Florence Nightingale May 12th 1820 -1910
Born 200 years ago today, the great founder of modern nursing,
social reformer and statistician was a woman of great faith. Known to the
wounded soldiers in the Crimea as the Lady with the Lamp, a ministering angel, she
not only brought good hygiene and medical knowledge to the hospital but also
great comfort and hope. She wrote a great deal about the art of nursing and was
also a pioneer of data visualisation (using a graph-like presentation to show important
statistics and facts).
Florence believed that her Christian faith should be
shown in active care and love for others. She believed in universal salvation
and the importance of all religions.
Crafted, in 1996 for the United Nations Habitat II
Conference in Istanbul, Turkey — where Nightingale's famous work began — this
Prayer remains keenly relevant to our time and for our challenges:
Today, our world needs healing and to
be rekindled with Love.
Once, Florence Nightingale lit her beacon of lamplight to comfort the wounded.
Her light has blazed a path of service across the centuries to us--
through her example and through the countless nurses and healers
who have followed in her footsteps.
Today, we celebrate the flame of Florence Nightingale's legacy.
Let that same light be rekindled to burn brightly in our hearts.
Let us take up our own ‘lanterns of caring,’ each in our own ways--
to more brightly walk our own paths of service to the world--
to more clearly share our own ‘noble purpose’ with each other.
May human caring become the lantern for the 21st century.
May we better learn to care for ourselves, for each other and for all Creation.
Once, Florence Nightingale lit her beacon of lamplight to comfort the wounded.
Her light has blazed a path of service across the centuries to us--
through her example and through the countless nurses and healers
who have followed in her footsteps.
Today, we celebrate the flame of Florence Nightingale's legacy.
Let that same light be rekindled to burn brightly in our hearts.
Let us take up our own ‘lanterns of caring,’ each in our own ways--
to more brightly walk our own paths of service to the world--
to more clearly share our own ‘noble purpose’ with each other.
May human caring become the lantern for the 21st century.
May we better learn to care for ourselves, for each other and for all Creation.
Through our caring, may we be the
keepers of that flame.
That our spirits may burn brightly to kindle the hearts
of our children and great-grandchildren—
as they, too, follow in these footsteps.
That our spirits may burn brightly to kindle the hearts
of our children and great-grandchildren—
as they, too, follow in these footsteps.
Deva-Marie Beck, PhD,
RN © 1996
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