How Did Men Deal with the Stress of World War II Essay Example for Free

How Did Men Deal with the Stress of World War II Essay The iconic â€Å"thousand-yard stare†, a far-off, unfocused gaze characteristic of soldiers who had succumbed to the trauma of war by dissociating from it, emerged with its name through the chilling photos of soldiers who were overtaken by these symptoms in the wake of World War II. It’s no surprise that war takes a toll on the psyche of all those affected by it. Given the brutality and scope of World War II, which began only 21 years after World War II (a war that had already ravaged the landscape and people of Europe leaving high estimates of the death toll at 65 million deaths), civilians and soldiers alike were engulfed in total war. As Hitler and the Nazis’ ideology was based on â€Å"A War of Extermination† fueled by a racial ideology that sought for the ethnic cleansing and complete reengineering of the social population of Europe, the massive amount of Soviet soldiers that perished as they were thrown wave after wave in order to slow the Nazi war machine, and the general cruelty that was apparent in this war, soldiers upon soldiers grew appalled by the nature of the war. As one soldier confesses in The Italian Job, â€Å"After three months, it was demoralizing†¦ it was every night, every night everybody was hunting Germans, everybody was out to kill anybody†¦ we was insane†¦ We did become like animals in the end†¦ Yes, just like rats†¦ It was far worse than the desert. You were stuck in the same place. You had nowhere to go. You didn’t get no rest, like in the desert. No sleep†¦ You never expected to see the end of it. You just forgot why you were there† (Addison 208). Often times, the amount of effort put into it and the lives sacrificed seemed to far outweigh the benefits reaped from both; Gottlob Herbert Bidderman, a German soldier that was present on the Eastern Front reflected on â€Å"the insignificance of twelve kilometers: twelve kilometers—in an endless land, where unbroken fields stretched to the horizon before us from sunrise to sunset. I wondered how many more twelve-kilometer battles lay ahead of us during our march away from the setting sun† (Bidderman 23). However, like anything that people are overexposed to, these men slowly grew accustomed to and desensitized to the trocities and horrors of the war. Human beings are naturally adaptive beings and history has shown time and time again that they do what is needed in order to survive. It would be simplistic to classify each of the nations and their armies as being uniform in their coping with the war – due to the specific nature of some of the problems and solutions that emerged from belonging to that particular nation (such as the Soviets reveling in their loyalty and the cult-like worship of Stalin and the Nazis racial ideology being one that ensured in their mind their victory), but many men, regardless of their affiliation, handled the war similarly. Some treated the time on these fronts as a long extended workday, disassociating from the acts they committed and the sights they witnessed as simply being a part of a job. Others turned to their families away from home – brothers and sisters, who through their common experiences, pains, and moments of hope, stood together in solidarity. Others turned to the bottom of a bottle to ease the pain; while others turned instead upwards to a higher power, or at the very least began to frequent religious services. Those who were not willing to look quite so loftily turned to their superiors and leaders for guidance and bravery; while in the case of the Soviet soldiers, glanced fearfully backwards as the higher-ups pushed them forward to their death. Far away from home and under harsh conditions, food and other chanced upon provisions and commodities would often serve as a best to moral. Due to the sheer breadth of stress embodied in being a soldier in any front during WWII, soldiers dealt with the immense strain in varying ways in order to keep intact their humanity, or at the very least, keep their sanity so that they could ensure their survival. There is a perception held by many idealistic, young men that war is a somewhat akin to a noble crusade. However, there is the reality is much more analogous, to as one German soldier put it â€Å"this is ten times worse than hell† (Grossman 151). A scene from the Italian Job details this hell: â€Å"some (too many, far too many) were carried in dying, with gross combinations of shattered limbs, protrusions of intestines and brain from great holes in their poor frames torn by 880millimetre shells, mortars and anti-personnel bombs. Some lay quiet and still, with legs drawn up – penetrating wounds of the abdomen. Some were carried in sitting up on the stretcher, gasping and coughing, shot through the lungs †¦ All were exhausted after being under continuous fire, and after lying in the mud for hours and days† (Addison 208). As a result, as these