Thursday, July 21, 2011

Pledge your organs: Bring in the good karma!

I have met various people in the ‘Gift Your Organ’ organ donation drives who have shared some various very interesting thoughts about organ donation. I distinctly remember this young, beautiful lady in our very first event came and pledged her organs. At the time when she pledging her organs, I was busy in another interaction, a little away from our desk. This lady chose to wait to see me till I returned back to the Gift Your Organ desk.

‘Sameer’, with tears in her eyes, she said to me ‘I am grateful to you for giving me this opportunity of pledging my organs. I feel for the first time I have done some real good for someone else. Thank you very much’. I was touched by the emotions of this lady. It is amazing how this simple act of only signing a form occurs to various people.

In another event, a mother not only pledged her organs, she also pledged organs of her 4 and 7 year old kids. She was very clear that while she prays for the entire family’s long life, in the most unlikely event, if something were to go wrong, the family will donate their organs.

On the other hand, there have been various skeptics as well. In an engagement function, I met a young journalist, very knowledgeable about the happenings in today’s world. After she found out about what I do and the Gift Your Organ Foundation, she asked me, ‘Why are you interfering with some one’s Karma?’. She went on to add, ‘If someone has an organ that needs replacement, that is their Karma – how can you change that?’. Initially, I was a little taken aback by her very straight-faced remark. In few short moments, I gathered myself and I asked her, ‘Why are you bothered about some else’s Karma. Why don’t we talk about yours instead? By pledging and then donating your organs, clearly you will do good Karma. Why don’t you add on the good Karma in your life?’ Her face revealed that she thought this was a good way of looking at it, but she said she wanted to think about it and then take a decision. I was perfectly fine with it.

We at Gift Your Organ come across all kinds of excuses for people not wanting to pledge their organs. It is a simple thing, if you aren’t comfortable with pledging your organs, would you be comfortable with receiving someone else’s organs if in the worst case scenario you need one? We believe it is a question each and every one of us must ask ourselves and then decide whether or not we should pledge our organs. Infact we have tried to address a few of the objections that people have for pledging organs in one other blog post of ours - Life after death: The mystery behind this

Remember, there are more chances that you will need an organ than you will eventually donate yours.

If you want to pledge your organs, please log on to www.giftyourorgan.org . If you need any clarification, or want to organize an organ donation event in your organization, club, society, etc please contact us by writing to us at celebrate@giftyourorgan.org

Written by,
Sameer Dua
Founder & Chief Evangelist
Gift Your Organ Foundation