The Very Rev. David Giuliano

Monday, April 7, 2008

While we were in Nazareth last year we met with retired Judge Aboud, Chairperson of the International Christian Committee of the Department of Services to Palestinian Refugees. He told our group about a conference they’ve hosted for transplant recipients, donor families, and surgeons. The families and surgeons spend a weekend together getting to know one another.

Initially, I wondered what transplant surgery had to do with supporting peace in Israel and Palestine. Then, the penny dropped. The donations were made across ethnic divisions. Israelis received organs donated by Palestinians, and vice versa. The surgeons were there to remind everyone that they can’t tell the difference between Palestinians and Israelis in the operating room. By the end of the weekend, those who had previously been sworn enemies were bonded by shared heartache and gratitude. The lines of ethnic hatred disappeared.

I carry a signed donor card in my wallet. I hope it will never be used. However, if there is a moment that, as I leave this wonderful world, some aspect of my physical self can be a gift to another person, I would be glad for it. Perhaps knowing that some good came from my death would redeem the suffering of those who love me. My donation might not be a step toward world peace like the Nazareth project, but if it gives someone the gift of savouring this beautiful world, it is one drop in God’s ocean of love in which we live.

National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week is an opportunity to talk with family and friends about your own wishes. I hope you will consider obtaining and completing a donor card.

• Bulletin Insert: Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness [PDF: 2 pp/611 KB]