Managing Information Technology Globally (I need someone with a good Essay

Managing Information Technology Globally (I need someone with a good backgroud about IT and Database for this case analysis) - Essay Example Dell was the first in its competitors to think of online business and though leads best. It offers customer service for configuring dell products and with technical support view Internet same as it was once on telephones which reduces its cost price and increased its revenues. Dell successfully made a network of not only with customers but also with distributors and suppliers through e-commerce. Its sale automated functioning enhances the business strategies and Dell on its e-commerce establishment starts serving with e-business solution. E-business solutions were to offer customer the solution for their business by converting their business in virtual world as did by Dell. Though, Dell earned its revenues, more with the selling hardware devices and giving online customer services, in addition with, providing e-solutions to small organizations, incorporation with other software companies. 2. Characterize the distribution of decision-making responsibility at Zara, when it comes to how Zara's products are designed, allocated, and distributed How does this pattern of decision-making contrast with decision-making in traditional, hierarchical organizations (IT at Zera) Zara is responsible for its products for sale, and though developed a high-tech e-commerce site for its online business.

Economic for Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Economic for Managers - Essay Example The failure in major financial markets exists because of either of these conditions. Prior to the financial crisis, the financial markets such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds markets are considered markets where the invisible hand operates. The stock market has always been referred to as an efficient market by economists. According to Brealey, Myers and Marcus, â€Å"the competition [in this market] to find misvalued stocks is intense. So when new information comes out, investors rush to take advantage of it and thereby eliminate any profit opportunities (2004, 165).† An efficient market, according to Samuelson and Nordhaus in their book â€Å"Economics† is defined as â€Å"one where all new information is quickly understood by market participants and becomes immediately incorporated into the market prices (2004, 534).† This characteristic of the stock market as an efficient market is attributed to the availability of timely information which is incorporated in the prices of the stocks. The stock market indeed needs investors who believe that the market is inefficient in order to make the market efficient. As investors think that there is a certain degree of inefficiency in the market, these investors’ notion of the stock prices are that they are underpriced, and there is a chance to profit from this situation. Therefore, as investors believe in this inefficiency, and the possible reward of profiting from these undervalued stocks, they are driven to action. When investors are driven to action, they look for more sources of information, analyze the information and push the prices up or down depending on the value of the information as regards the certain stock. When investors are prompted to take action either by driving the prices of the stocks up or down depending on the information, the direction of the prices tend to be that which incorporates the value of the information—thus, eliminating the possible profits from buying

What Makes Citizens Trust Political Institutions Politics Essay

What Makes Citizens Trust Political Institutions Politics Essay Issues of distrust in political institutions are very common in post-communist states in Europe. Even though trust is one of the key components for a successful democracy, the communist regime has left a trail of political distrust which will last for generations. When trust is low, the government cannot operate efficiently, and that creates further distrust, and a vicious circle is created (Mishler Rose, 1997: 419). This scepticism in post-communist Europe creates a paradox, because the states want to become more democratic, and see the senior EU members as an example of democracy and a direction they should be heading to, however the distrust in political institutions slows down the growth of the democracy and declines citizen participation in politics. It is reasonable to argue that no government should have an absolute trust as it might create instability. The trust in political institutions has been declining steadily since 1991 even in Western democracies, for example in Brita in the percentage of citizens who trust politicians decreased from 33 to 16 per cent.  [1]  In order to improve democracy in Eastern and Central Europe, political parties face a challenge of dealing with cynicism and distrust when communicating with the society. It is understandable, because many people, especially from the older generation, have lived a large portion of their life under the communist regime, and that changed their views on politics dramatically. Communist parties created various institutions such as party and trade unions, however the citizens felt it was all initiated by the state and did not intend to strengthen the civil society, but instead it was a tool to which was used to reduce the liberty of the society and create political conditions favoured by the leaders of the communist party. Instead of participating voluntarily, the citizens were forced into political participation or compliance by the communist party, and that resulted in further distrust of po litical institutions and destroyed free social life. This essay contains two main parts in the first part theory of institutional trust will be examined. The second part will be an analysis of Mishler and Rose article, which intended to explain issues of political trust in post-communist societies in Europe.  [2]  In the last bit of this essay both theory and the published article will be looked upon together, and a final conclusion will be made. Theory It is critical to understand the theory of political trust before we can proceed with the further research. Political trust is different compared to the personal trust. In order for an individual to trust someone, he needs to know that person quite well. However, political institution is not an individual and it is difficult to develop that kind of trust. The citizens trust institutions in a different way on a presumption that they will complete their duties as a governing body. Even though it is known that trust in political institutions has been declining steadily over the past two decades, there has been limited amount of research made purely on Eastern and Central Europe. Two main types of theories are identified which explain trust in political institutions in a different way cultural and institutional theories. Cultural theories explain political trust by the values and attitudes towards politics. Inglehart (1997) argued, that we form these values while we are growing up, and by the time we are eligible to vote we already have our own opinions towards politics, and it is extremely uncommon for an adult to change his political attitude completely. The trust in politics emerges from a non-political sphere, an overall life experience. In that sense, political trust is an addition to persons interpersonal trust, which develops while we are growing up and while we interact with others. Interpersonal trust can be affected by outside sources, for example the media, which is a big part in todays society; it can shape an individuals opinion towards something even if the individual does not have a good understanding on that subject. Many other factors can contribute towards an individuals attitude towards political institutions education, parents social status or the overall experience with institut ions while growing up. If a child is born in a family with high social status they are more likely to have better education. There has been evidence of correlation between familys social status and the childs trust in political institutions (Tong, 2007). Cultural theories argue that because cultural values are rooted to people when they are growing up, at least a few generations should pass in post-communist states in Europe before we can notify a significant increase in trust of political institutions. However, the trust of political institutions cannot be assigned only to the way people are brought up. Economic conditions of the state and overall well-being of the citizens might re-shape the values of the society. Because of that, the citizens can be categorised into two groups materialists and post-materialists (Inglehart, 1998). Materialist values for a successful democracy depend more or less solely on economic performance of the state if citizens are happy with the economic situation in the country, they are likely to trust the political institutions. Post-materialists, on the other hand, focus towards personal freedom and individuality, and therefore they might have issues of trusting political authority. Social background of the citizens is also important in cultural theory. Many post-communist states in Europe have a diverse population, and there might not be a lot of unity towards the political trust. For example, about one quarter of the Estonian population is Russian.  [3]  A question emerges whether the Russian population in Estonia would trust political institutions, because after the Independence was restored in 1991, the Estonian government shifted to a completely new direction and Estonia became a right-winged state. And indeed, there is a lot of tension in Estonia, as the Russians demanded that their language should be adopted as the second national language in Estonia. Despite these demands, the Estonian government did not give in, and even got tougher on Russian speaking citizens they might lose their jobs if they do not speak Estonian. This results in a clash of interests and Russian distrust in political institutions. However, cultural theories do not state that everyone goes through the same process, and everyone has a different experience of trust in life. Therefore, we should not assume that every citizen in a social group (based on age, race, ethnicity etc.) has the same attitude towards political institutions or interpersonal trust. Cultural theories have been criticized by Fukuyama, as he stated that it is in the human nature to develop a trust for groups and individuals who often interact directly. However, the degree of interpersonal trust varies significantly among democracies, and therefore we cannot make an assumption that high trust in political institutions is necessary for a successful democracy (Fukuyama, 1999). Institutional theories focus on the model of rule and the performance of the political institutions. If they perform well, that creates a sense of trust among citizens and benefits the democracy in the state. Institutional theories do not see the governments performance in the past or cultural aspects of individuals life as decisive factors on individuals political trust, although they can influence an individual to a certain degree (Mishler Rose, 2001:36). Unlike in cultural theories, short-time effects are stressed as highly important. Institutional theories make an assumption that citizens make rational choices by evaluating the political and economic performance of the political institutions. In that respect, citizens need to have a previous experience of interaction with an institution, or at least to have some knowledge about it. Institutional theories do not agree which factors are the most important when measuring the performance of the government. In Western democracies, th ey usually focus on economic conditions and policy performance, when in post-communist societies different measurements can be used. For example, the reduction of corrupt political officials or the liberalization of trade can be extremely important in post-communist states, because Eastern and Central Europeans have been oppressed for decades. By making these policy changes the governments are more than likely to receive positive feedback from the citizens, and that results in strengthening the trust of the institutions. However, institutional theories do recognize the importance of individuals values and political affiliations. If a citizen was in favour of communism, his trust of political institutions might be decreasing, despite the good performance of the new democratic government. It is important to understand, that not everyone sees economic factors as the key priority, and that people have very