idealistic notions were lost, many turned to viewing the entire ordeal as a job. Having suffered through the war for some time, one soldier remarked, â€Å"You’re fighting for the skin in the line. When I was enlisted I was patriotic as hell. There’s no patriotism in the line. A boy up there 60 days in the line is in danger every minute. He ain’t fighting for patriotism† (Addison 210). Another soldier enjoyed fighting at dawn as he felt that it was almost as if he was heading off to work at the factory. Rather than consciously thinking of all of the horrors that they were witnessing on a daily basis and focusing on the fact that they could die at any moment, the concept of just doing a job provided a blanket under which these men sought to maintain control of their humanity by separating their psyches from the appalling state of being they were in. A man in an earlier war who was quoted in Addison’s book stated that â€Å"whatever its size a man’s world was his section—at most, his platoon; all that mattered to him was the one little boatload of castaways with whom he was marooned on a desert island making shift to keep off the weather and any sudden attacks by wild beast† (Addison 211). Away from their families and friends, immersed in a bloody war where hundreds upon thousands of people could die in a skirmish or battle, these soldiers could only count on each other to truly understand the situation they were currently in. Beaten and battered together, having lost many of the same friends, triumphed momentarily, or retreated hastily, this mutual understanding gave way to a support group – a family who soldiers could lean upon and secure their well being. Of this, Bidermann wrote, â€Å"Our thoughts were constantly occupied by the tenuous if not hopeless situation in which we found ourselves. We received solace only in our numbers and in being with comrades with whom we had shared so many experiences over the weeks, months, and years† (Bidermann 266). Repeatedly throughout the 3 readings, there is mention of men, whether they in the heat of battle or â€Å"relaxing† with company, being drunk. It’s no surprise as alcohol has been a means by which men have coped with their problems for thousands of years. If the problems won’t go away, the solution for some has been to drink until those problems do not register as problems anymore. As such, Holmes noted â€Å"headaches were almost universal in a theatre of war where wine and brandy were readily available† (Addison 212). Grossman ctually talks about how his battalion commander Kozlov, in the midst of battle, â€Å"withstood an attack of tanks. He was on great form and completely drunk. The tanks were thrown back in a dashing fashion† (Grossman 103). As religion has functioned as a form of comfort since the inception of civilization and the birth of religion, it was only natural for men living in depravity to come to it to relieve them of some of their burden. Subsequently, the men of the clergy were often instrumental to moral and aid. Furthermore, due to the looming possibility of death in war, the mortality of some became that much more apparent. In Bidermann’s account, he talks of a divisional chaplain named Satzger who had several times risked his life to recover wounded men. Resulting from men of the cloth like Satzger and with death looming, â€Å"many of the soldiers who had not been so inclined began to attend religious services †¦ For far too many [the chaplain] would offer the last voice of reassurance and the last vestige of comfort before they, too, succumbed to mortal wounds† (Bidermann 25). Another Catholic priest was dubbed â€Å"the rucksack priest† as he carried a field pack from which he provided troops on the front lines with simple food items that had in war become luxuries. While it may have been a spiritual solace that many received at the hands of these men of God, others attended for the sake of having a comforting and helping hand. It’s been told that leaders are supposed to lead by example. Caught in chaotic times, superior officers often functioned as beacons to rally around. In times past, great leaders such as George Washington, Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan immersed themselves in battles, showing that the best commanders do not directing them from the rear, but rather leading them in the front. A commanding officer by the name of â€Å"Captain Kendall, turned a shaky company into a passably good one by public displays of sheer guts. ‘Look at me,’ he said quietly, walking from man to man under fire. ‘They can’t hit me. Look at me’† (Addison 210). Examples like this provided moral boosts to dreary men who needed something positive to cling to. Conversely, rather than inspiring by a guiding light of bravery and courage, the Soviets were incentivized onwards by the ever-present detachments behind the troops that would shoot deserters. Grossman describes this in further detail: â€Å"Stalin’s Order No. 27 – ‘Not One Step Back’ – included