Affordable Housing and Income Inequality

Affordable Housing and Income Inequality Liz White-MacDonald Abstract Nurses are faced with daily challenges to deal with an increased in acuity and complexities in regards to patient health outcomes. Nurses participate in advocacy and policy making in adjusting affordable housing to meet the demands of their patients. Policies by nurses have seen drastic changes in the housing communities which has seen an upsurge of low income families managing to secure affordable housing. These drastic changes are in realtion to the exceptional work done br registered nurses in adviacting and offering teacjing to these patients. Nurses are aware that health and poor hosuing had detrimental facets to our patients, and by provind hope and resilience to patients who are low income and lack hosuing security, we are forging an excellent nrand of nurisn gpreactice Keyword: communication, caring, interaction, therapeutic relationship Affordable Housing and Income Inequality Access to affordable housing is a serious concern facing many households in Canada, particularly for low incomes households that are trying to keep up with the high rise of housing costs. This concern with the issues related to the supply of affordable housing have focused their approach to income inequality, unfair housing markets, lack of a national housing strategy in Canada , lack of growth in affordable housing options relative to low income families. In this paper, I intend to examine the link between income inequality and affordable housing in Canada and its effect on the quality of life of the residents using a family systems approach. An important aspect of the current Canadian economy is that of the dual income family. Many dual income families in Canada require both partners to work in order to provide secure housing, childcare and food security. Most Canadians that have a decent job and roofs over their heads and the income to afforde groceries do not hesitate to argue for affordable housing. However, for low-income families, whose income can be gone in trying to keep their family sheltered in an appropriate and acceptable home, this can be faced with many economical and health issues. Consequently, many families are working full time far below the poverty line in jobs that are unstable, without security, benefits or flexibility for family related responsibilities. To qualify for subsidized housing in Edmonton , an applicant must have a gross household income of atleast $48,000 for a two bedroom, 59,000 for a three bedroom and $64,000 for a fourn bedroom, besides the gross household income potential buyers must also possess a vefication letter of job and successfully pass a criminial background check, have thhe downpayment, and credit rating. In addition, during my interview, the interviewee insisted that if housing prices fall within a decent price range for a 3 bedroom house , she will be more than happy to adjust and prioritize her list of wants/needs to fit what they can afford, however housing costs are fluctuating every year in Edmonton, and recently the Canadian Mortgage and Hosuing Corpation( 2015) stated that, â€Å" Effective June 1st, 2015, the mortgage loan insurance premium for homebuyers with less than a 10% down payment will increase by approximately 15% (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation [CMHC], 2015). This new change will make it tougher for low income families to access first time homes. Despite the relatively attainable steps in achieving homes in Canada, families are still facing economic issues in accessing homes. This is due to the fact that mortgages and hous ing policies have not been flexible in modifying their approach to allow low income households better options to buy newer homes. Nurses Role Nurses can be advocates in helping patients achieve affordable housing and a safer health status by connoting policies or engaging in design standards that enable families of diverse economic means, racial/ethnic backgrounds or family compositions to live in housing and neighborhoods that enable then exercise to the fullest extent possible personal choice in housing, education and employment. This choice enables families to enjoy equal opportunity for economic and social mobility and enables communities to smoothly adapt to inevitable changes over time in employment, infrastructure and demographics .Affordable housing and income inequality involves nurses participation at all levels of their scope of practice, in doing so, nurses recognize factors that prevent and/or are detrimental to their patient’s health and attempt to address the social, economic( salary and wages) and environmental aspects ( neighbourhood and services available). In their article, Anderson et al. (2003) supports the idea that Affordability of housing is linked to the health and well-being of individuals and families. When