"True Greatness"

I graduated from nursing school last Friday. At the Pinning Ceremony, I delivered this speech to my graduating class and the audience. I wrote it a couple months ago after my classmates asked me to speak at the ceremony. I wrote it from start to finish in one sitting; it just flowed out, and I knew it was the message I had to give to them. To my knowledge, there is no recording of the actual speech, but here are my notes, reconstructed as best I can remember, for I didn't really use them once I got started. 

To my graduating class, and to you: "True Greatness"

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When asked if I would speak to you, I thought of all the typical things one hears at graduations—lots of thank-you’s, nostalgic reminiscing on the academic experience, examples of personal growth achieved over the last few years, etc. There is a time for such sentiments, but I’m not here to tell you any of that. I want to give you a benediction, a farewell, and a vision for true greatness in our new roles as nurses in a changing culture.

If we look back through history, we see billions of people who lived and died, scores of them lost to obscurity because they lived tolerant, comfortable lives and were never interested in rising out of their apathy to wage war against the evils of their eras. And yet, no matter how many centuries pass, there are a few people whose legacies still burn as bright as the day they broke out of the mold and did something that shocked the world. These people were truly great, not merely because of what they did, but because of why they did it. Their character has stood the test of time, and their vision for reformation was so powerful that they are still spoken of, still studied, still honored today. Imposters come and go, but those people, those few people, who were willing to go against the tide of their popular cultures, willing to do and say what they knew was right, even if they were all alone—these are the men and women who changed the course of history, and I am here today to tell you that you can be numbered among them.

You do not have to live your life as one of the masses, one of the millions addicted to mediocrity. You can be among those few who lived their lives with burning purpose and a far-reaching vision of integrity, honor, greatness, justice, and reformation. True greatness is not the skills of nursing—medications, IV starts, or pathophysiology. It is not about nursing theory, health care reform, evidence based practice or even therapeutic communication. These are important components of nursing practice, but if you do all these things perfectly, you will be only a competent nurse. Right? The OCNE 10 core competencies? I don’t know about you, but basic competency is not what I’m striving for. That’s a low bar. True greatness does not come from being merely competent, from thinking the way that everyone else has always thought. It comes from stepping back from the stage and re-writing the script because you can see a better ending your mind’s eye. It comes from a deeply-held conviction that the standard can, and must be, raised, and no one else is going to do it, therefore, you will.

Consider the people, who, if they had not lived by their unbreakable principles, with such consuming passion, the world today would be far different than it is, and, I think, it would be a lesser world indeed. Look at Hans and Sophie Scholl, the young brother and sister who were committed to peacefully resisting the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler in their native Germany. They wrote and distributed anti-fascist literature, even though their lives were on the line. But they were so passionate about exposing the evils of their era and the Nazi regime’s crimes against humanity that they continued doing what they knew was right—and on February 22, 1943, after being caught and turned over, both were beheaded by guillotine in a German prison. They were 25 and 22 years old. But their vision for true greatness was far bigger than their own lives, and in their deaths they woke their culture up to the evils of their age. There was another man in the same era, Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat, who was appalled at the mass execution of the Jews in Europe, and came to their aid by writing transit visas in direct disobedience to an Imperial order from his government. In fact, he was still feverishly writing and throwing visas out the back of the train as he was forced to leave Europe. The visas he gave to the Jews saved over six thousand families from extermination.  But Chiune Sugihara died in exile in Russia, stripped of his former status and disowned by his country.

Some of the truly great men and women have been dead for hundreds of years, but, thanks to their intense visions for justice, integrity, and true greatness, and their stalwart resolve to do what they knew was right, no matter how high the cost, their contributions to our world illuminate the corridor of history. But in their day, many of these were hated, rejected, misunderstood, persecuted, and even killed for their convictions, because they sought to change the world around them and right what they saw was wrong, and the world resisted as it always has and always will.

If you would be great, truly great, you must count the cost. Are you willing to put your personal comfort, recognition, or reputation on the line for someone else? Are you willing to stand alone, and defend what you know is right, even if it costs you your job? Are you willing to advocate for others when it doesn’t benefit you in the least? Are you able to lay hold of that vision of greatness, to light that torch in your own soul, and carry it through your life, even if you carry it alone? Are you willing to be misunderstood? Rejected? Hated? Are you willing to let someone else get your glory? How much will you lay down in the name of honor, integrity, and justice? If your answer isn’t “everything,” you aren’t ready. It is a paradox that transcends the ages, isn’t it—that true greatness is birthed from total sacrifice?

As a nurse, you meet people in their darkest hours, when they are broken, worn down, and afraid. Their bodies are injured or failing, and their souls may be in turmoil. You have an incredible privilege to be an agent of healing in these critical times. You have the knowledge and the skills to mend what is broken, to correct what is imbalanced. But until you have a drive that comes from within, that fuels your spirit and keeps you going even if your body is worn down, you will only be going through the motions, and the purpose is null and void, because you have no passion, no higher vision, no burning motivation to go above and beyond the call of duty for any reason other than selfish reasons. To be a nurse is to be a servant, and to be a servant is to give until you have nothing left to give, and then to keep on giving. You might ask, “What about compassion fatigue? And the importance of self-care? We can’t just give and give.” I’m not talking about a sacrifice that drains you dry and burns you out. I’m talking about understanding that the heart of nursing is to reject the stereotyped ideals of glamour, recognition, adrenaline, money—whatever it is that may have lured you into nursing to begin with. I’m talking about cultivating a heart attitude of servant hood and humility, which, although simple and modest, are in fact the cornerstones of true greatness. May it never said of us that we were the ones who were lovers of self and comfort, that we were the ones who lacked vision, and that it was on our watch that the ship went down. What a tragedy, and a shame.

You, too, can change the trajectory of the future. Is that really so lofty a goal? I don’t think so. What if, in two hundred years, long after you’re dead and gone, what you did with your life was still influencing people, changing the way they think, and shaping a world of people who do not even exist right now. That is a vision of true greatness. That is something worthy of relentless, lifelong pursuit. That is a goal that far surpasses basic competency. And that is why I am both proud and humbled—if it is possible for such opposing states to exist in one being—to be numbered among you today. Because, in this auditorium, on this day, in this year, there are people who, I believe, will choose to aim higher and reform the face of the culture in a way that changes the world for generations to come. You may have all the things you need, minus one: that undying, passionate, all-consuming vision of true greatness and sacrifice. If you make that choice, to go against the tide, to rise up and claim that vision as your own—you, my friend, will be unstoppable and your influence will reach so much farther than you can imagine.

That is my prayer for you, as we go out from this place. Remember it. Some of you I may not see again after this day has passed, but remember this, and go out from here with purpose and vision for true greatness. Thank you, my friends, and God be with you all.