Life in the Ocean an Example by

Life in the Ocean by Expert Prof Nelly | 07 Dec 2016 Question: Need essay sample on "Life in the Ocean" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed What is picoplankton and why is it important in the ecology of the ocean? Answer: Planktons with cells that range from 0.2 and 2.0 m are called picoplanktons. There are two types of picoplanktons depending on their feeding preferences: the photosynthetic picoplankton and the heterotrophic picoplankton. The former is the plankton that dominates the central oligotrophic regions. These regions have scarce supply of nutrients. There are three major groups under this type: cyanobacteria (Synechococcus), cyanobacteria (Prochlorococcus), and picoplanktonic eukaryotes. This plankton is important since, aside from the biological pump that distributes nutrients in the depths, it synthesizes the available nutrients to provide nutrients to other organisms in the area. The latter type of plankton, as its name suggests, is the type of plankton that do not perform photosynthesis. It can be either prokaryotes or eukaryotes. Heterotrophic picoplanktons can be found on both seawater and freshwater environments. These picoplanktons are important in the carbon cycle since they feed on organic matter (i.e. waste products, carcasses of dead creatures) descended into the depths. These creatures help in maintaining the cleanliness in the ocean floor. Question: Salinity and osmotic balance are closely related. Discuss how organisms compensate for changes in salinity when they move from the ocean to an estuary, as occurs with various species of shrimp and fish during their life cycle. Ans.: The blue crabs, shrimp, and lobsters, also called decapod crustaceans, are some of the species in which salinity is part of their life cycle. Salinity is important in the regulation of internal ion concentration of the crustaceans, decapods and fishes. In the case of the blue crabs, most of the time, the adults are found in the estuarine environment where there is a relatively low-salinity water. After mating, the female blue crab journeys into the deeper parts of the ocean to release the fertilized eggs. The grass shrimp, Palaemonetes vulgaris, also live in the low-salinity water of the estuaries. The changes in the salinity levels across the estuaries into the ocean depths are compensated by changes in the ion concentration of the species. In this way, the organisms are able to survive and complete their life cycle. During their larval stage, high salinity inhibits growth of some types of pathogenic organisms and invasive species thus shrimps and other crustaceans and fishes usually lay their eggs in high-salinity waters, e.g. ocean. The organisms then return to the low-salinity waters when they mature or reach optimum stage for survival and completion of the life cycle. Question: How does the fossilization process take place in marine organisms? Go to the web sites indicated at the end of Supplemental Activity 3 of Chapter 21 in The Endless Voyage Study Guide, and answer the question in a brief manner (not a report). Ans.: Fossil preservation of organisms depends upon three key factors: type of animal, environment, and events after death. In arid, acidic and tropical environments, bones are usually decomposed at faster rates while in the marine environment, there are factors (i.e. salinity) that serve as preservatives of the remains thus allowing preservation of the organisms details after it dies, called fossil. Fossilization in marine organisms is accomplished through rapid sedimentation and absence of process interruption. When the organism dies, its remains are quickly covered by sand or mud and some organic matter that descends from the ocean surface to the abyss. This will bury the remains and in effect, it will be protected from disturbances for thousands or even millions of years. The remains will not be available for scavengers which are present in the open environments inland. It will also be protected from erosion and washing away as well as decomposing bacteria. The sedimentation process will continue and after sometime, the surrounding sediments will harden into rocks, layers of rocks formed from sediments and remains of the organism. Organisms details maybe omitted in the process depending on the type of rock and mineral deposits that buried it. The most common types are calcite and aragonite (both form of calcium carbonate), quartz and silica. References: Thornton-Devictor, S. (2004). Transitions to the Deep: Adaptations in Decapod Crustaceans for Life Along the 3130N Atlantic Transect. Retrieved April 22, 2007, from http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/04etta/background/decapods/decapods.html#top Oram, J.J. (2005). Patterns of Temperature, Salinity, and Suspended Particulate Material in San Francisco Estuary: Water Year 2005 in the Context of Previous Water Years. Retrieved April 23, 2007, from http://www.sfei.org/rmp/2004to05/AMR_2004-2005_Ch7_Patterns.pdf Dinosaur Fossilization (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2007, from http://www.dinoruss.org/de_4/5c60e6e.htm How Fossils Form (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2007, from http://www.zoomschool.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinofossils/Fossilhow.html

101 Intro to Literary Analysis and Woman Hollering Creek Professor Ramos Blog

101 Intro to Literary Analysis and Woman Hollering Creek Analysis vs Summary Quick Write A theme is a central idea in a piece of writing or other work of art. What theme or themes did you notice in â€Å"Woman Hollering Creek?† Analysis vs Summary Summary versus Analysis. What is the difference? What does it mean to analyze literature? Analysis : detailed examination of the elements or structure of something. â€Å"Woman Hollering Creek† La Llorona Prezi What are some themes, recurring topics or ideas, that you have noticed? Lets come up with a list of characters. Arguable Thesis Start with what interests you, to develop a point of analysis. You can choose a character, theme, issue, context, patterns, metaphors, authors style or language, etc. What is standing out to you and then you can develop that into a thesis. You will be arguing that your analysis of the work is valid. Developing Strong Thesis Statements In Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros is recasting traditional negative Mexican female archetypes in a positive light. Focus on Thesis and Structure One way to organize your analysis essay: Introduce the text and state your  arguable thesis. Body paragraphs 1-3,4,5,6 cite passages and explain how each supports your thesis and interpretation. Conclusion, sum up your interpretation in light of your analysis Document Sources, works cited. You can choose other ways of organizing, as long as it is clear and   makes sense. Student Video What is a Literary Analysis? Writing a Literary Analysis Presentation Literary Analysis The Art of Quoting According to the book, what is the purpose of a citation? When is the use of a citation appropriate? Claims China  is the largest nation in the world. A McDonald’s  Big Mac ®Ã‚  has 550 calories. Why do these need support? Where can you find it? Quote Sandwich Introduce the quotation p. 46 Quote, relevant Explain Quotation p. 47 Quick Write Why are citations important? How did you find support for the claims? Is it wrong to not cite sources?   Why or Why not? How would you feel if your ideas or work were used without giving you credit? Alternate Interpretation

Drug Courts in the US Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Drug Courts in the US - Research Paper Example This research paper aims at compiling a report on the effectiveness of drug courts in the United States. Brooklyn treatment court is among the largest drug courts in New York. This court documented the effectiveness of drug courts in reforming drug offenders struggling with addiction. It is documented that this court views drug offenders as individuals struggling with a chronic disease and not as a moral breakdown viewed by the judicial system. This court comes up with bands of treatment that have measurements of success used in evaluating the progress of the offender. Though the offenders upon release often come back with similar charges, the court views relapse as inevitable in any offender being rehabilitated from drug. The court reports that since the intervention measures adopted in drug courts are situation specific and contextualized their effectiveness in reforming the offenders is inevitable (Dorf & Sabel, 2000). Consequently, effectiveness of drug courts in the United States is also documented in the Belenko’s study. From his study of drug courts, it is reported that drug courts reported higher retention rates as they emphasized a more closer and comprehensive framework and supervision with the offenders. The drug testing which evidenced reduced levels in subsequent visits evidenced this. In addition, drug courts aided in judicial saving since there was reduces jail and prison use (Belenko, 2003). Subsequently, drug courts have been documented to reduce criminality. This is attributed to the fact that the offenders are under the strict supervision of their supervisors and have to report to the court. This reduces the chances for them to engage in criminal activities. It is documented that the main aim of any correction strategy is to reduce the rate of recidivism. Drug courts have been documented to be effective since they have been documented to reduce the rate of recidivism with a substantial margin (Weiman, 2007). Members of the

Much Ado About Nothing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Much Ado About Nothing - Assignment Example As Boggs and Dennis (46) said â€Å"Much Ado about Nothing† is an interesting film that mirrors Shakespeare’s poetic and an all-encompassing entertaining prowess. I would recommend the film to any individual who wants to have a view of the 16th century literature redone with modern aesthetics and presented as film. As Landrum (751) said, Dogberry  is the constable manning the Watch. The chief law enforcement officer of Messina is relatively honest and demonstrates a high level of seriousness in executing his policing tasks. However, his habit of employing incorrect terms to communicate is what differentiates his portrayal in the script and in the film. In the text his actions are not well defined, but with Nathan Fillion acting as Dogberry, viewers are effectively treated to a great drama surrounding the character’s â€Å"wrongful† choice of words. The film actor is known for turning his rather distracting approach (in the text) to an elaborate sense of parody in the film. In Act II, Scene III, the garden scene features the practice of a new ploy that can only be captured in film and not any other forms of art. Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio persuade Benedick that Beatrice loves him. The romanticist trickery seems to be bearing a fruit when Benedick buys the idea. The character is of the opinion that he is spying on his comrades, but, because his presence is no longer a secret, they intentionally raise their voices to be heard. The romanticist drama created by Leonato, Don Pedro, and Claudio as they attempt to suppress their laughter about the possibility of Beatrice breaking down under the weight of her emotional attachment to Benedick depicts blind romance between the two characters, which unlike other forms of art, filmic trickery helps to connect (Landrum 785). In the subsequent Act III, scene I, Hero and Ursula pull a trick upon Beatrice, which surprisingly blinds her just the same way as Claudio and Don

MKTG 3000 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

MKTG 3000 - Essay Example changing consumer behaviour highlights that approximately 65-70% of consumers fall within the category of â€Å"multichannel shoppers† and increasingly has the highest purchasing power (Weinberg et al, 2007). As a result, Weinberg et al posit that it is â€Å"critical that organisations effectively employ a multichannel marketing approach, as consumers in B2C contexts now expect it† (Weinberg et al, 2007, p.385). It is evident that retailers are now moving away from the conventional economics based approach to consider the benefit of integrating effective customer relationship management (CRM) into business strategy to create value for its customers For example, Vollmer and Precourt argue that the underlying basis for marketing is rooted in economic principles of exchanging goods for value (2008). It is precisely this concept of â€Å"value† that has been at the heart of marketing strategy in persuading consumers to exchange value for goods in conventional business strategy. However, as the business models continue to evolve in line with changing consumer habits and retail channels, Vargo and Lusch point to the fact that economical basis for traditional marketing strategy has been forced to adapt to remain relevant (2004). â€Å"very nature of network organisation†¦..and the potential impact on the organisation of consumption all suggest that a paradigm shift for marketing may not be far over the horizon†(in Vargo and Lusch, 2004). They highlight the point that retailers have been forced to move away from the focus on tangible goods in light of the increasing consumer value attached to intangibles, thereby underpinning the â€Å"paradigm shift† in providing value in marketing. A significant part of this has been the move away from the economic model to the recognition of marketing as a social and economic process (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). In evaluating this â€Å"paradigm shift†, Gronroos refers to the fact that customer relationship economics presses the need for

