My experiences and my faith have lead me down a path where I know I can make a difference in the lives of others and in the world. I work to better myself in every way, every day, so that I can fulfill my dream of becoming a Registered Nurse First Assistant, with a specialization in pediatric neurosurgery. I want a job that's different every day, one where people look up to me as a professional in my field. My career should not only challenge me intellectually, but emotionally as well. I want to be there when people need a hug or tears dried as much as I want to be there when people need a complex procedure explained to them. By educating myself in this field, I will become a healer, but also a comforter, a role model, and a leader who serves as a team player. I want to be looked up to and respected in my profession, but don't want an intimidating status. It's crucial for me and the role I want to hold, that people under my care know and understand that in everything that I am, my most eminent role is to be their friend. All these things and more I will find by becoming an RNFA. I can make a difference in the lives of my patients, in the field of nursing, and maybe even for myself.
For this, some people call me a dreamer, but so what if I am? It is not a crime to dream, for if Thomas Edison had not dreamt, we could all, to this day, still be sitting in the soft glow of a candle flame to carry out our lives. Albert Einstein was inspired by a dream; and without it, we may not have ever known the true extent of the human mind as well as the incentive of the human spirit. Both are without limit, and with God, are even more infinite. Dreamers have been turning their dreams into reality since the beginning of mankind, making the world a better place to live in, if for no one else, at least for themselves. Without a dream, we have no direction and without direction, we have no destination.
If we are lacking a destination, tell me then, what is the purpose of our lives?
I want a career where I have the opportunity to make an impact on the world. My purpose is to serve others and make a genuine difference in the lives of children every day. With my great respect and admiration of youth and the innocence it entails, I need a profession involving the care and education of children; a profession where I'm expected to be a good role model for the children under my care, and one where I can exceed those expectations. I want a profession not yet dominated by my given gender so that I can show society that even though God chose to create me male, I have the compassion and understanding usually associated with women. These traits and more will allow me to be the among the best nurses, because I will not only be able to perform my job and carry out my duties, but also bring a warm heart and caring disposition that will give my patients confidence in my abilities to bring about peace, knowing they are in the most capable hands.
I'm not an intellectual, nor a scientist; I'm not a mathematician or an artist. Heck, with my English grades, I'm not a writer either. There is one thing I know I am, though, and that is a servant. I was put on Earth to serve. There are many ways to serve others and the Lord, so why am I choosing nursing? I see it as a field that can be improved and a discipline that places me in a position where I can work to make the changes that need to be made. Nursing is something I've been familiar with for a long time. I was born with a rare neurological disease, and because of my vast research, I now know how Neurofibromatosis type 2, my disease, works and I will be able to use that knowledge in my aspiration as a Registered Nurse First Assistant. With the knowledge I've acquired, I can be a mentor to children like me who are facing neurosurgery and cannot possibly know what to expect. When you are different like me, you never stop trying to find others like you and when you come up empty handed every time, it eats away at your heart. I can be for them what I never had, but never stopped trying to find. No child deserves to live a life being misunderstood and therefore unable to accept him or herself. What every child does deserve is to have someone like themselves to educate them, mentor them, lead them, and love them as God created them: different. My knowledge is more than the anatomy and physiological understanding of my disease; it's of the emotional and spiritual familiarity with it as well. That is something you cannot learn from books and tests, only from life. I will continue my education and use my insight into the emotional side of medical care to equip me with the ability to help my patients on more levels than others without my experiences can offer.
There are many objectives I hope to accomplish as an RNFA. I not only want to make a difference in the lives of my patients, but hope to make a difference in the field of nursing and the medical field in general. Take, for example, the old saying that "nurses eat their young." It's not necessary or helpful that veteran nurses choose to make the careers of younger less experienced nurses even more difficult. I believe this can be improved by creating a mentor program where each veteran nurse takes a rookie nurse under his or her wing and help them learn to fly, so to speak. Another problem I'm all too familiar with is the high cost of quality health care. I believe that this, too, can be improved. I know that as a RNFA, I will offer a service entirely comparable with a surgeon in a residency program, but for a fraction of the cost and with more intense training and qualifications than the resident surgeon. That alone will give my patients higher quality health care at a more affordable cost.
I feel its important society understands that not all men are sexual or abusive predators and that many of us, myself included, want only to be a father figure to youth everywhere. I've felt the sting of sexism. I know what it's like to be denied a role I long to hold because of the reputation of my gender. It isn't fair for youth or men that the male adult be looked upon as a predator rather than the nurturing and caring role model the majority of us long to be. Perhaps that's why this field calls to me in such an irresistible manner, maybe I am meant to cause a change in thinking, to make the world see that men can be just as compassionate and caring as their female counterparts. This profession will not just give me a means of income, but a satisfying and worthwhile career, as well as a starting place for me to make this world a better place to live in for both men and children. I hope by now you can see that becoming a nurse wasn't something I decided to do on a whim. My plans for my education, career, future patients, and the field of medicine will not only fulfill my dreams, but also allow me to move down the path God has laid before me and live my life in a way that maximizes the skills and traits He chose to bestow upon me.