markets over the next several years, creating a similar opportunity for Enron to trade futures in electric power. With this, Enron began to grow at a rapid pace, having their assets grow by $50 billion in the matter of a short fifteen years. Being seen as a powerful company was undermining motive that lead to Enron's one main goal that they continuously strove to achieve. Who would not enjoy having a superior image for as long as this company did. Enron, before its collapse, was one of the worlds leading electrical, natural gas, and communication companies (NPR 2012). The company, with profit of $101 billion in 2000, markets electricity and natural gas, delivers physical commodities and financial and risk management services around the world, and has developed an intelligent network platform online business (NPR 2012). However, all so called good things for Enron came to an end. Despite Enron's perceptual display of ethical standards in its transactions, social conduct, environmental and financial reports, evidence of unethical behaviors such as engaging in massive corporate fraud, misleading its investors and employees about its financial status bloated out when it collapsed in 2001. By excluding its partnerships with Chewco and Joint Energy Development Investments (JEDI) from its financial statements, Enron was able to hide its $600 million debt from the balance sheet. For about eight years, Enron used complex and unethical accounting schemes to reduce its tax payments, overstate income and profits, inflate stock price and credit rating, hide losses, transfer the company's money to themselves, and fraudulently misrepresent its financial condition in public reports. Enron Senior Management did perform a job well done until it fell apart when Enron's share price started to drop in 2000. Before Enron filed for bankruptcy protection, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) already found out these accounting irregularities where Enron clearly misled its shareholders, analysts and creditors. By the end of 2001, it left thousands of employees who have invested their savings and pensions in the company and small shareholders maintaining their investments; while members of Enron management sold their shares knowing the falling performance of the company. Enron was not protecting the interest of its stakeholders at all. Thousands of employees lost their jobs and significant amount of retirement savings, while investors were left with worthless stocks. These further affected their families and their community as a whole. Enron's scandal damaged public trust on corporate leaders. The behavior of Enron's leaders were far from the good leadership behavior we know of, where leaders should demonstrate integrity. What's worse was that, the Auditors of Enron who should have been the one to report their accounting malpractices long time before, accepted the accounting practices and remained silent. This was most probably because of the conflict of interest because these auditors earned high revenues from audit and non-audit works with Enron. In the most basic sense, lack of management integrity and the resulting impact on corporate culture was the root cause of Enron's downfall and the fundamental ethical issue. Enron's management chose ego gratification, power maximization, stakeholder deception and short-term financial gains for themselves, while destroying their personal and business reputations and hurting literally tens of thousands of stakeholders. Enron's scandal called for the need of significant change in accounting and corporate governance in the U.S. This is why the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 was introduced. It was officially signed into law july 30th, 2002 to protect investors by imporoving the reliability and accuracy of disclosures made pursuant to securities laws. Sarbanes-Oxley developed the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a private, nonprofit corporation, to ensure that financial statements are audited according to independent standards. The legislation also mandates that companies listed on stock exchanges have completely independent audit committees to oversee the relationship between the companies and their auditors. Sarbanes-Oxley further banned most personal loans to any executive officer or director, accelerated reporting of trades by insiders, and stiffened penalties for violations of securities laws. SOX is generally applicable to all companies, regardless of size, who require to file reports with the SEC. SOX established the creation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to oversee the audit of public companies that are subject to the securities laws. The PCAOB establishes auditing, quality control, ethics, independence and other standards relating to the preparation of audit reports. They are also responsible for conducting inspections of registered public accounting firms, as well as conducting investigations and disciplinary proceedings, where, justified, concerning registered public accounting firms. The Enron case will forever stand as the ultimate reflection of an era of near madness in finance, a time in the late 1990's when self-certitude and spin became a substitute for financial analysis and coherent business models. Controls broke down and management deteriorated as arrogance overrode careful judgment, allowing senior executives to blithely push aside their critics. Indeed, it could be argued that the most significant lesson from the trial had nothing to do with whether the defendants, both former Enron chief executives, committed the crimes charged in their indictments. Instead, the testimony and the documents admitted during the case painted a broad and disturbing portrait of a corporate culture poisoned by hubris, leading ultimately to a recklessness that placed the business's survival at risk. The ethical lesson that can be learned front the Enron scandal is that, no success is important enough to be achieved at the price of dishonesty and illegal activities. Not only did the scandal tarnish the reputation of Enron but it ruined the lives of the people who belonged to the name, People who have invested time and money into the company. It goes without saying, corporate values is far more important than unethically scheming in order to make profits.