a market lacks a sufficient supply of affordable housing, lowerincome families are often forced to limit expenditures for food, medical care, and other necessities in order to pay rent.The lack of affordable housing within a community can contribute to family residential instability, as families are forced to move frequently, live with other families in overcrowded conditions. (Anderson et al., 2003) To be effective advocates, Registered Nurses will need to rely on their education and self-reflection on their own beliefs and practices surrounding income and poor housing and the effect it has on health. Nurses also need to bring awareness of poor housing and its complication on their patients’ health to the policy table. For the purpose of understanding our patient’s health it critical to advocate through policies on behalf of our patients. Advocacy presents a benchmark where health issues can be forwarded to the appropriate municipal, regional or government offices which may require policy changes. According to Goodman (2014), Opportunities for advocacy abound. Whatever one’s personal interests, commitments, and skills, there is an opportunity for every nurse to participate actively in shaping the future of nursing (p. 668). Despite the lack of affordable housing crunch, federal, municipal and government agencies have attempted to address issues related to af fordable housing. However, polies or market changes have not been met to prevent the housing crunch. Nurses through advocacy can be an important mediator in this emerging issue. Role of Advaocacy In nursing Nursing Advocacy has been one of the most vital and basic roles of the nursing profession. Despite bring intricate in nature it promotes a form of representation for our patients, supports autonomy and respect for our patients regardless of their diagnosis. In addition, advocacy acts as a mediator between the patient and the health system. In our nursing profession, advocacy is guided by CARNA through its ethical codes. These codes influences the profession in a organize and professional way. In nursing literature and research on the subject, Cole, Wellard Mummery (2014) states, â€Å" advocacy in nursing is defined as a nurse actively supporting patients in relation to their rights and choices, clarifying their healthcare decisions in support of their informed decision-making and protecting basic human rights such as autonomy. (p. 577. Nursing advocacy is usually discussed within the realms of patients right and the philosophy of nursing as a whole, however, it is critical to recognise that nursing advocacy can also be discussed as a professional approach that falls outside the therapeutic nurse patient relationship . There is always a constant call for nurses to be advacates in affordable hosuing for their patients, however most nursing advocacy are done within the span of the unit and hospital, Affordable housing advocacy encourages nurses to go beyond their normal physical space to municipal, government and federal meetings. To achieve this nurses must possess emotional strength and the right education to perform the needs of patient advocacy successfully. Using a family center approach, Nurses must work with the family to develop strategies that provided opportunities for patients. By looking at factors that affect each family member and also be able to identify each family member strength and which helps in the sustaiblity of good hosuing. Despite the strength of the Canadian housing market, affordable housing and stable vvibrant communities remain unequally distributed. These inqualities stems from the shortages of affordable hosuing communities, income inequality and current state of the country’s economy. Bryant (2003) in his article argued that , â€Å" The availability and affordability of housing plays an important role in relationship to other social determinants of health. People can go without many things, but going without housing is potentially catastrophic. If citizens are required to spend increasing proportions of available resources on maintaining a roof over their head, the resources available to support socia l determinants of health such as food and educational resources are diminished. (Bryant, 2003, p. 55). Practice Development Research by Krieger Higgins (2002) supports the increasing body of evidence that has associated housing quality with morbidity from infectious diseases, chronic illnesses, injuries, poor nutrition, and mental disorders (Krieger Higgins, 2002) . Affordable living and low income is a critical need in mitigating the devastating effects of poverty. People that lack adequate income fall prey to many diseases such as chronic diseases, hypetension, tuberculosis etc. For nurses to be successful advacates for patients in having affordable hsouing policies impemting. Nurses need to be educated and seek further nursing practice development.