Skills And Competencies Of Change Leaders Management Essay

Skills And Competencies Of Change Leaders Management Essay This essay analysed the skills and competencies of change leaders with the support of literature references and real life examples. Later, the essay focussed on the challenges of change leaders during the implementation of their skills and competencies on change processes, and how these skills and competencies are varying across different levels of leaders in an organization. Finally, the conclusion is drawn on the basis of critical analyses on change leadership and identified the possibility of acting as a change leader by anyone. Introduction For the past two decades, the amount of significant change that the organizations faced in order to survive has tremendously increased, and many of the researchers argued that this situation will continue and demand more of future leaders (Wren Dulewicz, 2005; Senge et al., 2002). Leadership is such a crucial component for undergoing these changes, and identifying the key components of leadership is important for the success of these transformation efforts (Beer Nohria, 2000). Kotter (1996) considered that, leadership is the key to creating and sustaining the successful organization, because it helps the organization to shape its future and sustain its growth. In addition, leadership competencies are also essential to lead the change processes in an effective way (Christensen Overdorf, 2000). According to Sanchez et al., (1996), leadership competencies have a cognitive aspect, in terms of knowledge and skills the leader possesses, and an action aspect that enables a leader to depl oy their competencies in a coordinated manner. Leaders competencies and skills will influence the actions, structures and processes that enhance the change and it further strengthen the effectiveness in implementing change (Gilley et al., 2009). This essay will critically analyse whether anyone can adapt these leadership skills and competencies which is necessary to be a successful change leader. The analysis will be done based on the references of academic research that has been already conducted in this field. Necessary Skills and Competencies to be a change leader Leadership is different from management; leadership complements management but it does not replace it. Because management is about coping with complexity but the leadership is about coping with change (Kotter, 1990). The leadership-skill requirements will vary based on the leaders positions and their levels. The most important skills where the leaders need to be possessed are cognitive skills, business skills, strategic skills and interpersonal skills. Across all the leadership levels cognitive skills are founded to be more important. In addition, interpersonal skills are required for a leader in greater degree than business or strategic skills (Sparks Gentry, 2008). For example) during the group work on simulation game, the leader of the successful team had contributed a great part by understanding the views of the team members and through the organization of team meeting. This helped the team to bring out fruitful ideas and plans uniquely and also it helped the group leaders to emphasize their cognitive and interpersonal skills effectively. Compared to other skills, the significance of business and strategic skills is more required for the leaders in managerial level (Sparks Gentry, 2008). Possessing these leadership skills in change management has been linked to bringing about effective and successful organization change. Although, some of the factors are considered as the barriers for the success of the change, they are lack of understanding of change implementation techniques and the inability to alter ones leadership style or organization functions (Bossidy Charan, 2002; Gilley, 2005). The other barriers identified by the analysis include the inability of the leaders to motivate others to change, poor communication skills, and failure to reward or recognize the individuals who make the effort to change (Kotter, 1996). Hence the ability to understand and manage the change processes is valued as a necessary capability of change leaders. Many of the scholars defined this ability as a social intelligence skill, which is the ability to understand ones own and others feelings, behaviours and thoughts in interpersonal situations and to respond appropriately, which includ es emotional ability (Burke, 2002). Finally, leaders thoughts and skills are manifested through the actions of implementing change across the organization. In this stage, the leaders need to be aware about avoiding coordination issues when the different functional groups in an organization work on a common task. Because lack of coordination will raise conflicts in implementing change and it reduce the success (Kuhl et al., 2005). For example, while working for the multi-product task, the lack of coordination across the leaders from different departments affected the implementation of change. There were lot of conflicts aroused in allocating the budget across each department of the organization and hence it led to the ineffective change implementation. As per Zaccaro (2002), effective leadership requires social reasoning skills to understand, judge and diagnose social situations accurately, and relational competencies to respond to the change and manage them successfully. Since change implementation involves the understanding of multiple level of people (i.e., individual, group and organizational), social-emotional competency is regarded to have a direct impact on the capacity to lead change. It acts as a greater predictor of leading change than managing complexity. Social-emotional competency includes observing the employees views, providing constructive feedback, encouraging the cooperation among team members, maintaining effective interpersonal relationships with others and treating others with respect to regardless of their position or rank (Mathew, 2009). For example) while working for the simulation game, in some of the groups, there was a long debate happened among the team members about the implementation of change strategi es with different views and hence conflicts aroused. The leaders of those teams were also failed to maintain cooperation within the team. This led them to choose inappropriate change strategies and directed towards failure to reach their target. But while enquiring the team who reached the target, I came to knew that the team leader had delegated the roles to each team members based on their knowledge about the game and by providing constructive feedback on their views. This helped them to maintain a good cooperation within the team without giving the ways for any conflicts and also it provided a way to reach their target within the time limit and budget. Within a change specific context Higgs and Rowland (2000, 2001) indicated a cluster of change leadership competencies associated with coaching and developing