Sustainable Supply Chains

Introduction to Sustainable Supply Chains A supply chain is a system in organizations, technology, information, people, resources, and activities that involves moving a product or service from the supplier to the customer.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Sustainable Supply Chains specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Sustainable supply chains are supply chains with the ability of helping organizations to grow, protect, and create long term social, economic and environmental value for shareholders involved in bringing products and services to the market. Supply chain sustainability is the management of social, economic, and environmental impacts and the encouragement of practices of good governance through the lifecycle of services and goods. Sustainable supply chain management is the transparent and strategic achievement and integration of economic, environmental, and social goals in an organization in a systematic c oordination of key business inter-organizational processes for improving the economic performance on individual companies in the long term (Pullman, Maloni Carter, 2009). Sustainable supply chains are important to ensure that an organization complies with laws and regulations and to support and adhere to international principles for sustainable business conduct. Organizations adopt sustainable supply chain to reduce costs of operations in order to maximize profits. The organizations acquire the potential of satisfying the interests of stakeholders and the society. Examples of successful sustainable supply chains are those that practices of collaboration. An example of collaboration is â€Å"investment in alternative modes of transportation to reduce environmental impacts and cost of deliveries†.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Some of the modes of transportation inc lude airports, ships and canals. A successful sustainable supply chain is also in major components of management of supplier relationships. It is applied to create efficient way of cutting costs in the retail business (Krause, Vachon Klassen, 2009). For example, Wal-Mart has a Supplier Energy Efficiency Project that are aimed at emission elimination the company’s supply chain.The project’s suppliers â€Å"reduced 3300 metric tons of GHG emissions saving approximately $200,000 costs of energy in 2009†. The suppliers of Wal-Mart were requested its suppliers to show efficiency in management of environmental footprint as a measure of reducing cost and realize this benefit. This could save energy, time, and cost for the company. IBM has a sustainable supply chain in which it conducts studies annually to address the issues in its supply chain. The company prepares strategies to overcome global challenges that arise from globalization to create business value (Pagell Wu, 2009). Difference Between Traditional Supply Chains and Sustainable Supply Chains Have Created Competitive Advantage For OrganizationsAdvertising We will write a custom report sample on Sustainable Supply Chains specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When accurately designed, traditional or conventional supply chains present clientele the advantages of quality enhancement, reduced overheads, and rapid delivery. Sustainable supply chain offer reduced costs and create value in the supply chain. Supply chain managers face challenges of changes in requirements of expertise in today’s business long-term trends. Business trends in recent years involve increasing intensity of competition and demand in environmental protection, resource scarcity, and security arising from the ongoing globalization. Businesses have to adopt better business systems that have the potential of satisfying stakeholders and customers. This makes the tradi tional supply chain insufficient in the modern business world. Under the objectives of a variety performance, a new prototype of a more complicated supply chain is emerging that caters for the needs of sustainable and developing competitiveness. The main differences between the traditional and sustainable supply chain is that the traditional supply chain is a drive of prices and decouple strategically but the sustainable supply chain is a drive of value and couple strategically. This means that management and design of supply chains should deliver specific outcomes, such as security, sustainability, innovation, cost reduction, and resilience (Pagell, Wu Wasserma, 2010). Paulraj (2011) identified that sustainable supply chains create competitive advantage in businesses by managing risks, creating sustainable production, and realizing efficiencies.