Addiction And Poverty In The Movie : Pay It Forward : Movie Review

"Smashed" is A well-intentioned, heavily flawed drama concerns the story of an alcoholic school teacher (Mary Winstead) who realizes, after a couple of incidents related to her abuse of alcohol and drugs, that her life is going downhill, therefore, she attempts to get back to the life of sobriety. The only problem is her husband who continues to drink and plays as an enabler instead of actually helping her and himself toward backing to sobriety. The movie seems very real in its portrayals, and highlights many issues and challenges that both characters face as they are trying to stay in a marriage that is founded on drinking. What the movie does well is capture the spirit of life for a recovering alcoholic. As we see in the movie, alcohol is not just the great social lubricant, it can also be the glue holding troubled relationships together. The film gives some elements of this addiction and recovery tale the short shrift in an effort to keep to its brisk pace. Smashed does a great job than any film I’ve seen of addressing the American culture’s schizophrenic relationship with drinking. It covers the journey of life of the couple and the increasing certainty of their drinking problem. Smashed offers an understandable explanation for the couple’s dangerous drinking and gives fair play to booze: Kate and Charlie imbibe because they have a lot of fun while doing it. So they do it all the time.

Humans always surprise each other. The amount of good we can commit in just one simple act can be astonishing. Whether it is donating money to charity, helping out an old friend, or just even offering someone a smile or kind word when having a bad day, can lead to a great impact on their life. “Just as one drop of water creates countless of ripples, so does one gesture of kindness or love change countless lives (Randi G Fine)”. These noble, grand gestures; or le beau geste; are unselfish acts that people commit with the intention of creating a better life for someone else. These acts can be committed due to love, compassion, or sacrifice. However, in the end, all these noble gestures boil down to creating a better world out there for others.

1. When Trevor first presents his “Pay It Forward” plan—as a way to change the world for the better—many dismiss it. What does their rejection say about Trevor’s plan and what does it say about those who dismissed it? :

Everything Must Go is a film about an alcoholic, Nick Hasley, who has recently lost his job, wife, car, and dealing with all his possessions in his front lawn. Throughout the movie, Nick, displays an addiction to alcohol as he copes with the loss of his possessions. Through support of acquaintances, Nick is able to let go of his life and addiction to begin a new one.

Politically, socially, environmentally or one person at a time, how will you give back to society? Day in and day out many citizens change the world, or they do just the opposite and make the world a worse place than when they woke up. The article I chose to review is, “Community Service” written by Robert Coles. The article tells a story of college students who make a difference in the world through peer tutoring, an act of community service, and have such an impact that they act as role models for Coles and he begins to do the same. Briefly in the beginning of the article, Coles states that, “students are likely to express their lofty political and social impulses and practical desires to change the world through community service, even if in limited or modest ways.”(Robert Coles, pg.93) We must make an ultimate decision about the world we live in, will we choose to make a difference in the lives of fellow citizens or discriminate and punish not only them but ourselves by not sharing the knowledge we have been taught.

Positive change in the world starts in the individual and builds its way up until that certain individual’s

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the three main learning objectives in chapters 5-10, brought out by David Sheff author of “Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy”. The objectives are: (1) Discuss use becomes abuse and abuse becomes addiction, (2) Discuss the disease of addiction and, (3) Discuss Detoxification It is not unique when a person attends a party and gets introduced to a drug, they may try it for many reasons, relaxation, to fit in, or just to be sociable. Some who try a drug as the author states, will use once, some moderately and then occasionally. However, others will begin to increase use not realizing what is happening to their minds, bodies or lives. This is called recreational drug use, which

Often referred to as the “devil’s drug”, heroin in today’s society holds responsibility as one of the top killers next to murder, suicide, and car accidents. From 2002 to 2013, the number of deaths by heroin has quadrupled. In 2007, approximately 2,000 lives were taking by heroin, and these numbers increased to 8,000 by 2013. Heroin has affected thousands of people lives and killed many at an alarming rate; it now holds a spot as an epidemic in the United States. In a poem by an anonymous author, the effects of heroin are described explicitly, “If you try me, be warned this is no game. If given the chance, I’ll drive you insane. I’ll ravish your body; I’ll control your mind. I’ll own you completely; your soul will be mine.” Thousands of

We are becoming a globalize society and becoming more aware of the problems faced by different nations; This means that we are more willing to help anyone in need without taking into account their beliefs. By helping those in need we are following the road and Kennedy's dream."To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break bones of math mystery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves," (Kennedy ) In his words Kennedy expresses his desire to aid those in need, without over influencing to the point that their own ideas become affected by our influence resulting from our assistant. Ultimately this allows different ideas to come together and help us move towards equality for

They way that each section of society really functions together to donate to the entire

The concept of “paying it forward” has been popularized in the news and social media. For one waitress, paying it forward has turned her entire life around. These two people experienced an unlikely chain of events that would change their lives forever.

Peter Singer’s The Most Good You Can Do is an insightful, informative, philosophical spin on the typical self help book. His ideas on effective altruism, doing the most good with what you have, is a fresh look at living a charitable life. The book provides an ample amount of examples of people and companies who strive to make as much impact in the world as possible, likely in an effort to make effective altruism appear to be a feasible way of living for the average person. However, as the book progressed, it seemed to lose focus, shifting between profiles of effective altruists, and Singer’s own point of view on the movement. Overall, the ideas presented were interesting and thought provoking, but the entire text could have been shortened dramatically and

Erin was explaining how her father had an impact on her daily life. “I’ve learned to be less selfish and to help others in need. During last Thanksgiving, he brought my sister and I to a local soup kitchen. For a few hours, we made and packaged food to give to the homeless” (Kinaci). This describes how Erin’s dad is trying to get her into the habit of volunteering to do good deeds for people who are not as privileged as her. When you finally stop thinking about yourself and start to think about others, you are lending them a helping hand and pulling them from their dark struggles such as poverty to the light-filled side of opportunities such as a new beginning. As a role model, it is important to be selfless because you are giving hope to those who need it in order to keep going. You are also voluntarily leading others to the path of accomplishment and

In “Effective Altruism” by Peter Singer, Singer talks about how we can take actions that help others as much as possible. This is known as effective altruism. Effective altruism is a social movement that aims to revolutionize the way we live. Effective altruism encourages individuals to make altruism a central part of their lives and do as much good as possible, typically by contributing a fixed percentage of one's income to the world's best performing aid and development organizations. Philosopher Pete Singer for Ted Talks discuss that you can donate at least a tiny percentage of money and still be able to live a normal life. He also references many people who donated by individuals to to the world's poorest people can make a great

During a few of our classes we have learned about globalization, and a little bit more about the world we are currently in. This lesson entirely introduced me to the new problems that we are faced with today in current society. This lesson has impacted me a lot. I also learned how much donations and little actions can benefit everyone in every way. When we were putting away jackets I thought a while after about all the people who’d have something to wear this winter. The part was that they didn’t have to donate at all, but people continued to do so. It was the same with the food hamper, although we did not get many donations this year, people still had the thought to bring things in. No one was obligated to bring anything in at all, but merely encouraged. These small actions are going to be able to make others lives better.