Into Eternity

Organ donation is still a rare phenomenon in our country; and the same is true of other nations as well. When we come across persons who have dared to donate their eyes and body, we raise our eye-brows; we find it hard to believe that there are persons who could so easily pledge their eyes, so that through someone else, they can see the world; their bodies would be used for medical research in medical colleges and research centers, so that students would be able to learn anatomy and be able to serve humanity better. There are so much organs in need each day, and probably only a fraction of the demand is met by generous souls!

I am coming back to Jyoti Basu, who had donated his eyes, and body; his body had been donated to the SSKM medical college and research center. That was Basu's last gift to humanity, truly a wonderful gift! We Christians believe in buying our bodies, so that they may become earth; Hindus cremate their bodies after death, and they too become earth. But when cadaver is handed over for the betterment of humanity, does it not serve a greater purpose than reminding us that we are earth, and to earth all shall return. After death, what else do we have to offer to the world, but our bodies, and that is what this great man has done, and I take my hats off for him.

We live in a society, where even ordinary blood donation is a matter of great rarity. There are sophisticated people who would reason out why they should donate blood, which may be sold for a big price! There is so much of blood is in want each day for either direct transfusion, or during surgeries that sometimes people lose their lives due to lack of blood stock. But, what do I lose by donating a unit of blood? I don't lose anything; the body is able to get back to normal within minutes, and still the stigma remains. We do not need to donate blood on every second month, to make a record, but if we can donate blood whenever we can, we are being responsible social beings.

There are such lovely words said of blood donation; this is something that all of us can do so easily, and it does not cost us anything. All that we require is a little courage, and a greater amount of generosity. Only about one in a ten thousand or million may die due to donating blood, and when we give blood to the needy, we are sharing the free gift of nature. This is something that we all of us can share without holding back, and it is this blood which makes us all one, going beyond distinctions of rich and poor, privileged or underprivileged. We do not need to worry about donating our eyes or our body, we can start with blood donation. If I can donate blood to those in dire need, I can be proud to be a universal citizen.

There is fear and prejudice against organ donation; this happens even between siblings and first degree relations. We are surely against commercialization of human organs, which are priceless gifts; but if I can pledge to give my body and the eyes, which is not at all going to affect the way I am, after life spirit departs from my mortal remains, it can contribute a lot to humanity. I know deep within that my spirit is calling me to fill in the form of pledge to donate my organs, eyes and the body, and still there is something which is stopping me, but I know after a few weeks or months, I would dare to fill in the pledge, and tell the world I care for her!