Today I saw an advert on the tele whilst I was downstairs, it was from the NHS and it was asking for people to sign up for organ donation. It was pretty good – in so far as it made me go and do it – even if it was done in a bit of a morbid grim reaper kind of way that the NHS seem to have become particularly good at of late. As for the process I went through, brilliant, everything you'd want, top search hit for “organ donation” on google (UK), online sign up form with as many as 10 or so boxes, bish bash bosh 5 minutes later and I can close the tab safe in the knowledge that my coffin is going to be a little bit easier for those nice funeral chaps to carry when I eventually kick the metaphorical bucket – providing of course my death doesn't involve falling from a microlight, multi-organ failure or anything involving carnivorous animals – excellent.
So why this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach? Was it the “thank you for signing up” page heartlessly confirming my fears that I was mortal? Had my frivolity with last night's alcohol of choice finally caught up with me? Did I check the use by date on that chicken I'd just cooked and eaten? It didn't taste funny, and my house mate had assured me from across the room that it would be fine.
No, in fact it was a different feeling entirely, it was guilt that caused my insides to turn and knot up, I felt bad. “But why?” I worryingly hear you cry inside my head, you've just done a good thing, you're helping others, passing on your brilliant organs so others can have another shot at life. And with one of your kidneys they'll probably win a Nobel prize or something, and you'll be thanked in their speech. No the reason was it made me confront everything that I should've and hadn't done which I thought I would.
This was simple, a baby step, 5 minutes of a lazy Sunday that I'd lovingly dedicated to something that wasn't really going to affect me at any point in my life time, what about the other stuff I'd told myself I'd do – The Bone Marrow Register, Blood Donations, A little bit for Haiti – Surely that wasn't much harder to do. It wasn't, I knew it was only a few clicks away to find when the next blood donation station would be around in an area I'm in. There was probably a online registration form for bone marrow too which I could've done, I didn't, Why not? Here are some reasons I came up with why people would not donate bits of themselves to help others.
- They have some kind of belief that their body is sacred and they shouldn't give any of it away, it's not just flesh that gets replaced throughout their life ultimately changing every single particle in it's course. There is something innately sacred about their flesh and bones, popping out a kidney would change their soul irrevocably, let alone the soul of the poor bugger receiving it. The patient probably wouldn't believe in organ donation either after receiving a bit of that person's kidney and would rip it straight back out again, wasting a kidney, some more NHS time and creating a massive mess. No-one's a winner in that scenario are they? Donations are a waste of time, or those people are idiots, I'll let you decide.
- They are a 'bat sh*t crazy' Racist. “Bloody immigrants, coming over here, taking our blood, ought ta be locked up. Bloody Paki's got one eye on my job and the other on my spleen. Theiving b*stards, why don't they get their organs from their own f*ckin country, I bet you I would have been seen a lot quicker for me broken fingers after punching that little asian fella for lookin' at my bird if there weren't all these immigrants. Come to think of it, they probably don't have the same blood thingy as me do they, cos they're brown and I'm white, yeah that makes sense. Ah, I'll do it in a bit, Noel's HQ is about to start.”
- They are a narcissist. “My body is far too good for other people, I'd explain why, but you wouldn't understand, your inferior brain would crumble under the weight of my intellect. Being this good is a curse you know not a blessing.”
- They are a pessimist. “Who would want my organs, seriously, I mean, look at me. I'm like the soggy cornflake stuck to the bottom of your spoon, you won't notice me, but even if you did you wouldn't want me.”
- They have a disease that prevents them from donating. There's nothing funny about this, but it is a reason I thought of.
- They are incredibly lazy. “You have to what? Fill in a form? What's the website? What do you mean I'll have to google for it? Ah, I can't be bothered sounds like a lot of effort.
- They're an angsty teenager. A bit like the pessimist except they hate everyone else too, especially you. Oh, and they write poetry, no it doesn't rhyme, it's deep and about emotions and stuff, you wouldn't understand.
I am none of the above – although I'm dangerously close to #6 – I should be doing more really, it's part of who I want to be, on the whole I'm a good person who likes to help others, that's what I thought anyway. I was raised being told (and shown) that doing this was a good thing. As a child I did things for charity because I knew it was good and it usually involved some kind of fun challenge, making some cakes or going on a long bike ride. I could never really remember what charity I was doing it for, or the work they did, but I was having fun collecting sponsors & the next door neighbour would smile at me and tell me I was doing a good thing, and give me back that football I'd kicked over yesterday. Then I got baffled by the politics of it all, there's “good charities” causing me to believe that somewhere there must be some bad ones that fund the hunting of millions of kittens to make into fur coats for crazed dictators. Also, there are millions of them, every person whose been on television for more than 12 minutes is affiliated with one or another, who should I give to, I can't give to all of them, I'm not rich like an investment banker, and if I was one of those I wouldn't give my millions away anyway, because I wouldn't have a heart, which subsequently would cause me to not donate blood, organs, bone marrow etc... as well.
