Thanksgiving is approaching. In an age when the phone is the least used app on our phone, you can access the news in seconds, and the news has lost its objectivity and has only two subjective sides, it may be hard to remember why we should be thankful.

Yet, my family’s holiday tradition will continue: We sit around the table before the meal begins, and we each state one thing we are truly thankful for. At first I would struggle with it.

Then I realized that I am truly grateful for the profession I am in. There is one thing that makes us unique, able to rise upon the rift between the right and left and remind us daily what we have to be grateful for.

I can put it into one word: compassion. Compassion is perceiving the needs of others and responding to those needs. Compassion is knowing we can’t always take away the pain but we can be with the person who is hurting. 

It’s seeing someone from a personal perspective and not a “task” perspective. As in, you’re not something to do but rather someone I care for.

That is what not only gives us purpose but also hope in today’s world. Compassion grows through an emotional connection. “You’re not just someone I care for, but someone I care about.”

This is what we do, day in and day out in our profession. The fact that I am blessed to work every day with my brothers and sisters in this field who devote our lives to compassionate care makes me profoundly grateful. 

So if you are struggling like many are with the great divide of our present time, remember what you are blessed to do. I suspect gratitude will fill your heart.

And for all of you, I truly am thankful.

Just keeping it real,

Nurse Jackie

The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, she also is an accomplished stand-up comedienne. She has not starred in her own national television series — yet. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates.