#anyway this is about the mental stability poll

[6kate1bishop6]

i think all dc polls would be improved if we just didnt allow bat affiliated characters in them

[delavyck]

In the beginning Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these other than my Fanfiction story.

(illustrated by Yomi-Gaeru, Character officially from Kishimoto)

Chapter 1

Summary : This one week of break after 3 months of winning the 4th Ninja War will be interesting for Sakura, as she met the man who caused it all, but instantly changed directions after seeing the cherry pink haired kunoichi roaming around the Land of Mist.

Ships : Madara/Sakura, Hinata/Naruto, Side Sasuke/Sakura, Kakashi/Shizune Chapters : 20

Main Characters: Madara Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha

Characters : Tsunade Senju, Shizune, Kakashi Hatake, Sai, Ino Yamanaka, Hinata Hyuuga, Genma, Orochimaru, Karin Uzumaki, Suigetsu Hozuki, Juugo,

Kaguya Otsutsuki ( mentions ), Zetsu (Mentions), Obito Uchiha (Mentions), Katsuyu, Naruto Civilians/Village Civilians

Time line : Post-war, 4th Ninja war , Naruto

Rated : T - M (in a few chapters)

Circumstances

Third Person POV :

It was 3 months after the 4th Great Ninja War has ended, people were traumatized and scared until now, others have long forgotten about the past and stayed with the present, while others disappeared on who-knows-where. Medical Ninjas were stabilizing people and children that had traumas in that situation. Medical team Sakura, Ino, Shizune, Tsunade and Hinata were in charge on taking care of each level of the Hospital. Sakura was in charge of any Physical Help, Ino was incharge of Mental Help using her Mind-Tranfer Jutsu, Shizune and Tsunade were in charge of any help, and Hinata was incharge for chakra help using her byakugan.

Ino was slacking off a little because of what happened to her father, Inoichi.

Hinata was dating Naruto for almost a month now. But hardly moved on with Neji’s death.

Shizune was still taking care of the hospital.

Tsunade was thinking on resigning as the Godaime and make Kakashi as a candidate as Rokudaime.

And Sakura. She was 17 now.

But.

Sakura didn’t know anything anymore.

All she did is.

Heal.

Fight.

Heal.

Fight.

Everything just repeats. It was getting boring, but she had to serve the village.

How she wishes that Naruto will always bother her.

How Sasuke will always call her ‘annoying’.

How Kakashi will just look at her while reading his Icha Icha. But every one of those just vanished on her own very eyes.

She hasn’t seen Naruto after a week Sasuke left.

Sasuke left the village to atone for his ‘sins’.

And Kakashi just was too troublesome to think of, many emotions that can’t be described behind that mask.

I guess the 4th Ninja war really took a big toll on her, even if Sasuke says he’s sorry for everything despite the fact he almost killed her multiple times and brought her to a heavy genjutsu, just hurts to eternity. She has never seen an such obsolete human, so cruel, so evil yet it makes him look pathetic.

Naruto probably didn’t even care about her anymore since he had Hinata but she still missed his Joyful and Loud voice.

Kakashi probably didn’t care for her too anymore, it’s considered that she can be promoted to Jounin within the year.

Sakura POV; in her mind :

“Forget Sasuke. He doesn’t care about you, he left you after only 1 week staying in Konoha, he probably will come back with a son/daughter next, or probably a wife, who knows? Pfft, Don’t let him take advantage of you this time.”

Inner spoke in my mind.

After all, I guess it’s all true, I do think it’s time to let go of these feelings. It isn’t worth it anymore, years of loving and patience, all gone to waste. But I know I dont care about it anymore. Everything is the truth, the truth does hurt.

“I guess you’re right. You will always be with me right?” Sakura spoke

“Of course Sa-ku-ra, I’m stuck with you and your mind forever, so that leaves me no choice you know?” Inner talked. And chuckled afterwards.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get too cocky”. She said as she rolled her eyes.

“Forehead? You there?” Ino said as she walked past by her.

“H-huh? O-oh yeah! I’m fine.” ‘Completely and obviously not!’

“Are you sure? You’ve been dozing off for quite sometime now. I would’ve used my jutsu to check on what’s going on with your big head”.

“Don’t even dare Pig.” She shot a glance at Ino that made her head sweat.

“Fine, fine, just tell me what’s going on next time, I won’t be too patient Billboard Brow.” Ino said sarcastically.

“Yeah, yeah, anyways, what time is it?”

“It’s almost past noon forehead, I was waiting for you to pick up lunch with me until I saw your gaze completely gone from earth.”

‘Crazy forehead girl’.

“Well why didn’t you say it now? Let’s go!”

They laughed as they went running from the hospital and going around the streets of Konoha just to reach Naruto’s Favorite place to eat.

At Ichiraku’s Ramen

“Ino pig, aren’t you eating too much?” She laughed while sipping her noodles as Ino’s soup made her choke by her words.

“HEY! DON’T MOCK ME. AND SAYS THE ONE WHO ATE 3 BOWLS OF RAMEN OFFERED BY NARUTO AND DIDN’T DECLINE!” Ino shouted at her frantically.

“Alright alright geez, your anger issues are taking a poll on you ya know? You’re getting as angry as me.” Sakura said while grinding her teeth.

“Hmph, fine, but you’re paying today, it’s your fault i’m angry like this.”

“Cheeky pig.”

‘Heh, fell right into my trap.’

Ino snorted afterwards.

—————————————————-

Oh how I wish it was like this everyday.

Everyday, happy.

—————————————————-

“Earth to sakura? Hello???”

As Sakura heard her bestfriends voice, her mind came back to reality.

“oh yeah, Hey!”

“Sakura, are you sure nothing is bothering you? You seem a little… distressed.”

Distressed? Maybe.

De-arranged? Yeah sure.

“I’m fine Ino, i’m really fine, there’s nothing I am worrying about, I’m just really stressed like you said, maybe the hospital is just too much for me right now.”

“Oh yea, Lady Tsunade said there is an opening tomorrow for people who wants to take a break for 3 days - 1 month, maybe you want to take a break? I can take your patients if you want.”

“I think that will be nice, I’ll think about it.”

“We should eat our ramen Forehead, it’s getting cold.” Ino said as she got annoyed.

Sakura nodded as a response.

‘The same as always.’

——————————————————————-

After 2 hours of bonding with Ino, she actually got satisfied. She actually felt happy for once.

She’s happy she’s there with her, she’s happy atleast Ino was by her side.

And she actually will take Ino’s word on taking a break, she’ll maybe need it.

She was actually surprised she hasn’t seen that annoying little yellow haired boy in the streets of Konoha. What is that little fox upto?

Walking the streets of Konoha after another 2 hours of going back to the hospital, she was going back to her apartment. In a flick of her eyes, she saw a tall, busty blonde and a black haired female just about the size of her. She saw Tsunade-Sama and Shizune-san near her apartment. Thinking of what’s going on, she knows it’s about her.

She chuckled, this night will be interesting.

Seeing the two females

“Tsunade-sama? Shizune-san? What happened For you guys to pass by?”

