~To Remember Me~

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 the 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. And 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 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 shout at
the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear
the sound of rain against 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 prejudice
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 have asked,
I will live forever.

By Robert N. Test
A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul
Copyright Š1996 by Jack Canfield
and
Mark Victor Hansen