Visiting Forces Agreement Essay Example for Free

Visiting Forces Agreement Essay Thesis Statement: The Philippines should consider terminating its Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States before it’s too late for the government to overcome its unexpected dilemma. I.What is the RP–US Visiting Forces Agreement? a.A bilateral agreement between the between the Philippines and the United States consisting of two separate agreement documents. a.Balikatan as VFA-1 b.Balikatan as VFA-2 or the Counterpart Agreement II.There are several negative effects of â€Å"Balikatan† in the country. 1.Balikatan exercises threatened our environment and ecological resources. a.In the past Balikatan exercises, war and combat simulations which involved maneuverings and live fire exercises have caused coral reef destruction and ecological pollution. b.Dumping of toxic wastes and nuclear-powered submarines are very dangerous to the health. 2.Balikatan exercises can affect the peace and order situation in the country. a.Danger to life, honor, safety, and peace of the citizens, like what happened to Nicole (Subic Bay rape victim) and to the other Filipinos threatened since the VFA was signed. 3.Balikatan exercises can affect the industrial and agricultural sector. a.During the dangerous exercises, farmers, fisher folk and indigenous people are banned from attending crops or fishing at the seas, thus, does it affect their livelihood. III.What are other alternatives aside from recent visiting forces agreement? a.Improved the facilities and human forces by setting the international standard in military tactics. b.A new refined and version of visiting forces agreement with the US or other countries that protects the Philippine and international laws on the protection and preservation of the environment.