“Ah, Sakura, welcome back, anyways I have received a letter that Uchiha Sasuke will be returning in a week, so I maybe thought to inform you and Naruto to escort him through Konoha at night, of course, Genma and the others staying at the gate won’t interfere, I have already noticed them about your appearance next week.”

Sakura’s eyes widened at what Tsunade just said. ‘That can’t be possible, why did he even come back for? To become a Konoha nin again? That isn’t right.’

“A-ah Tsunade-Sama, he is really coming back isn’t he?”

Tsunade Nodded.

“Ah I see, I understand on what we are going to do, I’ll ask Naruto instead about this, you should be going to the Hokage Office Tsunade-Sama, It’s getting dark.”

“Alright, I pass you this. This is the mission scroll, and yes, this is a mission, an A-Rank one to be exact. And also this. This is the form you’re going to need for next week, it’s not any form Sakura, this is a form of seals that can be used as a sealing technique, originating from my grandmother’s clan, the uzumaki clan, using this fuinjutsu.”

“That’s very interesting Tsunade-Sama, I’ll hold onto this.”

“Come to my office tomorrow at 8 am sharp to discuss this with Naruto.”

“Hai, Tsunade-Sama. Also- Wait!”

“Hm?”

“I heard from Ino that you’re accepting people to take a leave so maybe I thought I’ll get one, i also want to take a small break from the hospital please? Like only 1 week?”

“Hm, I’ll consider it and will discuss with you this tomorrow, I also think it will be a good time before you leaving to go get Sasuke. More like a preparation, very well Sakura, I’ll see you tomorrow.

“H-Hai!”

She hoped Naruto will be in his house or she’ll have to call on Tsunade again telling that he wasn’t seen that day. And had gone to atoms.

[sugar-petals]

could you elaborate on when you said that people who felt/feel unpretty often become jimin stans/biasers

because jin defies every self-defeating principle but still has a common ground with you. even if “as bias, as stan” applies as always, jin has found a way to tackle that mentality in himself, he’s the you from a wanted future. that’s the difference: he’s come the same way but already completed most plates in his armor, at least on the outside and as far as we can tell. 

it’s just like people who know they’re unconventionally attractive will bias yoongi. he has made a brand out of it, flat out admitting he’s not the standard and struggles with mental health. all while being desired regardless, swimming in projects and recognition and income with a devoted fan base. 

mind you, that is not his totality and a lot of it is a created image, but i refer to the principle here. ‘yoongi has his problems but he’s killing it anyway’, that’s how we perceive him in the media outlets. if yoongi himself, in a silent moment, really thinks he’s killing it and is happy with that, that’s another question we can’t know.

the point is. our biases do share our insecurity. they just go the extra mile and succeed with the tactics we aspire to perfect to stabilize our self-esteem and life. our bias is seemingly one step ahead and we enjoy them so much because they demonstrate where to go, and that this extra mile is feasible. 

as in: if jin can feel ugly but remain in his unshakeable confidence, it could work for me as well. if yoongi can feel drained but hustle, it could work. if jimin could feel insecure but still be popular, it could work. and so on. there’s a huge theoretical hope for oneself attached to biasing someone.

you can image that this has many benefits for your personal progress or temporary soothings which are also important, but also comes at the risk of forgetting yourself and cracking under an unmet hope. aspiring towards improvement driven by desperation sometimes overshadows your actual gifts and strengths that are already fully formed. 

on top of that, it paints idols as being far from extremely vulnerable at a giant scope. it gives them massive role model and projection sphere responsibility as well. at worst, their image traps them in a circle — or they hide that they are actually ‘one step behind’ if you will. because they don’t want to disappoint or admit it to themselves, either way it would mean great discomfort.

that’s why i think one of the best things to do as a fan is finding the member that is on ACTUAL felt eye level with you, and not several steps ahead and so on top of their demons for most of the time. so, your truer carbon copy without regard to the difference in fame obviously. the purpose of that exercise is this: it brings you back to what you currently sport and removes some weight from the esteem question. 

for instance. you could realize that say namjoon actually represents you. in other words, there are even more similarities than with jin. personality-wise you could act as if you were RM perfectly. you can also tell the difference in how rather than adoring him, you respect that member. 

so, knowing you’re similar to namjoon, you would see that your appeal intrinsically rests in how smart and eloquent you are. with a quiet confidence that comes with natural authority that others find magnetic and want to kneel before judging by what namjoon stans are saying in the tags all day. 

the armor is completed there. it needs no fixing beside its natural evolution and adjustment. a namjoon stan would see namjoon one step ahead in their shared struggles, and they would see namjoon himself as trying to employ a tactic to better himself. but from your perspective, since you feel more on eye level with his personality, it looks mighty different. you can learn something about yourself and also find things your esteem is already firmly built on, believe it or not. the member you’re akin to is a great mirror for positive feats.

also, see how the member you resemble the most has a way different strategy for the esteem question (!) that you and your bias share and wrestle with so much pain involved. take namjoon again who has his head in the clouds. he thinks about big issues, he’s preoccupied left and right, he is bts’ central mastermind. everything groundbreaking that was ever done in bts’ reign leads back to namjoon planting the seeds. there is not too much time for thinking about body and surface. and for what reason? he’s namjoon doing namjoon things the way he is needed. 

there is no person ever doubting that he is a qualified person for his position. his brain can make anything happen for him and he can rely on his many positive attributes without even thinking about it. how attractive he is perceived as is not the ultimate decisive factor, and it’s already interwoven with how intelligent others think he is, and that he’s the leader. 

his role has already set his visual appeal and he treats his appearance effortlessly (see e.g. his relaxed style on kimdaily). to the point where he can emphasize self-love and advise someone like jimin who is times more glamorous and causes an immense stir with his looks everywhere and takes first place in so many polls, let that sink in. park jimin. 

you can already tell: once you see the parallel to the member you resemble, you find your easiest, fastest, and most effective strategy to deal with your problem to the point of completely pulverizing it. because you realize it all made no sense to worry from the very start.

is namjoon’s main concern and life topic to feel and be and become universally known as pretty? not in a million years. it’d be so far off his track and god-given capabilities, and the most out of character thing you’ve ever heard. 

if he’d come along crying in need of embraces, questioning his looks every other hour looking for reassurance (e.g. like jimin), or began to boost his esteem with a moniker (e.g. like jin), people would be like, what the hell is going on and why would he have a reason to do that?? 

you see what i’m getting at. for jin or jimin, it would make sense in their overall life scheme, it connects to their goals and struggles and dreams. but for namjoon, that’s total nonsense, nor does anybody expect it from him whatsoever. his responsibility is way elsewhere. and he’s confident in it despite all obstacles. and since you, in my example here, resemble namjoon... connect the dots.

to anybody who cannot relate to namjoon, it must be the most unfair thing ever. and they probably bias jungkook 😄 because he thinks the same thing but also has a little extra mile advantage (being a highly physical and in the moment person which namjoon is not, it’s his achilles’ heel in fact). you can see how this dynamic goes on and on. 

