Curious Enough?
There are five benefits of an inquiring mind where our curiosity enhances our quality of life and well-being:
- Health
Psychology researchers who conducted studies that relate curiosity to health improvement had investigated findings that suggest a positive connection deserving further study.
2.Intelligence
Several studies by psychologists have shown that high curiosity levels are connected to greater analytical, problem-solving and intelligence abilities.
3.Social relationships
Curiosity creates an active interaction state with which the person influences a positive relationship with people that is seen as interesting and beneficiary to both.
4.Happiness
A survey conducted by The Gallup Organization with more than 130,000 people from over 130 nations, identified two factors of enjoyment for people “being able to count on someone for help” and “learned something yesterday” which both are foundational components of a happy life and are both supported by curiosity.
5.Meaning
Curiosity indeed is found to be the main entry point to all life`s greatest gratification and satisfaction which is formed from the pursuit of interests hobbies and passions.
Article by Wadah Elmahi 
Serving Walk-in Customers the Right Way
Serving the public is a very demanding and precise task that many customer service employees underrate and undervalue as well. Most customer service employees of the current Era see this kind of job as their only way to survive financially, rather than actually having the passion and commitment to fulfill its actual quality attributes. There is many evidence found nowadays on and off the internet to prove this point.
In today`s world of rapid change from a slow paced studied development approach to a rather random and disorderly approach; the need for quality becomes vague and fading. The reason for this is the demand for profit in the expense of Quality & Time where many organizations and their managing bodies become obsessed with making money and considering it the highest priority. This obsession is passed onto lower supervisors or moderators in the form of pressure presumably called (The Sales Target). As such, the front end servers for the customers become obsessed with the idea of achieving the sales target by any possible or impossible action (aggression at times) in order to get acknowledged for their efforts which surely is in the form of commission or compensation. What is really wrong here?
There are 3 main things which any customer anywhere seeks, these are:
1- Be Heard.
2- Be Understood.
3- Be Cared for.
Now in order to achieve these 3 things for the customer, start thinking of the benefits of each viewpoint and how it formulates the approach strategy for the serving entities.
- The first step ever to grab the attention of the serving person (Being Heard).
From a customer`s viewpoint, their first action is to grab attention to the need or want of themselves by communicating it. A lot of customer service employees understand this aspect in a one-way communication attitude. They deliberately force their presence to the customer`s attention by immediately approaching and asking the question “how may i help you?” which is the wrong way to approach any kind of customer. This approach gives the customer a sense of urgency and hopelessness of the employee or the organization to acquire just the financial profit, this truly does that effect for the customer; thinking and sensing instantly that hopelessness attitude.
The vast majority of the customer service employees use this approach and think and believe as well that it is right, But It`s Not!
A customer almost all the time knows exactly what they want and which time they want it. They are the ones to decide their approach when they need assistance from anyone; with an apparent communication, body language or action. The task of an employee is to nod, smile & greet when they see the customer arriving and just wait for the approval to approach. But standing around the customer and following the customer around only irritates the customer and makes them feel they are invaded; this happens to everyone.
2. The second and most compelling is to (Be Understood).
This part of the customer`s seek & find journey for what they want to acquire is the determinant factor for the quality of the service given by the customer service employees. I can point out many restraints or limitations that can directly influence the customer to decide on not acquiring the item or service they are seeking due to the misunderstanding of their needs by the employees. Reasons for this include but are certainly not limited to language barrier, unprofessional attitude, illiteracy, stereotyping, misjudgment etc.
But the main point to be emphasized here is the patience and passion level of the customer service employee/s to allow their customers the time and space altogether to communicate their needs. Being Understood is directly connected and intertwined with being heard under the context of doing the right customer service. Without hearing and understanding, with patience and favorable attitude, the customer`s requests/needs then it is very probable that the customer would be lost either temporarily or permanently even.
3. The third and final step (Be Cared for).
Every front-end Customer service employee should know and understand what Customer Retention means in order to attain both Customer loyalty & Brand loyalty. This is surely the main goal of all types of businesses everywhere in the world; it is definitely what businesses thrive on. Every customer anywhere is attracted to good customer service quality which is only achieved by the persistence and commitment to using the proper communication tools respectively and wisely.
