By Robert Noel

The day will come, I know. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that my life has stopped. When that happens, do not attempt to introduce an artificial life into my body by the use of a machine.

Instead, 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 [ ___________ ] 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 from week to week. Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber 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 be able to shout as his team scores a goal and a deaf girl will hear the sound of a rain against her windows.

Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.

If you really want to bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all my prejudice against my fellow man.

Give my sins to the devil. Give my soul to God. If you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you.

If you do all I have asked, I [ ___________ ] forever. ( Adapted from shareyourlife.org January2007)