different values in life, and one model does not apply to everyone. Institutional theories have a significantly different approach towards the future of the political trust in post-communist countries. Unlike in the cultural theories, institutionalist scholars believe that trust for newly formed democratic institutions can be generated in a much shorter period of time (Mishler Rose, 2001: 33). If the newly formed government performs well economically and the citizens are happy with the new democratic system it should not take generations to develop the trust for political institutions. Micro and macro theories Both cultural and institutional theories can be sub-categorised into two dimensions micro and macro. It is important to distinguish the differences between them, because political trust is a very complex issue and these dimensions will play a crucial part in analysing Mishler Rose publication in section 5. Micro dimension is linked with an individual, while macro dimension is focused on the society as a whole. Both micro theories state that political trust is different among individuals, due to different background, experiences or individual perceptions. On the other hand, both macro theories see trust as a value, which is shared by all members of the society (Mishler Rose, 2001: 33). Macro-cultural theory has very limited interest in trust of individuals, because they focus on national traditions and sees society as one body, which either trusts political institutions or not. Micro-cultural theories, on the other hand, emphasise the importance of the individual within the society . Personal experiences are the main subject of focus, and the opinions on political institutions are formed by every member of the society individually. The differences between micro-institutional and macro-institutional approaches are even more significant. Macro-institutional theories are shifted towards the performance of political institutions while micro-institutional theories leave the evaluation of political performance to the individual. Both micro-institutional and macro-institutional theories have three implications. Firstly, with the accurate sampling, decent research techniques and sensibly asked questions the responses about trust of political institutions will be quite accurate on how well the system is actually performing. Secondly, if the political institutions do not have a high public trust, this can be fixed in two ways by either lowering the public expectations for the institutions or by improving the efficiency of the institutions. And thirdly, these theories r ecognize an indirect relationship between trust in political institutions and social trust. This relationship is expected to be strong on the aggregate level of societies, but not on the individual level (Newton Norris, 2000). This is because the trust of the political institutions is the direct outcome of the performance of the government, just like people trust others by knowing how they acted in the past. Measurement of trust Measurement of trust is a tricky concept. Most surveys, such as Eurobarometer or European Social Survey, ask only one question in order to find data on causes of political trust. That is why new approaches of theory are useful; however their implementation in current study seems to be a very difficult task. To current day different scholars use different methods and variables to measure political trust. Many different sources of literature have been used for this essay, which enabled me to see a pattern in scholars research on measuring political trust. However, I will be using Putnams model (Putnam, 2000) which, to my understanding, provided the broadest explanation and measurement of trust. This model consists of five key concepts, which need to be examined thoroughly in order to develop an understanding and measurement of trust. The reader must bear in mind that the questions asked about these five concepts were made up by me, as I found them to be the most relevant. However, in t he next paragraph of this essay the authors of the examined article used different methods and different questions in their research. The five concept approach was selected because I argue that it provides the best measurement of trust the literature could offer, despite being just a recommendation. The first concept is civic engagement, which, according to Putnam, has four dimensions (Putnam, 2000). Political activity is the first dimension, however it is impossible to justify an individuals political involvement by asking just one question (with the exception of question Do you engage in any kind of political activity? and the answer being no). A series of questions need to be asked in order to determine ones involvement in political activity, such as Have you voted in your local election?, Have you recently contacted any elected official about a certain issue?, Do you participate in local council meetings?. The second dimension of civic engagement is volunteering activity, and the respondents should be asked whether they volunteer for political, cultural, religious or charity organizations. The third dimension is leisure activity, and we should ask whether the respondent is attending any group meetings, for example, a book club or football practice. Leisure activities are im portant, because they are the key attributes of interpersonal trust. The last dimension is the engagement with the media, and the respondents should be asked how often do they watch the news on the television or the radio and how often do they read the newspaper. The possible answers to all the questions should be based on frequency, as Putnam argued that voluntary participation in civic engagement increases the trust among the citizens. The second concept is trust. Again, this is a tricky question and it needs to be approached with caution. The respondent should answer three questions whether he trusts the majority of the society, whether he trusts local political institutions and whether he trusts federal or international institutions. The third concept is social demographics, because according to cultural theory on the micro level, personal experiences are important and should have significant results in institutional trust (Mishler Rose, 2001: 34). The questions for this concept should reveal the age, social status, gender, education, occupation and marital