the instruction to each army command to organise ‘three to five well-armed [blocking] detachments (up to two hundred men each)’ to form a second line to ‘combat cowardices’ by shooti ng down any soldier who tried to run away† (Grossman 141). As many Soviet soldiers understood the likelihood of their death in squaring off against the Nazis, the desire to flee was understandable. Stalin believed that the presence of the troops would force the Soviet troops to fight even harder. Pushed forwards, the stark realization of soldiers was expressed by Grossman: â€Å"Once you are here, there is no way out. Either you will lose your head or your legs†¦ Everyone knows that those who turn and run would be shot on the spot. This was more terrifying than the Germans† (Grossman 146). Under the constant strain of needing to ration supplies and consistently cut off from supply lines, soldiers had to make do with their limited resources. Given the treacherous nature of the constant advancement and lack of luxuries, whenever there was time to enjoy the comfort brought by certain goods that had faded away from recent recollection to distant memories, the time was relished and the goods provided relief to the men. In fact, Bidermann specifically noted several instances where his regiment and he would partake in â€Å"luxuries† that were not available to them by enjoying the spoils of war. â€Å"Two August was marked by a break in the monotonous field rations, when we boiled freshly dug potatoes in an unnamed Ukrainian village. Obserschutze Fehr had already plucked a chicken, and together with the boiled hen and potatoes we ate peeled cucumbers† (Bidermann 24). In another instance, his crew discovered a still-intact collective farm and was able to enjoy hot coffee, schmalzbrot, and sleep in small thatched-roof huts. Though seemingly commonplace to us, moments such as these provided brief relief and respite from the horrors of daily life across the theatres, and allowed soldiers to momentarily reflect on how life used to be. Constantly under an onslaught of forces that, if mishandled, could cause a man to lose his mind, soldiers used some, if not all, of the aforementioned forms to provide relief or inspiration in persevering in their struggle. Under pressure, these men had to find whatever means by which to motivate themselves to return safely home, and more so than that, return home as much themselves as before.

Beware Of Television :: essays research papers

Beware of Television It is considered that one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century—the television—completely changed the way of a person's life. Television has brought into every home a lot of information and easy-to-reach entertainment. Is its influence on the personality, family, or children positive only or is there another side of the coin? Yes, there is. A negative one. The effect of television depends not only on the content of its programs, but there are more general aspects of influence of TV viewing on intellectual activity. To make sure of that we need to look scrupulously at every aspect of this phenomenon in general, not emphasizing on the quality and content of its production.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An abundance of information pouring into a person's consciousness at a fast pace does not allow him to analyze and comprehend it properly. For example, let us make a comparison between reading and viewing. The pace of reading, clearly, depends entirely upon the reader. He may read as slowly or as rapidly as he can or wishes to read. If he does not understand something, he may stop and reread it, or go in search of elucidation before continuing. The reader can accelerate his pace when the material is easy or less than interesting, and slow down when it is difficult or enthralling. He can put down the book for a few moments and cope with his emotions without fear of losing anything. Unlike reading, the pace of the television experience cannot be controlled by the viewer; he cannot slow down a delightful program or speed up a dreary one. The images move too quickly. He cannot use his own imagination to invest the people and events portrayed on the screen with the per sonal meanings that would help him understand and resolve relationships and conflicts in his own life; he is under the power of the show creators' imagination. He becomes a passive consumer of the TV production; like drugs or alcohol, the television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state. Like an addict, he puts off other activities to spend hour after hour watching TV and finds television almost irresistible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Television affects family life. In the early sixties almost each magazine articles about television was accompanied by a photograph or illustration showing a family cozily sitting together before the television set: Dad with his arm around Mom's shoulder, children sitting around the parents.

