To Whom It May Concern...

(Copy/Paste from Facebook on 1/8/11 in response to Tuscon shootings)

A series of brief letters that seem relevant today. Beginning with my status update from earlier today...

Dear America,

Regardless of outcome, can we please not make this about gun control? This is about the huge chasm that has formed between people in our country due to their political beliefs and the hatred that is resulting from it. Can we please use this as an opportunity to come together and talk sensibly again, not as an opportunity to point fingers and incite further hatred?

Dear Republicans/Tea Party/others who often get grouped in with them,

I don't hate you. I disagree with you politically. I voted for President Obama and tend to agree with most of his policies. I do not believe that these policies will destroy our country, but I respect your concern and belief that they are not in our country's best interest. I firmly believe that if there was less misinformation from politicians and pundits on BOTH sides, we'd find that our differences are a lot less drastic and a lot simpler than the major news networks like to portray.

Dear gun owners/NRA,

Today a gun was involved in a prominent act of violence. Many will immediately call for new gun control measures, but I do not agree with these knee jerk reactions. Laws do not heal wounds, but some find that they cannot cope with a tragedy unless "something is done about this". People work that way. I DO NOT want your guns taken away. I don't think Obama wants that either. Even with strict gun control laws, people who want to kill will still find ways to get guns. As proof of my point, look at our country's track record of preventing illegal immigrants and drugs from getting into the country. Guns would be no different. Keep your guns.

Dear Sarah Palin,

I do not believe, at this time, that you are responsible for the violence today. I do question the language you and others affiliated with you use. It is not directly encouraging violence, but it could be easily interpreted as such. I believe it is careless to use language like this, especially given the current political climate and the high tensions that are present among Americans. I don't want you to apologize, because I don't think it's your fault. However, I do think it would be an incredible gesture for you to change some of your signage and perhaps make a statement to your supporters that this sort of thing is absolutely reprehensible and NOT the type of action you wish of them. Encouraging more bipartisan cooperation among the average American would gain you much respect from myself and others.

Dear Liberals/left-wing/etc,

I tend to agree with you politically, but not always. You may feel inclined to start pointing fingers at Republicans, Tea Party supporters, and people like Sarah Palin. I do not blame you for having this inclination, however it is becoming apparent that the shooter had no affiliation with any of these groups or people. The majority of the people on the other side of the political coin are just like us. They are honest, hardworking Americans who just want what is best for the country. Some of them are educated, some are not. Just like us. We all come from the same place, but we're all coming from different places, if that makes any sense.

Dear Media,

I've had a bone to pick with you for quite awhile. I am disappointed that you chose money over journalistic integrity, and now the American public has no reason to trust you anymore. Gone are the days when we could watch the news and simply trust that what they were telling us was the best and most accurate information available. It is sad that I can watch MSNBC and be told one thing, and then switch over to Fox News and hear something completely contrary. It is sad that the number of trusted news sources is rapidly dwindling. You are partly responsible for the fact that nobody really knows where to find real facts anymore. You lost our trust and I don't believe you will ever get it back.

Dear conspiracy theorists,

Don't. Just don't. Sure...it's possible that this allegedly unaffiliated shooter may have been secretly hired and directed by a political organization to murder an opponent. I doubt that's the case though. If this were the case, I would trust our law enforcement to uncover such a plot and there would be proof rather than indiscriminate speculation.

Dear everybody,

Let's be sensible. Let's care for one another. Tragedies happen, regardless of what policies are in place. People shoot each other every day, but we only heard about this one because somebody famous/important was involved. If you're liberal, respect a conservative. If you're conservative, respect a liberal. We're not enemies.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Danny Loental

Something that's actually important...

A few weeks ago, I did something that I've been meaning to do pretty much since the time I became aware of such an opportunity. The time that has lapsed between that time and when I finally decided to take action and do this thing is embarrassingly long. I'm talking well over a decade. What took me so long to do this simple thing that took me MAYBE 15 minutes tops.

