Journeys+Theme+Research

=__**Why do Americans continue to take journeys?**__= “The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same"(Don Williams Junior). We have seen from the __Odyssey__, and everyday life that humans take journeys, and some of them are exploration, taking job offers, to make their lives better, and simply to take vacations. Image Link: http://api.ning.com/files/*wPmubjHakBYF-hx4NyMtyeq3D7nuuaw94T0txtnGZPGPMfP3xHh7K9MwH6wLgMmwMwqwBBaHrlEgQBNx-Ejp8WDEKUuC*By/20070710201833_journey.jpg

__**"Why does mankind explore?"**__ “We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey" (John Hope). We explore for one simple reason - it is our human nature. Ever since the dawn of time, mankind has been wanting to discover new things. We explore to "show off," to gain knowledge of the world, and to simply find new things. We explore to show the world what we can accomplish. We want to find new things and be credited for it, so we can possibly get shot into fame. Similarly, people want to gain knowledge of the world. Mankind cannot stop learning about this world we live in. People want to explore it to the depths, and learn everything about it. After we make our discoveries, we either shout it to the world for fame, or leave it untouched as a memory like Mother Nature wanted it to be. These two examples are the reasons why we explore in the first place, which is to find new things. We are all curious by nature. so theoretically, we want to explore. No one can go against what we "were made to do," so explorations will continue to be made everyday. To simplify, we explore to show off to the world, gain information, and to simply find new things. It is all just human nature. "We don’t go to these islands simply “because they are there,” but because they are among the last places left untouched by human activity. We want to show the world how wonderful and essential they are" ( Enric Sala).Proxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 oxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 Cbr> Images from WikiSpaces Images (Space) and http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Kazimierz_Nowak_in_jungle_2.jpg (Jungle Explorer)

__Citations from Research:__ Dick, Steven J.. "Risk and Exploration Revisted." __NASA__. August 5, 2005. NASA. 12 April, 2009. .

Royal Geographic Society,. __Explorations: Great Moments of Discovery from the Royal Geographical Society__. New York, New York: Artisan, September 9, 2002.

Sala, Enric. "Why Do We Explore?." __National Geographic__. March 27, 2009. National Geographic Inc. . 12 April, 2009. .

**__“Why do people transfer jobs?”__** Thousands of people transfer jobs each year. I beg the question why? Why are so many people willing to give up their old lives and journey into a new one just for a job? I believe people transfer jobs for better opportunities. They mainly transfer because they have been offered a better salary which makes it easier to provide for their family. They might also transfer because they were working in an undesirable workplace. Whether they were being treated poorly or the conditions of the job were unbearable, people would happily transfer to another job to be satisfied at work. Another reason workers transfer is because of transportation inconveniences. Some people have to drive hours just to get to work. That would mean getting up early and coming home late. Some people don’t mind but others dread the long drive to work early in the morning. If those that dread it were offered the same job with equal or better opportunities and closer to home, I’m willing to bet they’d take it in a heartbeat. There are a lot of possibilities as to why people would give up their old lives for a job. I believe they do it for a better salary, better working conditions or more convenient transportation purposes. __Citations:__ Rosenberg, Dawn. "How Often Do People Change Careers?" About.com:Career Planning. July & aug. 2008. .

Christensen, Tricia E. "What Is Job Relocation?" WiseGeek. 2003. 13 Apr. 2009 .

Self, Dr. John T. "The Job Transfer." Career Path. Blue Boulder. .