TLDR - the take-away is, find the member you compare to. besides the self esteem tactics your bias uses, this member can have a valuable lesson on your charm points.

[gordonwilliamsweb]

Indiana School Goes Extra Mile to Help Vulnerable Kids Weather Pandemic

After covid-19 forced Olivia Goulding’s Indiana middle school to switch back to remote learning late last year, the math teacher lost contact with many of her students. So she and some colleagues came up with a plan: visiting them under the guise of dropping off Christmas gifts.

This story also ran on USA Today. It can be republished for free.

One day in December, they set out with cards and candy canes and dropped by the homes of every eighth grader at Sarah Scott Middle School in Terre Haute, a city of more than 60,000 near the Illinois border where both Indiana State University and the federal death row are located. They saw firsthand how these kids, many living in poverty and dysfunctional families, were coping with the pandemic’s disruptions to their academic and social routines.

“You just have a better concept of where they’re coming from and the challenges they really do have,” Goulding said. “When you’re looking at that electronic grade book and Sally Lou hasn’t turned in something, you remember back in your mind: ‘Oh, yeah, Sally Lou was home by herself, taking care of three younger siblings when I stopped by, and I spotted her helping Johnny with his math and she was helping this one with something else.’”

The school’s experience provides a window into the hardships millions of families across the country have endured since last March, and exemplifies why education isn’t the only reason many Americans want schools to fully reopen. Schools like Sarah Scott help hold their communities together by providing households with wide-ranging support, which has become much tougher during the pandemic.

“A lot of our students are struggling emotionally,” said Sarah Scott’s principal, Scotia Brown. “They’re stressed because they’re falling behind in their work. Or they’re stressed because of the conditions they’re living with at home.”

Even before the coronavirus struck, kids at Sarah Scott faced significant obstacles that compounded the normal social challenges and surging hormones of middle school. They live in Vigo County, which has the state’s highest rate of child poverty and high rates of child neglect. Nearly 90% of students qualified for free or reduced-fee lunches. Some showed up needing to shower and change at the school, which has a food pantry that also offers clothes and hygiene products.

Things got more difficult for students when covid threw Sarah Scott’s normal schedule into disarray. Initially, the school went totally remote, then moved to partially in-person for the start of the 2020-21 school year. When covid spiked in October, Sarah Scott went remote again because not enough substitute teachers could fill in for quarantining staff. Since January, students have been spending part of each week in the school building, with no plans as of early March to open fully.

Kids were given laptops to use at home. But internet access can be problematic.

“Internet has been the worst,” said Samantha Riley, mother of seventh grader Mariah Pointer. “So many people are on it, it shuts down all the time.”

When that happens, she uses the Wi-Fi emitting from the school bus that sits in front of her apartment complex, one of several parked around the community to fill the gaps.

Even when the internet works, though, keeping kids on task at home isn’t easy. Heather Raley said she often cries from the stress of trying to make her eighth grade daughter engage online. “It just seems like we’re always butting heads over this,” Raley said. “It’s just a bigger battle getting the work done.”

As in many other communities, students are falling behind academically. Some don’t do any of their e-learning activities. Sarah Scott’s reports to child protective services for educational neglect — when caregivers aren’t getting their children to either in-person or remote classes — have more than tripled this school year.

Brown said she also worries about physical neglect and abuse, which is harder to detect when interacting with students remotely. “If you’re in an abusive home and you have to be there five days out of the week because you’re doing remote learning, you’re in that environment even more,” she said.

More time at home can also mean doing without necessities, including food.

The school helps by offering free breakfasts and lunches for in-person students and to-go lunches on remote days. Sometimes, the principal delivers boxes of groceries to students’ homes. The school recently secured a microwave for one family and an inflatable mattress for a student who’d been sharing a bed with his grandmother.

For some kids, the stress of the pandemic has worsened emotional problems and mental illness. Recently, a former Sarah Scott student who had moved out of state logged into her former teacher’s virtual class to say she planned to kill herself. The school contacted police, who checked on her. Referrals for suicidal students are up fourfold, Brown said.

School social worker Nichelle Campbell-Miller said it’s been tough counseling kids online or through text messages.

“I am all about building relationships and being in person and being able to dap you up or give you a hug and be like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’” she said, using a term for various greetings like fist bumps or elaborate handshakes. “So being online is extremely difficult for me, because you can’t really tell the tone of your student. When I’m talking to you in person, I can read your body language and I can gauge where you’re at.”

Right now, she said, the psychological well-being of her middle schoolers is even more important than education.

Many students, such as eighth grader Trea Johnson, come up against challenges on both fronts. Trea transferred to Sarah Scott two days before covid ended in-person learning.

“We struggle with school anyway,” said his mom, Kathy Poff. “Then when this pandemic came along, it just knocked our feet out from under us.”

His grades plunged. He began to hate school, Poff said. He didn’t attend his daily video meetings with his teachers. His mother fought with him to complete his online assignments.

“I usually get pretty bored,” said Trea, whose long, straight hair sometimes falls over his eyes.

Poff found him a therapist he meets with once a week. She said his mood and academic productivity have improved. He wants to be a computer programmer and has been coding in his spare time lately. She also moved his computer into her bedroom so she could better monitor him and has started paying him to do his schoolwork.

“I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be a 13-year-old going through this pandemic,” said Poff, 51, a single mother. “They’re going through changes anyway, adjusting to adolescence and figuring out who they are, and they don’t even have a social group to figure that out.”

Goulding, the math teacher, said she’s glad she and her co-workers can help provide stability and continuity during this trying period. One recent night, for example, she got a call from a truant boy’s grandmother, who said she was in poor health and raising him alone. The next day, the principal and social worker picked him up and drove him to school.

Still, Goulding lamented not seeing her most vulnerable students on the days when they are remote.

“How do I check on my kids? How do I make sure they’re eating? How do I make sure,” she paused to compose herself, her voice quavering, “they’re safe?

“You’re no longer thinking about, ‘How are they doing on their polynomials?’ You’re thinking about, you know, the reality of life.”

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Indiana School Goes Extra Mile to Help Vulnerable Kids Weather Pandemic published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[stephenmccull]

Indiana School Goes Extra Mile to Help Vulnerable Kids Weather Pandemic

After covid-19 forced Olivia Goulding’s Indiana middle school to switch back to remote learning late last year, the math teacher lost contact with many of her students. So she and some colleagues came up with a plan: visiting them under the guise of dropping off Christmas gifts.

This story also ran on USA Today. It can be republished for free.

One day in December, they set out with cards and candy canes and dropped by the homes of every eighth grader at Sarah Scott Middle School in Terre Haute, a city of more than 60,000 near the Illinois border where both Indiana State University and the federal death row are located. They saw firsthand how these kids, many living in poverty and dysfunctional families, were coping with the pandemic’s disruptions to their academic and social routines.

“You just have a better concept of where they’re coming from and the challenges they really do have,” Goulding said. “When you’re looking at that electronic grade book and Sally Lou hasn’t turned in something, you remember back in your mind: ‘Oh, yeah, Sally Lou was home by herself, taking care of three younger siblings when I stopped by, and I spotted her helping Johnny with his math and she was helping this one with something else.’”

