Tuesday, March 17, 2020

My Values in Life

My Values in Life Values are qualities that one considers to be worthwhile and as such, act as the driving force in their lives. A person’s values take precedence over other qualities and therefore dictate the manner in which an individual may act in particular instances. In my life, I have a number of values that I hold dear.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on My Values in Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These values are as a result of my upbringing, my principles in life as well as my socialization. In this essay, I shall identify the core values that I hold and the manner in which they influence my everyday choices, actions and plans that I make. One of the educational values that are fundamental to me is achievement. This is as a result of my belief that what defines me most as a person is my determination to succeed and my desire to make a positive contribution to society through my career. Achievement is therefore one of the values that is most important to me since in today’s world, achievement and success are mostly tied together with educational success. As a result of this, I hold my educational exploits in high esteem since education is one of the avenues where one’s determination leads to quantifiable success. I greatly value close relationships with my friends and constantly seek to cement the same. This is because good friends can assist one achieve his/her goals in life and can sometimes even be closer than family. For this reason, I invest a lot of time and effort in my close friends. I make it a priority to be a part of the significant moments in my friends’ lives such as their birthdays, wedding days and even baby christening ceremonies. In addition to this, I always ensure that I inquire as to their well beings periodically. Growth and personal development for me is a very fundamental value and its importance in my life cannot be understated. It is my believe tha t my life is not worth much if I do not strive to constantly improve on my achievements as well as in becoming a better person. This value of personal grown and development greatly impacts on my day to day living especially when it comes to establishing new relations. It is generally my rule that if a new relation will not add any value to my life, then I should not waste my time exploring it. One of the constant realities in human life is that we will always be surrounded by needy people. As such, on a social level, I always strive to give my services to the less fortunate. In my opinion, a life well lived is one that is lived in such a way that it makes a difference to someone else’s life. This is the philosophy with which I have led my life up to this point and at all times, I try to make a difference in the lives of the people that surround me. Helping other people is therefore a value that I value not only in myself but also in other people. While modern day living has s omewhat lead to a degradation of the value of family from what it used to be in gone years, I still hold the value of family to be very important in my life. To me, one’s family members are the ones who will stand by you no matter the situation and encourage you through life’s troubles.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More While I reckon that family may not always be supportive or as ideal as I envision it, in my experience my family is closely knit and always stands up for me. I therefore always have my family in mind when making my decisions and consider how my actions will affect them. In addition to this, I try seek guidance from members of the family who are more experienced than I am before making monumental decisions in my life. It has been argued that honest men and women are a dying breed. This statement holds true in our capitalistic society where profits and personal gains are the primary objectives. The means by which one goes to achieve success is often overlooked and as such, the ends justify the means. Even in the midst of such an environment, I still hold honesty as one of my core values. Without a doubt, this is mostly as a result of my upbringing whereby honest was applauded and dishonesty shunned. Also, I have come to realize that when one achieves success though honesty, the level of satisfaction that comes with it is truly unrivaled by any other feeling. Owing to my upbringing, I have a huge regard for religion. As such, one of my spiritual values is engaging myself in some religious organization. While it is true that most of my religious values are as a result of my upbringing, I have over time come to embrace them as my own and therefore make it my personal duty to be actively involved in my religious organization. To me, this brings about a sense of balance and helps me be more reflective and appreciative in my life. My religious values impact on my decision making since I try not to make choices which are contrary to my religious beliefs. In this paper, I have identified some of the values that I hold dear to me. I have also identified how this values impact on the choices that I make as well the actions that I take. From this deep exploration of my values, I have come to the realization that my values greatly dictate how I treat the people around me as well as how I prioritize on matters. I believe that as a result of my values, I strive harder to achieve the things that I want in life and as such, I am a better person as a result of them.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

How to Ask Politely Where the Bathroom Is in French

How to Ask Politely Where the Bathroom Is in French Ah la la, this is always a difficult question. Because on top of possibly sounding impolite in French,  you could also end up sounding  totally ridiculous. If you want to ask, Where is the bathroom, and you  go for a literal translation, youd ask,  Oà ¹ est la salle de bains? The problem is la salle de bains  is the room where the bath or shower is. Often the toilet  is  in a separate room. Imagine the puzzled look on your French hosts when they try to figure out why on earth you want to take a shower in their home. Ideally, if things are done properly, your hosts should have discreetly pointed out the bathroom after they took your coat and guided you into the house. Oà ¹ Sont  les Toilettes, S’il te  Plaà ®t? But if that didnt happen, the correct question would be,  Oà ¹ sont  les toilettes, s’il te  plaà ®t? if you are saying tu to your host. Note that the term les toilettes  referring to the bathroom is  always plural. You may also use the word les cabinets.  If you do, youd say, Oà ¹ sont les cabinets, sil te plaà ®t, but its a bit old-fashioned. If the evening is  super formal, you may say something like, Oà ¹ puis-je me rafraà ®chir? (Where may I freshen up?), but talking like that is quite snobbish. And anyway, everybody knows where youre going and what youll be doing once you get there. Also remember that we never say, â€Å"Take your time† in this kind of situation, which always makes me laugh.   At a Dinner Party, Be Discreet If youve gone to this house for a dinner party, keep in mind that you are not supposed to leave the dinner table...and dinner may last for hours. If you absolutely have to use the bathroom, time your exit well, for example, not just before a new course is brought in. It could be at the end of a course since the French dont remove the empty plates right away; just leave the table as discreetly as you can. You may say a soft, â€Å"Veuillez m’excuser† (Please excuse me), but its not at all necessary. And by all means, don’t say where youre going. Everybody knows. At a Restaurant or Cafà ©, Be Polite and Use Vous If youre in a restaurant or a cafà ©, its the same question. You will, of course, be using vous: Oà ¹ sont les toilettes, sil vous plaà ®t? In big cities, you often need to be a customer to use the restroom. If its a big Parisian cafà © with a terrace, walk in, look for the signs, and just go in. If its a smaller place, smile a lot and politely say: Excusez moi. Je suis vraiment dà ©solà ©e, mais est-ce que je peux utiliser vos toilettes, sil vous plaà ®t? Only in a very touristic place would you have a problem. Then, either order and pay for a coffee at the bar (even if you dont drink it) or go to the nearest public toilets. To navigate the niceties of French toilets youll need to learn how French toilets work. For instance, do you know what those weird buttons are on a French toilet?  And make sure you learn all you can about using a public toilet in France  to  avoid a nasty surprise!