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Managing business risks minimizes disruptions in business from social, economic, and environmental impacts. Managing business risks also protects the brand value and reputation of the company. Companies can protect themselves from interruptions in their potential supply chains associated with labor, human rights, governmental practices, environmental practices, and suppliers’ human rights by ensuring that suppliers comply with management systems and programmes covering sustainable supply chain management principles. Managing risks ensures that a company has access to resources. A company with a sustainable supply chain has the potential of reducing future liability and additional costs. Therefore, companies with sustainable supply chains understand the different strategies to undertake to ensure productivity and efficiency. Realizing efficiencies occurs when sustainable supply chains reduce costs of energy, transportation, and material inputs. Realizing efficiencies also incr ease labor production and create efficiencies across the entire supply chain. Creating sustainable products involve meeting the requirements of business and customer partners and innovating to satisfy the changing market. A company can reduce costs of supply through creating strong health, safety, and labor practices, increasing the understanding of key processes in the supply chain, and designing systems and processes that reduce required inputs. Companies create competitive advantage through developing new products and improving existing products through collaborating with suppliers on sustainable issues that foster product innovation. Sustainable supply chain creates competitive advantage by providing understanding of the business value and incorporated ideas in the market by competitors. This is addresses as benchmarking against the competitors. Sustainable supply chain enables an understanding of customer, suppliers, and shareholder expectations creating maximum return on the i nvestments of the company. A sustainable supply chain creates a vision for the company providing direction of the company’s strategies and defining the company’s commitment to achieve competitive advantage. The company can evaluate and identify areas that need improvement to create competitive advantage (Reuter, Foerstl, Hartmann Blome, 2010). Challenges in Building Sustainable Supply Chains Supply chain managers face challenges because of the increase in the requirements of management expertise in the long-term trends of companies today. These trends include the increasing intensity of competition, ongoing globalization, environmental protection, resource scarcity, and the growing security demand in businesses. Businesses are also requiring cost efficient, flexible, and reliable business systems that have the capability of supporting customer differentiation. Modern supply chain managers have to confront complex and dynamic supply chains becoming difficult to predict developments and trends in the long term (Paulraj, 2011). Supply chain management has to come up with additional plans that extend beyond the operational scope of the current activities. Supply chain managers need to understand and identify the new sustainability issues in their businesses and company environment to respond to respond to the changes in the long term trends and to remain competitive. This challenges calls for international, global, and the fragmented supply chain to apply skills of networking and creating efficient supply chain operations that adapt to sustainable demands to create sustainable customer focused supply chains in the long term. This is because sustainable supply chains must be able to create sustainable competitive advantage (Pullman, Maloni Carter, 2009). Challenges of building sustainable supply chains can arise from the weak and non-built relationships of companies with suppliers. It becomes difficult for companies to form strong relationships with suppliers because some of the suppliers are untrustworthy in that they fail to deliver the quantity and quality paid by the company. The owners or managers have to inspect the suppliers, especially in cases in which the suppliers can corrupt the employees easily. Challenges can arise when the company has inadequate capital to pay the suppliers at the required time. The company can strain to pay the suppliers or the suppliers can reduce business relationships with the company. Challenges in building a sustainable supply chain can arise when the suppliers create inconsistencies in price and quality without providing notice to the purchasing enterprise. This means that this change would pass to the customers creating inefficiency in the supply chain (Reuter, Foerstl, Hartmann Blome, 2010). According to Pullman, Maloni and Carter (2009), challenges can arise when the suppliers have a poor record from the purchasing entity making it difficult for the purchasing enterprise to keep a tre nd of their suppliers in frequency of supply, quality of supply, and prices of supply. This makes it difficult for the purchasing enterprise to build a strong relationship with the supplier. Challenges in building sustainable supply chain can result from poor planning where the purchasing enterprise makes quick decisions on the supplier without taking time to understand the competence of the supplier. This makes it difficult for the supplier and the purchase enterprise to create good relationships when the problems in the supply chain begin to occur. Other challenges arise from unfair competition based on prices, high prices for poor quality of products, lack of customer records and statistics, and interpersonal challenges, such as religious differences, race, and social status. Cases of corruption can arise from