Customer retention refers to the ability of a company or business to retain its customers for the longest possible duration and keep their customer base from dropping. The strategies used for customer retention are diverse and should be used wisely and in the right circumstances, but the main entry point to establish any customer base is the Front-end Customer service Quality level.
Article by Wadah Elmahi
Euthanasia
(One of my first submissions for a course in university)
Introduction & Definition:
An issue that has been creating quite a controversy through the years and has created quite a conflict and contrast in the medical field is Euthanasia. Euthanasia is known to be the merciful ending of a suffering life, it is the compulsory act of making the decision to end a sick or incapable soul`s life by killing it or by causing it`s heart to stop. This practice has emerged in the early years as a merciful plea to end someone`s life, simply because this person or animal doesn`t have a credible percentage of continuing its life without agony.
People in ancient times have shown quite simplicity in thought when it comes to euthanasia, it had been constantly understood to be the ending of a life to end its suffering and provide it a kind of spiritual cleansing. In contrast, in the medical field this action was proven to be the only vulnerable approach to deal with the extremely sick people, who were first treated as an attempt to get well, but then ending the life because of the assured knowledge of a doctor or physician that continuity of life would bring along pain and suffering to a soul.
As such procedure continued and had already been used for a long time in the medical field, this led to confusion within societies and different opinions evolved it into a rather worrying subject.
A Deeper Analysis of Euthanasia as a term:
To project a clear understanding of the term euthanasia, the relationship of such term with killing a subject should be determined. Euthanasia in the ancient times was mainly involved in the historical battles that nations or societies had. In knowing that the conflicts were mainly solved with one to one battles where people used swords and deadly weapons as a rapid technique to decapitate or end an enemy`s life instantly. The first time merciful ending of a life, also known as euthanasia, was used by the historian Suetoneus, who described how the Fist Emperor of the Roman Empire Augustos has suffered an inevitable fate of quick and painless death in the arms of his wife Libia. This had happened in 14 AD.
However, when euthanasia reappeared after years in the 17th century, it was used in the medical field by Francis Bacon. He was a scientist and philosopher who at that time, was the Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. He defined euthanasia in context as a main category of two, In-ward Euthanasia & Out-ward Euthanasia.
In his opinion In-word euthanasia was believed to be the easy, happy and painless death or ending of a soul in a spiritual context regarding euthanasia as the preparation of the soul. As for out-ward euthanasia, he believed it to be quite the opposite in meaning, where it relates to death in a moral and social or physical point of view. A patient or suffering sick person is provided with an easy alternative as to end the agony or pain encountered in the healing process given that the percentage of survival of this soul or person would be very low.
Classification of euthanasia in human consent:
In the medical analysis of euthanasia, it is found that it has a direct connection with the responsibilities of a doctor or physician towards patients. These classifications have produced clear controversy regarding the justification of action in euthanasia. A patient is given the choice to control the fate of their healing process with respect to the doctor`s responsibilities towards the patients themselves professional wise.
These classifications are:
- Voluntary Euthanasia: this is known as the ending of a patient`s life in the hands of their doctors with the legal authority of such action given by the patient to the doctor as a signed medical agreement.
- Non-Voluntary Euthanasia: this is the action of a doctor without an agreement of a patient.
- Passive and/or Active Euthanasia: this refers to the refusal to use medicine that either contributes to the healing of a patient (passive) or using substances that enforce lethal medical outcomes (active).
Euthanasia ! Debate !?
Euthanasia is defined different by many people around the world but the main issue of euthanasia was more effective and apparently active as a subject in the medical field. This contrast has led to debates in which people divided in favor, either to vote for the use or the non-use of euthanasia in the medical field. But a clear opposition of legalized euthanasia was enforced clearly be an American Bioethicist Doctor Ezekiel Emanuel. He was clearly against using euthanasia and presented quite an argument against the proponents of euthanasia who presented four main concerns or points:
- When people are sick and under medical attention they should be given the choice at any point as to either continue their healing process or ended, referred as their fate.
- Helping out a patient who is suffering and by that acting upon ending their life might be a better thing to do instead of watching them suffer pain.
- The clarified difference between Passive and active euthanasia where passive is permitted and active is substantially firm in reality and considerable.
- Allowing euthanasia will not really lead to unacceptable consequences.
Ezekiel Emanuel`s arguments as an opponent were:
- It is not a fact that all deaths are painful.
- Alternatives, such as pain relievers can be used.
