_Couples Counseling Interpersonal Communications - 1774 Words

COUPLES COUNSELING INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS Dear Mike and Karen: First, let me say that I am extremely flattered, and at the same time, somewhat apprehensive by your request for my input into your relationship. Please keep in mind that I am not a professional counselor, at least not yet, and that I have only begun to study the field. I also value my friendship with both of you and am slightly hesitant to provide even informal advice because I would never want to jeopardize our friendship in any way. That said, I believe that your letter does raise several important issues that I have already begun studying in school and I will do my best to share with you the benefit of what I have learned. Specifically, I have learned that: (1) With a little effort, it is usually possible to identify some of the barriers to effective interpersonal interactions; (2) There are appropriate and inappropriate levels of self-disclosure in relationships; (3) It is important and often quite helpful to understand the process by which our self-concept is developed and mai ntained; (4) It is equally important to recognize how our self-concept relates to both defensive messages and supportive messages (and behaviors) because they often corresponding to positive and negative communication climates in our relationships; (5) Our subjective perceptions, emotions, and nonverbal styles of expression affect interpersonal relationships; and (6) The words we use have the power to create and

1979 Seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca

The seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 is a seminal event in the evolution of Islamist terrorism. Yet the seizure is mostly a footnote in contemporary history. It shouldnt be. The Grand Mosque in Mecca is a massive, 7-acre compound that can accommodate some 1 million worshippers at any one time, especially during the annual hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca centered on circling the sacred Kaaba in the heart of the Grand Mosque. The marble mosque in its current shape is the result of a 20-year, $18 billion renovation project began in 1953 by the House of Saud, the ruling monarchy in Saudi Arabia, which considers itself the guardian and custodian of the Arab Peninsula’s holiest sites, the Grand Mosque topmost among them. The monarchy’s contractor of choice was the Saudi Bin Laden Group, led by the man who in 1957, became the father of Osama bin Laden. The Grand Mosque, however, first came to wide Western attention on November 20, 1979. Coffins as Weapons Cache: Seizure of the Grand Mosque At 5 that morning, the final day of the hajj, Sheikh Mohammed al-Subayil, imam of the Grand Mosque, was preparing to address 50,000 worshipers through a microphone inside the mosque. Among the worshipers, what looked like mourners bearing coffins on their shoulders and wearing headbands made their way through the crowd. It wasnt an unusual sight. Mourners often brought their dead for a blessing at the mosque. But they had no mourning in mind. Sheikh Mohammed al-Subayil was shoved aside by men who took machine guns from beneath their robes, fired them in the air and at a few policemen nearby, and yelled to the crowd that â€Å"The Mahdi has appeared!† Mahdi is the Arabic word for messiah. The mourners set their coffins down, opened them up, and produced an arsenal of weaponry that they then brandished and fired at the crowd. That was only part of their arsenal. An Attempted Overthrow by a Would-Be Messiah The attack was led by Juhayman al-Oteibi, a fundamentalist preacher and former member of the Saudi National Guard, and Mohammed Abdullah al-Qahtani, who claimed to be the Mahdi. The two men openly called for a revolt against the Saudi monarchy, accusing it of having betrayed Islamic principles and sold out to western countries. The militants, who numbered close to 500, were well armed, their weapons, in addition to their coffin arsenal, having been stashed gradually in the days and weeks before the assault in small chambers beneath the Mosque. They were prepared to lay siege to the mosque for a long time. The siege lasted two weeks, though it did not end before a bloodbath in underground chambers where militants had retreated with hundreds of hostages--and bloody repercussions in Pakistan and Iran. In Pakistan, a mob of Islamist students enraged by a false report that the United States was behind the mosque seizure, attacked the American embassy in Islamabad and killed two Americans. Irans Ayatollah Khomeini called the attack and the murders a great joy, and also blamed the seizure on the United States and Israel. In Mecca, Saudi authorities considered attacking the hold-outs without regard for the hostages. Instead, Prince Turki, the youngest son of King Faisal and the man in charge of reclaiming the Grand Mosque, summoned a French secret service officer, Count Claude Alexandre de Marenches, who recommended that the hold-outs be gassed unconscious. Indiscriminate Killing As Lawrence Wright describes it in The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, A team of three French commandos from the Groupe d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale (GIGN) arrived in Mecca. Because of the prohibition against non-Muslims entering the holy city, they converted to Islam in a brief, formal ceremony. The commandos pumped gas into the underground chambers, but perhaps because the rooms were so bafflingly interconnected, the gas failed and the resistance continued.With casualties climbing, Saudi forces drilled holes into the courtyard and dropped grenades into the rooms below, indiscriminately killing many hostages but driving the remaining rebels into more open areas where they could be picked off by sharpshooters. More than two weeks after the assault began, the surviving rebels finally surrendered. At dawn on Jan. 9, 1980, in the public squares of eight Saudi cities, including Mecca, 63 Grand Mosque militants were beheaded by sword on orders of the king. Among the condemned, 41 are Saudi, 10 from Egypt, 7 from Yemen (6 of them from what was then South Yemen), 3 from Kuwait, 1 from Iraq and 1 from the Sudan. Saudi authorities report that 117 militants died as a result of the siege, 87 during the fighting, 27 in hospitals. Authorities also noted that 19 militants received death sentences that were later commuted to life in prison. Saudi security forces suffered 127 deaths and 451 wounded. Were the bin Ladens Involved? This much is known: Osama bin Laden would have been 22 at the time of the attack. He would have likely heard Juhayman al-Oteibi preach. The Bin Laden Group was still heavily involved in the renovation of the Grand Mosque: the company’s engineers and workers had open access to the mosque’s grounds, Bin Laden trucks were inside the compound frequently, and bin Laden workers were familiar with the compound’s every recess: they built some of them. It would be a stretch, however, to assume that because the bin Ladens were involved in construction, they were also involved in the attack. What’s also known is that the company shared all maps and layouts they had of the mosque with authorities to facilitate the Saudi Special Forces’ counter-attack. It would not have been in the bin Laden Group’s interest, enriched as it had become almost exclusively through Saudi government contracts, to aid the regime’s opponents. Just as certainly, what Juhayman al-Oteibi and the â€Å"Mahdi† were preaching, advocating and rebelling against is almost word for word, eye for an eye, what Osama bin Laden would preach and advocate subsequently. The Grand Mosque takeover was not an al-Qaeda operation by any means. But it would become an inspiration, and a stepping stone, to al-Qaeda less than a decade and a half later.

