Family life is much different today than what it used to be. Several years ago mothers would stay at home with their children while the father went to work to support his family, but it is nothing like that today in American households. Today it is common for children to be raised by just one of their parents, and those children are often disadvantaged in several ways. The most consistent finding from studies of family structure shows that single parents exert weaker controls and make fewer demands on their children than married families do (Curtin et al. 368). There is a real easy explanation for this problem, it is the simple fact that two parents together make more rules and are more likely to stick by those rules than single parents are (Curtin et al. 368). Single parents are not able to show the same emotions as married couples can, because the love between a mother and a father plays an important part in a family. Children learn how to love from their parents, but if both parents are not there to teach them how to love, their love might be somewhat one-sided (Curtin et al. 371). Yes, single parents can show their love toward their children, but they have no spouse to express love to. Children from single parent families are therefore denied that learning experience of how a husband and a wife should love one another (Curtin et al. 369).

In this modern day and age, the negative effects of stress are unavoidable. People have tried various methods to help cope with stress, everything from exercise and diet to alternative methods like biofeedback. However, the most effective method to deal with stress is not one of these modern methods but rather a 5,000 year-old idea: Meditation. Meditation not only helps reduce the negative effects of stress, but also leads to a better sense of well-being by uniting mind and body. The basic principles and practices of meditation are rooted in Hinduism, an Asian religion whose followers believe that the soul is eternal and maintains an eternal relationship with God. Hindus believe that because the soul is eternal, it must reincarnate in various forms to retain this everlasting relationship. Thousands of young people flocked to the ideas of Hinduism in the 1970's to escape the drug culture of the times. As the troubled youth of the 1970's matures into the professionals of the 1990's, the practice of meditation has been incorporated into the medical field and studied for its effect on the body and mind. The physical practice of meditation slows and calms the body, lowering blood pressure and heart rate with the use of deep breathing exercises.

One of the first uses of silicone in a medical implant came in the form of lifesaving tubes implanted into young children to funnel excess fluid from the brain into the chest cavity, where the fluid could be safely metabolized and excreted. Since these "shunts" were first used, in the late 1950s, silicone in various forms has come to be an important part of many implants. "It is used in tracheotomy tubes, in artificial lenses for the eye, in artificial heart valves and in facial implants for birth defects or re-constructive surgery after cancer" (Ames 1). The most widely used implementation of silicone is through breast re-constructive surgery through elective surgery of an individual, or re-constructive surgery to replace breasts due to women recovering from mastectomies from breast cancer or miscellaneous types of accidents. The early history and use of implants showed no ill effects of the use of paraffin or silicone. Because of this newly developed surgical process and relatively little use of FDA guidelines there was no comprehensive testing done to ensure the utmost safety of a silicone recipient. By this time the millions of women throughout the world who already had Dow's silicone prosthesis implanted into their breasts had no idea of the dramatic health risks. Because of these potential health risks, women should avoid the use of breast implants.

Just a few months ago, I was with my friends Mike and Kim and we had been walking around having a great time in the city. We then exited a store and Kim said something under her breath like, "Oh, no," when I looked in the same direction to find a middle aged man with a drunken stare to him. She knew this man as "the town drunk" and he had been homeless for years.