The role of intelligence in aviation security

The role of intelligence in aviation security According to the Centre for the Study of intelligence (A unit under the United States Central Intelligence Agency, CIA), civil aviation, unlike defence (military) aviation, has mostly been in the centre of aviation security concerns for obvious reasons (Raffel, 2007). First, civil aviation has a high-value asset (Human capital, goods, property and wealth) which makes it attractive for criminals and terrorist. Ordinarily, high value asset should not, in itself, constitute a severe security threat, but significant concentration of high value asset attracts crime (Wheeler, 2005:7). In 60s and 70s, some aircraft were hijacked in the united state solely for the purpose of collecting ransom (Poole, 2008:9). Subsequently, an increase s hijacking (for ransom) attack led to the formulation of various aviation security policies and programs especially in America and Europe. So, criminals may seek economic benefit are likely to attack an aviation unit for that reason. On the other hand, terrori st seek economic loss through massive collateral damage. But, not all aviation security attacks are economically motivated. For example, 9/11 attacked was suspected to have been a socio-politically motivated. The severity of the attached is exacerbated by the massive human loss. It can be assumed that Al-qaeda figured the human loss as part of the objectives of their attack. Another example of massive human capital loss was caused by the attacks on Rome and Vienna airport in 1985 (Raffel, 2007). Then, it may be argued that criminals ( especially terrorist) in their bid to make cynical statements and increase the severity of their attacks take advantage of the high human traffic associated with civil aviation to cause massive human loss. The CIA calls this massacre ibid. Moreover, unlike defence aviation, traditional civil aviation systems (aircraft, personnel, airports) are not intrinsically designed with self-defence mechanisms, making them prone to (frequent) attacks. Given the vu lnerability of civil aviation to security attacks, aviation security and intelligence discussion focuses on civil aviation and its complex inter-relations makes multi-perspective discourse. Aviation Security Intelligence: Information Gathering, Sharing and Analysis Combating crimes and averting potential criminal and terrorist attacks is underpinned on well-versed understanding of the goals and resources of criminal and terrorist groups. Wheeler (2005: 37-38 ) explained intelligence procedure as mainly: covert gathering of information related to criminals and terrorist, a deep and broad centralized analysis of the information and a drawing a conclusion against previously known fact about the gang ( terrorist and criminal). Doing this, security operation will not only get a foreknowledge of terrorist but also be able to predict (to a degree of accuracy) their next move. However, there is an ongoing discussion on how to best to deal with security intelligence in civil aviation which according to Raffel CIA, (2007) is drawn-out, confusing and inconclusive. One can quickly associate and gain better understanding of Raffels assertions from the analysis of civil aviation and security threats previously discussed above. The question remains clear: How do we deal with information of a proposed attack? Answering this question requires a system wide, multi-stakeholder analysis which captures the views of the passenger, regulators (government) and the airline operators. Who should know what and when? Airport and airline operators do feel that up to date and appropriate information sharing could help them plan and handle security issues. In practical sense, vigilance can help reduce (if not eliminate) security risks. But in reality, most airline and airport operator do not have access to accurate, meticulously collected and analyzed information. Mostly, the available information or intelligence are too broad that they very difficult (perhaps, impossible) to employ in a specific airport or scheduled flight. This set-back is a flaw of the data capturing process; data is acquired on an informal basis instead of an organized, process driven method (Raffel, 2007). Besides the incongruity of available information and intelligence, there is a caveat on the source of such information. Technology has made all kind of information readily available and as such the accuracy of information and credibility of the source cannot be ordinarily ascertained. This is a dilemma for information analyst , including airport security analyst. Emphasis is placed on the source: general information on the public domain and confidential and sensitive intelligence which stealthy sourced and accumulated. As expected, classified intelligence are restricted, seldom available for open propagation. Security agencies control the dissemination of such information and place a strict need-to know requirement. In a separate argument, Wheeler (2005: 33) described the inhibition of information sharing as a culture, a phenomenon which characterized every human endeavour. How then would airport and airline operator be able access the much needed information (intelligence) given the strict rules on the availability? The absence of an information sharing framework is a potential risk factor in aviation security intelligence. The contest about privacy is another issue with aviation security. In 2004, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States an inquiry on 9/11 attacks recommended that the US president determines the guideline for information sharing among government agencies, protecting the privacy of the individual of whom they share information about (Wheeler 2005: 132). Perhaps, this recommendation may have been suggested by the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) of 1980 which ensures the protection of protecting national security while also protecting the rights of the suspected individual. (Berman and Flint, 2003:3) Wheeler (2005:32) identified a missing link between information gathering and information