Leaving a Legacy
Going through my archives and thought this wonderful essay was worth sharing
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 dying. At a certain moment, a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. Don’t call this my deathbed. Let it be called the Bed of Life and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face or love in the eyes of a woman. 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 his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist week to week. Take my bones, every muscle, every fibre and nerve 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 boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain on her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudices against my fellow man.
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.
Robert Test
Recent Comments
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Excellent verse and so well written. I really should print this and carry it in my wallet. Because when my time comes to pass away from this life I wish to carry out every word of your essay. Thank You so much for sharing.
A great expression of love of life. When our bodies are no longer useful for us it is great to donate your parts to those still living to give them life. There is a such a shortage around the world for organs and other body parts. Thank you for sharing. You can prepare a document to express your wishes. See my blogs What to Do When You Get Sick. Debbie