Principles of diversity Essay

Assignment overview In this assignment you will consider best practice in promoting diversity, equality and inclusion which does not discriminate against others. You will look at relevant legislation, codes of practice and regulations governing adult social care and consider the consequences for a variety of people if these are not followed. You are asked to consider your own attitudes and beliefs and how these may impact on how you treat people and to reflect on your own practice. Tasks There are three tasks to this assignment. A Short answer questions B Leaflet C Reflective account This is a summary of the evidence required for the unit. Task Evidence Learning outcomes covered A Short answer questions 1.1, 1.2, 3.1 B Leaflet 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 3.2, 3.3 C Reflective account 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 Task A Short answer questions Ai Explain in your own words what each term means. Give one example from care practice to illustrate your explanations. SHC 33 1.1) Diversity Diversity means variety, an example of this is society, where people very in a multitude of ways, including sex, age, sexual orientation, physical characteristics such as height, weight and skin colour, personal experiences and attributes, such as beliefs, values and preferences. Care settings  reflect the diversity of the population, an example of which is diet, some people have specific dietary needs, some may need food that is pureed due to swallowing difficulties, others may follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, people from different cultural and religious backgrounds have specific dietary needs. Equality Equality is treating people fairly regardless of their differences, ensuring that they have access to the same life opportunities. An example of this in the care setting is Ability, a lack of understanding about the needs of people with physical or mental disabilities results in them finding it difficult to make the most of life’s opportunities, an example of this in the care setting is persons not taking part in activities as they may not be suitable to their needs, this can lead to them being socially excluded, we need to ensure that there are a range of activities to suit all needs. Inclusion Inclusion is accepting everyone, regardless of difference, it is about getting rid of intolerance of difference and providing help and support where appropriate. The act of inclusion brings about a feeling of wellbeing and builds on a person’s confidence, ensuring that everyone can meet their full potential. Within a care home setting each individual has differing needs that have to be continually monitored and assessed to ensure that they are getting the most out of life for example a person’s mobility needs changing should not exclude them, they need to be given the correct level of support to take part and feel included in the day to day living that they enjoyed previously. Discrimination Discrimination is a form of prejudice, it is an attitude or way of thinking based on unfounded, unreasonable pre judgement of a person or situation, not one based on factual assessment, and it can cause a barrier that makes it difficult for a person to make progress or to achieve goals. An example of this in the care setting is not giving choice to a resident with things such as what they wish to eat if there’s only one choice for those that are in need of a pureed diet but three different meals available to other resident’s. Aii For each of the following people/groups of people, describe two different possible effects of discrimination. (SHC 33 1.1) An Individual The effects of discrimination on an individual; 1) Short term effects on an individual can include intimidation, humiliation, resentment and anger. 2) Long term effects can bring about feelings of inferiority, loss of self-worth and confidence a distrust and fear of others, leading to social exclusion. Their Families The effects on a person’s family; 1) The injustice of discrimination not only has an effect on the individual but also their family, by denying people opportunities such as education they cannot find employment or live in decent housing, this in turn leads to victims and their family’s being in deprivation, without a good standard of living. 2) Discrimination can cause the breakup of a family, this is due to the stress that is caused. Wider society The effects of discrimination on wider society; 1) Discrimination in the long term results in deprivation for whole groups in society, such as the elderly. 2) Discrimination has brought about a postcode lottery with unequal availability of services in different parts of the country. Those who discriminate The effects on those who discriminate; 1) They would be in breach of the equality act 2010 and as such in contravention of the law this can lead to both fines and imprisonment. 2) Those who discriminate show a lack of concern for others, their beliefs, culture and preferences showing a lack of concern, this in turn brings into doubt the person’s ability to care, Health and social care workers have a responsibility to provide a high level of care, anything else would be neglect. Aiii Identify three ways of challenging discrimination, and describe how each will promote change. 1)  Work place discrimination can be challenged by analysing why the person behaves in a discriminatory manor, an example may be they were brought up in an environment where labelling, stereotyping and negative prejudice were normal behaviour and so not questioned. This needs to be explored privately, for example during an appraisal where behaviour can be questioned and required changes can be agreed and recorded with their success being measured. 