Thursday 21 September 2017

I recall counselling a nursing colleague who was, indeed a Nazi, and yet still I was fond of her. She was in a lot of trouble because she was really horrible to people...and they had made claims. Instead of retiring, she chose to stand up and make a mess of herself, legally...and I said 'Dear friend, the worse thing you can have as a nurse, or a doctor, is a clear memory. This will get you in so much trouble...simply because it is not true. You may think you recall everything perfectly, but, you don't. You don't have a good memory of the events...and events. The sole purpose of having a memory is to survive, this is why humans created ways to remember... a memory doesn't exist as anything perfect...a memory is not designed to be forensic, or even vaguely true.' But she didn't get it. She had to have her day with her flawed memory and get into even more trouble. I am not an enemy of even really bad nurses...but nor am I in solidarity with them and their very worst notions. If nursing has paid your bills for a number of decades, and you have done what you can to helpfully influence some good outcomes for some people, be at peace with that, and be at peace with the cost to you of that. This is no time to jump on the high horse...it is not a high horse...it is an ass.


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