status of the respondent. All this information is commonly used in analysis of political trust (Job, 2005: 8). The fourth concept is the government performance and, according to micro-institutional theory, a decent performance by the government allows the citizens to trust the institutions, as long as the needs of the society are being met. The questions for the respondents should ask do they feel any corruption in their institutions and whether they would support the decision to provide the government with more power for implementation of law and security. If the citizens are in favour of giving the government more power, it means that political institutions are generally trusted. However, this puts the citizens in a difficult position, because more power to the government leads to stricter control and therefore less democracy. The fifth concept is the world views and general well-being. The well-being most commonly determines whether the citizens will blame the government for being incompetent or not. If the majority of the population feels happy with their lives, that means political institutions are doing good work, and that increases the trust in society. The world views might have major consequences on political trust as well. We should ask the respondents their willingness to co-operate with the government and comply with the law. There should also be a question on whether the respondents feel overall happy or not and whether they feel secure under the current government or not. A negative response would indicate distrust in the current government. The analysis of the publication This section of the essay analyses Mishler and Rose article What are the origins of Political Trust?: Testing Institutional and Cultural Theories in Post-communist societies. The authors used two datasets, which were both compiled in 1998. The first dataset comes from the fifth New Democracies Barometer (NDB), and it contains data from nine post-communist countries Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania. Each country had around 1000 respondents in a face-to-face interviews. The second dataset comes from the seventh New Russia Barometer (NRB), and it contains 1904 face-to-face interviews. Both datasets used probability samples, in order to increase validity of the research. The authors used the following question for determining the trust in political institutions: There are many different institutions in this country, for example, the government, courts, police, civil servants. Please show me on this 7-point scale, where 1 represents great distrust and 7 represents great trust, how much do you personally trust in each of the following institutions (Mishler Rose, 2001: 40).

Latin America And Slavery Essay -- essays research papers

Prior to its independence Latin America had been controlled by external forces for hundreds of years. To be freed of control from these outside interests did not in any way guarantee Latin America a return to the status quo. In fact, the inhabitants of Latin America had done very well in assimilating their in house controllers. They adopted European language, religion, color, and just about everything else that the European culture had to offer them. Although they were free to do as they please and run their own affairs in the global neighborhood as we know it, they struggled to create an entity for themselves. They embody too much of what is not native to their region, yet the people that used to represent their land 500 years earlier were a truly unique culture. Let us go back to that point in time and trace the route Latin America has taken, from an isolated civilization with a unique, independent culture to a Europeanized puppet continent with little cultural identity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Latin America began as a secluded land of aboriginal inhabitants that was cut off from the rest of the world. It was first discovered by Europeans while trying to find more efficient trade routes to India and China. These Europeans noticed the vast resources present in Latin America and smelled money. Europeans are very greedy and would do anything for their country if it meant higher social status when they returned. Soon the monarchs of their respective countries were sponsoring conquests and colonization of the Latin American lands in turn for profits and goods from the lands they took. Due to the tropical climate that encompasses most of Latin America, colonization meant growing sugar on plantations in the coastal regions of the continent. Labor was the main expense of this operation, so enslaving the natives and putting them to work on these plantations seemed like the most economically sensible thing to do. This was the first step to sterilizing the identity of the continent. Diseases introduced by the immune Europeans took their toll on the natives and killed many off. Coupled with the stress of working in the fields and in other aspects of enslaved life the aboriginal population soon dwindled to next to nothing. Looking at just the aboriginal population, there was a traumatic fall. Birth rates were very low, especially given that the newer â€Å"mixed† ch... ...ly communist governments around, but was communism actually a Cuban idea? I do not think so. Any radical ideas expressed by the individual in Cuba is however put down. The government in Cuba and Mexico try to keep people from returning to their roots. In Mexico there is a lady who puts on plays which call for social reform. The Mexican government is all over her case too. When the government tries to tell you who you are and what you do, you cannot identify with anything but an institution you have no desire to be a part of. Hence, you become something else. For Cubans, they are a raft ride away from becoming Americans. They do not want to identify with something they do not believe in. Why force it upon them? As long as the governments are poor in Latin America, there will be no unity. To be one as a people they need to be able to go back to their roots and start again. They need to overthrow the governments in their areas and install democracies that work for the people. Or els e they can progress at the snail’s pace which they are right now and have an identity later. When things change drastically all over the place. As things stand right now, they will be Euro-American clones.