- The clear supremacy between passive and active euthanasia is morally suggestive.
- Legalizing euthanasia would create such a diversion socially and might to unacceptable consequences.
In contrast, an eminent Swiss-American Psychiatrist, one Elisabeth Kubler Ross encouraged the hospice care movement which alleviates the pain or suffering of patients, as a result, being against euthanasia and saying that people are deprived from `finishing their business`.
Legal status of euthanasia
Euthanasia was described in several articles as criminal homicide and was described in relation to homicide committed as a plea or request that a patient endues. But homicide was described as the intent or action taken to cause fatal results to a life. Respectively two classes of homicide that aren`t considered as criminally enduring and justifiably excusable. Euthanasia is usually connected with the active variety which implies the use of lethal methods intentionally.
References
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia
- “Historical Timeline: History of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Euthanasia – ProCon.org. Last updated on: 7/23/2013. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
- Emanuel, Ezekiel (1994). “The history of euthanasia debates in the United States and Britain”. Annals of Internal Medicine 121 (10): 796. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-121-10-199411150-00010.
- Beauchamp, Tom L.; Davidson, Arnold I. (1979). “The Definition of Euthanasia”. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 4 (3): 294–312. doi:10.1093/jmp/4.3.294
Article by Wadah Elmahi
Journalism
Understanding journalism and how it operates in shaping the opinions of people towards the environment around them is not really that simple. Journalism does have a role which is publicly known as the coverage of all kinds of news, whether it`s political, cultural, entertainment, health or any other happenings in our communities and societies. There`s a side to journalism that isn`t really definitive when analyzing the scope of its operation where media is lost between opinions, beliefs and perceptions of the public. Media outlets are vast and vary depending on the targeted audience where the differences in opinions and beliefs of the same public receiving the news is shaped by the level of understanding of the public to certain events and how reactions are more or less perceived through several points of view towards a unified cause which is really knowing the truth. There are boundaries and constraints on the media in general to regulate and direct how detailed any information is provided to the public, thus giving journalists a certain freedom within these set boundaries where they are free to shape their content in whichever writing or presenting style they see appropriate enough for their targeted audience. Knowing what content appeals to your audience, means knowing adequately enough about their beliefs, values and social identities and this directly depends on the culture of such audience. Differences in countries and cultures most certainly refer to difference in languages and communication, each has their unique ways and norms which are quite hard to change or sometimes evolve. Apparently journalists have found solutions to this by introducing the profession of translation into the field, which is a positive thing for media organizations internationally. It is also quite important for journalists to research and understand the society they are providing information or news to and this makes it an easier job to reflect the credibility and truthfulness of the news.
What is it about news content that really catches the attention of the audience or the receiver? How does a journalist decide which content is significant enough or interesting enough for the public? How does the reaction of the audience really affect the media or more over what is its importance to the journalist? These are questions that aren`t answered simply by some common analytical sense where the answer is short and descriptive enough. People do not react with excitement to news that is usual or normal in the sense that knowing it would really change the nature of how things occur, it is unusual happenings that can change incidents that happen in our lives and somehow change our history in the long-run. It`s not hard to figure out or predict the next step when things we do are orderly and follow a certain system or pattern, the nature of our environment stipulates change and creates accidents. This is how the world works and adapts to change by our actions which are brought about after observing, analyzing, thinking and finally reacting to what happens around us. Communication is the key to achieving this action and it is how we connect with the society as individuals or as groups. Media and journalism is communication in its evolved form according to the nature of our current World. It was shaped throughout the years to become what we see today as Radio, TV, Internet & newspapers.
Communication between us doesn`t always have the same effect where either the message we intend to deliver to one another is positive or negative, or if it has the same understanding we perceived in our minds. People`s opinions` are bound to always be in contrast and differences in perspectives is what insures a continuous flow of communication between us as humans better yet as individuals within our societies. Following this line of thought, neutrally Journalism doesn`t have to be defined by right or wrong, good or bad, positive or negative, but the main goal is to get the definitive facts delivered correctly to the public as seen by a witness which is most certainly a journalist. There is in fact that question of authenticity and integrity that regulates the profession which is considered as code for the ethics and responsibilities of journalism and media unified by international laws. Some of these laws might vary from country to another depending on that society and culture where even politics have a higher hand.
Article by Wadah Elmahi 
Communications Solutions 