And it was plato who said…
“Those having torches will pass them onto others.”
PleasejOIN mE IN
Passing the Torch
Plato, an ancient Greek thinker and philosopher living from 428-347 BC, is known as the Father of Western Philosophy, guided by four virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. Plato’s Theory of Forms addresses the metaphysical belief that our physical realm is an image of the reality within the Realm of Forms, and living our lives we are able to grasp tapers of light and form a torch for the benefit of others.
Plato’s quote has been on my desk for almost 15 years. I thought that through my work in healthcare my gifts were being passed on in care of the ill and injured and prevention of disease. I would teach students that the greatest gift they could give their patients/clients was the prevention of a disease they might never have; no hypertension, no diabetes, no stroke, no heart attack, no premature death. Yet the recognition for those major acts of “nursing” have still not been fiscally defined and the rewards remain the proverbial self-pat on the back. No one knows…
I am waiting for a new Nursing Monopoly game with cards of chance for nurses to hand out… “According to the CDC, you have hypertension=pay an additional $2,759 dollars per year”…or “you no longer have hypertension=put $2,759 dollars per year into your savings account.” Maybe those monetary cards would help drive the impact of nursing?
In graduate school I discovered the importance of “Knowledge Management” (Serhan & Luan, 2002) in reference to the vital wisdom inherent within the expertise of an organization’s members. Knowledge Management is now being considered on a personal level (PKM) (Schmitt, 2016), as is the 10% Rule, which states that within a system only 10% of the energy will be passed on to the next trophic level.
Hopefully some can use my 10%.
References
Altrendo Images. (2019, December 15). Two flaming torches in dark. https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-flaming-torches-dark-1590210532.
Canva. (2025, January 21). Magic Design (AI). Monopoly chance card with stethoscope. Canva.
Dimitrios, P. (n.d.). Plato the ancient Greek philosopher and thinker under starry night sky. [image]. https://www.shutterstock.com/shutterstock/photos/1656584158/display_1500/stock-photo-plato-the-ancient-greek-philosopher-and-thinker-under-starry-night-sky-space-for-your-text-1656584158.jpg.
Kraut, R., "Plato", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 ed.), Edward N. Zalta (Ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/plato/
Tapavički-Ilić, M.,& Alihodžić, T.. (2023). All soul is immortal (Plato). in Proceedings from the 10th scientific conference "Methodology and Archaeology", 1st-2nd December, 2022 Zagreb : Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb., 10, 57-67. https://doi.org/10.17234/METARH.2023.5
Serhan, A. M., & Luan, J. (2002, Spring). Overview of knowledge management. New Directions for Institutional Research. 113. Retrieved from https://www.uky.edu/~gmswan3/575/Serban_and_Luan_2002.pdf
Schmitt, U. (2016). Personal knowledge management for development (PKM4D) framework and its application for people empowerment. Procedia Computer Science, 99, 64-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2016.09.101 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050916322463
Wang, Y., Lee, J.S., Pollack, L.M., Kumar, A., Honeycutt, S., & Luo, F. Health care expenditures and use associated with hypertension among U.S. adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2024:67(6): 820-831, as cited in Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). I2024, December 9). Health and economic benefits of high blood pressure interventions. CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/priorities/high-blood-pressure.html#:~:text=Annual%20costs%20associated%20with%20high,5