Mobile phone Essay

Korea then adopted 3G Networks soon after and the transition was made as early as 2004. 2. 5G† (and even 2. 75G) are technologies such as i-mode data services, camera phones, high-speed circuit-switched data (HSCSD) and General packet radio service (GPRS) that provide some functionality domains like 3G networks, but without the full transition to 3G network. They were built to introduce the possibilities of wireless application technology to the end consumers, and so increase demand for 3G services. When converting a GSM network to a UMTS network, the first new technology is General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). It is the trigger to 3G services. The network connection is always on, so the subscriber is online all the time. From the operator’s point of view, it is important that GPRS investments are re-used when going to UMTS. Also capitalizing on GPRS business experience is very important. From GPRS, operators could change the network directly to UMTS, or invest in an EDGE system. One advantage of EDGE over UMTS is that it requires no new licenses. The frequencies are also re-used and no new antennas are needed. Doing my research I found that the Third Generation of Wireless networks are better than the second generation because of the speed and time it takes to download. Keywords TDMA- Time Division Multiple Access GSM – Global System for Mobile Communication GPRS – General Packet Radio Service EDGE – Enhanced Data GSM Enviroment CDMA – Code Division Multiple Accsss Introduction In this research paper, I am trying to figure out the difference between the second generation and the third generation of mobile phones standards and technology. My objective is to compare the second generation to the third generation and give some pros and con on the technologies. I want to prove that the third generation standards are far better than the second generation. Wireless communication is the transfer of information over a distance without the use of electrical conductors or wires. The distances involved may be short (a few meters as in television remote control) or very long (thousands or even millions of kilometers for radio communications). When the context is clear the term is often simply shortened to â€Å"wireless†. Wireless communications is generally considered to be a branch of telecommunications. Cellular phones use radio waves to enable the operator to make phone calls from many locations world-wide. They can be used anywhere that there is a cellular telephone site to house the equipment that is required to transmit and receive the signal that is used to transfer both voice and data to and from these instruments. Second Generation 2G cellular telecoms networks were commercially launched on the GSM standard in Finland by Radiolinja in 1991. Three primary benefits of 2G networks over their predecessors were that phone conversations were digitally encrypted, 2G systems were significantly more efficient on the spectrum allowing for far greater mobile phone penetration levels; and 2G introduced data services for mobile, starting with SMS text messages. 3G first pre-commercial 3G network was launched by NTT DoCoMo in Germany branded FOMA, in May 2001 on a pre-release of W-CDMA-GA3Y technology. The first commercial launch of 3G was also by NTT DoCoMo in Japan on October 1, 2001. The second network to go commercially live was by SK Telecom in South Korea on the CDMA2000 1xEV-DO technology in January 2002. By May 2002 the second South Korean 3G network was launched by KTF on EV-DO and thus the Koreans were the first to see competition among 3G operators. Comparison of 2G and 3G 2G refers to second generation wireless telecommunication technology. While its predecessor, 1G, made use of analog radio signals, 2G uses digital radio signals. Based on what type of multiplexing (the process of combining multiple digital data streams into one signal) is employed, 2G technologies ay be categorized by whether they are based on time division multiple access (TDMA) or code division multiple accesses (CDMA). TDMA-based 2G standards include the following: Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), used worldwide; Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (IDEN), developed by Motorola and used in the United States and Canada; Interim Standard 136 (IS-136) or Digital Advanced M obile Phone System (D-AMPS), used in North and South America; and Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), used in Japan. 