Donate what you can

A very sweet piece by my friend Jed about a very serious issue:

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2013/jun/12/everyday-struggles/

I feel like I should write more about organ donation here. It changed my life, my family, and my outlook on the world.

I am among the blessed to have never needed, for my own medical purposes, to have ever spent a night in a hospital room or even visit the doctor much. The process of donating an organ was then, for me, a brand new experience. Almost weekly blood work and tests, meetings with what seemed like dozens of physicians, and the mental preparation to undergo a period of time where I would feel ill, weak, and hurting; these tasks were at first mere means to an end.

As I jumped these hurdles, however, I became a fuller person. I practiced yoga with great regularity so that my mind would be still and my body would be capable of bouncing back from surgery. Though I'm young, I made a certain peace with God. Understanding that my life served a purpose beyond myself, I came to trust that purpose would work out for the good, that whatever the surgical outcome. Spending much time with family in close quarters was stressful, but more so, it was a time of great gratitude, where I believe we all realized with profound clarity how much we mean to one another. The struggles of the process, in the end, were minute in comparison to the lessons learned and the growth I experienced. If I could farm kidneys and do it all over again, for a friend or a stranger, I would. But to be able to donate once was a gift the universe gave me and not the other way around.

I think the article makes another good point. Jed invests his time with people who are hurting. He is present with them. He smiles. These are the donations that matter day-to-day, when we are kind to a friend or acquaintance who needs our tenderness, often much more than is evident at first sight. I am grateful for people like Jed, who live among us with great compassion. From him I draw the inspiration never pass someone by.