2) Informal discussions provide opportunity to reflect on the dire effects of discrimination, talking through these issues and imagining how it must feel to experience unfair, unjust treatment, can have powerful effects on thinking and behaviour, hence bringing about change in mind set. 3) Education is a way of challenging discrimination, ensuring that persons abide by work place policies and procedures and codes of practice including those that relate to anti-discrimination policies. Good communication skills enable discrimination to be challenged in an assertive yet encouraging way to bring about behaviour change. Task B Leaflet Bi Your work setting is running an induction course for new social care workers in an adult social care setting. Create a leaflet, which can be used to support this course. The leaflet must include the following: a) A description of the legislation and codes of practice relating to diversity, equality, inclusion and discrimination. b) An explanation of the possible consequences for individuals, social care workers and others if the legislation and codes of practice are not followed. c) A description of how inclusive practice can promote equality and support diversity. d) An explanation of how to support others to promote diversity, equality and inclusion. Leaflet enclosed. Bii Give two examples of how you could raise awareness of diversity, equality and inclusion. (SHC 33 1.1) 1) Training and discussion; Training and discussion in one to one meetings or groups of staff, raise awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion. The more they will engage in discussion and obtain training about this issue the more they will learn and be aware of it and also put it in to their everyday practice. 2) Through providing leaflet, information and policies and procedures; Providing leaflets and sufficient information regarding diversity and equality will raise awareness to a social care worker by having knowledge about it. It also helps them to know about the consequences if agreed ways of working are not followed. Task C Reflective account (SHC 33 2.2) Ci Write a reflective account describing: †¢ How your personal preferences, attitudes, heritage and beliefs might impact on working practice. †¢ How to ensure that your own practice is inclusive and respects the beliefs, culture, values and preferences of individuals. Suggested word count: 500 – 700 words (Enclosed as separate document) Cii Write a brief account that describes examples of inclusive practice. Inclusive practice, is about attitudes, approaches and strategies taken to ensure that people are not excluded or isolated. An examples of this would be; show respect, regardless of a person’s age, sex, sexual orientation race and ability, with regard to their believes, culture , values and preferences. It is good to model care on Principles of care that promote inclusive work practice, letting personal preferences shape the way you work, supporting individuals in retaining their cultural dignity, such as how they choose to dress and maintain their personal hygiene. Respect the need to maintain confidentiality of personal and sensitive information, ensure that persons are not disadvantaged but can access equal opportunities for example by making sure they receive help and support that is appropriate for their needs. (SHC 33 3.1, 3.2) Ciii Write a brief account that describes practice, which excludes the individual and is discriminatory. Taking away a person’s personal preferences can excluded the individual and the care worker would not be demonstrating ‘inclusive practice’, examples of this would be denying someone the opportunity to worship in the way their religion dictates this would be excluding them, a person not being given the chance to choose what to wear takes away from their right to equality and may impact on their cultural dignity. Not allowing for a person’s dietary requirements an example of this might be a vegetarian not being able to have the same amount of choices as a person who eats meat. A person who needs to use a wheelchair could be excluded from taking part in an activity due to problems with access this would cause them to be disadvantaged and discriminated against. By not using the person cantered approach within health and social care you would not be following best practice leading to people being denied their freedom and this is a form of neglect and may be see n as abuse.

Reflective Journal Essay

Before the main discussion of the reflective journal, the author would firstly like to identify that how the â€Å"organisational wellness† subject affected her. In the beginning, the author chose this subject due to the reqirement that she must choose six units of third-year level to complete her degreee. And she didn’t have any knowledge about this subject before she decided to choose it. When she attended the first lecture of â€Å"organisational wellness† , she only has abstract and vague concept of the unit learning objectives. After the ten weeks’ learning, she has clearer and better understanding of herself and she has known some important concepts which should be considered when addressing the wellbeing problem in the workplace. On the whole, the author will review the material that learned in this subject many times in the future. And the material that she learned in this subject may assist her to solve the relevant problems in her future working life. To achieve this goal, this reflective journal will concentrate on six topics that were covered in this