OPINION

Viewpoint: Why I'd rather be a nurse than a billionaire or superstar on Judgment Day

Joseph Holt
South Bend Tribune

I’ve worked the past month as a volunteer nurse’s aide with COVID-19 patients in the ICU of Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, south of Chicago, and based on that experience I would much rather be a nurse than a billionaire on Judgment Day. The reasons have to do with the central moral and spiritual question we each need to answer, namely, how best to measure success in life as a whole.

Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics suggested that with respect to achieving the good life we are like archers who will be able to hit the bull’s eye only if we can clearly see it. Many of us miss the mark in life because we work hard to achieve success without first thinking long and about what constitutes success in the first place. So we aim where everyone else is aiming on the optimistic assumption that must be the bull’s eye.

What most people are aiming at is captured by the Collins Dictionary definition of “success” as “the attainment of wealth, fame, or position.” But how adequate an understanding of success is that for purposes of living a good moral and spiritual life?

It is easy, after all, to think of people who have great wealth, fame or impressive positions who seem not to be successful in life as a whole. If someone is rich, famous and powerful but a total jerk who is neither loving nor loved and hurts others much more than he or she helps them, for example, then that person may be successful in his or her career but surely not in life as a whole.

The definition of success as “the attainment of wealth, fame or position” is a woefully inadequate ideal because it says nothing about the kind of person you are, the quality of your relationships or the kind of impact you have on the lives of others. There is nothing inherently bad about wealth, fame or powerful positions, by the way. Some billionaires and superstars are good people in loving relationships who positively impact others, and some outlier nurses are not. I am arguing that on the whole nurses are better people who have a more positive impact on the lives of others than billionaires and therefore stand a better chance of passing through the pearly gates.

Success in life from a moral and spiritual perspective has more to do with how much we give to others than how much we get for ourselves. I strain to think of any professional group who give more on a daily basis than nurses do. In my opinion nurses represent humanity at its finest given their admirable blend of compassion, courage, intelligence, generosity, humility, dedication, skill and selflessness.

I would prefer to be a nurse rather than a billionaire on Judgment Day not only because nurses are such good people but also because of the positive impact they have on the lives of others at every point of life from birth to death. Nurses are the heartbeat of the health care system. They are often the smartest and most courageous members of health care teams as well. Pope Francis credits Sister Cornelia Caraglio, a nun and nurse in his native Argentina, for saving his life by arguing with doctors to do more to help him when his life was in peril.

In this lifetime we get to decide who the winners and losers are, but in the life to come that will fortunately be decided by a loving, wise and merciful God. In Matthew 25:35-36 Jesus reveals from a Christian standpoint that the criteria for the final judgment boil down to sensitivity and responsiveness to those in need: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

Why would I rather be a nurse than a billionaire or superstar on the day of final judgment? Because nurses selflessly dedicate their lives to doing the first five of those six things on a daily basis with high levels of compassion and competence. God bless them now and always. And God help the rest of us to be more like them.

Mount Sinai Queens nurses make a heart sign as they pose for a photo to celebrate Nurses Week 2020 last week in New York.
Holt