The religion of the blood

There are some situations that come up in life that, at first, leave you perplexed but later on become a point of reflection and a meaningful experience. 

I remember one such experience when my late husband wanted to sign up for organ donation in case circumstances such as accidents took place. Being an extremely generous and caring human being, I remember the shine in his eyes while filling out the form—this until he was informed that he should belong to a certain religion for his donation to be accepted! I told the staff at the donation booth that surely a healthy organ that can save the life of a dying person should have no other criteria than being healthy. 

What is the relationship between religion, blood, and organs? Apparently, the person who told us this information had no answer, and we left, but the shine in my husband’s eyes had already faded away.

A few days ago, I was invited to the house of a Bosnian couple, new friends that I first met during a book study, and later on, we decided to have a more profound friendship that started with a dinner invitation from their part. For me, this was also a first, because it’s usually me who takes the first step in inviting. The evening went very well, with a nice dinner and each one introducing themselves. 

At some point, the gentleman said that what I noticed about your religion—he meant the Baha’i faith that I belong to—is that you do not judge people! He actually repeated his statement more than once during the evening. Surely I understood what he meant because I lived situations in which I was clearly judged, but I mostly brushed it away, while my friend here seemed to have taken the matter more seriously. 

It was also interesting that this couple felt this way when they are already very well educated and living comfortably in the house they bought in Luxembourg, so in a situation where most people think they are not vulnerable, somehow, we human beings manage to trespass on other people’s lives, put our noses into matters that do not concern us, and play little gods!

Who are we to inflict such pain on others? I often talk about how little we become in front of the bite of a single mosquito that, with spread wings, measures less than 5mm! We can fall sick for days and sometimes die just from the sting of a 5mm creature that can be squashed in between our fingers.

These quotations from the Baha’is writings are what I grew up learning and practicing:
“O Children of Men! Know ye not why we created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how you were created.”