Why are you pursuing a career in nursing What makes you capable to be a nurse - Essay Example

Why are you pursuing a career in nursing? What makes you capable to be a nurse? Life has now and then made me sad with its unexpected turns which make humans helpless pawns in the hands of destiny. Disease is such a turning point in the lives of all. It is the moment in life when an individual totally looses control over his/her life, future. It is an unequal encounter in all aspects. When I read, “the sick soon come to understand that they live in a different world from the well and that the two cannot communicate” in a book by Jessamyn West, I could really feel the vast expanse of solitude that surrounded the protagonist and my eyes became wet (West, 29).

That was way back in 2000 but I gradually nurtured a secret wish to become a caring companion for such solitary souls. Even before that, I used to volunteer for taking care of the members of our family who had been sick and bed ridden. I would clean up the room for them, take flowers to them, read to them and keep them company. All those moments gave me deep satisfaction and a sense of purpose in life. The smile in their eyes brightened up my days. And once, I heard my sick grand mother whisper in a feeble voice, “my little Nightingale,” when I was kissing her good bye.

Those words made a deep imprint in my heart. It was then I started thinking about taking up nursing as my career seriously. I already knew that I could feel empathy for others. It naturally came to me. I thought it as my asset and decided that I could really make this profession, my passion. Even now I remember, when I was a child, my grand mother had kept awake at my bedside whenever I fell ill. So I felt I owe to reciprocate that care to her. But don’t we, as healthy people owe the same to the less fortunate ones who fall ill?

This was what I asked myself. My character has enough patience to be a constant companion of pain and anguish and also enough optimism to spread hope in such occasions. I believe in the magic that love and care can bring about. I feel pleasure in making others happy. I have the ability to work hard and to keep my composure even before unexpected adversities. These are the qualities that I see in me, which make me dare to tread the sacred path of compassion which was trodden by the likes of Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.

Works Cited West, Jessamyn, Woman Said Yes: Encounters with Life and Death, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1986.