A Close Up On Financial Derivatives And Ethics Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2088 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? This financial term is draw from the word derive which indicates to get or obtain something so in other words we can say that: It is a financial instrument that has value determined by the future price if something else. It is something like a bet on future price of a product. Derivative is an agreement among two parties in which value of anything is speculated by comparing it to the value of another agreement already done and same like that. It is speculation of future. To understand the derivatives two things are more important. First of all that it is a contract which is based on primary contract whereas secondly its values are obtained from initial agreement which are done before from that? Therefore the worth of derivatives does not remain same because these are linked to the fundamental agreement. So we can say that it is a contract in which a person guesses the value of a thing for future by analysing its past worth. Historical background Th e history of this phrase is very old as Aristotle discussed in his book politics The story of Thales of millet who was a good analyst of weather. Thales borrowed the pressers of Olives because he analysed that as next crop will give a good product. He hired all pressers in a little price at time of harvest. The crop of olives was copious and now everybody has desired to borrow the presser but as the Thales has all right reserved so it is impossible to get for anyone. Aristotle wants to tell in this story that it does not matter that the good thinker is a good business man but as it is a good example can be considered for derivatives. Thales spent a small money as he didnt buy the presser just buy their rights only to use them. It is due to his speculation that he spent a bit and its profit was a massive amount. So he had taken a good risk by his speculation. So it is resulted that the major element of derivatives are a small investment, massive profit and have a good knowledge fo r that thing and a good speculation power for future. In this example we have just seen the single part of derivatives which is speculation whereas the major purpose of derivatives is Hedging. At this time derivatives perform as an assurance device. As here we can give the example of farmer who didnt know about the weather conditions and fully depends on God and sells his corps fine earlier than definite occasion of harvesting and transfer all the threats towards purchaser. Purchaser gives the money to cultivator so he gets less money but his all risks are finished. As according to the history of derivatives we examined that it is started off cultivation sector. That people make contracts for next year harvest on the value of its previous years. First actual financial derivative was started in 1970 in Chicago Future Market by making contracts with US government. And in 90s fiscal destabilises, improvement into equipment and knowledge of goods has given a turn to derivatives in to economic achievement stories. And now according to IMF report; Derivatives engage as much money as, North America, Japan, and 15 EU member countries combined assets of the banks, bonds and equities. The importance of derivatives is increasing in the global market day by day because you can ensure through it circle of money and prices of things around the world in just a minutes. Therefore now the derivatives have control over the economic strategies of the countries. After this discussion now it will be easy for us to express our topic that; Speculators can generate a massive wealth from derivatives but it is unethical. Now there are some words bearing great importance. Every business man has a great opportunity in the whole world in making decision due to financial derivatives. It doesnt matter that business man is a new person or an expert business man; Derivatives affects all the decisions either speculated or other factors. Usually In all dealings it is exam ined that there is a relationship who points out trust level and beliefs between the participants. And it may be getting several years to make the transaction trouble-free. Trading home status is able to obtain profit as well as benefit of such events. Simply if a company which is recognized many years ago on Wall Street might effortlessly control its complements to do business whereas it is difficult for a new business man to do so, not easy for him to get such advantages. Derivatives have different categories according to their significance, as here is a good example of comparison between Wall Street blue chip products and African Markey coffee business. So we can see that Wall Street market should be more experienced than the other one due to its electronic media and proficiencies. Ethics and financial derivatives Unpreserved food or products is also another aspect that makes fast the decision making which has increased the chance of error as such product are compared to st rong material. Another issue which effect the decision making that is market itself. Famous markets of developed countries like Dow Jones, FTSE as well Wall Street grasp a bleak difference as compared to