Forums >Off the Beaten Path>Three Stories
There is no room for people to be making their own choices about their body or have opinions differing from the yours. We all know there is only one right position to have on an issue. And we certainly can't respect those whose views differ from ours since they are clearly wrong. <<sarcasm>> Showing disdain for those whom you wish to change their opinions is now an awfully effective strategy. It would seem enlightening them with the life-changing stories resulting from organ donation and all the good they could do with a final act of their lives may work a bit better.
There is no room for people to be making their own choices about their body or have opinions differing from the yours. We all know there is only one right position to have on an issue. And we certainly can't respect those whose views differ from ours since they are clearly wrong. <<sarcasm>>
Showing disdain for those whom you wish to change their opinions is now an awfully effective strategy. It would seem enlightening them with the life-changing stories resulting from organ donation and all the good they could do with a final act of their lives may work a bit better.
Isn't this how the internet usually works?
Actually what triggered my post was the statement that a religious/cultural objection was somehow more acceptable than any other. To me, saying "my religion proscribes it" is no more or less valid than "the whole idea kind of creeps me out".
In any case I was not trying to convince anyone of anything here. And I generally agree with your 2nd paragraph (assuming "now" was intended to be "not"). However I would amend it to say what changes people's minds on major issues is usually an experience of a close friend or family member. Until then it is often a more impersonal discussion, and easier to maintain an ideological position.
Dave
Proboscis Colossus
Isn't this how the internet usually works? Actually what triggered my post was the statement that a religious/cultural objection was somehow more acceptable than any other. To me, saying "my religion proscribes it" is no more or less valid than "the whole idea kind of creeps me out".
Different strokes, then. I guess it all comes down to whether you think you'll have any use for the organs after death or not. Whether you think something about being buried intact* will somehow make you more comfortable physically in death (I guess?) or you feel there will be some penalty in the afterlife for giving away parts of yourself, or if you think it's unnatural for parts of one human to be removed and placed into another (I think none of these things, for the record), I can accept that as a valid argument, however misguided, against a person's decision for themselves whether they want to donate.
It's when I'm behind someone at the DMV and, when asked, they reply, "Hmm...no, I don't think so" with the exact same inflection that they might decline a $1 donation to the MDF that I get a little irritated.
But this is coming from a person who is religious himself, so, like I say, different strokes.
*I'm guessing most people with that objection who plan on a traditional, western burial don't know too much about current embalming procedures.
"God guides us on our journey, but careful with those feet." - David Lee Roth, of all people