The school’s experience provides a window into the hardships millions of families across the country have endured since last March, and exemplifies why education isn’t the only reason many Americans want schools to fully reopen. Schools like Sarah Scott help hold their communities together by providing households with wide-ranging support, which has become much tougher during the pandemic.

“A lot of our students are struggling emotionally,” said Sarah Scott’s principal, Scotia Brown. “They’re stressed because they’re falling behind in their work. Or they’re stressed because of the conditions they’re living with at home.”

Even before the coronavirus struck, kids at Sarah Scott faced significant obstacles that compounded the normal social challenges and surging hormones of middle school. They live in Vigo County, which has the state’s highest rate of child poverty and high rates of child neglect. Nearly 90% of students qualified for free or reduced-fee lunches. Some showed up needing to shower and change at the school, which has a food pantry that also offers clothes and hygiene products.

Things got more difficult for students when covid threw Sarah Scott’s normal schedule into disarray. Initially, the school went totally remote, then moved to partially in-person for the start of the 2020-21 school year. When covid spiked in October, Sarah Scott went remote again because not enough substitute teachers could fill in for quarantining staff. Since January, students have been spending part of each week in the school building, with no plans as of early March to open fully.

Kids were given laptops to use at home. But internet access can be problematic.

“Internet has been the worst,” said Samantha Riley, mother of seventh grader Mariah Pointer. “So many people are on it, it shuts down all the time.”

When that happens, she uses the Wi-Fi emitting from the school bus that sits in front of her apartment complex, one of several parked around the community to fill the gaps.

Even when the internet works, though, keeping kids on task at home isn’t easy. Heather Raley said she often cries from the stress of trying to make her eighth grade daughter engage online. “It just seems like we’re always butting heads over this,” Raley said. “It’s just a bigger battle getting the work done.”

As in many other communities, students are falling behind academically. Some don’t do any of their e-learning activities. Sarah Scott’s reports to child protective services for educational neglect — when caregivers aren’t getting their children to either in-person or remote classes — have more than tripled this school year.

Brown said she also worries about physical neglect and abuse, which is harder to detect when interacting with students remotely. “If you’re in an abusive home and you have to be there five days out of the week because you’re doing remote learning, you’re in that environment even more,” she said.

More time at home can also mean doing without necessities, including food.

The school helps by offering free breakfasts and lunches for in-person students and to-go lunches on remote days. Sometimes, the principal delivers boxes of groceries to students’ homes. The school recently secured a microwave for one family and an inflatable mattress for a student who’d been sharing a bed with his grandmother.

For some kids, the stress of the pandemic has worsened emotional problems and mental illness. Recently, a former Sarah Scott student who had moved out of state logged into her former teacher’s virtual class to say she planned to kill herself. The school contacted police, who checked on her. Referrals for suicidal students are up fourfold, Brown said.

School social worker Nichelle Campbell-Miller said it’s been tough counseling kids online or through text messages.

“I am all about building relationships and being in person and being able to dap you up or give you a hug and be like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’” she said, using a term for various greetings like fist bumps or elaborate handshakes. “So being online is extremely difficult for me, because you can’t really tell the tone of your student. When I’m talking to you in person, I can read your body language and I can gauge where you’re at.”

Right now, she said, the psychological well-being of her middle schoolers is even more important than education.

Many students, such as eighth grader Trea Johnson, come up against challenges on both fronts. Trea transferred to Sarah Scott two days before covid ended in-person learning.

“We struggle with school anyway,” said his mom, Kathy Poff. “Then when this pandemic came along, it just knocked our feet out from under us.”

His grades plunged. He began to hate school, Poff said. He didn’t attend his daily video meetings with his teachers. His mother fought with him to complete his online assignments.

“I usually get pretty bored,” said Trea, whose long, straight hair sometimes falls over his eyes.

Poff found him a therapist he meets with once a week. She said his mood and academic productivity have improved. He wants to be a computer programmer and has been coding in his spare time lately. She also moved his computer into her bedroom so she could better monitor him and has started paying him to do his schoolwork.

“I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be a 13-year-old going through this pandemic,” said Poff, 51, a single mother. “They’re going through changes anyway, adjusting to adolescence and figuring out who they are, and they don’t even have a social group to figure that out.”

Goulding, the math teacher, said she’s glad she and her co-workers can help provide stability and continuity during this trying period. One recent night, for example, she got a call from a truant boy’s grandmother, who said she was in poor health and raising him alone. The next day, the principal and social worker picked him up and drove him to school.

Still, Goulding lamented not seeing her most vulnerable students on the days when they are remote.

“How do I check on my kids? How do I make sure they’re eating? How do I make sure,” she paused to compose herself, her voice quavering, “they’re safe?

“You’re no longer thinking about, ‘How are they doing on their polynomials?’ You’re thinking about, you know, the reality of life.”

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Indiana School Goes Extra Mile to Help Vulnerable Kids Weather Pandemic published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[currenthealtheventsblog-blog]

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes | Kaiser Health News

New Post has been published on https://currenthealthevents.net/trending/must-reads-of-the-week-from-brianna-labuskes-kaiser-health-news/

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes | Kaiser Health News

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes, who reads everything on health care to compile our daily Morning Briefing, offers the best and most provocative stories for the weekend.

Happy Friday! It seems we have a new example of just how broken the health system is every week, and here’s today’s: A school superintendent was arrested after allegedly using her insurance to cover a sick student. She took him to the clinic after noticing he had signs of strep throat, and then filled a prescription for him. The total cost of the claim? $233. Now she’s facing felony charges.

(It should be noted, though, that she is being put on a pretrial diversion program, so the charges may be expunged from her record.)

Here’s what else you might have missed this week:

While health care has been somewhat insulated from the shutdown, the industry hasn’t been immune — and insurers, providers and others are starting to fret. For one, the standoff could rock the (just-starting-to-stabilize) health law marketplace because IRS staffing shortages may jeopardize tax credits for people who rely on them to subsidize their care. On top of that, it could delay application reviews for people eligible to sign up for coverage outside of open enrollment. What’s more, we’re nearing the time when insurers need to make crucial decisions on participating in the exchanges next year, but rule-making delays leave them without any guidance.

The Friday Breeze

Want a roundup of the must-read stories this week chosen by KHN Newsletter Editor Brianna Labuskes? Sign up for The Friday Breeze today.

New polling shows the country’s uninsured rate has climbed to a four-year high, and, as you can probably imagine, both sides of the aisle were eager to point fingers at each other. The talking points were similar to the messaging we’ve heard for years: Republicans said it’s the fault of the health law being inherently unsustainable, while Democrats blamed the administration’s “sabotage” efforts.

The idiom “the devil’s in the details” was never more true than in this week’s poll gauging what Americans think of “Medicare-for-all.”

The majority of people support the idea in theory (56 percent, which shoots up higher when framing MFA as a guarantee of health insurance as a right). But when the cons were laid out (it could lead to delays in care and an increase in taxes, for example) that number plunged.

