organ donor

"Why do I read the news? I usually just end up getting annoyed," said my consciousness.
"Ha," laughed my objectivity. "I've hard that one before. What's your problem today?"

"Well, I just read that the British Prime Minister supports 'presumed consent' organ donation."
"Oh, right...that's where, unless you specifically decide against it, your organs will be harvested after death," he nodded. "So let me guess...you're against it."

"Hell yeah, I'm against it. Aren't you?"
"Why would I be? I'm an organ donor anyway...as are you."
"Well, yes...I mean, I've always believed that if anything of mine can be helpful, people are welcome to it. Especially after I don't need it anymore."
"Don't tell me you've got weird feelings about people doing things with your corpse...maybe some superstitious taboo about desecration?"
"No, nothing like that. You know me better than that. The body is just a lump of stuff, without consciousness to distinguish it. After I've died, my corpse will have no more to do with me than nail clippings, trimmed hair, or what I've flushed down the toilet...it's all organic trash that should be recycled as usefully as possible."
"So what's the problem?"

"They're telling me what I can and can't do with my body again."
"Oh, this is one of those. So this is like the abortion thing, or the smoking thing, or the trans fat thing."
"Well, kinda...it's like, I'm happy to do the right thing. But if they just assume I'm going to do it, it's not such a right thing anymore. It makes me feel like saying 'well, screw you then. Now you can't have it'."
"But you were going to do it anyway!"
"Yeah, when it was my choice."

"So you're just going to let people suffer and die because of an ideological stance?"
"No, I guess not. When it comes right down to it, I'd still rather be helpful than free. But I resent losing yet another choice."
"You're not losing it...you can still decide whether you want to donate your organs. It's just that now when you don't make a choice, the sick people won't suffer for it. Surely you can see how this benefits people?"
"Of course I can. But can't you see that this is one more area of freedom that has been taken from us? Just a small, and completely reasonable, shift from under our feet...like so many others."

"Well, when it gets right down to it, your body is not your own, not during your life and especially not after your death. You're merely renting it from the universe for a while, like a tenant in an apartment."
"Okay, sure...but it's not the universe that is assuming the right to do what it likes, against my will. It's human organizations and human laws. You can't go against nature...the universe does what it does, and all I can do is try to understand it, and work with it rather than against it."
"People are a part of nature."
"Of course. But this isn't part of understanding the universe, this is people trying to figure out what works best for each other. Human organizations may appear to follow natural laws, but they have the additional dimension of freedom. Ultimately, the universe isn't affected one way or the other by how we handle organ donations."

"Granted. Of course, you might argue that organ donations fall into the life and death category...and that's about the biggest way we affect the universe."
"But the decision-making process isn't fundamentally governed by physical laws. People operate by belief and persuasion...it depends on interpreting facts and weighing them against each other. If it were simply a matter of discovering the one right way to do something, it would be a lot easier."
"But isn't that what the legal and governmental structure is all about- making these decisions easier by providing a best compromise? Our elected officials represent the people, and so puts their wishes into the law for the good of all."
"It's just that I know that nobody is more or less fallible than my human self, so I resist other humans deciding things for me. Especially when the rules are about my own body."

"You just have to learn to live with other people's rules. That's life, sad but true."
"I know. It's just hard to hear all the talk about freedom and rights...and yet see so many obvious exceptions and betrayals."
"Perhaps the fundamental law of humanity is hypocrisy."
"Maybe. You'd think that I'd be cynical enough to just accept that after all these years."