the purchase enterprises to suppliers passing on the costs through price increments on the customers. Corruption destroys the sustainability in the supply chains. Challenge s can arise from changes in government levies and taxes. Government taxes and levies affect cost of operations to both the suppliers and the purchasing enterprises leading to additional costs that have to depict in changes in the quantity, quality, and prices of products and services in the market. These changes affect the satisfaction of the shareholders and customers forcing them to shift to competitors. The company profits and resources decrease leading to collapse of some of the supply chains (Pagell Wu, 2009). Management Implications to the Importance and Challenges in Building Sustainable Supply Chains Various enterprises strive to build positive public relations to improve image and reputation essential for attracting and maintaining potential and competent suppliers and customers. A company can improve the nature and frequency of communication to customers and suppliers to maintain or improve sustainable supply chains. Some enterprises offer promotional items and credit to customers in efforts to build strong relationships for sustainable supply chains. Business enterprises reduce prices below that of competitors and improve quality of products to attract customers. This is difficult because cost of production match prices, quantity, and quality and reducing the prices means that the quality or quantity will decline. Enterprises have difficult time managing sustainable supply chains with prices, especially when the business has obligation of satisfying the stakeholders, customers and suppliers (Paulraj, 2011). According to Reuter, Foerstl, Hartmann and Blome (2010), business enterprises provide quality and unique services to loyal customers and suppliers to attract and maintain them. This action strengthens their relationships making it easy to build a sustainable supply chain. This has been possible through creation of clubs, especially in retail shops and food points (Lamp, 2011). Enterprises result to supporting sporting events, channels, and teams to nurture prestige and good reputation of businesses. Businesses offer sponsorships and donations to the society to attract the attention and interest in the members in the supply chain. Business enterprises also offer newspapers and special seats to the members of the supply chain to ensure good relationships and image. Businesses enterprises have also put extra efforts in building sustainable supply chains by paying its suppliers promptly and involving the suppliers and customers in their business and personal functions and initiatives. For example, Unilever is multinational company that earns annual revenue of more than $50 billion in approximately 400 brands. It sources from 100000 non-production suppliers and 10000 suppliers of raw materials. The company approximately purchases 3% of the world’s palm oil and 6% of the world’s black tea (Krause, Vachon, Klassen, 2009). Securing sustainable supply chains is critical for sustaining growth and the success of the bu siness in the future. The company has developed tangible benefits in business through sustainable supply chains. The company invests resources and time in building strong relationships with suppliers, customers, and stakeholders. The company achieves this by providing good wage incomes, managing environmental issues, such as climate change and waste, and ensuring good working conditions in the supply chains. Unilever’s ability to maintain sustainability in chain of supply helps in creating cost efficiency in the company operations, improve company’s reputational image, and assist in securing and stabilizing business long-term operations.. Unilever has created competitive advantage successfully through building sustainable supply chains (Pagell, Wu Wasserma, 2010). References Krause, D., Vachon, S., Klassen, R. (2009). Special topic forum on sustainable supply chain management: introduction and reflections on the role of purchasing management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 45(4), 18-25. Lamp, C. (2011). Essentials of marketing. New York, NY: Cengage Learning. Pagell, M. Wu, Z. (2009). Building a more complete theory of sustainable supply chain management using case studies of 10 exemplars. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 45(2), 37-56. Pagell, M., Wu, Z., Wasserma, M. (2010). Thinking differently about purchasing portfolios: an assessment of sustainable sourcing. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 46(1), 57-73. Paulraj, A. (2011). Understanding the relationships between internal resources and capabilities, sustainable supply management and organizational sustainability. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 47(1), 19-37. Pullman, M., Maloni, M., Carter, C. (2009). Food for thought: social versus environmental sustainability practices and performance outcomes. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 45(4), 38-54. Reuter, C., Foerstl, K., Hartmann, E., Blome, C. (2010). Sustainable global supplier management: the role of dynamic capabiliti es in achieving competitive advantage. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 46(2), 45-63. This report on Sustainable Supply Chains was written and submitted by user Camila Harvey to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

