hearts — matters of the heart

The Justice Gap: The Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-income Americans

On 11/28/2022, in Access to Justice (A2J), ethics, hearts -- matters of the heart, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, Michigan, morals/values, policy, political science, society, sociology, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

The Justice Gap: The Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-income Americans — from the Legal Services Corporation

Legal Services Corporation’s 2022 Justice Gap Report provides a comprehensive look at the differences between the civil legal needs of low-income Americans and the resources available to meet those needs. LSC’s study found that low-income Americans do not get the help they need for 92% of their civil legal problems, even though 74% of low-income households face at least one civil legal issue in a single year.

The consequences that result from a lack of appropriate counsel can be life-altering – low-income Americans facing civil legal problems can lose their homes, children and healthcare, among other things. Help can be hard to access, so LSC is working to bridge this “justice gap” by providing pro bono civil legal aid for those in need. Find out more about LSC’s work to ensure equal justice for all by tuning in to the rest of the Justice Gap video series.

For more information on the Justice Gap, visit https://justicegap.lsc.gov/.

Also relevant/see:

This report was mentioned by the Chief Justice of Michigan’s Supreme Court, Bridget McCormack, at her 11/4/22 presentation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Law 2030 event.
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DC: Sooooo powerful. Very much worth your time to listen to this.

On 11/25/2022, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), drama/theater, Emotion, ethics, hearts -- matters of the heart, ideas, society, sociology, United States, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 100:4-5

On 11/24/2022, in creativity, faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 100:4-5

⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

From DSC:
Thank you for you LORD!!! And thank you for your patience with me, and for your mercy, forgiveness, and love (which it has taken me a long time to realize/embrace). Thank you for being active (most likely, mind-blowingly so).

Thank you for your creativity. Thank you for my/our senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch — and for all that our bodies can do. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made. Thank you for our minds and our hearts — may they be inclined towards doing right by you and by others.

Psalm 95: 1-7

On 11/20/2022, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 95: 1-7 — from biblegateway.com

¹Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
²Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.

³For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
⁴In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
⁵The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
⁷for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.

Reflections on Proverbs 11:1

On 11/02/2022, in business, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, ethics, hearts -- matters of the heart, Michigan, morals/values, parents/guardians, relationships, society, trends, United States, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

11 The Lord detests dishonest scales,
but accurate weights find favor with him.

From DSC:
I thought about this verse the other day as I opened up a brand-new box of cereal. The box made it look like I was getting a lot of cereal — making it look like a decent value for the price. But when I opened it up, it was about half full (I realize some of this occurs by pushing out the box as the contents settle, but come on!). In fairness, I realize that the amount of the cereal is written on the box, but the manufacture likely kept the size of the box the same but decreased the amount that they put within it. They kept the price the same, but changed the quantity sold.

This shrinkification of items seems to be happening more these days — as companies don’t want to change their prices, so they’ll change the amounts of their products that you get.

It just strikes me as yet another deception.
We BS each other too much.
We rip each other off too much.
We bury stuff in the fine print.
Our advertising is not always truthful — words are easy to say, and much harder to back up.
We treat people as though they just exist to make money off of. It’s like Philip Morris did to people for years, and it still occurs today with other companies.
In today’s perspective, people are to be competed against but not to be in relationships with.

I hope that we can all build and offer solid products and services — while putting some serious quality into those things. Let’s make those things and offer those services as if we were making them for ourselves and/or our families. Let’s use “accurate weights.” And while we’re trying to do the right things, let’s aim to be in caring relationships with others.

Reflections on Hebrews 4:12

On 10/30/2022, in communications, Daniel S. Christian, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, by Daniel Christian

¹²For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

From DSC:
I’ve found this to be true, although sometimes I wish it weren’t the case. There are times when I read scripture that I wish it were a bit “lighter.” The Word can cut deeply. Though I suppose that’s also helped me many times in convicting me or helping me see blindspots and/or guiding my thinking/behaviors. I have it that if we can’t communicate with God, we can’t have a relationship with Him. Trust = faith. We can’t build trust with someone who we can’t communicate with.

Digest #166: Perfectionism in Education — from learningscientists.org by Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel

THE LEARNING SCIENTISTS

“Perfection is the opposite of done!” I came across this statement recently and it made me think about how perfectionism really affects one’s work and studying. Growing up, I always thought of perfectionism as a good thing, as something to aspire to. However, more recently I am questioning this thought. It adds unnecessary pressure that it difficult to live up to and sustain. I see that many issues that my students are experiencing can be traced back to perfectionism. To incredibly high goals and standards that are impossible to achieve and that makes your work not being “good enough” – when it actually is. The consequences of high perfectionism can be manifold and in today’s digest, I’d like to offer an overview of resources on perfectionism in education.