The results seem to reflect the core debate that’s been going on within the Democratic Party in general: Everyone deserves health care, progressives say. The moderates respond: Yes, but how do we pay for it?

Whatever the mixed messages from the public are, 2020 contenders certainly see it as a winning issue.

As you Breeze readers know, insulin has become the poster child for the outrage over high drug costs (it’s an old drug that shouldn’t be expensive, lots of people need it, patients can die if they have to ration it).

Well, a new study gives some hard numbers to back up that anger. The average cost per patient for insulin nearly doubled over a five-year span — even though there haven’t been improvements to justify that increase. In a quote that sums it up (from Stat’s coverage): “It must be nice to be part of the American economy where you can raise the price of your product almost 100 percent over five years,” said Niall Brennan, who heads the Health Care Cost Institute.

If consumers are dinged for buying a brand-name drug when a generic version is available, will it change their patterns of behavior? That’s what a new strategy from the Trump administration could be relying on. Under the new proposal, if a person filled a prescription for a brand-name drug with a $25 copayment, rather than using a generic medicine with a $5 copayment, the consumer might get credit for only $5 in out-of-pocket spending. That means they would have to pay more out-of-pocket before hitting their annual limits.

And in a sign that Big Pharma is reading the tea leaves and starting to sweat a bit, the industry’s big trade group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, of PhRMA, disclosed that it spent a record amount in 2018.

How does a midlevel executive who’s never even met the CEO of a company spark a trade secrets lawsuit? By joining the health venture led by Dr. Atul Gawande and launched by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan. The lawsuit filed by Optum is a glimpse into how worried the health industry is about this new potential threat, which has been mostly shrouded in secrecy.

The Supreme Court lifted an injunction against the Trump administration’s restrictions on transgender troops as the case continues to work its way through the courts. Court watchers suggest that the conservative justices may have been swayed by the complaint that injunctions coming from lower courts (which, according to the solicitor general, were “previously rare”) have become a growing trend.

President Donald Trump plucked at some low-hanging fruit this week by announcing he wants to eliminate surprise medical billing. The topic has garnered a lot of attention lately with eye-popping personal stories about bills north of $100,000. The good news for Trump is that there’s already bipartisan legislation that’s been introduced in Congress.

Meanwhile, Vox’s Sarah Kliff has spent the past year investigating emergency room billing, and she breaks down why it can be such a nightmare.

(P.S. Make sure to check out KHN and NPR’s excellent “Bill of the Month” series on just this topic.)

In the miscellaneous file for the week:

• Have you ever gotten the flu shot, felt proud of yourself for being a responsible adult and then … gotten the flu anyway? It used to be that doctors said the vaccine must have been a bad match for the strain going around, but the problem really might be … you.

• The Los Angeles Times follows an abortion doctor in California who travels to Texas once a month to perform the procedure.

• Anti-rejection medicines have undoubtedly saved many lives — before the drugs, organ transplants were nearly impossible. But they do take an enormous toll on the body. Within 10 years of a liver transplant, 35 to 40 percent of patients will die, in part from the anti-rejection meds. Scientists are hoping there’s a better way.

• A Chinese scientist’s decision to edit human embryos’ genes may have sent shock waves through the research world, but the announcement didn’t come as a surprise to everyone. In fact, others knew about the work, warned him off of it and were left with nowhere to turn to stop the rogue scientist.

• Kalief Browder was a young man from the Bronx when he was arrested over accusations that he stole a backpack. He was detained on Rikers Island for three years without being tried or convicted of a crime — and spent two of those years in solitary confinement. Now his suicide is shining a light on the mental health crisis in prisons.

• A new study finds a link between gum disease and Alzheimer’s. Scientists have to dig deeper whether its correlation or causation, but it never hurts to floss in the meantime!

Source

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

[rebeccahpedersen]

Should Housing In Canada Be A Basic Human Right?

TorontoRealtyBlog

A friend of mine told me yesterday, “You’ve already written that blog post, I know you have.”

I told him I hadn’t, double-checked, and then confirmed with him that I had not.

“Oh,” he said.  “Well I guess you talk about it so often that it almost feels like you’ve written it before, many times!”

When I was away in Idaho in late-August, somebody sent me this CBC News article:

“Even Homeowners In Vancouver, Toronto Want Housing Prices To Fall, Poll Suggests”

The headline itself was a bit silly.  I felt it was a bit contrived, and the “poll” they speak of, perhaps, a bit misleading.  How could anybody who owns a home want his or her home to decrease in value?  Unless that person is hoping to buy a larger, more expensive home, and save money on that, (ignoring that their existing home would decrease in value as well), or if that person was misinformed, or didn’t understand the question.

But the most interesting part of the article to me had nothing to do with the poll, but rather was the choice the CBC made with respect to the photo that would accompany the article.  They used this one:

(Tina Lovgreen/CBC)

What does that photo have to do with the poll that says homeowners want housing prices to fall?

The caption to the photo was this:

Residents in Vancouver rallied in February, demanding governments do more to make housing affordable and sustainable in the city. A recent Angus Reid poll suggests even homeowners in Vancouver and Toronto think housing prices are too high.

The story itself wasn’t really tied to the photo, or the caption to the photo, to which my cynical side figured that this was simply a prop being used to drive home a point, but I decided to dig a little deeper into this notion of housing as a “right,” and I compiled a bounty of articles from the past year essentially arguing exactly that.

A right.

Not a priviledge, but a right.

And although I would lean right of centre, I can see that.  I can see housing as a right, considering that healthcare is a right in Canada, and housing should, in theory, come before healthcare.

But the larger question I have with respect to housing as a right has not to do with the right, but rather the housing itself.

What kind of housing is a right?  And where?  For how long?  For whom?  Under what circumstances?  And so on.

My cynical side sees the gentleman in the photo above, holding the sign saying “Make Housing A Right,” and wonders if he’s fallen on hard times, and wants the government to provide him with a bedroom in a house with other people, at no cost, until he can work to get back on his feet, or whehter he wants the government to subsidize his purchase of a waterfront condo in Vancouver.

Therein lies my issue with this argument of “housing as a right,” and try as I might, I can’t help but be cynical.

Society in 2018 wants, wants, wants, and takes, takes, takes.  People in society today, in my opinion, do not give as much as they want, and ultimately want to take.

And while the long-time readers may be tired of me going back to Economics 101, and introducing the concept of “wants versus needs,” I think it’s important in the context of housing as a “right,” because what type of housing will ultimately be shaped by wants versus needs:

One important idea in economics is that of needs and wants. Needs would be defined as goods or services that are required. This would include the needs for food, clothing, shelter and health care. Wants are goods or services that are not necessary but that we desire or wish for. For example, one needs clothes, but one may not need designer clothes. One does not need toys, entertainment, gems, etc.. One needs food, but does not have to have steak or dessert. One does not need glamorous trips, mall shopping, etc.

Excellent.

So take that analogy further, and you can see where I’m going with this.

A human being “needs” shelter.  But what is that shelter?

