Florence Nightingale

Many of us think that normal is whatever we find in the everyday of our growing up life.  For the poor their dwellings may have little circulation of air, food is minimal in nutrition and dirt is everywhere.  So too, the charity hospitals of the 19th century and much of medical care then, lacked sanitation, ventilation and nutrition.  Florence Nightingale, a nurse, thought that what “is” does not have to be the norm. She believed in sanitation, ventilation and nutrition.  She put her ideas into practice and they bore nationally known results in the Crimean War.  Mortality was reduced by half.  So the next time someone says, “Well that is just the way it is,” you might consider that what “is” does not have to be.  Oh, and Florence’s rich father thought it all dreadfully wrong that she would become a nurse.  What did he know!