We are each incomplete. We are drawn towards the other in search of completeness. We sense the potential closing of a circle. – Theater Director Anne Bogart (foreground, below)

   What draws caregivers to their work? For some, it's the money. Even though you can never get rich entering nursing, I have had burned-out nurses tell me they chose their work because "it's an okay job and a way to earn a living."
   Some are drawn to caregiving because of power and the need for adulation. Caregivers can exert great control over patients. To sick people, doctors and nurse and other health care professionals are very strong beings. They may even seem, at some moments, omnipotent. After all, why do some doctors develop the "God" complex?
   Loving caregivers understand that money and power can not complete them. Money and power hold no potential to "close the circle." Only Love offers the potential for completeness.
   The chance caregivers have to meet the deep needs of others lies at the heart of what draws the best caregivers to their calling. Life is relationships. This is true whether we are talking about people or things. All perception and all human value rises out of relationships.
   As Bogart writes, "We are each incomplete." This means that we are each, by our nature, seeking to complete that which feels unfinished. This desire with which we are born creates our drive for meaning in our lives.
   Loving caregivers always have a sense of peace about them. You can see it in the photos of Irene Sendler, who I profiled earlier this week. Irene clearly and absolutely saved the lives of others by risking her own. No wonder she bears the face of a saint.
   What do you think? Does caregiving complete your life circle?

-Erie Chapman