Ready for Harvest?

Over the weekend I saw Seven Pounds. Wow. It became both clear and apparent why people were unable to explain what this movie was about. It had love, guilt, retribution, a jellyfish and organ donation. And it seems here lately that organ donation is the topic de jour…especially when you have folks suing their exes over kidneys and whatnot.

So yesterday, my coworker came over to my cubicle to share his beliefs regarding organ donation. Yes, it is as random as it sounds…but we work for the government and it was a slow work day. At any rate we shared our respective organ donation statuses and then he stood up on his soapbox and proclaimed that he thought we should take the organs of people who have been found guilty of murder or homicide to help folks on the transplant list.

An eye for an eye if you will.

But I had to look at him sideways...because that's just crazy! He went on the spout about the millions of people who are waiting for transplants, the lack of people who are willing to be organ donors-or their families not respecting their wishes and the readily harvestable organs available in our local penitentiaries. So I asked coworker how long would we wait after a person was convicted that we would kill them and distribute their organs. He said something about a few weeks. Lawd, I hoped he was joking. At this point I had to ask what about the people who are death row for years and are later found to be innocent. To this he had no direct response, but continued spouting off about the greater good and how death row folks are going to die anyway-so why not. Little Sally Henson who needs a heart transplant could have a great chance of living if we took matters into our own hands like the big evil guilty person had.

At this I stroked my beard and thought that what he said was good in theory but the execution of it all makes me a little leery. I guess because in general I don’t trust the nature of humans, nor am I a supporter of the death penalty, so establishing a process of organ donation leaves too much room for people to err, and throw morality out the window. Will people accused of murder receive a fair trial knowing that Uncle Joe has been waiting on dialysis and praying for a kidney for 5 years?

Too much has been done for the sake of the greater good that has resulted in an unintended situation. For example, slavery-they were supposedly saving the souls of a heathen race, resulting in 400 year institution that we are still recovering from. The War on Drugs-education and law enforcement were suppose to keep people off the stuff-yet it seems school Dare programs increased the curiosity of suburbanite kids thus allowing gangs to financially flourish. And who can forget the War on Terror-ha ha ha- I don’t think I even need to go there.

But what do ya’ll think will happen if we started taking organs from the guilty, would we all benefit? Is this equitable punishment for a crime? Is justice being serve for the greater good?

See You In Seven

ps: Happy Birthday Courvoisier!