Taylor McCauslin Essays (1297 words) - Anna Quindlen, 9, Free Essays

Taylor McCauslin Essays (1297 words) - Anna Quindlen, 9, Free Essays Taylor McCauslin Nick Lakostik English 1100 3 October 2015 The Dynamic Meaning of Happiness Anna Quindlen evaluates the average American and their need for consumption in her op-ed; "Stuff is Not Salvation." She discusses the impact of various roles given to people in society on how Americans views' on possessions has changed over the years. She uses real life experiences to drive home the point that Americans are losing focus of what matters. Overall, Quindlen's view that "stuff is not salvation," could not have a more true relation to modern American ideals. I wholeheartedly agree that Americans today have a very misaligned sense of priorities with unimportant materials somehow taking control of the priority list for way too many people. Quindlen uses the high need for "real things" as a response to the apparent need Americans seem to have for buying various items. She later states that when a consumer gives in to their urge to buy items, it shadows the importance of needs that are much more severe and widespread. Quindlen then makes it known that, "For the first time this month, the number of people on food stamps will exceed the 30 million mark. Hard times offer the opportunity to ask hard questions, and one of them is the one my friend asked, staring at sweaters and shoes: why did we buy all this stuff?" (par. 8-9). This is a fantastic argument. I admit to being guilty of asking myself this same question multiple times over. The sad part is that I didn't realize it was junk until I was staring at a collection of unused items in my closet, none of which have been used in more than a year. I wanted them so badly at the time that I actually thought I needed them. By feeding the urge, I in turn let thoughts of important matters fall to the background. Almost every paycheck, I believe that I am going to spend a certain amount on charity. More often than not, I don't. I end up spending it on items instead. This societal want has already gotten out of hand. In the process of turning our heads towards what we want, we turn our heads away from what others need. Quindlen also explains that Americans' need for possessions has been on a rising trend for years. She views the changing technological times as part of the reason behind this growth. We see this when Quindlen explains, "I suspect television advertising, which made me want a Chatty Cathy doll so much as a kid that when I saw her under the tree my head almost exploded" (par. 4). That's the essential goal of advertising these days. Advertisers are paid to make people want something and to make them want to go out and buy it. These advertisers are getting increasingly better at their jobs as well. I often find myself being drawn into infomercials late at night and wanting everything I see so badly. An example is when I was up late watching an infomercial for a fishing hook. I wanted it so badly, but I don't even fish. In fact, I hate fishing. It's all just a game to big companies. They bait consumers with whatever they can. But it's up to us to decide whether or not we bite. We see advertisements so often in our daily lives that it starts to become part of our normal environment to see faces smiling and endorsing a product on practically every surface. They are included in any and every media outlet. However, why don't we see more advertising for the things people truly need? With the exception of the occasional ASPCA or UNICEF commercial, we rarely see anything highlighting the suffering of others. It's because we don't like to. It makes people uncomfortable. But we can't make a change until we become so uncomfortable with something that we can't stand it anymore. Nobody can deny media is the most powerful method of communication in modern society. Thus, we urgently need to change the way media portrays its content in order to change the world. Readers later view Quindlen's stance that in the process of the increasing need for valuable things related to livelihood, people are

European Countries Ranked by Area

European Countries Ranked by Area The continent of  Europe varies in latitude from places such as Greece, which is in the range of about 35 degrees north to 39 degrees north latitude, to Iceland, which ranges from around 64 degrees north to more than 66 degrees north. Because of the difference in latitudes, Europe has varying climates and topography. Regardless, it has been inhabited for about 2 million years. It consists of only about 1/15th of the worlds land, but the contiguous continent has about 24,000 square miles (38,000 sq km) of coastline. Stats Europe is made up of 46  countries that  range in size from some of the largest in the world (Russia) to some of the smallest (Vatican City, Monaco). The population of Europe is about 742 million (United Nations 2017 Population Division figure), and for a landmass of about 3.9 million square miles (10.1 sq km), it has a density of 187.7 people per square mile. By Area, Largest to Smallest The following is a list of the countries of Europe arranged by area. Various sources may differ in size of a countrys area due to rounding, whether the original figure is in kilometers or miles, and whether the sources include overseas territories. Figures here come from the CIA World Factbook, which presents figures in square kilometers; they have been converted and rounded to the nearest number. Russia: 6,601,668 square miles (17,098,242 sq km)Turkey:  302,535 square miles (783,562 sq km)Ukraine:  233,032 square miles (603,550 sq km)France:  212,935 square miles (551,500 sq km);  248,457 square miles (643,501 square km) including overseas regionsSpain:  195,124 square miles (505,370 sq km)Sweden:  173,860 square miles (450,295 sq km)Germany:  137,847 square miles (357,022 sq km)Finland:  130,559 square miles (338,145 sq km)Norway: 125,021 square miles (323,802 sq km)Poland:  120,728 square miles (312,685 sq km)Italy:  116,305 square miles (301,340 sq km)United Kingdom:  94,058 square miles (243,610 sq km), includes Rockall and Shetland IslandsRomania: 92,043 square miles (238,391 sq km)Belarus: 80,155 square miles (207,600 sq km)Greece: 50,949 square miles (131,957 sq km)Bulgaria: 42,811 square miles (110,879 sq km)Iceland:  39,768 square miles (103,000 sq km)Hungary: 35,918 square miles (93,028 sq km)Portugal: 35,556 square miles (92,090 sq km)Austri a: 32,382 square miles (83,871 sq km)Czech Republic: 30,451 square miles (78,867 sq km) Serbia: 29,913 square miles (77,474 sq km)Ireland: 27,133 square miles (70,273 sq km)Lithuania: 25,212 square miles (65,300 sq km)Latvia: 24,937 square miles (64,589 sq km)Croatia:  21,851 square miles (56,594 sq km)Bosnia and Herzegovina: 19,767 square miles (51,197 sq km)Slovakia: 18,932 square miles (49,035 sq km)Estonia: 17,462 square miles (45,228 sq km)Denmark: 16,638 square miles (43,094 sq km)Netherlands:  16,040 square miles (41,543 sq km)Switzerland:  15,937 square miles (41,277 sq km)Moldova: 13,070 square miles (33,851 sq km)Belgium:  11,786 square miles (30,528 sq km)Albania: 11,099 square miles (28,748 sq km)Macedonia: 9,928 square miles (25,713 sq km)Slovenia: 7,827 square miles (20,273 sq km)Montenegro: 5,333 sq miles (13,812 sq km)Cyprus: 3,571 square miles (9,251 sq km)Luxembourg: 998 square miles (2,586 sq km)Andorra:  181 square miles (468 sq km)Malta:  122 square miles (316 sq km)Liechtenstein: 62 square miles (160 sq km)San Marino:  23 square miles (61 sq km)Monaco:  0.77 square miles (2 sq km) Vatican City: 0.17 square miles (0.44 sq km)