unit. The author will present her understanding of these topics and how these topics can assist to address the wellbeing problems in the workplace. Moreover, the author will illustrate the reasons why these topics are memorable and helpful in the future. Farrell and Geist-Martin’s Wellness Model: The first topic which included in the reflective journal is quite positive to me. It helps me to know the fundamental framework of â€Å"Wellness Model†. And I had a clearer conception of â€Å"Organisational Wellness† after I attended week two’s lecture and read the relevant material about this topic. This is the first topic that covered in the reflective journal. And it is one of the important topic in this subject. It introduced the framework of wellness model and it montioned some concepts that would be covered in other topics. Farrell and Geist-Martin(2005) developed a model of working well. It includes two parts of identities which are organisational health ideologies and individual health ideologies. The figure below shows that Farrell and Geist-Maritin’s (2005) working well model. Figure 1: Model of Working Well The organisational health ideologies include the following four elements: 1) mission, vision, values, and goal statements that incorporate and communicate a working-well philosophy; (2) mechanisms that allow employees to provide feedback about the wellness program; (3) upper management to support the working-well philosophy; (4) a continuous system that allows employees to evaluate the financial, social, environmental, organisational and personal health of the wellness program. And the individual health identities involve four elements as well. It consists of psychological health, physical health, social health and spiritual health. The aim of the â€Å"Working Well Model† is to develop an efficient and accurate wellness program. And the organisations want to improve employees’ production and work efficiency through the â€Å"Working Well Model†. Moreover, as the figure above shows that organisational health ideologies should express their message and idea of wellness to the employees. And then, the employees would give some feedback to the organisations. For instance, employees’ view of wellness and health. The organisations can improve the wellness program according to the feedback of employees. Farrell and Geist-Martin(2005) claimed that the organisation need to know individual’s view of health and wellness and how they response to organisational health ideologies. If the organisation fail to negotiate with employees, the wellness model would not be successful. Therefore, it is important for the organisation to communicate with employees, otherwise they would not develop an efficient and accurate wellness program. However, the organisation’s view of health ideologies may different from the individual’s. For example, the health ideologies of Telstra focus on the economic and productivity goal. There were some news reported that some employees of Telstra can not afford the work stress and chose to end their lives in 2007. Cubby (2007) wrote that employees’ suicide were related to the extreme work stress in Telstra. According to the news, Greg Winn, Telstra’s chief operations officer said that â€Å"WE RUN an absolute dictatorship and that’s what’s going to drive this transformation and deliver results. † (Cubby, 2007) Furthermore, Greg Winn claim that the employees in Telstra must try any measures to persuade customers to accept the service that they offered. And Telstra were tracking employees’ productivity. If the employees don’t operate and satisfy the superior’s reqirement, they would be fired from Telstra. As such a workplace environment with extreme pressure to meet Telstra’s goal and get profit, some employees committed suicide. Hence, the organisation should not only focus on the economic goal, but also should know emloyees’ view of health identities. If they just focus on the economic goal and ignore employee’s health, the productivity of employees would lower than normal level or even worse. Also they may lead to negative effects on employees. In a word, the â€Å"Model of Working Welll† is important to the organisations and individuals. After I learned this topic, I realized that we should consider both perspectives of health ideologies. If the organisation or individual just consider their own benefit but ignore another party’s perspective, the wellness program would not efficient. Moreover, I consider I will apply these concepts to evaluate my health level in the future. If the organisation force me to fulfil an impossible target, I will speak up and do anything I can to protect my walfare and rights. In addition, when I work in a company, I need to consider the organisation’s perspective and my own perspective of health ideologies. It is important to think these two perspective of health ideologies instead of considering personal’s perspective only. Once the organisational’s perspective and personal perspective of health ideologies are quite different from each other, the two parties should communicate with each other to work out the problems. Thus, the â€Å"Model of Working Well† help me to develop an overview of â€Å"Organisational Wellness† and introduce some concepts which are useful to organisations to create a wellness program. And I knew the importance of thinking health ideologies by different angles. Physical Health Identities: This topic has been included in the reflective journal for reasons that helped me identify the symptoms of stress and gave me some idea to release my stress. Another reason for covering this topic in the reflective journal due to the