2G makes use of a CODEC (compression-decompression algorithm) to compress and multiplex digital voice data. Through this technology, a 2G network can pack more calls per amount of bandwidth as a 1G network. 2G cell phone units were generally smaller than 1G units, since they emitted less radio power. Another advantage of 2G over 1G is that the battery life of a 2G handset lasts longer, again due to the lower-powered radio signals. Since it transmitted data through digital signals, 2G also offered additional services such as SMS and e-mail. Its lower power emissions also made 2G handsets safer for consumers to use. Error checking, a feature allowed by digital voice encoding, improved sound quality by reducing dynamic and lowering the noise floor. Digital voice encoding also made the calls less susceptible to unwanted eavesdropping from third parties, due to the use of radio scanners. 2G, however, does have its disadvantages as well. In comparison to 1G’s analog signals, 2G’s digital signals are very reliant on location and proximity. If a 2G handset made a call far away from a cell tower, the digital signal may not be enough to reach it. While a call made from a 1G handset had generally poor quality than that of a 2G handset, it survived longer distances. This is due to the analog signal having a smooth curve compared to the digital signal, which had a jagged, angular curve. As conditions worsen, the quality of a call made from a 1G handset would gradually worsen, but a call made from a 2G handset would fail completely. Some of the advantages of a 2G network are the lower powered radio signals require less battery power, so phones last much longer between charges, and batteries can be smaller. The digital voice encoding allowed digital error checking which could increase sound quality by reducing dynamic and lowering the noise floor. The lower power emissions helped address health concerns. Enhanced privacy. A key digital advantage not often mentioned is that digital cellular calls are much harder to eavesdrop on by use of radio scanners. While the security algorithms used have proved not to be as secure as initially advertised, 2G phones are immensely more private than 1G phones, which have no protection against eavesdropping. Some of the disadvantage of the 2G network is in less populous areas, the weaker digital signal may not be sufficient to reach a cell tower. This tends to be a particular problem on 2G systems deployed on higher frequencies, but is mostly not a problem on 2G systems deployed on lower frequencies. National regulations differ greatly among countries which dictate where 2G can be deployed. Analog has a smooth decay curve, digital a jagged steppy one. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Under good conditions, digital will sound better. Under slightly worse conditions, analog will experience static, while digital has occasional dropouts. As conditions worsen, though, digital will start to completely fail, by dropping calls or being unintelligible, while analog slowly gets worse, generally holding a call longer and allowing at least a few words to get through. While digital calls tend to be free of static and background noise, the lossy compression used by the codecs takes a toll; the range of sound that they convey is reduced. 3G wireless networks are capable of transferring data at speeds of up to 384Kbps. Average speeds for 3G networks will range between 64Kbps and 384Kbps, quite a jump when compared to common wireless data speeds in the United States that are often slower than a 14. 4Kb modem. 3G is considered high-speed or broadband mobile Internet access, and in the future 3G networks are expected to reach speeds of more than 2Mbps. The 3G technologies are turning phones and other devices into multimedia players, making it possible to download music and video clips. The new service is called the â€Å"freedom of mobile multimedia access† (FOMA), and it uses wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) technology to transfer data over its networks. W-CDMA sends data in a digital format over a range of frequencies, which makes the data move faster, but also uses more bandwidth than digital voice services. W-CDMA is not the only 3G technology; competing technologies include CDMA One, which differs technically, but should provide similar services.