Louisiana Purchase Essay - 999 Words

amp;#65279;Louisiana Purchase nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;I believe that the Louisiana Purchase was one of the greatest impacts on American society because of the large amount of land and how it helped our economy. In this report you will see how lucky that the United States is to have obtained this large piece of land from France. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Their are many reasons why Napoleon had to sell this large piece of land. Napoleon thought that this land could be a great asset to the French if they knew what to do with it. He didn’t want to sell the Louisiana territory because he still had dreams of having a French empire in America. At this point in time†¦show more content†¦With New Orleans and Florida included in the Louisiana Purchase gave the Americans many different ports for trading. This also helped the United States Navy, with all these new ports the Americans could strengthen their defense and improve the navy. At this time the French were very poor and needed the money so Jefferson knew he would get this piece of land for a very cheap price. For fifteen million dollars the United States acquired Florida, the Mississippi river, New Orleans, Rocky Mountains, sea ports , and the miles and miles of rich farmland all came with the Louisiana Purchase. All in all everything went smoothly, but there was one minor problem with this treaty. The problem was that Jefferson still did not how much land that he actually purchased. He knew it was a lot but, did not know the exact specifications or were it started and ended. Spain and the United States disputed over what land each one of them would get. The main issue in this dispute was, who would get Florida and who would get Texas. Eventually United States gave up claims to Texas so Spain could claim Texas. After Spain gained Texas they gave up claims to Florida. The United States, right away claimed Florida. All this was called the Adams Onis Treaty of 1819.This had a great a great impact on the American society. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Louisiana territory was purchased by Thomas Jefferson fromShow MoreRelatedLouisiana Purchase And The Louisiana1535 Words   |  7 Pagessignificant occurrence happened. The purchase of 827,000 square miles of land for approximately 4 cents an acre or 15 million dollars was made. This purchase was unlike any other, for it would have the most importance of any other purchase made in the United States. It is referred to as the Louisiana Purchase. The land that was purchased was known as the Louisiana Territory. Also, this territory wasn’t just bought. It was exchanged, for an important reason. The Louisiana Purchase is known as one of the mostRead MoreThe Louisiana Purchase1275 Words   |  5 PagesWhen the Louisiana Purchase was made by Thomas Jefferson in 1802, nobody in the United States knew anything about the territory. Everyone had to know more about the huge land grant that was just purchased by the U.S. People took t he challenge and went out to see the great land. Famous explorers are known for their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. Two famous explorers are known by many, Lewis and Clark. Although, there is one explorer that is less known but explored just as much area as LewisRead MoreThe Legacy Of Louisiana Purchase1286 Words   |  6 PagesLouisiana Purchase, more prominently known as an acquisition that doubled the size of the country we reside in, was much more than just a simple purchase, much less an easy one. Thomas Jefferson had to consider all the aspects, consequences, and effects that the decision of buying 2,144,500 square kilometers of land would have on the country (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 1). This purchase brought many improvements to the country, but also had unexpected consequences that would transform the countryRead MoreThe Purchase Of Louisiana Posed Essay1103 Words   |  5 PagesName: Title: Institution: Personal Responsibility The Purchase of Louisiana posed several important moral dilemmas for American President Thomas Jefferson; among these were the means of achieving Republican government states’ rights and strict constructionism which he relented. Constructionist and a strong supporter of states rights and, therefore, the action of purchasing Louisiana presented a moral dilemma, he was either to stick to his principle or compromise and save the Republican governmentRead MoreLouisiana Purchase Essay1253 Words   |  6 PagesThe Louisiana Purchase was the most influential and important land purchases in American history. The acquired land in this historical purchase proved to far outweigh what most Americans at the time could imagine. The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States, and lead to many great discoveries and societal benefits. Some of the major and most prominent ways that the Louisiana Purchase influenced the evolution of American were the expeditions of L ouis and Clark on theRead MoreThe Louisiana Purchase1215 Words   |  5 Pagessignificantly with the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase added 828,000 square miles which doubled the land area of the United States (history.com 1). The importance of the Louisiana Purchase can be best appreciated by understanding why this purchase was considered significant to the United States, why France agreed to sell such a sizable amount of land, and how the Louisiana Purchase changed the United States forever. The United States was interested in the purchase of Louisiana for a number ofRead MoreThe Louisiana Purchase By Thomas Jefferson1129 Words   |  5 Pagesthroughout the endeavor of the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase is highly regarded as the greatest achievement of American expansion since the establishment of the country. This transaction between France and America gave the necessary requirements to recover and even advance the weak U.S. economy. America paid France $15 million for an estimated 800,000 acres of land; making this the largest land deal in history. Despite the many advantages that the Louisiana Purchase had to offer, Thomas JeffersonRead MoreThe Louisiana Purchase: Unconstitutional or Not? Essay558 Words   |  3 Pagessense of public spending. In the case of the Louisiana Purchase many political figures at the time it was created, as well as historians argue whether or not it was in fact a violation of the Constitution or not. This debate is still ongoin g, but in order to analyze whether the Louisiana Purchase was unconstitutional or not, one must analyze the sequence of events leading to the acquisition of the territory by the United States. The Louisiana Purchase appeared to be the only solution to the UnitedRead MoreThe Louisiana Purchase : The United States967 Words   |  4 PagesThe Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase is one of the most important historic events in America. It changed the course of history, raising America’s rank in the world. It all began at a time where the western half of modern day America was not occupied. During the early nineteenth century, Napoleon Bonaparte had intentions to create a new French Empire in the new world. His plan was to take away America’s ability to use the Mississippi River. Thomas Jefferson, president at the time, wasRead MoreThe Louisiana Purchase Shaping America1213 Words   |  5 Pages The Louisiana Purchase shaping America Christopher Richeson East Forsyth High School Mrs. Callendar American History 4th Period December 15, 2015 Abstract The Louisiana Purchase was a major event in the growth of the United States of America. Purchased from France for 15 million by Thomas Jefferson in 1803, it gave America twice the available land, adding 827,000 square miles. Some may argue the Louisiana Purchase is unconstitutional, but Jefferson found a way around that. The