From DSC:
Somewhere along the lines, I heard that if an interviewer asks you to state a negative characteristic, choose something like perfectionism — to turn something that could be a negative into a positive. And back in my earlier days, I thought that made sense.

But I have to agree with Carolina here. The older I get, the more my empathy levels would rise if someone gave me that answer today. I’m a perfectionist and I can truly say that perfectionism is a joy-robber! It can destroy a good day. It can destroy a good mood. It can destroy joy. I don’t recommend it.

Psalm 40:5 and Proverbs 15:22-23

On 10/23/2022, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, by Daniel Christian

⁵Many, Lord my God,
    are the wonders you have done,
    the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
    were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
    they would be too many to declare.

²²Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.

²³A person finds joy in giving an apt reply—
and how good is a timely word!

Psalm 27:14

On 10/18/2022, in Daniel S. Christian, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 27:14 — from biblegateway.com

Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.

From DSC:
I remember the time that a good friend of mine pointed this verse out to me — it was a few years after I had graduated from college. It was an important message for me at the time — and still is important to me today. But it was a verse that I would later realize is easier said than done at times.

If We’re Serious About Student Well-Being, We Must Change the Systems Students Learn In [Klein & Liang]

On 10/18/2022, in change, Design Thinking, education, education reform, health, hearts -- matters of the heart, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, student-related, teachers, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

If We’re Serious About Student Well-Being, We Must Change the Systems Students Learn In — from highereddive.com by Tim Klein and Belle Liang
Here are five steps high schools can take to support students’ mental health.

Excerpt:

The truth is, the best school systems in the world succeed without homework, standardized test scores or an obsession with rigorous courses. And many U.S. schools have found creative and empowering ways to showcase student merit beyond rankings and test scores.

If we aren’t willing to change policies and practices that have been shown to harm students’ well-being, we have to ask ourselves: Do we really value mental health?

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be an either/or scenario: We can design school systems that help students thrive academically and psychologically.

Isaiah 55:6 & Micah:8 6

On 10/09/2022, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, parents/guardians, relationships, religion, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

Isaiah 55:6 — from biblegateway.com

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.

Micah 6:8 — from biblegateway.com

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

The Multidisciplinary Approach to Thinking [Kaufman]

On 09/02/2022, in business, ethics, hearts -- matters of the heart, ideas, leadership, MBA, relationships, society, strategy, by Daniel Christian

The Multidisciplinary Approach to Thinking — from fs.blog by Peter Kaufman; with thanks to Robert Ferraro for this resource

Excerpt:

Peter Kaufman is one of the most successful businessmen of our time, and yet few people have ever heard of him. He’s the CEO of Glenair, an aerospace company based in California, and the editor of Poor Charlie’s Almanack, a book about Charlie Munger.

This speech was to the California Polytechnic State University Pomona Economics Club. The transcript and audio are reproduced here with the permission of Peter Kaufman.

As with many “conversational” talks given without notes, it’s better to listen to the audio to pick up on subtleties that won’t come across in the lightly edited transcript.

There is a simple takeaway. Using a true multidisciplinary understanding of things, Peter identifies two often overlooked, parabolic “Big Ideas”: 1) Mirrored Reciprocation (go positive and go first) and 2) Compound Interest (being constant). A great “Life Hack” is to simply combine these two into one basic approach to living your life: “Go positive and go first, and be constant in doing it.”

Howard University receives 2 bomb threats in a week as some HBCU students say they feel forgotten after no arrests in previous threats [Germain]

On 08/31/2022, in dangers of the status quo, ethics, face-to-face, hearts -- matters of the heart, higher education, relationships, society, sociology, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Howard University receives 2 bomb threats in a week as some HBCU students say they feel forgotten after no arrests in previous threats — from cnn.com by Jacquelyne Germain

Excerpt:

(CNN) As Howard University students returned to campus on Monday for the start of the fall semester, the university received two bomb threats just months after the school and other historically Black colleges and universities had to lock down or postpone classes because of similar threats.

From DSC:
I wonder if the response would look different if this happened at one of the Ivy League schools…? Yeh, probably so. Either way, this is incredibly sad that this happens at all.

Addendum on 9/2/22:

DHS details response to HBCU bomb threats but says ‘much more’ needs to be done — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz

Proverbs 3:5-6

On 08/22/2022, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, society, by Daniel Christian

⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Psalm 112:5

On 07/26/2022, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, society, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 112:5

Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,
who conduct their affairs with justice.

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