HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
I Feel Sheepish Giving a Balloon Animal to a Little Black Child in Need of a Kidney TransplantLOS ANGELES, CA 12 December 2007 |
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There’s the old Mahatma Gandhi quote: “You must be the change that you want to see in the world.”
You see it on bumper stickers. You see it on peace signs. It seems simple enough, but naturally it’s harder than it sounds.
It is alleged that Gandhi slept with naked young Hindu girls later in his life, in an effort to test his commitment to celibacy. I’m not really sure if I believe this. On the one hand, sure, it seems kind of freaky: Old man. Little girls. Nudity. A bed.
On the other hand, it seems like precisely the kind of hardcore thing that a guy like Gandhi might do in an effort to test the authenticity of his beliefs and the strength of his moral convictions.
A friend of mine is an alcoholic, and she’s been sober for years. One of the things that I’ve always found interesting about her is her insistence on pouring other people’s drinks for them. She’s not one of those addicts in recovery who can’t handle going to a bar. On the contrary: The girl goes in and orders drinks for people. She bellies up. Pours a round. Starts dancing. Plays with fire. But to the best of my knowledge, she doesn’t touch any of the booze herself. And she doesn’t sleep with whiskey bottles in her bed.
Zell Kravinsky is a Renaissance scholar and a poet.
He’s also a millionaire real estate mogul. A kind of genius, I guess you might say. Fifty-something years old. The New Yorker did a story on him a while back. Back in July 2003, Mr. Kravinsky donated one of his kidneys, randomly, to a complete stranger. He was very specific about wanting his kidney to go to a black person, because the African-American segment of the population is in the greatest need of healthy transplants.
“It’s the moral thing to do,” Kravinsky explained. “Because of genetic factors that go from one generation to the next, African-Americans are less able to obtain a kidney from a family member.”
Human beings only need one good kidney to survive.
“Two hospitals turned me down when I said I wanted to donate it to a stranger,” Kravinsky said. “But Einstein [Medical Center in Philadelphia] agreed. I had to convince them why I was doing it: because it is logically and morally compelling to save someone’s life if you can.”
An anonymous black woman received Mr. Kravinsky’s kidney. The surgery was a success. Kravinsky’s unconventional move left friends and family members bewildered.
“I’ve gotten into fights with a lot of friends about this,” he admitted.
His wife is a psychiatrist, and she actually threatened to leave him if he went ahead with the surgery. So Kravinsky snuck out of his house in the middle of the night and went over to the hospital.
“She thinks I could die and leave my children fatherless,” he conceded. “I don’t want her to leave me, but I have to do this.”
Apparently, the couple has managed to work things out.
And obviously, Kravinsky’s interest in philanthropy is incredibly extreme. Over the course of the past eight years or so, the man has given away his entire fortune, more than $45 million in assets. All that remains is a modest house and a very modest stream of income for his family.
“With each thing I’ve given away,” he said, “I’ve been more certain of the need to give more away. And at the end of it maybe I will be good. But what are they going to say—That I’m depressed? I am, but this isn’t suicidal. I’m depressed because I haven’t done enough.”
As the story of Kravinsky’s deeds has become public, he has become a lightning rod for controversy. Many in the media have criticized his behavior, claiming that he is motivated by things like ego and psychological dysfunction.
“Zell Kravinsky,” wrote one columnist, “is no better than any person who’d consider turning his back on his or her young family to fill a personal need—another partner, an addiction, the need to ‘find himself’ in mid-life, or in Zell’s case, self-glorification.”
Here’s another Gandhi quote, albeit lesser known:
“Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”
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wait. aren’t most people motivated by ego and psychological dysfunction?
Zell for President.
Heck, Zell for God.
That’s all I can say about that one.
We should send him a group Christmas card and offer him a kidney should his ever fail…
It’s one of life’s secret brother.
Leave more than you take.
The way up is down, less is more, that we are not ruined by restriction but rather by undisciplined abundance. In not knowing that more is never enough.
So I’m not brave enough to give away a kidney just yet? Sleep naked in the nubile virgin’s bed?
I can start with the small things. Little sacrifices, small disciplines.
Peace is not bartered but seized and true giving is sacrificial.
“Holiness is a long obedience in a common direction.” - Nietzsche
Today, good day to start.
That columnist was an idiot…there’s a huge difference between having a mid-life crisis and giving your kidney away to a complete stranger.
Mid-life Crisis = shiny red sportscar
Philanthropy = giving your kidney to someone
Duh.
I really liked this post - it made me think…thanks for that.
Wow. I loved this post.
Seems kinda odd for a person to criticize a man trying to give back to the world…
This post was amazing. Very interesting… and it reads well, too.
Thank you so much. You made my day brighter.
I am insignificant.
I am insignificant.
I am insignificant.
I am insignificant.
I am insignificant.
I am insignificant.
I am insignificant.
Yes, I am.
No, I’m not.
Yes, I am.
This was insignificant.
But, I did it anyway.
wow. What a selfless and odd thing to do. I have kidney problems… I can’t imagine what it must have been like to hear that someone did something so selfless and it’s going to save your life.
Just…
wow.
Love and stuff,
Michy
I remember an article years ago about a family who chose to have a third or fourth child (a feat which required that his vasectomy first be reversed) in the slender hope that the baby’s bone marrow would prove to be compatible with that of its older sibling, who was dying of leukemia. Think about that for a second — about a 50% chance that his vasectomy could be reversed, about a 25% chance that the baby’s bone marrow would be a match (if I’m remembering that number correctly), added to the usual uncertainty of a woman over 30 getting pregnant easily, and the chance that the child with leukemia could die before the baby was born and could donate… But I don’t remember that the tone of the article was at critical. Just “Golly wow isn’t this an amazing thing they did, and isn’t it just even more amazing that the very first thing this new child did in its life was save its sibling from certain death, and yes some people may question their actions, but golly wow isn’t it all just amazing?” And of course it was amazing, but how would it have been if it had failed? (And how would it have been if Kell’s gesture had failed? I have a friend who’s rejected two donor kidneys. One was her mother’s.) And had they had that child to save someone else’s baby, would they have been ridiculed or reviled, as Kell is being ridiculed and reviled?
All of which is a long way ’round saying that I think the people who don’t understand what he did find it easier to attack than to accept him. And while risking your life to save a family member may be something that many people can understand, doing it to save a stranger is apparently a threat. (Unless, of course, you’re throwing yourself onto the tracks to save a stranger who’s fallen in front of a train…)
never heard of that zell, poet, kidney giver. nice feller.
but i have heard of ghandi and the lil’ girl thing and thought that was the most ridiculous thing that scrawny fucker ever mustered up.
pervert.