Live your life while you have it

Since I was a child, my mum told me I was named after the greatest nurse in history. She wanted me to be like her.. big hearted, to love the people, and to do good to the world. I remember these words, and I remember them clearly.

I knew I wanted to be like her, a strong woman with a strong mind, but a huge huge heart of gold. She was unselfish and unafraid of obstacles. She was a nurse but also a reformer.

"Live your life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift. There is nothing small about it". This was what she said.

Indeed, our life is ours, it is up to us how we chart and plot it. It is like a mathematical graph... I want my graph to be constantly moving upwards.. and not forever horizontal.

Most importantly, I want to live my life for myself and also for others, just like she did.. the one person we all studied about in our primary school textbooks.

She's still and always will be my role model in life, even though I'm just not as strong as her in her reformist efforts. However, I know that and fully understand the importance of serving others.

I am a child of God, my talents were given to me and they do not belong to me. They belong to the people around me and the many people whom I can touch everyday.

I want to be like her, like Florence Nightingale.