Using well the monies, people, ideals, skills,….
Thursday, April 15th, 2010As I wrote about Florence Nightingale’s standard of expectation…to use well the powers we have…I felt the sudden relief that I was not responsible for what I could not do, nor change, nor influence. Nor should I worry about skills I may never have, knowledge I may never acquire, athleticism that is clearly not in the stars for me… Such a realization!
So, do I really want to be relieved or do I want to be held to account for “using well the powers I have…” and what are they?
Perhaps this is the quandary of educators, of public school teachers who are required to somehow come up with a way to make all students equal under the testing guidelines. Maybe this is the challenge of physical therapists that must measure capacity against studies that have arrived at what is normal for ones age.
So, now we have health care reform and we are putting together the vision of each of us having the opportunity to be healthy, to maintain our health, to be cared for…and, in truth, regarding health and physical stamina and capacity, we are each so very unique. No Child Left Behind tried desperately to equalize education…when, of all places, opportunity does not equal outcome. And, as Dr. Lee Kaiser once asked, “Who, among all these kids, is the next Mozart…without a piano?”
Considering how we apply the opportunities we have, how we use our personal skills and aptitudes, how we get honest about those abilities we may want but may never have…. maybe the real genius is the one who can find their place of brilliance and let go of the rest….