JEFFERSON Surname Meaning and Origin

JEFFERSON Surname Meaning and Origin Jefferson is a patronymic surname meaning son of Jeffrey, Jeffers, or Jeff. Jeffrey is a variant of Geoffrey, meaning peaceful place, from gawia, meaning territory and frid, meaning peace.  Geoffrey is also a possible variant of the Norman personal name  Godfrey, meaning Gods peace or peaceful ruler. Surname Origin: English Alternate Surname Spellings: JEFFERS, JEFFERIES, JEFFRYS Where in the World is the JEFFERSON Surname Found? The Jefferson  surname is most prevalent in the United States, where it ranks as the 662nd most common surname in the nation, according to surname distribution data from Forebears. It is most common in the Cayman Islands, where it ranks 133rd, and is also fairly common in England, Haiti, Brazil, Northern Ireland, Jamaica, Grenada, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands. According to  WorldNames PublicProfiler, the Jefferson surname is most popular in the United States, especially in the District of Columbia, followed by the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia and Arkansas. Within the United Kingdom, Jefferson is found primarily in Northern England and the southern border regions of Scotland, with the greatest numbers living in the Redcar and Cleveland district where the surname originated, and in surrounding counties such as North Yorkshire, Durham, Cumbria, and Northumberland in England, and Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Famous People with the Last Name JEFFERSON Thomas Jefferson - 3rd president of the United States and author of the Declaration of IndependenceBlind Lemon Jefferson -  American blues guitarist,  singer and songwriterGeoffrey Jefferson -  British neurologist and pioneering neurosurgeonArthur Stanley Jefferson - English comic actorEddie Jefferson -  celebrated American jazz  vocalist and lyricistFrancis Arthur Jefferson -  English recipient of the Victoria Cross Genealogy Resources for the Surname JEFFERSON Jefferson DNA ProjectA group of people whove tested their Y-DNA through Family Tree DNA in an effort to use DNA plus traditional genealogical research to match up various Jefferson lineages. Ancestry of Thomas JeffersonA discussion of the ancestry of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, from the website of his family home, Monticello. Jeffersons BloodA discussion of the DNA evidence that supports the theory that  Thomas Jefferson fathered at least one of Sally Hemingss children, and quite probably all six.   Jefferson Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Jefferson  family crest or coat of arms for the Jefferson surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. JEFFERSON Genealogy ForumSearch the archives for posts about Jefferson  ancestors, or post your own Jefferson query. FamilySearch - JEFFERSON GenealogyExplore over 600,000 historical records and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Jefferson  surname and its variations on the free FamilySearch website, hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. JEFFERSON  Surname Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Jefferson surname.- References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998. Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997. Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.    Back to  Glossary of Surname Meanings Origins

Apple Inc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Apple Inc - Case Study Example It is especially true considering the fact that Apple keeps its technologies totally secret. Though Apple has competitors in its markets, the innovations of Apple Inc. lower the intensity of competitive rivalry. However, the rivals are starting to offer a number of substitute products and services. At the same time, Apple has the advantage of relatively high bargaining power of both customers and suppliers. So, the greatest strength of Apple Inc. is the innovations they introduce into the market. However, as Marino et al (2008) outline, the success of the company is very dependent on its management. While Apple is still having the advantage of being innovative, its competitors are also working on developing and launching similar or even more innovative products. The revenue of the company cannot be said to be lowering. Nevertheless, the gross margin for the third quarter of 2008, as well as stock price, decreased. Still, Apple continues to invest great sums into research and development in order to be able to continuously offer its customers new and innovative products and services. The latest information shows that after 2008 Apple Inc. has become even more successful. Their products are being waited for and purchased. For instance, almost 21 million iPhones were sold in 2009 only, and the sales increased 100% in the first quarter of 2010 (iSellMac.com, 2010). Therefore, though the company does have certain weakness and experiences technical problems from time to time, their strategy of innovation is still effective and successful.