That will ultimately be the basis for debate as it pertains to “housing as a right,” and the government’s role.

Because I beleive that “housing as a right,” as many people see it (including the person pictured in the photo above), differs drastically from the economic definition.  And ultimately the way the government has acted in the past may have fanned the flames of public expectation.

I’ve made this point before as well, as recently as last week, but I go back to the 2018 Provincial election and just marvel at how the parties were racing to give away “Free Stuff” in order to get votes.  It was the most pathetic display of political pandering I have ever seen.

Free everything, from the government, at apparently no cost.

And that seems to be what people want out there today.  They want the government to provide.

I would argue that this was never intended to be the role of government.  The government’s role is to govern.

The average person has thousands of wants or needs on a daily basis, but which of these ultimately falls under the government’s responsibilty?

Let’s go back to the second-most useful thing I learned in first-year-university psychology (the first-most being the definition of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which made me realize I was not insane) and take a look at Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, at least as a starting point, to dry and draw a “line” somewhere:

At the very bottom, we have physiological needs, which are those essentially needed for survival.

These are the most basic human needs, and I beleive that if you’re looking for a starting point for the role and responsibility of government in every human’s life, this is a good place to begin.

Air, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep.

The government, in one way or another, offers help to Canadians in all of these regards.

And the idea of providing shelter to all Canadians makes sense as part of responsibility of a government to promote the welfare of its population, and I’m all for that.  Who wouldn’t be?

But what about the second level up?

Health, employment, property, family, and social stability?

Does, or should, the government provide this to the population as well?

The Canadian government provides healthcare, and most governments provide some sort of employment insurance, as well as assistance securing employment.  Can the government provide “social stability?”  To some extent, yes.  I don’t know if there’s been any one area of healthcare more promoted in the last few years as mental health, and this is a way of providing “social stability,” or the tools to attain it.

But what about property?  Is that a “need” that the government can, or should, be responsibile for?

Let’s argue for a moment that the first tier of the hierarchy is where it starts and ends with “rights” for Canadians, and shelter is one of those needs that will become a right.

How does one define “shelter” anyways?

There’s a difference with housing being a “right” in regards to every man, woman, and child having a bed to sleep in at night, and, say, a 24-year-old being able to afford the market rent on a 1-bed, 1-bath at Bay & Bloor.

In November of 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared housing a “human right,” by offering the following:

“Housing rights are human rights and everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home… and one person on the streets in Canada is too many.”

This probably wasn’t the first time that a politican offered something that could never be put into practice, and it surely won’t be the last.

“Safe and affordable.”

Impossible.  Absolutely impossible, and I can’t be convinced to see it as anything but.

In response to Mr. Trudeau’s press conference last November, where he announced his National Housing Strategy, the United Nations said the following:

“While most governments are involved to some degree in housing construction, the right to adequate housing clearly does not oblige the government to construct a nation’s entire housing stock.  Rather, the right to adequate housing covers measures that are needed to prevent homelessness, prohibit forced evictions, address discrimination, focus on the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, ensure security of tenure to all, and guarantee that everyone’s housing is adequate.”

If you happen to have a LOT of time on your hands, you might enjoy the 58-page report from the U.N. Habitat called, “The Right To Adequate Housing.”

The Liberal government did pledge $40 Billion to address the housing market in Canada, but the actual implementation of the National Housing Strategy is going to wait until after the next federal election.

The plan promises that 530,000 Canadian households will find more suitable housing once strategy is fully implemented.

But is it enough?

Many Canadians don’t think so.

Many Canadians want the government to “officially” declare housing a right.

This article was also published while I was away: “Federal Legislation Needed To Declare Housing A Right, Coalition Says.”

The Coalition doesn’t specify how to cure homelessness, affordability issues, et al.  Simply that “housing as a right” should be written into law.

And you know what?  I don’t have a problem with that.

I have a problem with nonsense like……………air conditioning as a human right.  That was a story that made headlines this past summer, and it reeks of the entitlement of society.  Since when does a feature, or an upgrade become a right?

That is where I see society going.  But that’s my problem, not yours.

We’re talking about housing.

My problem with “housing as a right,” is that I can see the same people who want air conditioning as a right, believing that they deserve, or should recieve, or are entitled to, something more than just “housing.”

What type of housing, what style, how large, which location, what condition, which features, what amenities, and on, and on, and on.

If we’re going to talk about housing as a right, then we have to talk about expectations, personal and financial responsibility, and financial literacy.

“Metro Vancouver Renters Praying For A Housing Crash, New Poll Shows”

What’s that about?

Is that logical?  Is that reasonable?  Or is that some version of sour grapes?

Are we now at the point where onlookers are cheering for the real estate market to implode?  Because part of me thinks, and while this may come off as extremely elitist, I assure you I am not that – many people in society today refuse to accept their own circumstances in life, as given.

Not every person in Canada can own a house.  It’s not possible.  It hasn’t happened in any other country in the world, and it would defy all economic logic.  And specifically, not every person can own a house or condo in Vancouver or Toronto!  So I wish people would stop acting like being born in one of these cities, and/or being gainfully employed in one, gives them the right not just to own, but to own what they want.

Not every person can afford the rent on a 1-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto; the third-largest metropolitan area in North America.  Some people have to live with a roommate, some people have to downsize to a bachelor, some people need to live at home longer, and some need to, well, you know – not live in a 1-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto.

I guess I just feel like the more the government “gives,” the less people will be incentivized to work for it.

The more I see articles about people screaming for the government to “do something” about expensive housing markets, the more I feel as though “housing as a right” is not about providing shelter to the homeless, housing for those in poor mental health or disabled, and subsidies for low-income families, but rather it’s about caving to the wants of society, rather than the needs.

So in the end, I hope to see two things happen:

1) Housing does, in fact, become a right in Canada, and the government finds a way to enact a well-thought-out, viable, realistic national housing strategy, that is focused on the long-term sustainability of major urban centres, and not simply the short-term reaction among voters.

2) The definition of that “right” is specified in extreme detail, and that right is not abused, not altered, and not turned into Christmas.

Do you think that can happen?

The post Should Housing In Canada Be A Basic Human Right? appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.