sharing which can cause a drawback in effective policing. The covert method of gathering and analyzing intelligence requires that these two phases (information gathering and sharing) makes this interconnection necessary. Terrorist and criminals can capitalize on the difference between knowledge centres in while planning for and executing attacks on their targets. Inquiries into September 11 showed that the incidence can be blamed on the intelligence failure the government failed to make good use of prior information it had gathered and failed to utilize available information sharing framework. Misguided targeting is another weak point of intelligence gathering. Accumulating vast amount of information (of which some could be irrelevant) without exclusive suspicion will not catch terrorists and criminals instead it could make worse this Berman and Flint ( 2003:2) Critique of Aviation Security Intelligence Programs Before September 11, 2001, aviation security intelligence was cantered around baggage screening (Poole, 2008: 17; Raffel 2007). But the 9/11 attack has set up a new atmosphere: The need to identify precarious passengers (on a flight) and persons (within the perimeters of an airport) so as to nip potential attack in the bud before they are hatched. Before now, there have doubts on the effectiveness of these intelligence program (British Medical Journal 2010), increasing the outcry after the failed Christmas day bombing attack. The question is how did the terrorist (Abdul Mutallab) pass through the walls of screening? Clearly, terrorist organizations are keenly abreast of the trends of aviation security and they are in a relentlessly pursuit to circumvent it. KhaleejTimes.com (2010) claimed that the little success of Christmas day attack should be blamed on failure of human side of intelligence, suggesting the need to revisit the framework of intelligence program, if they will ever pro sper. Computer Assisted Passengers Pre-screening System (CAPPS ) CAPPS (also Computer Assisted Passengers Screening CAPS) was first introduced in 1996, by an airline, as temporary measure to assist in passengers bag screening for explosives. Over time, it was reviewed. The later version (CAPPS II) was modified to classify all passengers into various class according to a risk assessment score allotted to the passenger. CAPPS II, depending on experimental data algorithm from various database (government and commercial), has a double sided central focus: scrutinizing high-risk passengers at the same time as reducing the harassment of low risk (innocent) passengers. Like the suspended US Defences Total Information Awareness program, it is designed at profiling innocent people. Should the TSA invest so much on profiling (innocent) people who do not pose any security threat? In addition to initial public scepticism about the effectiveness of this profiling program, there is a growing debate over the appropriateness and the privacy and security risks of such systems (EPIC 2007a). In 2003, TSA started the Aviation Security Records (ASSR) an information database containing financial and transactional data as well as almost limitless data from other public and private information centre which the TSA said it will allow government, public and private entities to access the records. The unrestricted access to the database raises concern about the privacy and the security of the database. Is it possible for criminals and terrorist to obtain seemingly classified information, under false pretence? How passengers can contest and redress risk score is another missing details in the program. Secure Flight Program and the Terrorist Watch list Soon after the TSA discarded the later version Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System (CAPPS II) in August 2004, it started the Secured Flight Program which was aimed to match up passengers information contained in the Passenger Name Record (PNR) data by provided by passenger and the state maintained watch list. The program transcended beyond simply matching names on two list to a complex system of profiling persons in order to estimate the security risk which they pose (DHS, 2004). Although TSA performed test for the Secure Flight Program, the program faced some criticism which lead to its temporary suspension. According to GAO (2006), at point when the secure flight program was scheduled to commence in September 2005, it was faulted with an inconclusive risk assessment and 144 known vulnerabilities. TSA has a United State legislation backed mandate to keep a watch list of names of persons alleged to constitute a risk of air piracy or terrorism or a threat to airlines or passenger safety. The agencys watch list is categorized into two: no fly and selectee lists (EPIC, 2007). The airlines collaborate with TSA on this in that when a passenger checks in for a flight, they match the passengers identity with the record. Should the passengers name matches any on the no fly list, he or she is tagged a threat, and is refused to embark on the flight. Not only that, TSA is notified at once and a law enforcement officer is called to detain and interrogate the person. In case the persons identity is matches any name on the select list, the person is tag S and he or she receives stricter security screening. But, what if there is a case of mistaken identity when a person name is mistakenly matched with those on the watch list? Would an innocent passenger be disallowed from boarding a flight d espite his constitution guaranteed right to travel? There are Tens of thousands of application of persons seeking redress for been wrongly mismatched (EPIC, 2007b) Multi-perspective Evaluation of Aviation Security intelligence Program This section will attempt to provide an analytic and multi-dimensional view of the role of security intelligence in aviation, exploring the economic, technological and social perspectives leaving out the legal and human right issues. Economic (business) perspectives Civil aviation cannot be disconnected from business. This is self evident in that the industry is deregulated to encourage capitalists who seek