Triple Bottom Line

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE The triple bottom line refers to an extension of the criteria used to measure organisational success. Traditionally, business success (or failure) is measured in terms of its economic performance. A business is considered to be successful if it has generated a sufficient financial return from its investments, financing activities and operating activities. The triple bottom line takes into account three criteria for assessing organisational performance; 1. economic, 2. social 3. and Environmental.The financial or economic performance of an organisation is the easiest of the three criteria to measure accurately. Traditional accounting methods take into account the inflow and outflow of resources from the business, generally including cash and finances, assets, liabilities and other easily definable business resources. The economic criteria can then be used to determine how much an organisation generates in monetary value. It can also be used to determine the net wort h of the business at a given point in time.The social performance of an organisation is somewhat more difficult to define and measure. The social criterion of the triple bottom line takes into account the impact that a business has on people within the business (employees) and people outside of the business (the community). A business applying the triple bottom line principles will act in a way that benefits the community and will ensure that people are not being exploited or endangered by the operation of the business.Social factors that should be considered include labour utilisation and wages, working conditions and contribution to community living standards. Environmental performance is concerned with a business' total impact on the natural environment. Triple bottom line organisations aim to improve the environment where feasible, or at the very least, reduce and limit their negative impact on the environment. Organisations need to look at more than just obvious environmental i ssues (like pollution) and should consider the total lifecycle impact of their products and services.Triple bottom line reporting is becoming more widespread amongst both large and small organisations. Triple bottom line reporting makes business decisions and actions more transparent and allows people to gain a thorough understanding of a business' level of corporate social responsibility. The triple bottom line report also helps manager to assess and compare their performance across all three criteria against the business objectives and long term goals. Triple Bottom Line In the 1990's, mainly due to global warming and its effects like the â€Å"ozone layer†, the world has spread the idea of the Green Movement and people started to question organisations' practices and their environmental, social and economic impacts. With this in mind, companies started to pay more attention to business sustainability in order to improve the company's reputation. The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept is a methodology that focuses on the 3 P's: People, Planet and Profit. It was first introduced by John Elkington in 1994 and has increasingly become a basis for business sustainability.Not only has the world's Green mentality influenced how companies operate but also government policies have made companies implement a different approach. Although many companies are using the TBL reporting and have reported to reduce costs due to this approach some companies avoid incorporating sustainability into their practices. As Bristol was considered the European Green Capital large and is seen as a true role model for the Green economy in Europe. This award encourages cities to improve the quality of life by taking the environment and social aspects into account in urban planning and management.It is believed that companies in Bristol have been influenced by this award to take a more sustainable approach towards the operations. This paper will review the TBL concept and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It will also include thoughts of TBL in relation to the organisation researched and its effects on its operations by linking theory to research findings. Research methods The research methods used in this report consist of field interviews to customers and employees of the chosen organisation.The interviews were conducted between the 29th of November and the 1st of December. The only sources of evidence used in this report are data collected from the conducted interview, relevant information from literature and personal experiences that were related to the topic. Literature review The Triple Bottom Line concept was first introduced by John Elkington in 1994 to expand the environmentalist agenda of those working towards sustainability so that it more explicitly incorporates a social dimension (Elkington, 2004).The triple bottom line is described as an inevitable  expansion of the environmental agenda [that] focuses corporations not just on the economic value that they add, but also on the environmental and social value that they add – or destroy (Elkington, 2004). This framework went beyond the traditional measures of profits, return on investment and shareholder value to include environmental and social dimensions (Slaper and Hall, 2011). . In addition, Savitz argues that TBL captures the essence of sustainability by measuring the impact of an organization's activities on the world including both its profitability and shareholder values and its social, human and environmental capital (Savitz, 2006).The three performan ce elements that compose TBL are social, environmental and financial variables. These are commonly to as the 3 Ps: people, planet and profits. Nevertheless, the 3Ps do not have a common unit of measure (Slaper and Hall, 2011). It is a very difficult