Banquo and King Hamlet the friendly ghosts Essay

Banquo and King Hamlet the friendly ghosts - Essay Example In both Hamlet and Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the supernatural element of ghosts to build his plot by making it more dramatic, and to resolve the play’s central conflict. In Hamlet the ghost is first seen by Horatio who interprets its appearance as a warning to Denmark of an impending threat. When it appears again, Horatio confronts it but it vanishes without uttering a word. When Hamlet is informed of visitations by a ghost that looks like his father he vows to confront it. When the ghost reappears, Hamlet calls out asking what its purpose is but it only beckons him to follow which he does despite Horatio and Marcello’s efforts to stop him. It identifies itself as the spirit of Hamlet’s father: The ghost informs Hamlet that Claudius, who is his uncle and currently his stepfather, is the murderer. This infuriates hamlet significantly enough to desire for vengeance. However, the ghost reminds him to be gentle with his mother and leave her judgment to God. The ghost commands Hamlet to avenge his father’s death which Hamlet is at first unable to do prompting the ghost to appear to him again in his mother’s boudoir. The ghost reproaches Hamlet for not carrying out its orders about avenging his father’s murder stating, â€Å"Do not forget. This visitation, Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose† (3.4.101). Scared of the witches’ prophesy about one of Banquo’s sons becoming king, Macbeth sends killers to murder Banquo in the play Macbeth. The witches had prophesied to Banquo that, â€Å"Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none† (1.3.67). Banquo is murdered but his ghost later appears while Macbeth is hosting a banquet and quietly sits next to him without uttering a word. The ghost’s face is drenched in blood and covered with cuts all over. It is a terrifying sight only visible to Macbeth. It is invisible to other people in the feast. It has been argued that the since the ghost was only visible to

Unconscious mind Essay Example for Free

Unconscious mind Essay ?The pioneer I chose to elaborate on is Carl Gustav Jung, his views and research tactics have contributed to today’s understanding of psychology and expanded our knowledge on several different aspects and elements of psychology. Jung is best known for his development of archetypes, studies of the human psyche, the dream analysis and the collective unconscious. Carl Jung was born July 26, 1875, in Kesswil, Switzerland; he passed away on June 6, 1961 in Zurich. Originally Carl studied medicine, but also developed an interest in spiritual phenomena. This fascination with medicine and spirituality led him into the field of psychiatry. In 1902, he graduated from the University of Basel with a medical degree. Jung worked with psychiatric patients at the University of Zurich asylum. In 1906, he wrote Studies in Word Association and sent a copy to Sigmund Freud. The two became friends. His time spent working with Sigmund Freud had a major impact on Jung’s later theories and helped him develop a fascination for the unconscious mind. Jung wanted to further understanding of the human mind through dreams, myth, art and philosophy. Jung began to separate from Freudian theory, rejecting Freuds emphasis on sex as the sole source of behavior motivation. It was during this period of intense self-analysis that Jung became increasingly interested in dreams and symbols, later using what he learned during this time as the basis for his theories of psychology. Jung became more organized about his theoretical approach, broke from psychodynamic theories and formed his own theory called Analytical Psychology. Jungs colleagues in the psychoanalytic community turned against him due to parting from Freud. Carl devoted himself to exploring his own subconscious. He recorded his experience in a previously unpublished book known at The Red Book and continued to write and illustrate the book over the next fifteen years, the book became published in 2009. Jung believed the human psyche exists in three parts: the ego (the conscious mind), the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. Jung believed the collective unconscious was a reservoir of all the experience and knowledge of the human species. Jung also believed that the process of individuation was essential in order for a person to become whole and fully developed as a human being. Individuation is a process in which the various parts of a person, including the conscious and unconscious, become completely integrated so that the individual becomes his or her true self. In general, it is the process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated from others. While Jungian theory has numerous critics, Carl Jungs work left a notable impact on psychology. His concepts of introversion and extraversion have contributed to personality psychology and also influenced psychotherapy. His advice to a patient suffering from alcoholism