The
day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet
neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located
in a hospital busily occupied with the living and the
dying. At a certain moment, a doctor will determine
that my brain has ceased to function and, for all practical
purposes, my life has stopped.
When
that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life
into my body by the use of a machine, and don't call
this my death bed. Let it be called the "Bed of
Life" and let my body be taken from it to help
others lead normal lives.
Give
my eyes to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's
face, or love in a woman's eyes.
Give
my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing
but endless days of pain.
Give
my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage
of her car, so that she may live to see her children
play.
Give
my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist.
Take
my bones, every nerve and muscle in my body, and find
a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore
every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary,
and let them grow so that, someday, a speechless girl
will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf boy will
hear the sound of a raindrop against his window.
Burn
what is left and scatter my ashes so as to help the
flowers grow.
If
you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses,
and all my prejudices against my fellow women.
Give
my sins to the devil; give my soul to God.
If,
by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind
deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all
I ask, I will live forever.
