Sentimental Women Need Not Apply

I watched a video on Thursday for my Nursing class highlighting the history of the profession of nursing. It talked a lot about Florence Nightengale. Apparently when she opened her first school for nurses in the United States circa 1861 (she was called over by Lincoln's Secretary of State to improve the condition of military hospitals with an educated nursing staff), she published an advert in the papers putting the call out for prospective nurses. She had a couple of criteria, though. The women had to be single, homely, and unsentimental. Sounds like a charming women if I've ever heard of one.

After further examination of the criteria, I'm just not sure if nursing is the profession for me. :) Now, I am currently single, so the first really isn't much of a problem, but I should like very much to have the opportunity to go out or even marry someone (scandalous, I know) if I feel so inclined without the threat of losing my job.

As to the second, I'm not, obviously, a very objective judge, but I wouldn't really describe myself as "homely." Hmm...I guess I'll have to ask around. :)

The third is really where I feel I might have the biggest problem, though. Although there are many ways of viewing sentimentality, I feel like more than one apply to me. I am a self-admitted romantic. I like the happy endings, and the quirky coincidences, not just in a relationship with a guy, but in life. As I have grown up a bit over the past little bit here at school, I've been learning to meld my expectations and dreams with the reality of who I am and who other people are. But truly, my heart does beat a little faster when the guy gets the girl, all arguments are reconciled, and the classic riding off into the sunset occurs.

Translate that into my future profession, and I can see where I might be facing a little bit of a problem. People get sick, and people die, something that doesn't happen very often in your traditional, happy-ending book (unless it's a tragic death that serves the greater good and brings all involved into greater love and harmony a la Romeo and Juliet). But life is messy sometimes, and questions about it tend to go unanswered in this world, at least to our fundamental understanding.

I think, though, when it comes down to it, I'd rather be sentimental. If that means I'm going to feel the pain of heartache more acutely, then I accept that. It's better than not feeling at all...