The Help by Kathrynn Stockett Themes Free Essays

In fact, the Justice system, thought to promote equality in â€Å"the and of the free,† was useless towards the idea of racial harmony and African Americans were treated bitterly and relentlessly during this time. The author Kathy Stocked wrote a novel In the perspective of mistreated black maids and one helping white woman during the time of the call rights movement. Through the historical events, characters, and setting compiled Into Kathy Stockpot’s novel, The Help, the theme of Injustice and racial Inferiority Is portrayed. We will write a custom essay sample on The Help by Kathrynn Stockett: Themes or any similar topic only for you Order Now During the novel, the bus Abilene is riding stops at a roadblock and all the black people are told to get off the us. The civil rights leader and NAACP field secretary, Meager Veers, had been shot and killed by the UK Klux Klan. Abilene states, â€Å"White peoples with guns, pointed at colored peoples. Cause who gone protect our peoples? Into no colored policeman’s† (230). The blacks are trapped and have no jurisdiction to control what happens in the community, or to themselves. Even a person with authority, Mayor Thompson, denoted the idea of a biracial committee and said that he â€Å"believes in the separation of races† (231). Instead of protecting the blacks, the government was useless In aiding them. The Jim Crow laws, found by Skitter In the library, also resembled how government only contributed to the destruction of racism. The events that are embedded throughout the novel reveal how the characters feel helpless to what occurs around them. In addition to resembling the theme of injustice, Hilly Holbrook is the symbol for whites who used power and influence to have blacks fired, evicted, imprisoned, fined, and even subjected to physical violence. She used her social status to influence the courts and businesses in the community to punish black omen, like Yule May, whom she targeted. After Yule May went to trial for stealing one of Hills rings, Abilene states that â€Å"A regular sentence be six months for petty stealing, but Miss Holbrook, she get it pushed up to four years† (295). For many of the black characters in the novel, and the black maids during that time, there was little justice. Acts of violence and injustice were committed against them and there was nothing they could do to fight it. The scale was of Justice was Imbalanced, heavily sloping downwards for the blacks who had no power compared to the whites. The eating also reinforces the theme of Injustice and racial Inferiority. The novel Is set In Jackson, Mississippi, one of the most segregated towns in the united States, during ten time AT ten call relents movement. I Nils was a parlor consisting AT organelle boycotts, student protests, and mass marches towards the struggle against racial segregation. The Jim Crow laws were enforced and there were strict rules and norms concerning the actions of blacks. Jackson, Mississippi was teeming with racial tensions and this affected the characters and events of the novel. Kathy Stocked rote the novel, The Help, and captured the image of life as a black maid during the sass’s. In her novel, she compiled historical events, characters, and the setting to portray the emotions and hardships of blacks during this time in history. By using these devices, Stocked formed the theme of injustice that readers can either relate to or comprehend. Through her writing, she accurately demonstrated how racial inequality, injustice, and inferiority played a role in the lives of many blacks. The Help represents how the blacks, the inferior, began to stand up to the whites, the superior, through words and stories. How to cite The Help by Kathrynn Stockett: Themes, Papers