Thinkin' Thursday

Today I’m thinking green.   

Green for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, 

green for Spring,

and Green for eco-awareness.

In my life, reduce, reuse, and recycle are important and daily activities and goals.  I hate throwing something away if there’s more life to it... not just for the frugal factor, but also to see something complete its journey.  Every day we talk about finding a lamp, chair, or picture frame that could “live” again, if only we’d find a way to repurpose it.  

How sad to throw things away, if someone else could use it and love it!  And if you can see the sadness in that, how incredibly tragic does it seem that when we die, over 62 percent of Americans plan to take their organs with them?  Only 38% of us are actually registered as potential donors, and of that number, many haven’t had the donation discussion with their decision-making next of kin, and the organs cannot be used without their consent.

On March 8th, 2010, a young girl named Taylor Paige Storch submitted the following poem for a school assignment:

I AM

I am outgoing and friendly.
I wonder how long is forever.
I hear support from my family whenever I need it.
I see myself helping people in every way I can.
I want to be on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
I am outgoing and friendly.
I pretend I can do anything I want to.
I feel touched by the generosity of my sister.
I touch people's lives.
I worry about failing.
I cry at the thought of losing a member of my family.
I am outgoing and friendly.
I understand how to make people feel happy.
I say with pride that I am Christian.
I dream about becoming a teacher.
I try to make every day like my last.
I hope to become successful in life.
I am outgoing and friendly.

Taylor Paige Storch

Taylor was 13.  She died as the result of a skiing accident exactly one week later, but because of who she was in life, her parents chose to donate her organs, and five people were saved through “repurposing” what she could no longer use.  Her mother, Tara, created and represents taylorsgift.org in an effort to help others see the need and the value of donation.

I heard about the Storches through the Ellen DeGeneres Show; here is the clip that made me cry and touched my heart.  

Please visit their site, 

Click here for TaylorsGift.com

and talk about donation with the important people in your life.  If you’re not already a donor, and want to register, you can visit Donate Life on Facebook.

My final thoughts, on this Thinkin’ Thursday...  I’ve had a lot of jobs, in all kinds of positions.  About 15 years ago, I was working as a secretary at a paper mill, and it was one of my duties to screen all the calls that came in for my 121 departmental employees.  It was pretty strictly enforced that no personal calls were to pull the guys from their work, so I would take messages and they could call back on their breaks.  

One day a call came for one of my plumbers, and I was doing my evil screener impersonation when the caller started to get upset with me.  I was doing my best to get some info so my worker could call back, when the caller said, “Ok, but I really wanted to tell him myself...  this is his daughter, and they found me a heart.”  

Needless to say, she was on hold in a heartbeat (no pun intended), and I was running like a track star to get him to the phone.  Some rules are meant for breaking!  I’m happy to report that her transplant was a success, but it had been a close thing for them - she was 14 and running out of time when that call came. 

That call changed my life; I can only imagine what it did for them, and it ranks as the most important call I ever took, true life and death.

That’s what I’m thinkin’ about this Thursday.

xoxo,

Tami