led to the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous, which has helped millions of people suffering from alcohol dependence. According to Jung, dreams are a way of communicating and acquainting yourself with the unconscious. Dreams are not attempts to conceal your true feelings from the waking mind, but rather they are a window to your unconscious. They serve to guide the waking self to achieve wholeness and offer a solution to a problem you are facing in your waking life. Jung views the ego as your sense of self and how you portray yourself to the world. Part of Jungs theory is that all things can be viewed as paired opposites: good/evil, male/female, or love/hate. So working in opposition to the ego, is the counter ego or what he refers to as the shadow. The shadow represents the rejected aspects of yourself that you do not wish to acknowledge. The shadow is more primitive, somewhat uncultured, and a little awkward. http://www. dreaminterpretation-dictionary. com/carl-jung-theory. html Archetypes constitute the structure of the collective unconscious they are psychic innate dispositions to experience and represent basic human behavior and situations. Thus mother-child relationship is governed by the mother archetype. Father-child by the father archetype. Birth, death, power and failure are controlled by archetypes. The religious and mystique experiences are also governed by archetypes. The most important of all is the Self, which is the archetype of the Center of the psychic person, his/her totality or wholeness. The Center is made of the unity of conscious and unconscious reached through the individuation process. Archetypes manifest themselves through archetypal images (in all the cultures and religious doctrines), in dreams and visions. Therefore a great deal of Jungian interest in psyche focuses on dreams and symbols interpretation in order to discover the compensation induced by archetypes as marks of psyche transformation. The collective unconscious is an universal datum, that is, every human being is endowed with this psychic archetype-layer since his/her birth. One can not acquire this strata by education or other conscious effort because it is innate. We may also describe it as a universal library of human knowledge, or the sage in man, the very transcendental wisdom that guides mankind. Jung stated that the religious experience must be linked with the experience of the archetypes of the collective unconscious. Thus, God himself is lived like a psychic experience of the path that leads one to the realization of his/her psychic wholeness. http://www. carl-jung. net/archetypes. html http://www. carl-jung. net/index. html.

Personal Narrative - Severe Chest Pain Attack :: essays research papers

Silent Killer Today was like supposed to be just like every other day. On another early Monday morning, just like every time I had to get up 2 hours before school, I woke up and went downstairs for breakfast at 6:30. I clean the mess from last night’s dinner with my brother and get ready to go with my carpool to school, because just like every other day, gas is expensive. Funny thing about the carpool, which comes at 7:00 sharp, 7:30 came and she didn’t show up, Therefore, we ended up waking up my father and dragging his tired angry self to school. I had forgotten my wallet at home, so I wasn’t going to have lunch and I didn’t eat breakfast either. Around 11:00, I start my pre-calculus class where we are doing long division of polynomial functions when it hits me. Pain. Intense sharp needle like pain in my chest. Subtle at first, but as I continue breathing, the pain gets worse. So, to solve this, I thought my chair was too tight to the desk. I moved back. Not helping. Clenched at the chest and bent over. Breathed slower. Not helping. Tore off my jacket and bent over in my chair fully. Not helping. And my breath kept getting shorter and shorter until I was barely gasping one every 5 seconds. I reached over and hit my friend and she got the point. Mr. Courtney phoned the principal, vice principal and school administrator. They all came down and told me to lie on the floor. By this time, I was nauseous and convulsing because of lack of oxygen and trauma. I lie there shaking as my teacher moves tables and finds jackets so that I can get my head elevated. The students leave the classroom. My teeth start chattering and I am near tears when the paramedics come in, 8 grown men with machines, clipboards, walkie talkies, and suits storm into the classroom and strap things on me. A red-lighted finger clamp to check my pulse, a blood pressure thing on my arm to check my blood, and 4 sticky clamps attached to wired to check other vitals of some sort. After 15 minutes, the pain subsides almost completely, except when I started to stand. Vital signs, good. Blood pressure, Good. Pulse, strong steady and fast. Adrenaline rush, maybe. Anxiety attack, maybe. Hospitalization, not necessary. By that time, they had called my mom and she came down from North Scottsdale in 14 minutes.

