When I saw the headline for Gordon Kay’s recent letter, “Organ Donors A Plenty in Haddonfield,” I thought it would be a tribute to donors and their families. Instead, what I found was a crass use of the idea of organ donors to drive home a point about safety.
While Mr. Kay’s point about the dangers of biking without a helmet and failing to wear reflective gear when jogging is well taken, his alignment of such individuals with organ donors is very disrespectful of donors and their families.
I have three children and a niece who would never had known their grandfather had another family not chosen, in what must have been a very dark hour for them (watching a young man die tragically from a gunshot wound), to donate the organs of their dying loved one to save my father. My dad lived twenty additional years, thanks to that noble choice. To analogize people who would make such a choice for the benefit of another to those who are not wise enough to take simple steps to protect themselves is insulting to those of us who have experienced organ donation first hand, as donors or recipients.
Mr. Kay, please remember that even a tongue lodged firmly in your cheek can be sharp — and insulting.
Amy Keys Shaw