others. In addition, Giglio et al. (1998) also emphasized the importance of leaders coaching role in the change process. Because a good leader should motivate their employees in order to make them aware of the change process. This will be done by providing appropriate coaching to them. According to Hudson (1999), coaching skills enable leaders to approach situations from new perspectives and to question the status quo. Moreover, the leaders who coach their employees can enhance their renewal capacity and resilience, which has significant influence on organizational success. Finally and more importantly it allows others to make and learn from mistakes. Huq (2006) argued that the leadership competencies can help to create the six sigma cadre in an organization. He argued that the personal and corporate competencies play a vital role in creating this six sigma cadre. Personal competencies include the technical knowledge and charisma of the leader. Whilst the corporate competencies include the combinations of skills and knowledge or experience that enable a leader to implement the change program successfully. However, the available evidence shows that, even the experienced leaders were deviated from these competencies in some circumstances. The most recent examples of sudden corporate implosions (Enron, Lehman Brothers) have apparently raised concerns about the nature and influence of bad leadership. Higgs (2009) have identified that the causes of this leadership failure were due to combination of personal flaws and performance shortfalls. While exploring this concept, he also identified a range of causal factors for these implosions which are skill deficiencies, being insensitive to others, betraying trust, arrogance and being overly ambitious. He argued that the personal flaws were more vital than skill deficiencies as drivers of derailment. Finally, Northouse (2010) emphasized the importance of charismatic/value-based leadership in change management. Value-based leadership reflects the ability to inspire, motivate and to expect significant performance from others on the basis of core values of the change process. This kind of leadership comprises being visionary, decisive, inspirational, trustworthy, self-sacrificing and performance oriented. The powerful example of value-based leadership is the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Challenges on implementing leadership Skills and Competencies during change Initiating and managing organizational change is a significant challenge for todays leaders. The leaders role in change process is to make their employees to understand about the need of change. Understanding organizational change involves analysing types of change within the organization. No matter its size, any change has a ripple effect on an organization (Gilley et al., 2009). At the macro level, frequent organizational change focus on strategy and business models, technology, product and services, structure, processes, culture, acquisitions or expansion or downsizing (Lewis, 1994).Consequently, it challenges the leaders of all level in an organization in terms of managing the complexity of the change (Biech, 2007). One of the challenges that good leaders often face is solving the unsatisfactory performance of the staff in an effective way. Leaders who failed to clarify their expectation to employees and to respond openly against the performance problems are considered to be an ineffective leader (Redfern, 2008). While working on the multi- product task, in some of the groups, the leaders did not clearly respond against the performance problems of their team members. It is not possible to expect all the members in a group to work effectively, but the leaders could give prior instructions to the each individual about their expectation from them. Hence many of the groups lacked the complete participation of all the members in their team. As an effective leader, they should make all the team members to get involved in a work to achieve success. The crucial challenge that many of the leaders consider is the resistance to change, and it have a noticeable impact and influence upon the success of an organizational change project. Resistance is commonly regarded as a behaviour which is not congruent with the attempts of the change leader (Bartunek, 1993). In this case, the leaders should analyse the resistance from motivational perspective and, more particularly, from an identity-based perspective, that is examining the employee attitudes to the change and their own attitudes to the resistance (Dijk Dick, 2009). Some of the literature evidence suggests that changing organizational behaviour is the fundamental challenge for a leader while leading organizational change (Argyris, 1993; Kotter Kohen, 2002; Burke, 2002). Burke (2002) emphasized that leaders should deal with competition for resources, power and political dynamics; dispel resistance; and exemplify desired behaviour change. Finally and more importantly, the distinctive feature that leaders need to possess is the ability to identify the right person for the right job and to train employees to succeed at their jobs. To succeed consistently, good leaders need to be skilled not just in evaluating people but also in evaluating the abilities and disabilities of their firm as a whole. During change implementation the leader must ensure that the right message has been communicated through right approach. Implementation is perhaps the most adverse phase of change. In this stage, communication plays a significant role during the throes of the implementation phase. Without an effective human communication, the change process cannot be implemented successfully. Hence the implementation of change challenges communication skills of a leader (Russ, 2008). In addition to communication challenge, the leaders may also face the challenge on time constraints to implement the change. This kind of challenge impacts the success of the change process, because a change process which is not completed in time budget cannot be considered as a successful process (Meyer Stensaker, 2006). For example) during the simulation game, many of the groups were not able to reach the specified target in time. Hence the teams which did not meet the target in time were considered as unsuccessful te ams. An effective leader used to display effective leadership behaviours in order to reduce the stress on change work, such as coordination with other leaders in an organization, concern for wellbeing of the staff, frankness and willingness to involve in two-way feedback, and self-awareness. They recognize and give importance to effort of others in an organization and support their initiatives. They will share problems, engage colleagues in their solutions, and try to achieve the goal in a way that further problems do not arise (Redfern, 2008). But in real-time implementation, conflicts may arise between the change leaders of different departments or between the change