Zig Zag Path

Florence Nightingale’s father believed women should be educated. He personally taught her Italian, Latin, Greek, philosophy, history, writing and mathematics. Florence is famous for her nursing work during the Crimean War. (If that doesn’t ring a bell, picture Russian forces fighting British, French and Ottoman Turks in the Ukraine in the mid 1800’s. The original dispute was over rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land, which suggests that little has changed in 160 years.) Florence transformed nursing from a poorly trained occupation to a highly skilled and well-respected medical profession with very important responsibilities. Florence frequently watched over the soldiers at night when everyone else slept. The London Times called her “The Lady of the Lamp” because she scarcely took time to sleep. Longfellow wrote, “Lo! In that house of misery, a lady with a lamp I see pass through the glimmering gloom, and flit from room to room.”