NaWUPoBo, #20
Laura Love's CD Octoroon is playing, beautifully. As is with a lot of things in my profession, nurse aides (as well as everyone within the medical field) are governed by an unspoken code of conduct. "To help heal." "To help serve." "To help protect." Something like that. Still, I know my place: I must care for those who ask for it. I must make sure those who are in danger of hurting themselves (or others) are being protected. I must make sure never to abandon my residents, reagrdless of my own pesonal safety. This really isn't written down anywhere, rather it is a couple of maxims handed down by my head nurse when I joined the staff.
As the nurse aide ranks expand with the aging Baby Boomer population, I can only see more people taking this time-honored oath, whatever exactly it is. It is a shame we do not live by more traditionally bound sets of rules. In Japan, the servant-warrior class followed Bushido, a code of conduct, a way of life no less, that helped in dictating how one responded to everyday pain and events.
If samurai means one who serves, then answer this riddle: Which more exemplifies Bushido: he who is loyal to a fair and kind lord or he who remains loyal to his wicked lord?
The answer: The one who is loyal to his unprincipled master because he who remains faithful even in adversity has the greatest warrior spirit.1
I think about that when the stresses of work become great. When I arrive at work at 2:54 p.m. to find we have been scheduled with only three aides for 34 residents again; when I see my administrators taking month long vacations or "winning" the in-house raffles when my co-workers (many of whom are single mothers trying to make ends meet on minimum wage) remain sincere and loyal and labor through the night.
"Warrior Spirit," what a term! Nurse aides
should not aspire to such excessiveness,
take on such haughty postures. For decades
we have labored hard to care for illness,
for the senile, for the demented. We
work long hours, poor pay, "thank yous" are rare,
if at all. Still, we return. Why? Simply
put, "Nurse Spirit," is powerful. We swear
we shall aide you. Not cure, but to assist.
Tonight I shall return, go on rounds, clean
adult diapers; feed, wash, care. We persist
even when those over us appear mean
spirited. Even we, with no edict,
code, law, persist against stunning conflict.
- Thank you, Stan Sakai! [back]
February 21st, 2006 at 4:19 pm
As the toast goes in The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls In Love, ‘To making it through another day.’
My partner and I raise a glass to that cheers pretty often. Maybe it’ll bring you some calm, and a sense of accomplishment, which are both great to take to bed with you. Best, as always, friend.
February 22nd, 2006 at 11:56 am
Erin, your messages always leave me smiling and happy! Thank you so much; I hope all your plans are unfolding the way you dreamed them to. You deserve it!
I was raised on Clancy Brother records as a wee Zachary and this song, more a toast to good travels than anything else, from the song The Parting Glass is one I give to my friends before they head off one a wild adventure. So, I give it to you now, since your future (I am sure) will both be adventurous and rather wild:
But since it falls unto my lot
That you should rise and I should not
Gently rise and softly call:
“Good night and joy be with you all.”