profits. And the pursuit of profit is determined by the complexities of the aviation industry which include the impact of the aviation security intelligence on industrys economics that cannot be underestimated. An instance is the aftermath of September 11 which led to a down turn of aviation business. The industry recorded a steep decline of passengers booking (of about seventy four percent), several cancelled flights, reduction in route by some airline operator and consequently, loss of jobs, reduced share prices, and other business losses (Morrell and Alamdari, 2002:1). This change in the aviation business atmosphere was caused from the non-fly reaction from passengers. Passengers reaction cannot be overlooked because it is an indication that passengers (like other consumers) are capable of intelligence sourcing and sharing (Haugtvedt et al , 2004: 283) and responding based on their analysis. Whether analysis of passenger is accurate is another subject entirely. Given the extent at which technology have increase the flow of information and the loop holes in information security, one cannot assume that sensitive security information cannot (would not) slip into the hand of the passenger (that is the set of air traveller) and the consequent passengers reaction and its ripple effect on aviation business (and industry in general) cannot be predicted. There is another dimension to this: Terrorist knowing fully that passengers can react to fear factor just as they did after September 11 may explore this scenario and the weakness of existing information sharing framework to pursue an economic combat strategy simply by sparking panic within the system. Another side of the economics of aviation security intelligence is the massive and undisclosed cost of pursing an intelligence system. Poole (2008:2) argued that similar to other similar human endeavour where choices are to be made based resource constraints, aviation security is faced with the challenge of making a decision on how to invest scares resource for maximum benefit. As anticipated, this makes decision making pretty difficult, and decision are characterized with frequent trade-offs. And if such trade -offs are not properly analyzed or hinged on wrong assumptions, the eventual decision may contribute to insecurity (KhaleejTimes.com, 2010). Based on this premise, Poole (2008:2) developed a risk assessment framework for making choices as related to aviation security. Another effect of classified information is that the actual cost of aviation strategy is difficult to determine, especially if the costing model is extended to account to include themes like cost benefit analysis (Poole, 2008:3). Social perspectives Present Focus is emphasized on international flight overlooking (or disregarding the possibility) internally originated threats like those of London bombing. This leaves one to assume that some intelligence campaigns are based on prejudice and ostensible conclusions. Proponent of this view may not be entirely wrong; may not fault the assumption that international flights poses higher degree of aviation risk. Social (racial, and religious) discrimination concerns became more prominent when the United States government announced compulsory screening for all passenger from 14 countries (mostly Islamic) after the failed Christmas day bombing attempt (Zakaria, 2010). One can argue that intelligence efforts are socially biased (Persico, 2002:1472-73; Knowles and Hernandez-Murillo, 2004: 959 -60) Political perspectives Poole (2008:2) insists that changes in aviation security policies are motivated political imperatives to reassure frightened population of that the nations air space is still very safe. For example in the United State, through legislation, the government established the Transportation Security Administration- an institution with complete responsibility for the nations transportation security but a huge part of its budget is committed to aviation security as directed by legislation. In a move to increase intelligence gathering, Attorney General Ashcroft approved security (FBI) agents to attend and monitor political events and religious which might serve as hubs for terrorist activities Berman and Flint (2003 : YY), showing the an interconnect but these themes : Politics and Security Intelligence. Technological Issues: Open access Information and Biometric Data The debate on information sharing is incomplete without examining the impact of technology. One of such argument is the openness of sensitive information to the public. For instance, Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network (ALEAN) information-sharing groups supporting airports do make available information and open source material which is intended for aviation security personnel (Raffel CIA, 2007). Mindful the fact that terrorist and criminal can take advantage of the easy and open accessibility of electronic information system, the reliability of this method remains shaky. In another campaign, there is an advocacy to leverage on technology to help strengthen the various passengers profiling program through the inclusion of biometric data (KhaleejTimes.com, 2010). Biometric data are so unique so much that incidence of identity mismatch is almost unlikely (if not impossible). Although, how this new method will be adopted remains on clear, but it shows a promise of resolving some o f flaws in existing program. Summary The drawback in information sharing has rendered most aviation security intelligence initiatives less effective. The present demands for intelligence is expected to increase can become more effective information sharing. In spite of the doubts that present regime of security intelligence on the effectiveness, they are building blocks for the future of aviation security). It remains unbeatable that intelligence affects the aviation security and the aviation industry in general, and that the various intelligences actions and inactions can shape the future. This review has attempted to identify various linkages between these arguments and highlight possible path for future discourse.

