Organ Donation

This is something I always had a very fixed opinion on. I grew them, they are mine. Tough luck.

I believed that if there was some sort of afterlife, I would want to be totally whole in person when I get there.

It sounds kind of sad but after watching one movie my eyes have been opened as to how selfish I may have been. Seven Pounds is an amazing movie, heart breaking in the kindest of ways. It really made me re-think about what I want to happen after I die.

I never have wanted to be buried, the idea of rotting away in a box never appealed to me or really any of my family, so cremation was the way forwards for me. And then in Philosophy we've done alot of religious theories about conciousness, soul and being human. It really makes to re-assess what you think and I eventually came to the conclusion that mind and soul/spirit are separate in some way. How either got there, don't know, don't really care.
But I do believe that our bodies will all rot or be burnt but our life does not end in total, our spirit cannot be harmed by the physical and the action of donating organs wouldn't take away any part of me, so why not?

When you are seventeen you are allowed to go on the list to give permission for your organs to be used after death. The possibilities of how many people you could save are incredible, and not even just bringing people past the brink of death but giving people more to live for. Giving a blind person the ability to see, someone who lives off dialysis could finally have those long hours back in their life and eat what they want, enjoy life. And of course people who loose hearts, kidneys and lungs to disease and may never find a doner after years on a list of priorities.

More and more people are being put on a 'to-do list' and I want to have the opportunity to save even one after I'm gone.
If you are one of these people with a seventeenth birthday approaching, let your thoughts wander as to whether you want to become part of something bigger.


Apologies for getting a little deep, just felt that some things need to be said.