Most of our male readers probably won't know where the title of this post came from! For our female readers just take a minute to glance back into your childhood memory banks and I'm sure most of you will find a spunky little red head girl who is notorious for this phrase...."There's so much scope for the imagination!"
That's right ladies and gentlemen, somehow I am going to tie Anne of Green Gables to organ and tissue donation. Just watch and follow along and you'll see...
After talking to a girlfriend about our favorite childhood books, of which Anne of Green Gables was included, I decided I wanted to read the L.M. Montgomery series again. I asked my mom to send them ASAP! Last week as I was beginning my adventures with my old friend Anne, I read a passage which caused my wheels to turn.
I'll set it up quickly for those who are not familiar with the story. Anne is an imaginative, quick witted, talkative, eleven year old orphan who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, an elderly brother and sister looking for a young boy to help on their farm. On the ride from the train station to Green Gables, the family farm, Anne is in awe by the beauty of Prince Edward Island. She asks her meek driver, Matthew, why the roads are red:
"Well, I dunno," said Matthew.
"Well, that is one of the things to find out sometime. Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's an interesting world."
That last sentence made me think of our Steve and how he has this zest for life that I can only strive to achieve! (For those of you who don't know, Steve's famous line is "I'm so glad you are alive!") I began to think like Anne Shirley and Steve, and saw what an absolutely amazing world we live in! Not only for the beauty that Anne saw through nature, or what Steve sees in each moment of life, but also for the awesome things our medical professionals can do to give people a second chance!
I then realized there are a lot of questions I still have about organ and tissue donation and wondered how did the first transplant happen? Did one guy look at his coworker and just say "Hey, I've been thinking...maybe we should try to take one guys kidney and put it in another guy!" What a crazy thing to ponder!! They must of had a lot of imagination!
I'd like to take a week to research the history of organ transplants. Yes, the first successful transplant was in the mid 1950s, but what about the years or decades of failures before?
So as you await my greatly anticipated research take a look around you and breathe it all in! Like Montgomery's Anne and our Steve, notice the beauty around you: your kids, your family and friends, the flowers, the birds, the clouds or just the silence. Stop and appreciate your surroundings and be thankful for each day...and find the majesty of each moment! There's so much scope for the imagination!