Vacant Chapter 8 Celebrate

â€Å"Happy anniversary!† Emily yells at me as I exit the bathroom having just completed my morning ritual. She'd be disgusted if she knew everything it entailed, not to mention the full coverage robe I was supposed to buy, which means Emily still walks around in tiny towels. Of course, I spend extra time in the shower stroking out my morning wood so that I'm able to have some semblance of decency the rest of the day. Walking around with an Emily induced boner would certainly make our situation uncomfortable. While the topic of dating and relationships hasn't been broached since January, that doesn't mean it has gone away. Instead, it's been the elephant in the room for eight long months. â€Å"Is there an anniversary song?† Emily asks jokingly. â€Å"There's one for birthdays.† She starts singing Happy Birthday, replacing â€Å"birthday† with â€Å"anniversary.† I can't help but smile given the joy the woman before me holds for the simplest of things. â€Å"It's two years today, Ethan; two years ago you came over and opened my window, two years since you recognized I was alone and in need. Two years ago you opened your home and heart to a perfect stranger.† When she says heart quieter than the rest, mine skips a beat. Her voice wavers at the end of her speech, indicating tears are about to follow. I reach out to her, pull her into me, and hold her tightly as she surrenders to the sadness. This is the only touch I'm allowed – the only appropriate embrace. Looking in the mirror, I see a man whose extraordinarily proud. While I may not be the mama bird watching her baby bird fly from the nest, there is still pride deep in my chest. Emily graduates today from high school. It's an accomplishment, which given the circumstances, is astounding. Today is special, and it's the first time I've ever worn a tie, so I check it one last time. My tie isn't the only surprise I have for Emily today. I purchased my very first car this morning, and I plan to drive Emily to her graduation in a 1998 Toyota Corolla. It belonged to Margie, my boss, but her husband bought her a new one. He sold me the Corolla with 160,000 miles at an unreasonably low price. I'd say he was giving me a bit of charity, but no matter, it's mine. Mine and Emily's. â€Å"Get-out!† Emily shouts moments later as she looks at the champagne colored car parked on the street and then back at me. Her mouth is hanging open, unsure of what to say. â€Å"Come on; get in. We have a graduation to get to.† â€Å"Your brother is way hot,† I hear the blonde say. Emily doesn't respond, but another high-pitched voice does. â€Å"That's not her brother, you clueless bitch.† Emily told me about this once, where females call each other names as terms of endearment, but I don't get it. If one of the guys at the store called me a bastard or asshole, I'd punch his face, endearment aside. â€Å"Gretchen†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I hear Emily plead. â€Å"Please don't.† â€Å"What? He's not – which, of course begs the question, why aren't you bangin' his brains out, little Emily Evans?† Truth be told, I want to know Emily's response. It's not like I haven't thought about it a thousand times, but I'm curious to know if she thinks about it too. â€Å"I have to – † then I hear footsteps rapidly retreating. I decide to make myself known and walk out of the hallway where I've been hiding since the conversation seems to be over. â€Å"Hey, Ethan, you just missed Emily.† The blonde motions down the hall in the direction Emily went. I follow. The sound hits me immediately as I near a classroom with an open door. Thankfully, it's a sound I haven't heard for a while, but hearing it now cuts me like a hot knife through cold butter. â€Å"Emily?† I call to her as I enter the nearly empty room. The desks and chairs are stacked, waiting patiently for another round of students in the fall. Emily looks up, red-faced and glassy-eyed. She regards me for a moment, then bursts into another round of sobs. For a second, I think about how ugly crying is. I think Emily is beautiful, but the way her face contorts†¦ it's just so unattractive. This crying mess in front of me doesn't look like Emily at all. Then the few remaining scraps of humanity I think I have left kick in, and those superficial and negative thoughts float away. All I'm seeing now is my Emily in pain – and I want to make it stop. I go to her as fast as my legs can carry me and take her in my arms, holding her close. We've only embraced a few times, but for me, it's special every time. After several minutes, Emily has calmed and she raises her head to look at me. Her eyes are clear now, and as she gazes into my eyes, I think about how beautiful she is. It's all I can do not to place my lips over hers. We're so close that just a few inches forward would connect us. I want her so much sometimes it's hurts. But that's not meant to be, and my sinful thoughts have to remain hidden. â€Å"Ethan, I have to tell you something. Well, ask you something, really. I mean I'm going to tell you something, but then I'm going to – † I cut her off by placing my hand gently over her mouth. She rambles when she's nervous, plus my hand will keep me from kissing her. â€Å"Deep breath,† I coach her and myself. After a few relaxing sighs, I encourage her to start again. â€Å"You can tell me anything, Emily. I'm here for you. You can trust me.† But never in a million years would I expect what she says next. â€Å"Ethan, I love you.†