less famous markets of developing states like Dalal Street Mumbai and KSE Karachi. Competition between such markets is like as a world champion team is playing with the learner team. The result must be in favour of world champion. We can see the example of UK group of trader which has a good business in London Stock Exchange in 1996 he had invested in KSE Pakistan. In few days they generated unexpected increase in the shares prices. They misplaced by massive profit while such shares were sold to the public, leaving them behind watching their investment going down. There are different type of derivatives like Vanilla derivatives are uncomplicated plus very familiar, and exotic derivatives are very difficult and hard. Here we described a number of derivatives but now we discuss the et hics. That now ethically derivatives are standing where? The meaning of word ethics as described in Oxford Dictionary are, a moral principle of frame work, moral principle, and discussion of these. In common words ethics is a term which discuss with morality in every business we take the constituent of greediness and profit, we speculate about profit. Hazel case It seems that there is no need of explanation about ethics that whether it is ethical or not. To explain this we have to overview of some case laws. Here the Hazel case is the most prominent case about ethics in which court decided that It is against the morality and ethics to invest public money without authorization form the public or relevant authorised body. In this case The Hammersmith council has developed a capital fund except a definite ruling and no report was given to the members about actions. And council had also not got the members in confidence. It has to face a great loss. Mrs Margret Thatcher P M of UK increased the profits rates triggering off that raised the problems of council. Judge Sir Stephen brown decided that action of council is totally illegal and unethical. He expressed in his decision that public authorities has not right to enter in business of interest rates exchanges or linked dealings. He also express that his decision is not just for this case but also any other trade or business action in which a public authority involved itself for profit. The case was triggered off as the council had the council had an important along with confidential through community. Any institution like bank which is involved unethically to guide and persuade the council for such wicked achievement, the situation become very wrong. Westdeutsche landsman vs. Islington council This case has also a great importance in derivatives first this case is viewed according to Hazel case and later on decided with a different way. In Westdeutche landsman vs. Islington council case plainti ff (bank) made a profit rate exchange by council for a ten years contract. The deal was done is such a way that bank will pay the interest to council after every six month. It was estimated that 25 m pound is total amount which is fixed rate interest to payable by bank between the parties and 2.5 m pounds furthermore compensated through bank in contract. Now the bank entered into an equivalent swop deal with Kleinwort Benson towards evade its probable economic compulsions. And making the excuse of Hazel case council closed to pay the bank. The bank took authorized action to ask on behalf of refund of 2.5 million by interest. Judge decided that; There had been no consideration for later amount that the fund, under a parallel swap transaction provided by the bank and due to non-payment the bank began to be out of pocket. Many legal issues were different in both this and Hazel case but we cannot overemphasize the direct impact of Hazel decision on this case. Indeed councils decision to stop payment to bank was based on Hazels decision. Similarly Hazel also provides the principle and guideline for the public bodies regarding use of interest rate swap contracts. The court was mindful of Hazel case while dealing the Westdeutsche case. Control on derivatives Now the question arises that can we stop derivatives or not, so after all this discussion as we examined it is impossible to stop the derivates but adopting the following the following methods derivates can be controlled. As funds competence trading limit, release announcement, apply firm restrictions over total, assets which communal organizations be able to drop reverse in the direction of derivatives. It might be useful to control the derivatives. In the same way there is a need to impose limits over business to control the extreme reliability inside market. This method is adopted in Newyork stock exchange since 1987 and is very helpful to control the derivatives Conclusion In US and UK as we st udied both the countries have some types of fiscal mechanisms about which we can say that these are unsafe other their more forms are very useful and have a capability to stop all the risks involved. Their governments are spending a large budget to reduce such threats and to discriminate those thoughts which are promoting by the banks. While this is a reality that there are a number of derivatives which cannot be stopped by them. The major ethics problem which is facing by nonfinancial corporations is that they have to complete that