I remember one day scrolling through Facebook when I came across a post showing several nurses holding lanterns and walking through the night. People in the comments were asking what they were celebrating, and someone replied that it was a tradition to honor the first nurse, Florence Nightingale. She was the woman who, during the war, would carry her lantern in the dark to treat wounded soldiers. Her compassion and bravery earned her the nickname “The Lady with the Lamp.
[source](https://pixabay.com/photos/surgery-hospital-1807541/)
Even though I’m not a medical practitioner, that story touched me deeply. I saw in her not just a nurse, but a woman driven by passion, a passion to save lives, not to make money. The thought of someone risking her life in the dead of night to help others says a lot about how much she loved what she did. Unfortunately, that same passion seems to be disappearing in our world today.
These days, many people no longer choose professions because they love them, but because of the financial rewards attached. I see it most clearly in the medical field. The love for humanity that once made doctors and nurses special has been replaced by the love for money. It’s not that wanting to earn a living is wrong, but when saving lives becomes secondary to making profits, we’ve lost something precious.
In Nigeria today, especially in the federal and local health sectors, medical practitioners earn more than most other professions. I’m not against that, they deserve good pay, but the sad reality is that many people now go into nursing and medicine purely for the money. Parents force their children to study these courses, not because the children are passionate about saving lives, but because they’ve heard that nurses and doctors “make it.”
I know a particular family where every child became a nurse, not out of love, but because their parents insisted. Imagine graduating and working in a hospital doing a job you never liked in the first place, how do you expect such people to care deeply for their patients? That’s why, today, we see many health workers who are rude, careless, or indifferent to human suffering.
And this issue is not limited to the medical field. Look at the police and army too. Many of the young men and women joining now do it because there are no other jobs available, not because they feel a sense of duty to protect the nation. When criminals attack, some of them run, not because they are cowards, but because their hearts were never in the job to begin with. Can we really blame them? The system has failed to make passion attractive.
I remember the day someone told me how little soldiers and police officers earn compared to politicians. I was shocked. The same politicians who sit in air-conditioned offices, receiving huge salaries and free cars, while those risking their lives for the nation are poorly paid. Of course, this leads to bribery and corruption. When people are underpaid and unmotivated, they find other ways to survive, and that’s how integrity dies.
[source](https://pixabay.com/photos/police-police-officer-uniform-2673363/)
The problem, therefore, is not just with individuals, but with the system itself. When the salary gap between professions becomes too wide, people will naturally chase the money, not their passion. A level 8 nurse in a hospital earns far more than a level 8 officer working in the secretariat. So, if you ask anyone which career they would prefer, most will say nursing, not because they love it, but because it pays more.
To fix this, the government needs to create a balance. Other sectors deserve better pay too, so that people won’t feel forced into certain professions. When everyone can earn a decent living doing what they love, we will begin to see passion return to our workplaces.
Parents also have a big role to play. They must learn to allow their children to follow their dreams. Forcing a child into a career they hate only creates frustration for both the child and the people they will one day serve.
The world has truly changed. Hospitals now look more like businesses, schools are built for profit, and many people choose jobs just to survive. But if we ever want to return to a time when work was done out of love and purpose, we must start by valuing passion again, in our homes, in our schools, and in our system. Because after everything, money can build a career, but only passion can build a legacy.
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