By DONALD DeMARCO
A music lover responds to the beauty of music. He is not concerned about the nationality of the composer. It is the beauty that is first and foremost. Politics does not enter the picture. Likewise, a nurse responds to that which is first and foremost in her patient, namely, his need for care. Again, politics has nothing to do with a nurse’s response to her patient’s need.
Edith Cavell was a nurse who attended the needs of her patients without regard for their nationality. During World War I she dared to treat soldiers who were German, English, French, and Belgian. She was also involved, along with a network of assistants, in smuggling Allied soldiers through an underground tunnel to safety in nearby Holland. A German spy discovered the tunnel and reported it. Edith Cavell and 34 others were arrested and sent to trial.
After enduring a month of solitary confinement in prison, she suffered the additional indignity of facing a mock trial. She was charged with treason and sentenced to death. On October 12, 1915, at 7 a.m., this courageous nurse was executed by a firing squad. Desperate attempts had been to spare her life, but the edict was final and irreversible. Edith Cavell died exhibiting remarkable composure and dignity.
The news of this 49-year-old nurse being executed before a firing squad met with outrage and condemnation. It was very bad press for Germany, painting its soldiers as heartless.
It also served as a rallying cry for people to join the war against Germany. As a result, the execution of others who had helped Allied soldiers to escape was canceled. Edith Cavell, even in death, saved the lives of others. She became the most prominent female casualty of World War I.
Edith Cavell was interred at the rifle field where she has executed. In 1919, when peace was restored, her remains were returned to England where she was born.
The daughter of a vicar, she was the eldest of four children and had a happy childhood surrounded by nature and animals, according to www.historic-uk.com. Her early education was at home and at the high school in Norwich. Then, she went on to study at three different boarding schools where she excelled in French.
On the night before her execution, she said, “Standing as I do. In view of God and Eternity, I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no bitterness or hatred for anyone.”
These words were later cut in stone on a memorial to her near Trafalgar Square.
In the garden of the Tuileries in Paris, there is a beautiful sculpture of her. As a monument to her greatness, a mountain in Jasper, Alberta, bears her name. And in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Cavell Glacier is named after her. Her portrait hangs in her childhood home in Swardeston, England. Over the altar in the local church is a window in her memory.
Two movies were made about her life, according to Wikipedia. Nurse Edith Cavell was a 1939 American film directed by British director Herbert Wilcox. The film won a nomination at the 1939 Oscars for Best Original Score. And the earlier Nurse Cavell is a 1916 Australian feature-length film about the execution of Edith Cavell during World War I. It was also known as Edith Cavell. The film was directed by W.J. Lincoln. Wikipedia notes that it is considered a lost film.
Edith Louise Cavell offers a lesson that people in the contemporary world find hard to accept. As a nurse and as a human being, she stood firmly opposed to discrimination. Thus, she became a martyr.
A simple assessment of her is that she was a nurse who was trying to do her duty. That is we can ask of anyone: be responsible, and perform your duty. “I can’t stop where there are lives to be saved,” she stated.
And yet, such simplicity can lead to heroism. The road to greatness is through simplicity. And that is all God asks of us.
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