by courage. Either this instrument is helpful or not and by using this derivative can we complete our task or not. Is it useful to remove the risks or not. These are basic issues which are the major discussion topic of banks and companies, but the derivative must be forced with the help of skilled experts, also they must have a good awareness about unethical grounds of economic instruments. Now the latest examples of derivatives are huge debit of Royal B ank of Scotland and fall down of Lehman Brothers which cannot be ignored. The utilization as well as position of derivatives with full-size guns because it seems simple motivates the investors to invest their capital into market. As I concluded it should be the responsibility of government to establish a good protective system to keep away from the bribery as well as hazardous results for shareholders. So now it is clear to us that derivatives may moral for the companies as well for banks particularly if the companies have no awareness about business procedure and activities or unknown status in the market. These financial instruments are confusing and destroying honesty of established and well known companies. Government should impose the restriction on such financial derivatives and should be bound them up to traders only and they should have no access to public sector. If this is imposed by the government it would have a great positive effect on public society. Lord Anker says th at; Local authorities should try to minimize the risk, Similarly Lord Templman said that; as local authorities are not allowed to borrow foreign currency without the authorization of treasury so they cannot carry out swap transaction. So to sum up we can say that through these financial derivatives speculators can generate massive amount of money but derivatives fall far from ethics, especially public bodies are not allowed to invest on their own the public money on basis of speculation. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Close Up On Financial Derivatives And Ethics Finance Essay" essay for you Create order

Use a Function as a Parameter in Another Function

In Delphi, procedural types (method pointers) allow you to treat procedures and functions as values that can be assigned to variables or passed to other procedures and functions. Heres how to call a function (or procedure) as a parameter of another function (or procedure) : Declare the function (or procedure) that will be used as a parameter. In the example below, this is TFunctionParameter.Define a function that will accept another function as a parameter. In the example below this is DynamicFunction type   Ã‚   TFunctionParameter function(const value : integer) : string;...function One(const value : integer) : string;begin   Ã‚   result : IntToStr(value) ; end;function Two(const value : integer) : string;begin   Ã‚   result : IntToStr(2 * value) ; end;function DynamicFunction(f : TFunctionParameter) : string;begin   Ã‚   result : f(2006) ; end;...//Example usage: var   Ã‚   s : string; begin   Ã‚   s : DynamicFunction(One) ;   Ã‚   ShowMessage(s) ; //will display 2006   Ã‚   s : DynamicFunction(Two) ;   Ã‚   ShowMessage(s) ; // will display 4012end; Important Notes Of course, you decide on the signature of the TFunctionParameter: whether it is a procedure or a function, how many parameters does it take, etc.If TFunctionParameter is a method (of an instance object) you need to add the words of object to the procedural type name, as in:TFunctionParameter function(const value : integer) : string of object;If you expect nil to be specified as the f parameter, you should test for this using the Assigned function.Fixing the Incompatible type: method pointer and regular procedure

Animal Histology Free Essays

Where do granular WBCs come from? Granulopoiesis – formation of granular leukocytes (WBCs) This process occurs in bone marrow along side erythropoiesis with each type (eosinophil, basophil, neutrophil) going through its own pathway. Two processes take place simultaneously: (1) nuclei condense to adult form (bi-lobed, multi-lobed, etc) and (2) the cell begins to synthesize and collect its specific granule population. I. We will write a custom essay sample on Animal Histology or any similar topic only for you Order Now Start with CFU-S WBC 1. Begin with: promyelocyte (big committed stem cell which commits right away to become either a neutrophilic myelocyte, basophilic myelocyte, or eosinophile myeocyte) a. Myelocytes have a begun nuclear changes, possessing a round nucleus or one that is flatten on one side. The cytoplasm shows a minimum of specific granules (eosinophilic or basophilic or azurophilic) 2. Metamyelocyte (MM) b. Metamyelocytes have begun nuclear indentation (horseshoe shaped to mature morphology) and an increase in specific granules 3. Stab Cells ***EXCLUSIVE ONLY TO NEUTROPHILS*** c. Stab Cells or Band Metamyelocytes are unique to the neutrophil lineage. These cells, approximately the size of mature PMNs have a deep horseshoe or ring-like morphology to their nuclei . Adult Cells final nuclear morphology + specific granules – occur in bone marrow next to developing RBC II. Back in Circulation, last type of WBC: Agranular WBC A. Monocyte a. 2-8% WBC b. LANDMARK: largest