I was channel surfing last night and ran into a local news poll about Facebook allowing people to post “organ donor” as part of their status. According to this particular poll (and I know, Nevadans are weird), about 90% of users were not planning to say whether or not they were an organ donor.
So I just want to get this straight. People are totally cool about posting pictures of their kids, along with where they go to school, what soccer team they play for, and who their dance teacher is. They’ll go into detail about their latest doctor’s appointments, talk candidly about their mental illnesses, and explain incidents that prompted someone out there to come up with the shorthand, “TMI.” They’ll discuss a trip where they leave their home unattended and even do a play-by-play in real time, check in on FourSquare, and take photos to make sure people know they’re actually away from the house. They’re fine talking about an embarrassing or irritating moment involving a co-worker, friend, or family member that they almost certainly wouldn’t do face-to-face. They’re happy to talk about their voting records, weight loss, sexual fantasies, toilet habits, drug experiments, and abusive relationships.*
And yet. . .
Organ donor. That’s the thing that crosses the line. Apparently because people are afraid that the Chinese mafia will put two and two together, figure out the location of junior’s soccer game, drive by, toss them in a van, take them to Vegas, and remove their kidneys in a hotel room.
Or something like that.
*BTW, I’m not dissing Facebook exhibitionists. That would be like a blog calling a kettle black. Or, well, you know what I mean. . .
Tammy Soong is a writer, wife, and mom from Reno, Nevada. She takes an absurd amount of pain medication, but not enough to have actually named her children "Newt" and "Elfie." She spends most days stressing out over clutter, writing stuff for this place, and working on podcasts with her gal pals, the Blogging Betties.
I've had to block some of the habitual TMI sharers. LOL. I'm an organ donor, and it doesn't creep me out to say it. Then again….I'm probably in the category of chronic oversharer (not that I share the good stuff though) 😉
My recent post Deep Breath
I guess I never realized it wasn't allowed. I just read a friend's update on the one year anniversary of her donating part of her liver to her sister, but I guess she doesn't have an icon denoting it next to relationship status.
My recent post 52 Weeks of Happiness – Week 8
I don’t get it. It only shows that you’re registered as a donor upon death – so it’s not like people are going to “friend” them asking them to become a living donor and hand over a kidney. People are weird.
Organ donors make miracles happen! There are 115,000 people waiting for organs. Every day 17 people die who did not make it. It’s a big deal. Maybe they just don’t know.
If you do care, please stop by and LIKE my daughter’s page. She’s one of the 115,000.
https://www.facebook.com/WantedKidneyDonor
Thanks.