I like that I'm building suspense/mystery as to what the hell I'm talking about, but unfortunately to continue without being specific would be difficult to write and would make no sense whatsoever to anyone attempting to read.

I registered to be an organ donor. Sure, I already had the little heart symbol on my driver's license, but all that does is remind any potential emergency personnel to check to see if you're registered to donate organs. You actually have to register with an organ donation service (ex. Missouri Organ Donor Registry) for it to actually be put into practice.

So, why did it take me so long? I have long prided myself as a man of action over words. But why did I wait over 10 years to do this after I decided that I'd like to give my organs to somebody who needed them in the event I became too dead to fully appreciate their use?

I feel like I've been pretty comfortable conceiving of and discussing my own death that it really shouldn't have been a barrier to me. But it was. I want to convince myself that it was just something that I never got around to, kept slipping my mind, or some other hollow excuse, but in my mind there really was no excuse for waiting for so long.

It took an incredibly thoughtful and poignant presentation on End of Life issues by some of my nursing school classmates to really give me the slap-in-the-face that I needed. A good firm kick in the pants that, as cliche as it sounds, it really is a matter of life and death. Maybe not to me, but to somebody else. A woman in my program lost her teenage daughter to a car crash 2 years ago. This girl had done what I hadn't...what I couldn't. She was already registered to give her organs, and when that day unexpectedly came, she was already set up to give the enormous gift of life to a handful of people she had never met. Her mother spoke to us, heartbroken yet proud as she could be, and it was a splash of cold water in my face.

How careless have I been for the past decade or so? 5-6 years of rock climbing, a full decade of cycling, various other haphazardly ventured activities, plus the ever-present "hit by a bus crossing the street" risk. I can think of specific instances where a slip of the foot, or a narrowly avoided bicycle crash could have all too easily resulted in PVS for yours truly. For non-medical folks...PVS=Permanent Vegetative State. Brain dead. Nobody home. A functioning body with a face, but not a person. I know that should I ever end up as such, I would want life support pulled without a doubt. And until now, it wouldn't have resulted in anything good whatsoever. Those days are over, and I'm extremely happy that I lived long enough to make this important decision for myself, but even more importantly: for the next name on that waiting list who might just get another chance at life.

A girl I went to high school with is alive because somebody else made this decision and helped her beat cancer with a new liver. That was over a year ago. Why didn't I do it then? It would have been so easy. Do I really think I'm invincible?

Apparently so. Despite my attitude towards death, lack of religious beliefs, and everything I wished I were, I still didn't do it. The fact is, it's damn hard to face your own death, even the possibility of it. To admit that I, just like everyone else, could just up and die some day...it takes some serious stones. The more I get into nursing, the more I realize how fragile human life is. Though I never get sick, I don't bruise, and have a pretty decent capacity for self-inflicted suffering in the form of exercise...I honestly don't know when my number will come up. I recently heard of a 30 year old man, avid runner, otherwise extremely healthy, who was diagnosed with left ventricular hypertrophy right after it killed him. You can never know.

The point I'm coming to is this: Will you give up your organs once you can no longer use them? Are you too uncomfortable to even contemplate such a decision? Will you at least consider the idea? Not for me, but for those out there who are fighting for their lives and hoping for a fighting chance in hell? https://www.missouriorgandonor.com/odpublicsite/Default.aspx

In addition to registering to donate my organs, I also have begun the process to add myself to the national bone marrow registry. This one is even easier. Sign up, take a swab of your cheek and mail it in, and then wait. If you're lucky enough to have the opportunity to be somebody's match, there is a somewhat painful procedure involved in donating bone marrow, but to me I would gladly endure this to save a life. http://www.marrow.org/
Do it!

Next on my list of death-related things I've been meaning to do: Fill out an Advanced Directive.

Thanks for reading!