Luckily there is a way around even this problem, donate to ones that either speak to you on a personal level or you come across for one reason or another. The ones that speak to you on a personal level are usually the ones you'll want to set up a periodic donation to, whilst the one's that you come across in day-to-day life – these are often noticed after some disaster in a far torn part of the world – usually invoke the one off payment. There's nothing wrong with this, in fact if everyone did it distribution of wealth would probably be a lot better and it could bring about some real changes. I don't want to sound like some kind of charity prophet, as if I'm the first person to ever have this thought and my job is to spread the word rather than getting my hands dirty actually giving. No, I'm rubbish at this whole giving thing and I still haven't got to the root of why.
I've thought of some pretty poor excuses for why I haven't given when I should have on some occasions. Haiti, for example, I found out I could text a number and it would automatically donate £5, “genius, that was easy”. Wrong, I didn't do it because I thought I'd forget I'd done it and when my bill came out of my account it could potentially push me over the limit of my overdraft and into the dreaded “unplanned overdraft” and that incurs silly charges. I don't think any bank – even the lovely one I bank with – would let me off because I did it for charity, that's just not how they work. So for this relatively poor reason I delayed it, saying I'd donate another time, in another way, I didn't of course, I didn't get round to it. I watched the news in mild-mannered middle class horror and saw a woman forced to give birth outdoors because the hospital building was too dangerous to be in. It was genuinely horrible, I knew it was, but still I did nothing!
The thought did pass through my mind – as I'm sure it has yours at some point – that this isn't the only place in need of aid, there's thousands, why should I give to this one just because it's getting news coverage. I'm sure the faux-cynic in you has condescendingly reminded you of this at the time of one disaster. This will lead you back to step 1, staring bewildered at a never ending list of charities not knowing where to put your money. Ignore the voice anyway, he's a twat, it's a stupid flawed argument that only seems like it has some merit because it's palatable, the money stays in your bank and you have some kind of excuse on your side.
The good news is, there are still some fine examples out there – people, charities, websites, all sorts... – looking to to make the act of giving easier. The “just giving” website is a faster more streamlined modern equivalent of the old sponsor form enabling people from all over the world to sponsor someone. They can raise small sums or considerably more, I read a story today about a boy who managed to raise £100,000 for Haiti by doing a bike ride. That's incredible really, and he took an approach to the whole thing that I wish I still had, he just did it, he knew it was a good thing to do so he went right ahead. It wouldn't have mattered if he'd raised 50p he would have done what he pledged to, he saw something bad and did what he could to help. I also saw a story on the television about a professor of ethics who pledged over half his life's wages to charity, unlike the boy with his bike, this man knew an awful lot about charities I imagine, and yet he still arrived at the same conclusion. I can help here and I'm going to, brilliant. Another guy I'm following on Twitter has decided to ride his bike to all York City's home and away games this season to raise money for an Alzheimer's charity, an effort that sees him miss a year of work, not to mention all the pedalling.
These people are not fundamentally different to me, at least I don't think they are, I'm sure if we all sat down together we'd have much the same opinion with regard to giving and yet they're out their doing it and I'm sat here writing about it. Why?, I don't really know and perhaps it's time I start doing something about it, you're going to have to guess whether I actually put this into practice or whether I forgot about it all again because I'm going to stop writing now and try to get some sleep. I won't let you know how I do, because that's not the point of me writing this. I'm not sure what the point of this is really, but that funny feeling has started to subside, maybe this is the first small step on the road to my new charitable lifestyle, maybe it's just another 2 hours wasted on a blog I probably shouldn't be writing in my final year of university. I'm not sure, but I hope it's the former, it would be great to do my bit for charity, it would be great to be able to justify writing this too.
Anyway that's all I have the energy for now, I'll post this in the morning along with some links to stuff I mentioned in here.
Boy raises 100k for charity
Bicycle Kicks (cycling to York City games) - Just Giving Page
NHS Organ Donation Online Registration
Dr. Toby Ord (Ethics Professor)
Bicycle Kicks (cycling to York City games) - Just Giving Page
NHS Organ Donation Online Registration
Dr. Toby Ord (Ethics Professor)