task to put a value on social and environmental dimensions of the Triple Bottom Line. Some argue that monetizing these dimensions would be a good option as it would have a single unit of measurement but on the other hand, how could you find the correct price for extinct species?Different views on how to measure TBL has been a subject of argument since it began to be studied. The number of companies that use some kind of 3P accounting grows at an impressive rate (Tullberg, 2012). According to KPMG 70% of the top 250 companies of the world did so by 2005 (Tullberg 2012). This supports that companies are trying to achieve their goals of profit maximization and economic growth while increasing environmental and social awareness and responsib ility and also by focusing on having sustainable operations.Sustainability is defined as the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (WCED, 1987). Companies with different sizes and structures understand that having sustainable operations is extremely important and they do so by balancing the 3 dimensions of the TBL concept. Environmental sustainability is related to the reduction of the footprint left by the company on the environment. Social sustainability shifts the focus to both internal communities (i. e. , employees) and external ones (Pullman et al., 2009).In order to enhance their social reputation companies engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Fombrun, 2005). Corporate Social Responsibility requires companies to acknowledge that they should be publicly accountable not only for their financial performance but also for their social and environmental record (CBI, 2001) and, by relati ng the TBL concept to CSR, it can be suggested that companies not only need to engage in socially and environmentally responsible behaviour, but, also, that positive financial gains can be made in the process (Gimenez et al, 2012).In recent years, governments have implemented legislations that oblige companies to provide information on how they are being socially responsible. According to the UK Corporate Governance Code the board should set the company’s values and standards and ensure that its obligations to its shareholders and others are understood and met (Financial Reporting Council, 2012) and Henderson (2004) states that in the UK there is a minister that is charged of promoting CSR.These are some of many examples to show the importance given to CSR. It is not only in the UK that legislation plays a large role in investments by companies in CSR but, also, in other countries in the EU like Germany where companies where required to implement CSR updates on their reports. However, by implementing regulation that obligates companies to report on their CSR means that those that were already being sustainable will lose their competitive advantage.An UK Government report on CSR states that CSR is about companies acting voluntarily to raise performance beyond minimum legal standards (UK Government, 2004), but with the implementation of this type of legislation, companies which have been using sustainable practices for years, will have their positive brand image removed. Many may argue whether companies are actually using â€Å"real CSR practices† (Gallego-Alvarez, 2010) in a voluntary and caring way or simple not concerned at all about their social and environmental impact and only concerned about the positive brand recognition that come with CSR practices.Although, it is agreed by many sources that the concern of companies for CSR has significantly contributed to the social welfare, some, like Henderson, oppose the fact of companies accepting CSR as he believes that it is both harmful at the level of individual enterprises and in relation to the economy as a whole (Henderson, 2009). Furthermore, Eden (1994) stated that the use of sustainable development in a business orientation becomes problematic where that orientation obscures other issues and demotes environmental action to only shallow and reformist dimensions (Eden, 1994).In conclusion, the vision of sustainability has come a long way since first introduced and CSR has become an extremely important aspect of business processes and will continue to grow despite the opposition of some. Achieving Triple Bottom Line growth will be a continuing quest for many organisations but to achieve sustainable development other issues at a macroeconomic level must be addressed. The operation researched The chosen operation to research is a local community gym based at Gloucestershire Cricket Club located in one of Bristol's main roads.BS7 Gym provides a high quality exercise facility for members of the community alongside Gloucestershire cricket professionals. It is easily observable, staff and members could be easily approached and it had sufficient data for statistics to be developed. Data collected Data collection was essential for this report. By conducting interviews to both gym staff and members and observing its facilities it enables the development of statements. In order to gather relevant data the interviewing of staff was centred on TBL, CSR and the European Green Capital Award (EGCA).From the staff interview, it was possible to understand that staff had little or no knowledge about the concepts of CSR and TBL. After being briefly introduced to these concepts the interviewees were questioned about their thoughts on Bristol being awarded the EGCA. Many said that is was very positive and related this to businesses thinking about green issues and some gave examples of environmental friendly practices conducted by businesses and families. One interviewee in particular, referred to transport systems and their improvements and also the Bristol cycling campaign.The remainder of the questions concerned more about the 3 Ps. The interviewees were questioned on what the BS7 Gym was doing towards