It seems to me that nursing is more than just a job; it’s a vocation. As such, the people who choose nursing must do so – as with any vocation – primarily because it’s what they want to do irrespective of the level of pecuniary reward. If nurses were paid high salaries it’s likely that the profession would attract those driven by the money imperative, and that would be likely to lead to a dilution of the general standard. It sounds unfair, I know, because in a perfectly reasonable sense it is unfair. But it’s a valid point of view nonetheless.
But let’s not kid ourselves regarding the real reason why nurses are not paid high salaries. The fact is that we in the west live under rampantly free market economic systems in which the value of everything is assessed according to its capacity to make money. Nurses are not there for that reason; they’re there to care for people in situations of ill health and distress, and caring for people will always come second best to the making of money in a rampantly free market economy.
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Meanwhile, I note that Benjamin Netanyahu is still racing through the field to challenge Genghis Khan for first position in the World’s Greatest Mass Murderer Stakes. Fortunately I’m not a betting man, but merely a compassionate one who feels greatly disturbed by the suffering of the innocent.
And my concern naturally extends to those Israelis who still have loved ones held hostage because the need of revenge is a highly potent force in the human condition. Further, it strikes me as ironic that, notwithstanding the original atrocity committed by Hamas in October, if they should leave the remaining hostages unharmed in spite of Mr Netanyahu’s latest descent into genocidal behaviour, the balance of the moral high ground would swing in favour of Hamas. The quality of reason does so like to spring surprises sometimes.
For my part, I try to fall back on the theory that if this world were perfect there would be no reason for it to exist.
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