Animals. They get hungry, they feed. Tired, they sleep. Angry, they fight. Bored, they play. Survival drive. What makes us different? Emotion, comprehension, religion, believes, restrain, family planning, aspirations, desires, motivation, wants, lusts… Survival drive. Eh? Same like animals what!

Before anyone commits me to psychiatric doomsday, let me prove a point. I’m always trying to prove myself. That’s what most of us do! In a Halloween party during my pre-school days, I dressed up as Superman. He’s my all time favourite, the man of steel, faster than a speeding bullet, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…*humming the theme song, gazing*. Well, here’s the thing. A classmate of mine came as Spiderman, and that worked me up quite a bit. We’d bicker at each other telling great heroic stories of the legends, stomping our feet insisting that our own is the master of the universe. My mom stopped buying me Superman merchandise after we gave each other a few pinch-mark-dark-circles, and clearly I wasn’t made of steel. Consequences of childish stubbornness.

Competition. It’s everywhere. From the queues at Donut Factory, to school sporting events, to expressways, and of course in our work places. I remember telling my brother how it’s so different for us nurses compared to the corporate world. How we don’t immerse ourselves with ‘Fashion Screenings’, ‘Brand Scans’, or ECG’s:- ‘ElectronicCashGrams’. Yet, we nurses drive at are equivocal. Recognition, appreciation, promotion. Ooh, how our eyes glow green in envy now as this thought hits hard as we think of the people who were recognised, appreciated, and promoted. The ones whom we ickily disagree of their raved esteem. I have come to realise that in nursing, it’s not as simple as just  subtracting an ’I’ from your title (i.e. SN II to SN I), or adding an ass ‘S’ to it (SN to SSN). What irks me most, is that we nurses do think it is as simple as that. See it this way,  subtracting an ‘I’ means there should be less of yourself but more of others. Disregarding the need to satisfy self and being able to look into the needs of others (SN I  I ). Or being an ass-set to the entire team in teaching, mentoring, and auditing (SSN).

The large number of nurses in one organisation makes it difficult for anyone to be promoted with automacity. Hence I fully understand if it does take a little more time for my turn. Yet I know of colleagues who were denied of any form of recompense, nor tangible accolades. Colleagues who look beyond themselves and proved to be an asset. This has to be looked at with deep consideration, thus resolving attrition due to organisational dissatisfaction.

I like to think that we nurses are all about ‘Making A Difference’. Here’s something I spewed during our last Nurses’ Day Celebration here at TTSH.

I chose to be a nurse for the smiles on the elder’s faces,
for the appreciation of the cared,
and the joy in lives restored.
For a dose of sleepless nights sponging patients,
an injection of adrenaline resuscitating,
and an infusion of fulfillment when one discharges home.
For the love we share for our patients which surpasses mere human understanding,
for the sacrifices we make to reach and achieve goals aspired.
For we are strong and committed,
willful and spirited,
caring and compassionate.
I chose to be a nurse,
because of nurses.

It’s also for the fulfillment in being a role model to juniors and being an encouragement to seniors.

So I contradict myself again, we are nothing like corporate animals. Because we do Make A Difference.