The Significance of Music in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman Essays

The Significance of Music in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman     Ã‚   Human emotions are something that we seldom find a way to express clearly: from simple hand gestures, to a disgusted face. To understand his novel more thoroughly, Arthur Miller uses the most understandable method of comprehension, music, to express the emotions of the characters in his play, "Death of a Salesman". The characters, Willy, Linda, Biff, Happy, and Ben, have a certain style of music and instruments portraying them to show the reader what type of emotional person they are. The beginning of the play starts with a soft, sweet, flute medley that announces Willy’s gradual trek home from Yonkers. This slow tune of confusion ends abruptly as Willy comes home and tells of his troubles in Yonkers. This sentimental sound is heard once more during Ben’s first visit to Willy’s house. His story of father and his flute-making business sets a warm tone only to be wrecked by Ben’s action of throwing Biff, a young, curious boy, to the ground, helplessly. The final performance of this tune is heard at Willy’s sad funeral, where Linda pays her respects to her well-liked husband. Ending on a sad note, the flute appears in time of odd emotions. In the beginning of the play, a state of confu... ...illy’s funeral. Starting out a bit cheerful, the tune fades from a major key to a minor key, hence going from a merry sound to one of sadness and desperation, yet a good sound for a well-deserved tribute. Willy was a mislead salesman. He wanted the best for his boys. Joyous songs always backed up these times. But when his craving for the best turned into the worst, an unpleasant song backed it up. When Willy was confused, a medley of the two was heard. Human emotions are something we all take for granted because they are not properly understood. Music is just one of the many ways that will make these emotions understandable. The Significance of Music in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Essays The Significance of Music in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman     Ã‚   Human emotions are something that we seldom find a way to express clearly: from simple hand gestures, to a disgusted face. To understand his novel more thoroughly, Arthur Miller uses the most understandable method of comprehension, music, to express the emotions of the characters in his play, "Death of a Salesman". The characters, Willy, Linda, Biff, Happy, and Ben, have a certain style of music and instruments portraying them to show the reader what type of emotional person they are. The beginning of the play starts with a soft, sweet, flute medley that announces Willy’s gradual trek home from Yonkers. This slow tune of confusion ends abruptly as Willy comes home and tells of his troubles in Yonkers. This sentimental sound is heard once more during Ben’s first visit to Willy’s house. His story of father and his flute-making business sets a warm tone only to be wrecked by Ben’s action of throwing Biff, a young, curious boy, to the ground, helplessly. The final performance of this tune is heard at Willy’s sad funeral, where Linda pays her respects to her well-liked husband. Ending on a sad note, the flute appears in time of odd emotions. In the beginning of the play, a state of confu... ...illy’s funeral. Starting out a bit cheerful, the tune fades from a major key to a minor key, hence going from a merry sound to one of sadness and desperation, yet a good sound for a well-deserved tribute. Willy was a mislead salesman. He wanted the best for his boys. Joyous songs always backed up these times. But when his craving for the best turned into the worst, an unpleasant song backed it up. When Willy was confused, a medley of the two was heard. Human emotions are something we all take for granted because they are not properly understood. Music is just one of the many ways that will make these emotions understandable.

Post-colonialist Perceptions of Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet :: Post Colonialism Out of the Silent Planet Essays

Post-colonialist Perceptions of Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet The Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti viewed the goal of sculpting as the manipulation of a marble block until the figure within is set free. Just as a carving artist seeks to release its piece from rock, a literary artist desires his art form to be carved from an obscure idea into clear apprehension. The most beautiful of these art pieces are placed in a museum of their own right, the literary canon. A great part of literature’s beauty is the ability of the artist to present his purpose in indiscrete ways, in some degree or another, sliding his message in the literature’s elements during its construction. In an enjoyable science fiction/fantasy book, C.S. Lewis uses his own techniques to convey his feelings and attitudes as he often had in the past. With Out of the Silent Planet, Lewis reveals his acquiescence to â€Å"Post-colonialist† thought in a very hidden way. He presents a story on an alien world, navigating around a reader’s earthly par tialities to open their minds to his beliefs. Post-colonialism is a discourse draped in history. In one point in time or another, European colonialism dominated most non-European lands since the end of the Renaissance. Naturally, colonialists depicted the cultures of non-Europeans incorrectly and inferior. Traditionally, the canon has misappropriated and misrepresented these cultures, but also the Western academia has yet to teach us the valuable and basic lessons that allow true representations to develop. Partly in response, Post-colonialism arose. Though this term is a broad one, Post-colonialists generally agree on certain key principles. They understand that colonialism exploits the dominated people or country in one way or another, evoking inequalities. Examples of past inequalities include â€Å"genocide, economic exploitation, cultural decimation and political exclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Loomba 9-10). They abhor traditional colonialism but also believe that every people, through the context of their own cultures, h ave something to contribute to our understanding of human nature (Loomba 1-20). This is the theme that Lewis prescribes in his, self described, â€Å"satirical fantasy†, Out of the Silent Planet (Of Other 77). Sold in bookstores throughout the world and mostly on the â€Å"religious† shelves, C.S. Lewis is hardly recognized in the post-colonial field. But of dozens of authors that could express this discourse, there is no better suited than the British professor.

