lorlins

I am going to try to sum up my feeling, after my almost 32 years of nursing. It won't be easy because it is so diverse. I feel nursing offers more than it takes away. I have worked in several states, in large and small hospitals, and in almost every aspect of nursing, except in teaching. To this day, I still have a very soft spot in my heart for nurses. We occupy a unique spot to not only observe lives happening, but to make a difference in those lives, and what you do is only up to you. I have been treated poorly at times by fellow nurses, other staff, and by patients, and I have also been by the bedside when however painful or gratifing it was, I would not be anywhere else in the world, while asking myself, why do I choose this? I choose it because I want to be a player in this game of life, and not a bystander or observer. In nursing you see people at there best and at there worst, and everything in-between. I am near 60 years old now, and I am thinking of retiring, but I have always been proud to tell folks I am a nurse, and after I am not practicing as a nurse, I will continue to say with pride, " I was a nurse". To the young nurses I say, " If you have the goods to do it, do it!" After some years, you won't have to ask, you will KNOW what kind of person you are. [ May 18, 2001: Message edited by: lorlins ]