publicity

I don't post much. Public speaking really isn't my thing and normally don't like to pollute the air with pointless noise emanating from my mouth”. But I've seen many posts sporting stethoscopes and talking up nursing recently so decided to look into what all the fuss is about. And I'm not impressed….

There are so many quotes and posts about nursing – I could share a bunch, but trying to keep this as succinct as I can. For those of us who suck it up and stick through all the crud that comes along with the job and are in it for the long haul, it's more than a job or a profession – it becomes part of who we are as people. I'm a little hesitant to make this association, but will put it out there – we are here to serve and protect in the same vein as our military service people, our police officers, our fire fighters, our EMTs. And once life settles, we nurses are here to support and encourage and educate and care and pick up the pieces…. Sometimes at our own expense, and sometimes we just hope and pray our families understand we're trying to find a balance and take of them as much or more than we take care of others.

A couple of stupid off-handed comments by some overpaid, uninformed entertainment people don't bother me. I'm not very pleased by the response by the nursing community at large – why make this into an issue? We know what we do and how hard we work and how much we care. The people we serve, our patients and clients and residents, they know us and know why we're here. We've worked our butts off to earn the right to take care of them, just as our other service people have, and a couple of gaffs by people who make no difference in the world, simply aren't worth the bother...

I'm honored and grateful to have earned the privilege to call myself a nurse.