The Gift I Gave …

by Arnold De Villa
December 1, 2012
After Thanksgiving, driving around the neighborhood, inflated plastic Turkeys, pumpkins and pilgrims left the front yards of our block while colored lights arrived and glittered trees, bushes and rooftops. Shops have adjusted to the lengthened hours of “Black Friday” and all that business reporters talk about are figures on retail and consumer spending. Welcome back to the new American ultra-contemporary Holiday scene where “Sales” is the new jargon and “Tablets” do not mean medication. For Christians, it is the Season of Advent, the labor phase of Christmas jubilance, the very short weeks prior to the greatest Birthday Party of all times. And despite the tainted influence of capitalistic materialism, it is still the season of giving; weeks when we try to buy not for us but for those we would like to give to.
We finally reached the last chapters of our textbook: “Lifespan Development, Mourning and Grief, Pain and Post-Mortem Care. After dissecting Piaget and Erickson’s sermons on the psychosocial and cognitive developments of the human beast, after grinding on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and pounding on the prioritized set of interventions, we finally arrived on the ultimate road block, the last red light, and the irreversible process – death.
Between birth and death, we have life and existence. Beneath the cracks of life and existence, we give and receive. And between the acts of giving and receiving, sometimes we gain and other times we lose. At this time of year, we will probably gain some weight, though we will try to lose calories. Some will receive a year-end bonus right on time for a chance to give more. Others will want to have a chance to give even more. And while babies are born every second, an older adult will forever be gone.
We were talking about hospice and organ donors, the way we need to treat them upon the twilight of their lives when it occurred to me to look at my driver’s license. Right there, on the upper right hand side of a plastic document is a small State Map where the word “DONOR” was inconspicuously marked. While the teacher was explaining about the post-mortem procedures we need to do with organ donors, it dawned on me that I was one of them. And it is just now that I realize the gravity of what I allowed the motor vehicle office to include in my driver’s proof of identity.
I am an organ donor. My body parts will be up for grabs when the last molecule of oxygen will have emptied my lungs and my brain cells will have submitted their resignation letter. When I transition from existence to another form of existence and when I relocate from the land of the living to another land of another life, passing through the terminals of a transitory death, my anatomical integrity will be shredded from the inside. Whatever is recyclable, functional and reusable will be harvested from my structures and replanted on another person’s chance for an extended existence. I went cross eyed and my eyes told me that they could witness a new world through the brains of another head. My entrails muttered the same sentiments and echoed that they could metabolize the gastric juices of another person’s belly. While I mused myself with these anthropomorphisms, I actually realized that I probably gave the best gift that I could ever give, which I have not yet given, but which will be surely taken when the right time comes.
According to the national network for organ donors, there are 19 people who die each day because of the scarcity of organ donors despite the fact 75 people receive organ transplants on any given day. As of January 2010, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, there are 65,000 people, ages 50 and above waiting for an organ to survive. At the same token, on the South and West Side of Chicago, more and more people are dying from gun bullets and gang violence.
From the wombs of birth we will all have one final destination. We will all be fused with the earth one day and our flesh will mix with dust and dirt. If the environment can be recycled, why not us? With all our technological advances and scientific foot hold, it would really be a waste to let the working parts of our body decay together with the ones that have retired. Hence, we have alternatives. We have the choice of donating whatever we have that do not die with us. Is it wrong to recycle human parts? When there are people who crave to live longer and are unable to because of a damaged part, I think it would be wrong not to provide that person with a functioning part when the majority of our parts have already stopped functioning properly.
Gee, I am an organ donor? I guess I have not yet fully grasped the implications of what that means. It probably means that if ever there is something in me that could be used when I pass away, that part will be implanted in somebody else’s life and will live on. It will be as if part of my existence will be given a second chance to live. It will be like a new journey in another person’s history. Hmm, I wish that part of me could land on someone who really deserves another life to live, someone who could add more sense to the significance of human existence, and someone who could continue with the cycle of giving.
Someday I will do post-mortem care to someone. Someday post-mortem care will be done to me. Someday I will take care of an organ recipient. Someday I could finally be a realized organ donor. Someday I will truly give. Someday, someone will receive.
There are actually only 25 days left before Christmas. Although the last leaf of our tree has not yet been blown away, the greatest Birthday Party in town will soon be here. The Birth of Christ, the greatest Organ Donor of all times, has actually allowed us to have a life transplant. Did we not all die to sin? Is this just a theology or does this have an empirical basis on reality? How do we explain the theories on dying? Why do cells just give up and get tired of reproducing itself? Why do we have to grow old, have our anatomies wear off and our physiologies fade? No one knows, but we all get there.
So, are you shopping? Are you getting yourself a new Ipad or is it an Android Tablet? Will you finally get that big screen Smart television with 3D projections? Is it that cute boots that will match your low rise jeans?
Are you one of those hoping to get a new liver before your next wedding anniversary so that you could finally grant your wife’s wish to see the world?
Are you about to renew your driver’s license? Give it a thought. Do you want to be an organ donor?