Essay --

Child labor is the employment of children, but not all work done by children should be classified as child labor that should be eliminated. Children’s participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is generally regarded as being something positive. The term â€Å"child labor† is defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful. Imagine you and I with such limited opportunities. Imagine if children like us did not know the joys of school life but rather the life of hard physical labor. Imagine if we had to struggle miles for water, work several hours a day to earn a few scraps of food that kept us barely alive. Unimaginable, yet the life of 215 million kids around the world today – child laborers. Children are engaged in the worst forms of child labor, many of them in agriculture. They use potentially dangerous machinery and tools, carry heavy loads, work long hours in extreme heat a...

Stock Market Gann

Fast Intraday – There are basically four solstice dates which Mr. Gann said are most important according to the sun based system. He also said, divide the year by octave and you will get the proof of all the natural activities happen across the year. He insisted to divide the year further by octave and you will get the proof of Human behaviors which is fluctuating throughout the year. The important dates are – 1- 21st March 2- 21st June 3- 22nd September 4- 21st December Now if we divide the year by octave we get following dates – 1- 5th May 2- 5th August – 8th November 4- 4th February Mr. Gann also said that â€Å"we use the squares of odd and even numbers to not only get the proof of markets but the cause also. † Here if we look into the Gann square of 9 diagrams we will understand that the natural squares of odd and even numbers happen to be on mid points of the four solstices. Meaning the squares of odd numbers coincidently are falling on the da te 4th February and squares of even numbers are falling on the date 5th August. The magic also lies in the mid points of the squares of odd and even numbers.The mid points do fall on yes you got it†¦ The mid point falls on 5th May and 8th November which are the outcomes of the division of year by octave. So we have a strong argument that the nature and even the Stock markets are influential under the Octave based system. Mr. Gann has said numerous times to use the 45 degree angle. Now the question arises of how he has derived this particular degree angle. The magic is the octave based system. The circle is the answer for everything in life. Take a small or big circle it has 360 degrees. Mr. Gann said that divide the circle by octave and you will get 45 degree angle.Here we are trying to connect the octave based circle with the natural year based on octave. Because from various writings Mr. Gann has said that 45 degree is important and the solstices are important to find any cha nge in undergoing trend. However, whatever he has written is in a veiled language so it is necessary to put it into actual implementation we have to decipher Mr. Gann’s writing. Considering Mr. Gann’s square of 9 structures the spiraling of numbers coincidently (any power behind this creation? ) falls on respective dates and degrees. E. g. the squares of Odd and even numbers exactly fall on the cardinal dates.Their mid point also happens to be on cardinal date. This seems to consist the hidden mathematical truth which needs to get decipher to know the exact movement of Stock Markets or any other tradable securities and commodities. Before going any further studying Mr. Gann we are about to take a ride of Gann Square of 9 as it is one of the most and foremost important structure to consider for day trading or intraday trading. Mr. Gann was consistently using and saying that the squares of Odd and Even numbers are important to decode the daily market movements. The magic also lies in the aligning of squares of Odd and even numbers.If you carefully observe the alignment of Odd and even number squares you will easily find out that they are exactly 180 degrees far from each other. E. g. the Square of 12 i. e. 144 and square of 13 i. e. 169 are exactly opposite or 180 degree far from each other. And their mid i. e. 156. 5 is exactly 90 degree far from 144 and 169. Now the question arises as to how we should put this information for actual trading of Stock Markets. Is there any fixed method we can use for intraday trading using the Gann Square of 9, then the answer is yes. However, there are certain rules to be follow while trading intraday using Gann Square of 9.Each date falling on the cardinal line is consist of a certain time period and hence is known as a time line. There are sixteen different time lines which have been created by dividing the year by octave and double octave. Now what to and how to use this time lines and different squares and num bers is the solution to the full proof plan of guessing or gauging the stock markets. The readers must accept the beauty of Square of 9 and should put to use for intraday purpose only. Because there are different techniques use for long and short term investments.