Originated from https://ift.tt/2oULdcZ

[swissforextrading]

7 Tips for Communicating Climate Change

One of the most critical areas of scientific research is also the most controversial. Climate change and global warming is an especially interdisciplinary field of study, which brings enormous complexity to telling the story of our planet. The political climate poses more challenges still. How can scientists and science communicators work to better inform the public about topics related to climate change? Ahead of our free SciComm Studio event on climate change on July 20, we reviewed the science communication research looking at this problem, in hope of finding practical ideas.  Start with the basics While pandering to an audience doesn’t help anyone, it’s important to understand who your audience is and what they need to know to understand climate science. If you want to reach an audience beyond scientists, you may need to build a bridge to help them understand the scientific method of inquiry. It should also help you choose the words you use. Speak plainly, but also understand when you need to explain the jargon of your field. Something as simple as explaining that “positive and negative feedback” in an ecological model doesn’t mean “good and bad” can really make a difference in someone’s understanding of what you’re explaining. Use Metaphors Wisely One roadblock to communicating climate science is that many people misunderstand the principle of “climate inertia.” Many believe that rising temperatures are tied to the level of emissions in a linear, rather than exponential, way. This leads to the common belief that cutting emissions would have an instant or near-term effect on global temperatures. That makes a “wait and see” approach seem plausible – that if it the climate gets too crazy, we can cut back on CO2 emissions to quickly stabilize things.  The mental model at work here is something like a bathtub spigot: reduce the flow of water and we can stop the tub from overflowing. What’s key is that we have to drain the tub faster than the water flows in, or the tub eventually overflows anyway. This is an effective means of communicating the problem with “stabilizing emissions” at their current level. Scientists need to be clear that those emissions are adding to a tub with a clogged drain. Look for patterns in misunderstanding, and note the mental shorthand people are using. Breaking those “shortcuts” can be an opening to understanding and spark action. It’s also an opportunity to be entertaining: walking people through a “mind-blowing” challenge that shows these mental models at work is a great opportunity for hands-on experiences, humor, and storytelling. Facts Persuade, Stories Inspire Statistics are extremely powerful in convincing people that there’s a problem. But that isn’t the same as inspiring people to do something about the problem. Stories about other people are interpreted as an emotional experience, making it more visceral than data, charts, or lists of chemical interactions. A review of communications research has shown that stories are most effective when they have a human face: stories about companies or advocacy groups are about as effective as statistics in inspiring action. This is one reason that describing the health effects of climate change is so promising. Ideal anecdotes are local and brief, and include people ideologically aligned with your intended audience. These kinds of stories have been shown to be more effective at shifting positions among climate change skeptics than factual evidence. This is an opportunity and a problem, however: anecdotes that contradict factual evidence are also considered more effective at polarizing people against factual evidence. Communicate the Consensus A challenge for climate science research is that the public disputes the very nature of scientific agreement within the scientific community itself. Though 97% of scientists agree that humans cause global warming, less than half of Americans polled in 2013 (42%) believed scientists were in agreement. It’s getting worse: In May 2017, 87% of Americans didn’t know this.  Effectively communicating the consensus of climate change, however, has proven to be surprisingly simple. Across preconceptions and political beliefs, a pie chart can show the consensus quite effectively. Paired with storytelling (“If 97% of engineers told you not to drive across a bridge, what would you do?”) these formats were shown to help people understand the scope of scientific consensus. It’s a rare easy win in the complex world of climate science communication. Take it! Be consistent Trust is an important aspect of communicating climate change. There is some debate about the role of scientists: are they meant to persuade, or inform? That’s up to you. The world needs those who persuade skeptics, but also those who inspire believers to understand even more about what’s happening. One bit of research can help you build trust regardless of your adopted role: be clear up front with what you’re doing and why. When an audience understands your motives, they’re more likely to trust you. If you aim to persuade, be clear about it, carefully separating the facts from your persuasion. If you aim to present facts clearly, be very careful about how you frame that information. In the end, an audience will trust you if they know what you’re trying to do. You can set the rules, but once you do, you have to follow them to maintain your credibility with skeptics. One caveat: there’s actually nothing better for building trust than one specific kind of inconsistency! If you can pair up with a converted skeptic, the audience is more likely to assume that the evidence was convincing enough to change their mind. Stay Away from Doomsday A common mistake in climate communication is painting a “hellscape” scenario, which can quickly overwhelm the audience with a sense of powerlessness, rather than inspiring action. Communicating massive-scale problems can actually cause people to feel psychologically distant from those impacts. Of course, fear often “sells” stories in the media. That can be counter-productive if sensationalized reporting on climate science alienates people from action, rather than inspires it. In discussing research, be aware that “fear frames” are easily adopted and work to produce a counter-productive narrative. Can you find something interesting and novel, or a local human interest angle on the story? If climate change can be framed locally, personally, and in the near-term, it also has the benefit of moving from an abstract fear to a tangible, visible goal. Become Extra-Interdisciplinary Climate Science is already a remarkably broad field of study, connecting a range of scientific specializations across fields. But communication requires an even broader coalition of creatives, artists, and writers. These experiences can range from collaboration in community art projects, to advising on art in an educational curriculum, to taking improv classes to improve your public communication skills. It’s not just a way to communicate your research, it can also inform your own thinking about the impacts of climate change. *** Which brings us to our free science communication events aimed at better science communication. On July 20 we’re continuing this discussion on climate change with communication experts and artists. We hope you can join us! --- Photo: US Geological Survey, “Climate Impacts to Arctic Coasts.” Public Domain via Flickr.  https://nextrends.swissnexsanfrancisco.org/7-tips-for-communicating-climate-change/ (Source of the original content)

[rebeccahpedersen]

Should Housing In Canada Be A Basic Human Right?

TorontoRealtyBlog

A friend of mine told me yesterday, “You’ve already written that blog post, I know you have.”

I told him I hadn’t, double-checked, and then confirmed with him that I had not.

“Oh,” he said.  “Well I guess you talk about it so often that it almost feels like you’ve written it before, many times!”

When I was away in Idaho in late-August, somebody sent me this CBC News article:

“Even Homeowners In Vancouver, Toronto Want Housing Prices To Fall, Poll Suggests”

The headline itself was a bit silly.  I felt it was a bit contrived, and the “poll” they speak of, perhaps, a bit misleading.  How could anybody who owns a home want his or her home to decrease in value?  Unless that person is hoping to buy a larger, more expensive home, and save money on that, (ignoring that their existing home would decrease in value as well), or if that person was misinformed, or didn’t understand the question.

But the most interesting part of the article to me had nothing to do with the poll, but rather was the choice the CBC made with respect to the photo that would accompany the article.  They used this one:

(Tina Lovgreen/CBC)

What does that photo have to do with the poll that says homeowners want housing prices to fall?

The caption to the photo was this:

Residents in Vancouver rallied in February, demanding governments do more to make housing affordable and sustainable in the city. A recent Angus Reid poll suggests even homeowners in Vancouver and Toronto think housing prices are too high.

The story itself wasn’t really tied to the photo, or the caption to the photo, to which my cynical side figured that this was simply a prop being used to drive home a point, but I decided to dig a little deeper into this notion of housing as a “right,” and I compiled a bounty of articles from the past year essentially arguing exactly that.

A right.

Not a priviledge, but a right.

And although I would lean right of centre, I can see that.  I can see housing as a right, considering that healthcare is a right in Canada, and housing should, in theory, come before healthcare.

But the larger question I have with respect to housing as a right has not to do with the right, but rather the housing itself.

What kind of housing is a right?  And where?  For how long?  For whom?  Under what circumstances?  And so on.

My cynical side sees the gentleman in the photo above, holding the sign saying “Make Housing A Right,” and wonders if he’s fallen on hard times, and wants the government to provide him with a bedroom in a house with other people, at no cost, until he can work to get back on his feet, or whehter he wants the government to subsidize his purchase of a waterfront condo in Vancouver.