great impact on my stress management and stress awareness. Also, it is the second topic which covered in the reflective journal. This topic is one of the most important and useful topic for me to cover. And the aterial of this topic is quite interesting. Furthermore, this topic can help me to aware the stress symptoms and stress level in the future. And it will allow me to manage my stress in a better method on the basis of stress symptoms and stress level. Before I knew that we should track our stressors for five weeks as an assessment of â€Å"Organisational Wellness†, I haven’t realized that this semester’s stressors have some impact on my study life. I took three compulsory units and one elective unit in this semester. And two of them are quite difficult. Though I knew in advance that this semester would be tough enough for me, I still think so positive and optimistic of these stressors. And I believe that I have got the ability to handle these challenges. Unfortunately, I overstated my ability to deal with the stressors. The stressors came too fast and I haven’t got enough time to deal with these challenges. Moreover, the stressors began to affect on my daily life and my physical health. When I started to record and track my stressors and the symptoms that raised by stress, I realized that the stressors have some impact on my physical health. During these five weeks, the major stressors included the class test, writing the assignment, overcommitted and difficulties with parents. Other stressors involves changing in sleeping habit, sense of overload in school, performing in front of a class, and lack of sleep. Moreover, there were a series of stress events which contained the relationship with friends became worse, family affairs, and the noncooperation among the group member when we planned to do the presentation. The class test and writing the assignment led to highly stressful in week 4. Because the class test was counted as part of my final result. And it was the first time that I took that kind of short answer test. The assignment was another major stressor in week 4 due to the degree of difficulty. I was so worry about that I couldn’t finish the assignment on time. In addition, other stressors led to moderately stress among these weeks. After few weeks, too many challenges were presented to me at the same time. And it beyond my capability to fulfil and operate these challenges. I began to feel the stress and the stress level became more and more higher. Thereafter, the symptoms of stress has appeared. They included powerlesness, depression, irritable, headaches, backaches, insomnia, anxiety, physical weakness and have sleeping difficulties. When I was tracking the stressors, I reviewed some materials which include lecture notes and reading on physical health identities. After I reviewed the materials of physical health identities, I found out that there was a similar pattern has appeared between the stressors and my physical health symptoms. In week 3’s reading from Halpern(2005), he mentioned that there was a relationship between physiology and job-related stress. And he also pointed out that the conflict between two aspects of one’s job would lead to job stress. For example, employees need to complete a hugh amount of work within a limited time and maintain the accuracy, or while other roles and responsibilities have conflict with job demands (Halpern, 2005). For me, the conflict between two aspects of one’s job may refer to my study life and my family affairs. Moreover, I believe that there were some conflict between my individual roles and responsibilities in these weeks. Because I have many assignments and tests to complete for my study and I also have some family affairs to resolve. There were some conflict between the roles. And I could not fulfil these tasks at one time. During the period of recording and tracking my stressors and stress symptoms, I tried some measures to release my stress. The methods included jogging, having a chat with close friends, watching funny movies, preparing the relevant materials that need to review and so on. These methods helped me to release some stress during these five weeks. Therefore, the physical health identities help us to realize the symptoms of the stress. And then we can try to manage our stress according to the symptoms of stress and stress level. If we know the extent of our stress, we can find out more suitable method to manage the stress. It will be useful in my future’s work life because there are more stressors in the workplace. Spiritual Health: The third topic has been included in this reflective journal is about â€Å"Spiritual Health†. I did not quite understand the real meaning of â€Å"Spiritual Health† before I read the weekly reading material and attended the tutorial. And I didn’t think about â€Å"Spiritual Health† so deeply before I attended the lecture. My understanding of â€Å"Spiritual Health† was only on a superficial dimension. Spiritual Health† is a quite abstract and difficult topic for me to understand. Because it can not be totally explained by words. In my own opinion, spirit is the thing that truely inside everyone’s heart. Mitroff and Denton(1999) stated that â€Å"spirit is the basic feeling of being connected with one’s complete self, others and the entire universe†. In other words, no one can force you to accept their point of view. Because everyone has his or her own value of the world, the society and other things. These values that people believe are shaped in people’s childhood. And the society that people stay would have an impact on personal value as well (Rokeach, 1973). Hence, once individual