circulating WBC 15-20 micron dm (3-4X RBC) c. Nucleus: irregular shaped or horseshoe shape BUT UNLIKE STAB CELLS monocytes are seen in circulation while stab cells are found only in bone marrow d. Pr ecursor to LCT macrophages B. Lymphocyte e. 2nd most common WBC (after neutrophils) 30% WBC f. Dm: 8-10 micron (about a RBC) g. Nucleus fills cell, leaving a royal blue rim of cytoplasm h. Fxn: produce antibodies, secretory cell, has lost of rER, lots of ribosomes, therefore basophilic staining Components of the Circulatory System The circulatory system includes both the blood vascular system and the lymph vascular system. The blood vascular system includes the heart, arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules, and veins. A. Intro to the System a. Pump = heart; in reality 2 pumps sitting side by side: (1) the pulmonary circuit and (2) the systematic circuit i. ight half of the heart pumps blood into the pulmonary circuit via the pulmonary artery to the lungs and back to the heart via the pulmonary vein ii. left half of heart then pumps the oxygenated blood into the systematic circuit via the Aorta. In the systemic capillaries oxygen and nutrients leave the blood and waste materials (i. e. CO2) picked up and returned to the heart b. Arteries iii. Decrease in size to arterioles iv. Strong-walled tubes and are d istribution system; decide who gets how much c. Arterioles terminate in capillaries v. Capillaries are organized in beds vi. Site of exchange between blood and tissue d. Return to heart via venules, then small veins, then veins, and finally the heart vii. Pulmonary vein enters left heart, vena cava comes to right I. Arteries In general, three types of arteries are found in the body: (1) Elastic Arteries, (2) Muscular Arteries, and (3) Arterioles. All three types are composed of three coats or tunics: (1) tunica intima (inner most), (2) tunica media (middle), and (3) adventitia (outer most). A. Muscular Arteries a. Most common type of artery . Distributing system: where to send blood and controls Blood Pressure (use muscular layer to control lumen size) c. Composition: i. tunica intima: composed of an inner endothelial lining sitting on an elastic lamina ii. tunica media: the thickest layer, is composed of spiral smooth muscle cells held together by elastic fibers and an encircling elastic lamina iii. tunica adventitia: composed of fibroelastic connective tissue, with m uch of its elastic component contributing to the make up of the elastic lamina surrounding the media. 1. This layer can be as thick as to 2/3 of that of the media 2. Collagen plus biggest ccn of elastin in muscular arteries, gives recoil ability B. Elastic Artery d. Exit vessels of the heart (pulmonary artery and aorta) e. Gives diastolic number of BP f. Composition: iv. Intima: much thicker (20%) due to increased elastin v. Media: MAJOR DIFFERENCE increased amount of elastic fibers arranged in concentric laminae plus some smooth muscle vi. Adventitia: similar to the muscular artery, except being much thinner, less elastin and more collagen to restrict overexpansion C. Arteriole g. Pressure reducers, don’t want blood to come surging into capillaries h. Composition: contain the same three tunicas, but each is greatly reduced. The intima consist of an endothelium on a basement lamina; the media contains only three layers of smooth muscle cells; and the adventitia thin II. Capillaries in the Body Capillaries are the thinnest walled of all the blood vessels and represent the site of gas and nutrient exchange in the systemic circulatory system. A capillary is composed of endothelial cells, surrounded by a basement membrane A. Continuous Cap (Rare) . Part of any time of blood barrier b. At places you don’t want leaks ex brain c. Sealed with zonula occludens (tight jxns) B. Fenestrated Cap (Most common) d. Riddled with pores to allow exchange e. Produces transudate- maintains osmotic homeostasis (composed of water and ions) f. Exudate: what you make when not normal (water, ions, proteins, cells) Note: Exudate = water + ions + proteins + cell s = infections III. Venus System (Return to the heart System) A. Venules a. Capillaries plus extra layers of pericytes b. Collecting venule wrapped in CT (T. dventia) c. Pericytes turn to smooth muscle (T. media) B. Veins d. T. intimia: no elastin lamina thus NO RIBBON CANDY e. T media: thin layer of muscle f. T adventia: thickest layer g. Veins carry bad oxygen poor blood, the media and adventitia cells are supplied with a separate vascular system. These vessels are called the vaso vasorum and are also found in the walls of large arteries (in T. adventia/T media) h. Veins have valves to prevent blood from backflowing i. Leaflet valves- infolding of the tunica intima ii. Abnormal: varicose veins How to cite Animal Histology, Papers

A Time to Kill free essay sample