leaders and employees. However, it can be avoid using open communication and through mutual coordination (Higgs, 2009). For example) even when implementing the multi-product task, such kind of misunderstanding aroused between the leaders from different departments due to different leadership behaviours. But the conflict cou ld be avoided by focussing towards the organizations objective rather than focussing on leaders departmental objectives. This could be done through effective negotiation and careful consideration of organizations current key change requirements. The central aspects of the change leadership are creation and promotion of commitment and trust. It is the leaders role to bring conditions for learning by stimulating fruitful conversations. Fruitful conversation can take place only when the relationships are characterised by trust, commitment and integrity. Hence the challenge of change leadership is promoting commitment, trust and integrity in firms. Obviously, change leaders cannot promote these qualities unless they themselves possess these qualities (Nilakant Ramnarayan, 2006). The managers who focus solely on managerial tasks may fail to provide strong leadership or to sustain the performance. Because over management of employees could lead to impairment of motivation (Redfern, 2008). Hence the leaders should learn to acknowledge the sustainability challenges and then develop appropriate skills and competencies to meet those challenges (Ferdig, 2007). Leadership skills of different levels Based on the literature references on change leadership, many of the researchers suggests that, an effective leadership depends on three basic personal skills, they are technical, inter-personal and conceptual skills. Technical skill is knowledge about specific type of work or activity and the inter-personal skill is ability to work with people. Finally, conceptual skills are abilities to work with different ideas and concepts. Leaders from different management level require different proportion of these basic skills. Leaders from top management level mainly require inter-personal and conceptual skills rather than technical skills, whereas the leaders from supervisory management level require greater proportion of technical and inter-personal skills than conceptual skills. But the leaders from middle management level require all these three basic skills in equal proportion (Katz, 1955; Northouse, 2010). As per the research conducted by Sparks and Gentry (2008), leading employees towards change and resourcefulness were found to be important for leaders across different managerial levels. Leading employees towards change includes setting clear performance expectations, delegating the change work to employees based on their skills and being patient and fair with employees. Resourcefulness includes being a strategic thinker; being a flexible problem solver during any stage of change implementation; understanding and working efficiently with top management. Charismatic leadership usually emphasize the leaders at top management level during change (Waldman et al., 2004). But some of the literature evidences implies that not only top-executives can motivate employees by formulating a compelling vision or by providing a behavioural role model, but also non-executives at lower management levels can possess charismatic leadership during change (Michaelis et al., 2009; Seyranian Bligh, 2008). Conclusion The above analyses and findings revealed that effective leaders should possess cognitive skills, business skills, and strategic skills for the successful implementation of change. But the available evidences show that, even the experienced skilled leaders have failed to possess the above leadership skills in certain circumstances. The corporate implosions of Enron and Lehman Brothers were illustrating the same. In addition, during the simulation game, many of the team leaders were not able to lead their team towards success. This was due to lot of conflicts and misconception prevailed within the team while implementing the change strategies. Apart from this, some of the barriers also exist against change leaders which impacts the change processes directly. They are lack of understanding of coordination in team, poor communication, inability to identify the right person for the right job and inability to motivate others. And the analysis on leadership competencies shows that the social-emotional competency has a significant impact on leading change across the organization. However, many of the challenges exist in implementing the leadership skills and competencies during change. They are resistance to change, changing the organizational behaviour, communication challenge, time constraint challenge, and finally challenge in promoting trust, commitment and integrity in organizations. While working on multi-product task, the team leaders were faced these kinds of challenges in implementing the change. Hence, these kinds of issues, barriers and challenges on change raised the question that whether anyone can act as a leader during change. Because, the above analyses and evidences shows that many of team leaders often faced issues while implementing the change and even the experienced leaders were also failed to lead the change effectively at some situations. So it is not possible for anyone to be a successful leader of change. The skills, competencies and behaviour of a person can only determine whether they can act a change leader or not.

last words of Christ Essay -- essays research papers

JESUS LAST WORDS ON THE CROSS The seven last words of Jesus on the cross demonstrate both his humanity and his divinity, and capture the last moment Jesus went through to gain our forgiveness. 1. Father forgive them, for they know not what they do: (Luke 23:34) Forgiveness for those who arrested condemned and executed Jesus†¦but also forgiveness those who drove the nails into the hands of Jesus, and those who mocked him. It is amazing to see the boundless mercy of Jesus. The first words He utters when he goes onto the Cross are words of forgiveness. This echoes what Jesus feels today when he looks down upon us and says the same words of forgiveness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Parallel verse: Matt 5:44 Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you-- Jesus is putting in practice his own teachings! 2. Today, you will be with Me in Paradise: (Luke 23:43) There were two thieves crucified on either side of Jesus, both gasping for life, and in horrible pain. The thief on the right had been watching Jesus; he knew this man was innocent. He just heard Jesus asking God to forgive the people—the thief hears about forgiveness straight from Jesus. So the thief says this man is innocent. He defends Jesus, while no one else does! He knows he’s close to death†¦so he asks Jesus remember me when you come to your kingdom†¦he turns to Jesus for forgiveness, and Christ accepted him—today you will be wi...