Therein lies my issue with this argument of “housing as a right,” and try as I might, I can’t help but be cynical.

Society in 2018 wants, wants, wants, and takes, takes, takes.  People in society today, in my opinion, do not give as much as they want, and ultimately want to take.

And while the long-time readers may be tired of me going back to Economics 101, and introducing the concept of “wants versus needs,” I think it’s important in the context of housing as a “right,” because what type of housing will ultimately be shaped by wants versus needs:

One important idea in economics is that of needs and wants. Needs would be defined as goods or services that are required. This would include the needs for food, clothing, shelter and health care. Wants are goods or services that are not necessary but that we desire or wish for. For example, one needs clothes, but one may not need designer clothes. One does not need toys, entertainment, gems, etc.. One needs food, but does not have to have steak or dessert. One does not need glamorous trips, mall shopping, etc.

Excellent.

So take that analogy further, and you can see where I’m going with this.

A human being “needs” shelter.  But what is that shelter?

That will ultimately be the basis for debate as it pertains to “housing as a right,” and the government’s role.

Because I beleive that “housing as a right,” as many people see it (including the person pictured in the photo above), differs drastically from the economic definition.  And ultimately the way the government has acted in the past may have fanned the flames of public expectation.

I’ve made this point before as well, as recently as last week, but I go back to the 2018 Provincial election and just marvel at how the parties were racing to give away “Free Stuff” in order to get votes.  It was the most pathetic display of political pandering I have ever seen.

Free everything, from the government, at apparently no cost.

And that seems to be what people want out there today.  They want the government to provide.

I would argue that this was never intended to be the role of government.  The government’s role is to govern.

The average person has thousands of wants or needs on a daily basis, but which of these ultimately falls under the government’s responsibilty?

Let’s go back to the second-most useful thing I learned in first-year-university psychology (the first-most being the definition of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which made me realize I was not insane) and take a look at Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, at least as a starting point, to dry and draw a “line” somewhere:

At the very bottom, we have physiological needs, which are those essentially needed for survival.

These are the most basic human needs, and I beleive that if you’re looking for a starting point for the role and responsibility of government in every human’s life, this is a good place to begin.

Air, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep.

The government, in one way or another, offers help to Canadians in all of these regards.

And the idea of providing shelter to all Canadians makes sense as part of responsibility of a government to promote the welfare of its population, and I’m all for that.  Who wouldn’t be?

But what about the second level up?

Health, employment, property, family, and social stability?

Does, or should, the government provide this to the population as well?

The Canadian government provides healthcare, and most governments provide some sort of employment insurance, as well as assistance securing employment.  Can the government provide “social stability?”  To some extent, yes.  I don’t know if there’s been any one area of healthcare more promoted in the last few years as mental health, and this is a way of providing “social stability,” or the tools to attain it.

But what about property?  Is that a “need” that the government can, or should, be responsibile for?

Let’s argue for a moment that the first tier of the hierarchy is where it starts and ends with “rights” for Canadians, and shelter is one of those needs that will become a right.

How does one define “shelter” anyways?

There’s a difference with housing being a “right” in regards to every man, woman, and child having a bed to sleep in at night, and, say, a 24-year-old being able to afford the market rent on a 1-bed, 1-bath at Bay & Bloor.

In November of 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared housing a “human right,” by offering the following:

“Housing rights are human rights and everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home… and one person on the streets in Canada is too many.”

This probably wasn’t the first time that a politican offered something that could never be put into practice, and it surely won’t be the last.

“Safe and affordable.”

Impossible.  Absolutely impossible, and I can’t be convinced to see it as anything but.

In response to Mr. Trudeau’s press conference last November, where he announced his National Housing Strategy, the United Nations said the following:

“While most governments are involved to some degree in housing construction, the right to adequate housing clearly does not oblige the government to construct a nation’s entire housing stock.  Rather, the right to adequate housing covers measures that are needed to prevent homelessness, prohibit forced evictions, address discrimination, focus on the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, ensure security of tenure to all, and guarantee that everyone’s housing is adequate.”

If you happen to have a LOT of time on your hands, you might enjoy the 58-page report from the U.N. Habitat called, “The Right To Adequate Housing.”

The Liberal government did pledge $40 Billion to address the housing market in Canada, but the actual implementation of the National Housing Strategy is going to wait until after the next federal election.

The plan promises that 530,000 Canadian households will find more suitable housing once strategy is fully implemented.

But is it enough?

Many Canadians don’t think so.

Many Canadians want the government to “officially” declare housing a right.

This article was also published while I was away: “Federal Legislation Needed To Declare Housing A Right, Coalition Says.”

The Coalition doesn’t specify how to cure homelessness, affordability issues, et al.  Simply that “housing as a right” should be written into law.

And you know what?  I don’t have a problem with that.

I have a problem with nonsense like……………air conditioning as a human right.  That was a story that made headlines this past summer, and it reeks of the entitlement of society.  Since when does a feature, or an upgrade become a right?

That is where I see society going.  But that’s my problem, not yours.

We’re talking about housing.

My problem with “housing as a right,” is that I can see the same people who want air conditioning as a right, believing that they deserve, or should recieve, or are entitled to, something more than just “housing.”

What type of housing, what style, how large, which location, what condition, which features, what amenities, and on, and on, and on.

If we’re going to talk about housing as a right, then we have to talk about expectations, personal and financial responsibility, and financial literacy.

“Metro Vancouver Renters Praying For A Housing Crash, New Poll Shows”

What’s that about?

Is that logical?  Is that reasonable?  Or is that some version of sour grapes?

Are we now at the point where onlookers are cheering for the real estate market to implode?  Because part of me thinks, and while this may come off as extremely elitist, I assure you I am not that – many people in society today refuse to accept their own circumstances in life, as given.

Not every person in Canada can own a house.  It’s not possible.  It hasn’t happened in any other country in the world, and it would defy all economic logic.  And specifically, not every person can own a house or condo in Vancouver or Toronto!  So I wish people would stop acting like being born in one of these cities, and/or being gainfully employed in one, gives them the right not just to own, but to own what they want.

Not every person can afford the rent on a 1-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto; the third-largest metropolitan area in North America.  Some people have to live with a roommate, some people have to downsize to a bachelor, some people need to live at home longer, and some need to, well, you know – not live in a 1-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto.

I guess I just feel like the more the government “gives,” the less people will be incentivized to work for it.

The more I see articles about people screaming for the government to “do something” about expensive housing markets, the more I feel as though “housing as a right” is not about providing shelter to the homeless, housing for those in poor mental health or disabled, and subsidies for low-income families, but rather it’s about caving to the wants of society, rather than the needs.

So in the end, I hope to see two things happen:

1) Housing does, in fact, become a right in Canada, and the government finds a way to enact a well-thought-out, viable, realistic national housing strategy, that is focused on the long-term sustainability of major urban centres, and not simply the short-term reaction among voters.

2) The definition of that “right” is specified in extreme detail, and that right is not abused, not altered, and not turned into Christmas.

Do you think that can happen?

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