Opposite of Loneliness Essay

In the article â€Å"Opposite of loneliness† by Marina Keegan, it explains about the life of a young adult who started her adulthood in Yale University. A place she had found happiness and most certainly the opposite of loneliness. Moreover, she finds herself completely attached to it as she had said in the first paragraph â€Å"What I’m grateful and thankful to have found at Yale and what I’m scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow and leave this place†. This phrase shows us that Yale brought out the best in her, something she fears losing and that she is actually very reluctant to have to leave. She is afraid that all her memories and experiences she has gone through would be gone once she steps out of Yale. This article shows the basic development of a young adult’s social life beginning with a simple circle of friends or a clique and the attachment that became stronger as one grow fonder of the people around her which is exactly what she faces in her experience in Yale where it was mentioned in paragraph three, â€Å"Yale is full of tiny circle we pull around ourselves†. She found that even though not everyone knows everyone, there is still unity and a sense of togetherness among the students in Yale. She also added that the experienced they shared among themselves were priceless and unforgettable and that she felt safe and loved whenever in the company of her peers during her time in Yale. This article allows us to see that the writer begins to discover herself and learns to comprehend about life as she faces challenges along the way while being in Yale. The fear of knowing the truth or fear of not knowing at all is something every individual learns to adapt to however the word â€Å"fear† should never conquer a person as it would only demotivate ourselves instead f seeing the positive side of life just as she had mentioned in paragraph 4 â€Å"But let us get one thing straight: the best years of our lives are not behind us. They’re apart of us† The writer starts comparing the her past and the possible future where she wished that she could wind back time and correct her past mistakes and regrets if given the chance to. It makes us realize that in life there will be scenes playing in our minds like a 1980’s classical film in which the â€Å"What if† takes place. There are times that every individual wished they could go back in time and do something good for themselves or be a the chairperson of a certain society, things they never knew they had it in them or things they went through and it never crossed their mind that they actually did it which is exactly what she felt in herself, â€Å"I’ve looked back on my high school and thought: how did I do that? How did I work so hard? † Everybody would have their standards of living and expectations of succeeding however the article also makes us realize that no matter how perfectly we plan, we may not have the ending that we wished for. We can never be certain of what the future holds for us, however as life goes on, we understand that a human being tends to regret her decisions and change their minds ample of times which explains what she had mentioned in paragraph nine â€Å"If only I had majored in biology, if only I’d gotten involved in journalism as a freshman† The writer also shared uncertainties for what the future would hold for her. She starts comparing herself to others who have accomplished more than she has. Life is all about choices and it is these choices that she is most afraid of. The writer also stated that during her time in Yale, she never had to make any life changing choices and knows she has to start doing it once she graduated and is afraid to make the wrong choices. However, she added that however our lives turned out to be, the future is uncertain and that it can be altered at any point of our life. This can be seen when she said â€Å"What we have to remember is that we can still do anything. We can change our minds. We can start over†. At a young age especially an undergraduate student would always feel that there’s always something missing in their lives to what they’ve accomplished. However also at a young age the opportunity that lies ahead in the future is even bigger. For each expect the young adult faces in Yale University, she comes across one conclusion of her college life, loneliness was never involved however happiness, laughter and memories are definitely words to describe it. Stages by stages this article makes us understand that we as human beings should cherish each and every moment that we have and make the best out of it. Sustain it as a memory that becomes apart of you until the very end. Yes life is not a bed of roses however there’s no harm in trying to make it an enjoyable experience and ride.