I want to tell you a story. Im going to ask you all to close your eyes while I tell you the story. I want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to yourselves†¦. Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood, left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. â€Å"Now imagine shes white! † (Schumacher, 1996) In the 1996 release of his film A Time to Kill, film director Joel Schumacher submits a formidable adaptation of John Grishams 1989 legal thriller novel of the same name. The film’s plot, set in the Deep South (Mississippi) involves the rape of a young black girl and the arrest of white rapists responsible and their subsequent murder by the girls father. The remainder of the film then focuses on the trial of the killer, who surprisingly chooses a young unheralded white male lawyer to defend him. At issue are several questions, to be approached and responded to from the Christian tradition. The questions are as follows: 1. Why does Carl Lee take the law into his own hands? 2. Why does Jake take Carl Lee’s case? 3. Jake indicates to Carl Lee that they are friends. Carl Lee corrects him quickly. What is Carl Lee’s rationale? Race, defensibility, access to resources 4. Explain the impact of the 2 psychologists’ testimony. 5. Explain the impact of the deputy who was shot during Carl Lee’s revenge. 6. Why is Jake’s closing argument so effective? What type of strategy is he using? 7. Why does Jake bring his family to Carl Lee’s party at the end of the movie? My summation is as follows: (1)Carl Lee decides to take up arms once he is confident that the violators of his daughter would likely walk free or receive light punitive sentences for their vicious assault. Quite frankly, while his lawyer vies to go for he insanity defense, Carl Lee informs all that he, in fact, was not insane during commission of the murders. What is clear is that, due to the racial climate, Carl Lee felt that ‘justice’ could only be served in this instance †¦ if he meted it out himself as prejudice would surely veil justice as it had many times over. â€Å"Yes, they deserved to die – and I hope they burn in hell† (Schumacher, 1996) is Carl Lee’s response when asked what would’ve been a fair sentence to those that nearly fatally assaults his daughter. (2)It is my opinion that Jake takes on the case of Carl Lee due to several factors. My first notion is that he felt as if he and Carl Lee were ‘neighbors’, as Carl Lee’s brother had previously been helped by the lawyer; not to mention that both men had daughters that were practically the same age. Moreover, while Jake was fully aware of the practical possibility of the rapists ‘getting off easy’, he realized that racial prejudice within the law was unjust. He seemed to relate to and understand Carl Lee’s plight and providing a good defense was ultimately the ‘right thing to do’. (3)While meeting his client in jail, Jake makes the naive mistake of referring to Carl Lee as a friend. Understandably so, Carl Lee takes offense to such a characterization as he reminds the counselor that he had never visited the home of this ‘so-called’ friend and also that their girls (while peers) would never have the opportunity to play together. Carl Lee goes on to dispute Jake’s naive approach to race relations in the South and informs him (Jake) that he is, in fact, ‘the enemy’. Carl Lee grabs his assessment of their relationship primarily due to his pragmatic world view. He was Black and Jake was white. More importantly to Carl Lee was that the jury, which held his life in their hands, would also be lily-white. Jake was not chosen for representation due to friendship or otherwise; but, simply because he would be in a better position to understand what would be needed to convince white people to view the world (and thus his situation and/or circumstance) differently. Carl Lee would add, â€Å"You are my secret weapon because you are one of the bad guys. You dont mean to be but you are. Its how you was raised†. (Schumacher, 1996) (4)On the witness stand, during the trial of Carl Lee, there was expert testimony from separate and distinct psychologists’. The one, a Dr. Rodeheaver, the more impressionable of the two, was an agent of the State. Dr. Rodeheaver’s testimony, while definitely stirring, seemed to shed light on civil injustices used to finance the State’s mental institutions. This testimony, which ordinarily would have been discredited, , was seemingly taken with a ‘grain of salt’ by the all-white jury who did not think outside of the black/white dichotomy. Another psychologist, presented as a ‘defense’ expert would wound up hurting his own cause as he was exposed as a drunken ‘has-been’ bearing no confidence and even less self respect. (5)While carrying out what he surely felt was ‘justice’, Carl Lee (father of the assaulted child) mistakenly shot a town deputy. This deputy, who had to undergo an amputation due to Carl Lee’s recklessness, proclaimed to the jury, the judge and the world, â€Å"I got a little girl. Somebody rapes her, hes a dead dog. Ill blow him away just like Carl Lee did†. (Schumacher, 1996) Deputy Looney goes on to command the jury to â€Å"turn him loose† regarding Carl Lee’s future. The impact of Looney’s testimony, I felt, was a breakthrough in the case as ‘finally’, it seemed that a white face (and one that was nearly killed by the gunfire) was relating to the injustice prevalent in Deep Southern courthouses. Whether proximity or empathy, Deputy Looney’s testimony certainly opened eyes in the courtroom and the viewing audience; it actually got the jury to thinking†¦. †what would I have done, IF I were Carl Lee†? (6)During the movie, Jake calls on God – in the form of human resource, as he seeks advice from his debunked mentor; a former law professor who tells him, â€Å"Your job is to find justice no matter how well she hides herself. And, struggle as he may, even at one point willing to cop a plea, Jake throws all caution to the wind (even at the cost of losing his everything) to find the truth. In his closing statement to the jury, he states, â€Å"I set out to prove a black man could receive a fair trial in the south, that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. Thats not the truth, because the eyes of the law are human eyes yours and mine and until we can see each other as equals, justice is never going to be evenhanded. It will remain nothing more than a reflection of our own prejudices, so until that day we have a duty under God to seek the truth, not with our eyes and not with our minds where fear and hate turn commonality into prejudice, but with our hearts where we dont know better. (Schumacher, 1996) As denoted in this paper’s opening quote, Jake Brigance uses the juror’s own hearts to free their souls. Having been primed by Deputy Looney, the jury (and the viewing audience) finally is able to realize their own veiled prejudices; and, it is this ‘affect’ that brings warmness to all witnessing Jake’s rhetorical deliverance. Whet her we would have done as Carl Lee did, we now could definitely ‘feel’ what he must have felt as an (excluded) individual seeking justice. (7)The last scene of the film brings the point of community to the forefront. By inducing inclusion into the hearts and minds of the all-white jury, Jake is able to obtain a ‘not guilty’ verdict. Just like in a Rocky movie, viewers were cheering the underdog on by film’s end. Naive in his approach†¦. inexperienced in matters he’d just overcome, Jake (victorious, acclaimed and relieved) sought to validate his sincerity by visiting Carl Lee’s home. As mentioned, while fully aware of the social climate (as it pertained to race), Jake had and still remained an idealist – seeing a world without racial walls. The world had showed him a different reality; yet, still, ever the dreamer, Jake was insistent. If he and Carl Lee weren’t â€Å"friends’ before, Jake saw no reason why they should not be. Moreover, according to Jake – his diluted view of race relations may have been needed to be updated – but the idealistic nature of his being (a color equal world) would need to exhibit what he envisioned. Carl Lee had once told him that their daughters would never play together. I smile as I type that †¦ Jake realized that he (as a white) would need to extend the olive branch to address the racial situation from the top-down, as opposed to the bottom-up angle he once believed. And finally, Chapter 5, Building Community (Windley-Daoust, 2008) articulates the importance of ‘community’ as a human survival tool. Specifically, it addresses Jesus’ idea of whom and/or what constitutes a ‘neighbor’ as it is mentioned that we ought to love our neighbor as ourselves. Neighbor, as it meant in the Gospel, simply means ‘all’. The subject of exclusion versus inclusion (in the sense of community) is discussed at depth within the chapter †¦ and, it is to that end that I address the question presented within the text. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"Who is excluded from a community to which you belong? Why are they excluded? How does their exclusion hurt them? How does it hurt the whole community? † (Windley-Daoust, 2008, p. 151) I actually had a struggle with answering this question because (initially) I took the inquiry personally. Having virtually no prejudices to mention, I couldn’t figure out how to answer succinctly; but after thought, the question doesn’t address me or my outlook but rather that of my community. That being said – the most ‘excluded’ of my community would have to be those that are addicted to crack cocaine. Strangely enough, those that distribute the highly-addictive substance within and throughout my community are lauded and placed on economic pedestals while those that actually use the peddled product are oft-times ostracized and detested as ‘less than’. I would suppose such an attitude is employed due to the personal (proximal) damage done by the users (i. e. , thievery, child mistreatment, uncleaniness) which cause such an position against all; yet, â€Å"the way we treat others is based on the way we view them† as elucidated in our text. Windley-Daoust, 2008, p. 151) What is lost in stereotyping ‘crack heads’ within the community is the danger of ‘pigeon-holing’ an entire segment of the population, thus depriving them and ourselves of the God-given gifts and talents that they possess. Moreover, it is not uncommon to hear people say that â€Å"once a crack head, always a crack head†; which many times will compel an individual to believe that they have little or value to add to such a huge human existence. With education and understanding (and prayer), hopefully, the community ‘at large’ will come to realize that addiction is a disease and that drug use is merely a symptom of a much larger societal ill. And, as long as ‘exclusion’ on any level exists, we (as a collective) will always fall short of reaching our human potential in the eyes of God.