Editorial

EDITORIAL

Certainly you have heard the expression, "Whoever loves, cares," and "Whoever loves, educates." The first is a part of a popular Brazilian song, "when we love someone, of course, we take care of them," while the second is the title of a book. We are calling attention to the fact that love is present in both of these expressions. We might ask ourselves what love would have to do with caring for and educating, considering these as our professional activities, which we perform in our respectively regulated societies in exchange for payment. If caring for and educating are activities of this nature, where does love fit into the equation?

The formal processes of caring for and educating, given their importance to society, are becoming more and more the targets of reflection, criticism, and theorization. So much so that it is no longer possible to speak of caring and education, but rather one needs to speak of care and educations. This is seen because there are different forms of caring and infinite forms of educating.

The ideas for helping others to solve and prevent problems, as well as to place one's self in another's shoes, remain yet valid as references and basic content of the notion of care in Nursing in the 21^st century. However, they are not enough in order to provoke the changes that are necessary. It is necessary to comprehend and offer care with the perspective of valuing life, a citizenship that recognizes the education that results from such thinking. The objective of constructing emphases which harmonize care and education then becomes pertinent, facing the challenge of constructing a new reference in a care-education practice. We see this evidenced in some existing theoretical references which already point in this direction upon emphasizing all sanitary action as educational action.¹

For such construction, personal involvement is indispensable with the common object among care and education: the human person. There are ways to construct forms to care that educate and forms to educate that offer care. This is true not only in one sense, but in its multiple possibilities, in the form that achieves the following ideas: an educational practice which involves affection, loving commitment, joy, scientific capacity, people's well-being, technical domain for the service of change.² It is in this intention of openness, of courage, of authenticity, and of comprehension of being human that we are presenting and appreciating the studies of this edition of Texto & Contexto Nursing.

Dra. Vânia Marli Schubert Backes

-Tenured Professor of the Post-Graduate Program in Nursing of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). Coordinator of the Nursing Education Research Group (EDEN). Director of Education of the ABEn/Section Santa Catarina. Researcher CNPq-

Dra. Maria do Horto Fontoura Cartana

-Tenured Professor of the Post-Graduate Program in Nursing of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). Coordinator of the Undergraduate Program in Nursing at (UFSC). Participant of the Nursing Education Research Group (EDEN)-

REFERENCES

• 1 Briceño-León R. Siete tesis sobre la educación sanitaria para la participación comunitaria. Cader. Saúde Públ. 1996 Jan-Mar; 12 (1): 7-30.
• 2 Freire P. Pedagogia da autonomia: saberes necessários à prática educativa. 8a ed. São Paulo: Cortez; 1998.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  24 Mar 2008
• Date of issue
  June 2006