the environment and the community and what were their thoughts on this and if they could improve. The main answer was based on the individual and not on the Gym itself as they believed that they, as an individual, were doing their best to have positive impact on the People and Planet. They thought that the Gym, as a whole, was not considering their environmental sustainability as much as they consider social sustainability.After conducting observation of the Gym facilities it was very evident that the environmental sustainability measurements were not positive. Simple things like keeping the changing room light on even when they are not being used and the toilet discharge tank dripping constantly show that the gym's performance can be significantl y improved. Some interviewees mentioned that they are individually committed to being sustainable and improve on their environmental footprint. Interviews were also made to members of the Gym. These interviews were based on the members' thoughts about TBL and the gym's concerns towards the environment.Mostly every member identified social variables that can be used to measure their TBL such as, charity contributions (food bank, working with Multiple Sclerosis patients and autistic students) and providing the facilities to the local school. Moreover, gym members mentioned that the gym is constantly improving their facilities, projects and invest on innovation. Their thoughts towards this, related mainly to the gym trying to satisfy every member by providing different class types and improving their gym material. Operational benefitsAs Tullerg (2012) stated, the increase in companies that use some kind of 3 Ps, is perfectly seen in BS7 Gym. As a medium corporation they are paying more attention in being sustainable. With the charitable contribution they are improving their brand image and ,by showing their members that they are a sustainable corporation, they can increase their membership sales. Concentrating on both internal and external aspects of social sustainability (Pullman et al, 2009), will influence both the employees and the local community to be more socially sustainable.One interviewee said that he was influenced by other employees' commitment to being sustainable. Although BS7 Gym is very attentive to the social aspect of TBL they lack attention on the environmental aspect. The high level of light and water consumption shows that the higher levels of the organisational pyramid are not taking into consideration their environmental side of TBL and if they could implement timer on lights and water taps in order to reduce costs and improve the financial performance. ConclusionAs sustainability becomes a bigger issue nowadays, BS7 Gym although being a sm all to medium company with very simple business processes, it is possible to say that they have a sustainable approach towards their activities and that they embrace Triple Bottom Line in depth. Their sustainable approach has shown to improve their performance and how they are seen by the local community and their members. Their social and environmental accountability and responsibility lead them to economic growth although some adjustments and improvements can be done. Triple Bottom Line TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE The triple bottom line refers to an extension of the criteria used to measure organisational success. Traditionally, business success (or failure) is measured in terms of its economic performance. A business is considered to be successful if it has generated a sufficient financial return from its investments, financing activities and operating activities. The triple bottom line takes into account three criteria for assessing organisational performance; 1. economic, 2. social 3. and Environmental.The financial or economic performance of an organisation is the easiest of the three criteria to measure accurately. Traditional accounting methods take into account the inflow and outflow of resources from the business, generally including cash and finances, assets, liabilities and other easily definable business resources. The economic criteria can then be used to determine how much an organisation generates in monetary value. It can also be used to determine the net wort h of the business at a given point in time.The social performance of an organisation is somewhat more difficult to define and measure. The social criterion of the triple bottom line takes into account the impact that a business has on people within the business (employees) and people outside of the business (the community). A business applying the triple bottom line principles will act in a way that benefits the community and will ensure that people are not being exploited or endangered by the operation of the business.Social factors that should be considered include labour utilisation and wages, working conditions and contribution to community living standards. Environmental performance is concerned with a business' total impact on the natural environment. Triple bottom line organisations aim to improve the environment where feasible, or at the very least, reduce and limit their negative impact on the environment. Organisations need to look at more than just obvious environmental i ssues (like pollution) and should consider the total lifecycle impact of their products and services.Triple bottom line reporting is becoming more widespread amongst both large and small organisations. Triple bottom line reporting makes business decisions and actions more transparent and allows people to gain a thorough understanding of a business' level of corporate social responsibility. The triple bottom line report also helps manager to assess and compare their performance across all three criteria against the business objectives and long term goals.

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