I Hope You Dance

I hope you dance â€Å"And when you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance. † (Sillers,2010, ll. 8. &9. ) If you had the chance to sit it out or dance, would you dance? This amazingly, inspirational song was written by Tia Sillers when she was at her breaking point, sitting on the beach just after going through a heart wrenching divorce. It really is peculiar that such an inspirational and beautiful song such as â€Å"I hope you dance† was written at such a devastating time.As she sat beside the ocean, pondering on all that she been through, she realized, things aren’t so bad. She interprets this in her lyrics by saying â€Å"I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean. † (Sillers,2010, l. 5) â€Å"I hope you dance† is unmistakabley pulled from deep within Siller’s soul. Anyone who hears this song, and truly takes these lyrics to heart could undoubtedly pull themselves out of whatever strife they may be go ing through at any given time. With Mrs.Siller’s inspirational words, she truly has created the most breath taking song of our time. I have a very deep understanding of this song because â€Å"I hope you dance† has helped me through some extremely difficult times. I was homeless at the age of sixteen and ready to give up on the world when I first heard this song playing over the radio. With the help of Sillers words I was able to find the inspiration inside myself and keep going to school even if it meant sacrificing a day of pay from missing work.I knew that although things would be extremely difficult to attempt to be able to work enough hours to get my own place and attend high school on a regular basis, but with the help of her words I found the motivation within myself to give it my all. After three months I had saved enough money for the deposit and first month’s rent and my grades we’re decent enough for me to graduate on time with the rest of my p eer’s. Now that I am more stable things have become less difficult, but whenever I am having a hard time, I simply go to you tube and listen to Siller’s song. I hope you dance† has undoubtedly shed light on an endless number of suffering souls.â€Å"Don’t let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter, when you come close to selling out reconsider. † (Sillers, 2010, ll. 15. 16. )Those lyrics convey the struggle life can throw at a person, but they are also telling them to never give up. Tia was trying to reach into the hearts of all the suffering souls out there, and try to get them to look at the bigger picture. â€Å"May you never take one single breath for granted. (Sillers, 2010, l. 3) Tia was trying to get the point across that life is a gift, and to simply sit it out and let it pass you by could be a tremendous mistake that no one can ever take back. She also indicates this in like thirteen: â€Å"Livin might mean takin chances, but they’re worth takin. † (Sillers, 2010, l. 13. ) Throughout life there are many obstacles to overcome, and not every road you take will be a smooth one, but the bumpiest road, will often lead you to the greenest field.Siller’s showed an understanding for this by writing â€Å"I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance. Never settle for the path of least resistance. † (Sillers, 2010, ll. 11. 12. ) Every successful person has had to struggle in life, but with struggle, comes satisfaction. If every person was able to listen to this song, but not just listen, understand this song, I feel as though statistics such as the high school drop-out rate, or the college drop-out rate would decrease.Giving up would simply not be an option. Sometimes we all need a little inspiration, something to get us motivated and focused on the bigger picture. Life is about making mistakes, Siller’s portrays this perfectly by saying â€Å"Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens. † (Sillers, 2010, l. 6. ) Although doors may close, and devastation may take a toll on a person’s life, one needs to be able to pick themselves back up, and open another door, but not just for the sake of moving, but for their own satisfaction.If â€Å"I hope you dance† was listened by everyone at least once a day, people would be able to find it in themselves to pick themselves up and keep moving forward, for with every step one takes forward is another step closer to their ultimate goal of success. No one would drown themselves in their own self-pity, for they could find the inspiration in themselves through the understanding of the lyrics of â€Å"I hope you dance. †References Kawashima, D (2010) â€Å"I hope you dance† Retrieved August 28, 2012 from Song Writer Universe: http://www. songwriteruniverse. com/sillers. htm