has formed his own value, it will be difficult to persuade him to change his value. When I was taking the tutorial of this topic, I began to think more deeply of my spiritual health. Especially, after I heard other classmates’ thoughts of the things that they experienced during the tutorial. Howell (2005) pointed out that spirituality is a continuous process to find its deeply meaning and purpose in our life. However, the problem that I faced on was I even didn’t realize the spirituality’s importance and I didn’t begin my process to find the meaning and purpose in my life. I grew up in a traditional family and my parents arranged all the things for me include the schools and the major I took in the university. Until now, I have entered into the second year of the course in the university, I still haven’t think about what kind of job would I take in the future. The one really inside me has not been discovered yet. I didn’t have got the things that I really want to do in the past few years. The truly me has not been concerned before I noticed the importance of spiritual health. Thus, I tried to dig out that who I really am. However, how to improve the current thought and understanding of spiritual health inside myself is an intractable problem. If you just simply object to others’ opinion, for example your parents, or escape from the current environment you live, that would not change anything. You just try to escape from the reality. The way of digging out your own spirit is to find out the things that you really want to do and the things that you worth to do. It is important to seek the meaning of our life. We don’t live for other people. We live for ourselves. If we couldn’t find out the things we want to do, the life would lose its meaning. And we might lose the purpose of living in this soceity. Everyone has his or her own value of their lives. It is difficult to evaluate whether other people’s spiritual world is happiness or not. One day, I was watching the news on TV and that news really impressed me. The content of the news was about some children in remote area need to tramp over mountains and through ravines to arrive at the school. The mountains that they need to climb are quite steep and dangerous. When the journalist asked them whether the study life like this is tough, most of them thought it was normal in their daily life. Though the road to the school was tough, they still feel happy because they can study lots of knowledge in the school. I was really impressed by these children’s words. They enjoy the things that they were doing and they think the things were worth to do, though that seems very tough to others. They satisfy with their daily life and feel very happy. But when we think about ourselves, we always complain the society and the daily life. Our lives are inundated with dissatisfaction. Maybe this is due to people who live in a better environment have gain too much and they still desire for more things. Based on this understanding, I decided that I need to work hard in the future and try my best to help the children in China who are in remote area. If I have the qualification to teach these children, I would volunteer to help them. It is a long and difficult process to dig out my own sense of spirituality but I’m trying my best to do it. Overall, the spiritual health is a very difficult topic to understand. Both organisational and personal spirituality are important to us. Though I didn’t metion the organisation’s spirituality in the discussion above because I haven’t got any experience of it. To an individual, if he know the meaning of his life and he has got the living purpose, he might live better in his life. Because he has the appetency to success in his life. For me, the spiritual health is important as well. And I’m trying to find out my own spirituality. Moreover, I have realized the importance of the spirituality in the workplace, and hope my better understanding of spirituality can help me to find a suitable job. And it may allow me to have a better performance in my future workplace.

Elements of a Tragic Hero Found in Oedipus and Creon in...

Oedipus and Creon Sophocles demonstrates Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero in his brilliant trilogy of plays, The Oedipus Cycle. Aristotle describes a tragic hero as a character of high status who experiences a fall from great social status. This character also exhibits a tragic flaw and takes responsibility for their actions and accepts the punishment. Oedipus, son of Laios, and the King of Thebes, tried to escape his fate of killing his father and marrying his mother, displays all of Aristotle’s attributes for a tragic hero. Creon, Oedipus’ brother in law and uncle, also displays the personality traits present in a tragic hero. Although both characters fit Aristotle’s definition for a tragic hero, Oedipus better displays the characteristics of a tragic hero than Creon. In order to follow Aristotle’s designation of a tragic hero, the character must start at a high position in society and fall due to a tragic flaw that the character exhibits. Oedipus follows this definition very well. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, a very powerful city. Oedipus’ tragic flaw, pride, is shown throughout the story in his stubbornness and interactions with other characters. Oedipus’ pride causes him to get angry at Teiresias when he suggests that Oedipus may be in fact the killer of Laios: â€Å"Am I to bear this from him? –Damnation / Take you! Out of this place! Out of my sight!† (23). Oedipus thinks that he is better than Teiresias and thus does not listen to his advice. Oedipus