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobtrends/graph/q-Simply%2BHired/t-line&imgrefurl=http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobtrends/trend/q-Simply%2BHired&usg=__8GvcP94ns9pf22u-BtWdrwV_vgc=&h=300&w=540&sz=69&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=6PjWbx-89mjWQM:&tbnh=73&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsimply%2Bhired%2Binternational%2Btrends%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:__//__atlantaintheknow.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/house-question-mark-i-stock.JPG&imgrefurl=http://atlantaintheknow.com/&usg=__S9ditUfZTMmkaQAFoJZhB7DJBmY=&h=346&w=347&sz=22&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=CwhdXX5mj3mmSM:&tbnh=120&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drelocation%2Bhousing%2Bquestion%2Bmark%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1 __**Moving Up**__ I dare ask the question, “Why are Americans constantly wanting to take the journey to move up in the world, and also become greedy?” I believe we take the journey because; we want, more money, more “stuff”, and the American dream. Nowadays we don’t believe that we ever have enough money in our lives, which becomes one of the reasons, why we take the journey. We also don’t want to build up our wealth over the years. I believe that Matthew Warshauer, had gotten this from someone else, but we just want to, “get rich quick.” To Americans when you have more money than most, you have made the journey from the bottom to the top. Along with the desire for more fast money, and extensive amounts of money, is the desire for more stuff. According to James Twitchell, we have about four times as many things as Europeans. Considering there are more people living in Europe than there are in America, it’s quite preposterous that we use the money we thought would make  us happy, to be greedy with, and buy things we thought we "needed". Over many decades our country has been struggling to keep the American dream, of everyone owning a home, buying a car, having a white picket fence, and living happily, alive. Now with the on coming economy where the person with the most money takes all, it makes more and more people take this journey, of wealth and greed, so that they can achieve the American dream before the gap between the rich and the poor becomes so large it’s impassible. These three reasons, more money, more stuff, and achieving the American dream, drive us to want to move up in our changing world and economy, the question I have for you, are you going to take this journey many American's are trying to take, or have taken?

PICTURE:http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/11/po_americandream.html

RESEARCH:
 * Matthew Warshauer, __MoneyWho Want's to be a Millionare__. American Studies Today Online. 13 Feb. 2003. 8 Apr. 2009 .

. )
 * (:Twitchell, James. "Two cheers for materialism." The Wilson Quarterly 23.2 (Spring 1999): 16(1). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Highlands Ranch High School. 8 Apr. 2009


 * . "Today's Economy Is Killing the American Dream." At Issue: Is the American Dream a Myth?. Ed. Kate Burns. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Highlands Ranch High School. 8 Apr. 2009 [].

A vacation is something you take when you can't take what you've taking anymore. ~Earl Wilson. We take vacations because we get restless and irritated with the same old things. We need to get away from it all every once in awhile and hopefully come back refreshed.The chart below shows how often Americans take vacations a year, an d about 50% of us take them at least once a year. Taking vacations promotes creativity and once you have returned, it could improve your job performance. Money is always a factor in how often we vacation and in a slow economy it is less often. Overall we take breaks from our lives because of stress and everyone needs a break from all the stress every once a while. If you never take breaks, then you are more likely to have physically related health problems, as well as mentally. When too much stress builds up, the outcome is never good.
 * __Why do we take breaks from our lives? (vacations)__**

PICTURE: [| http://stress.about.com/gi/pages/poll.htm?poll_id=1896655246&linkback=http] ://stress.about.com/b/2008/04/28/need-a-vacation.htm
 * How Often Do Americans Take Vacations? ||
 * Several times per year. || 27% || [[image:http://z.about.com/w/vantagenet/i/zsv/s21.gif width="84" height="10" caption="external image s21.gif"]] ||
 * Once a year. || 23% || [[image:http://z.about.com/w/vantagenet/i/zsv/s22.gif width="71" height="10" caption="external image s22.gif"]] ||
 * Once every two years or so. || 12% || [[image:http://z.about.com/w/vantagenet/i/zsv/s23.gif width="37" height="10" caption="external image s23.gif"]] ||
 * Less than once every couple years, or Never. || 36% || [[image:http://z.about.com/w/vantagenet/i/zsv/s24.gif width="112" height="10" caption="external image s24.gif"]] ||

 WEBSITES:

 http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Why+do+we+take+vacations%3F&page=1&adt=0&qsrc=2417&ab=2&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftravel.latimes.com%2Farticles%2Fla-trw-vacation16jul16

 http://stress.about.com/od/workplacestress/a/vacations.htm

 http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/07/we-need-a-vacat.html

__ Life twists and turns, and each twist and turn takes a different direction, and each direction is a different journey. Exploration, job offers, making your life better, and vacations, are a few in many journeys, you may take. Some advice is to take as many as you can for life is short, so live it well.
 * Conclusion:**__

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