Source : The Internet
Author: A Doctor
Once, a prisoner who suffered from blood cancer was sent to our hospital. The hospital discovered that he required a bone marrow transplant. Although he was a criminal, we still had to provide him with medical treatment based on the principle of human rights. Therefore, we went to the National Bone Marrow Department looking for a match and coincidently found one.
To be honest, since he was a criminal who was guilty of a serious crime, we did not really want to save him. When we informed the donor about the patient’s identity, we told him, “You can say ‘no’! If the answer is ‘no’, we won’t take this any further.” However, I was greatly surprised as he replied, “I consent. Even if he was a prisoner awaiting capital punishment, as long as he is alive, and as long as I can help, I would still consent.”
Since this ordinary person possessed such wisdom, all that was left for us to do was to go ahead with the bone marrow transplant. After the transplant, the criminal made a speedy recovery. When he found out that the donor still agreed to donate his bone marrow even after finding out that he was a criminal, he was extremely moved and started to repent his sins. He studied hard in prison and later managed to gain entry to a nursing school. After graduating, he applied to our hospital for the role of a male nurse in the bone marrow transplant department. He has worked in the hospital for quite a number of years now, and one of his main responsibilities is to explain to patients what a bone marrow transplant actually involves. Due to his own personal experience of bone marrow transplant, his explanations and examples are, in fact, much clearer than other medical staff in the hospital.
Therefore, we can see how the flow of compassion can have such a great effect – a benevolent thought of donating bone marrow has not only saved one life, but has also saved one person’s mind from evilness to kindness. Thus, one less criminal in the world creates that little bit more stability.
From this, I also recall an incident that happened while I was at Yale University. One day, as I was waiting for the elevator, a tall and handsome black male dressed in bright red came and stood next to me. I asked him, “Which floor are you going to?” He said that he wanted to go to the ninth floor. I said that that was the Paediatric Ward. He said, “Correct! I am going to the Paediatric’s Intensive Care Unit to act as a volunteer.” He then added, “When I was born, I was only five months old and I stayed in this hospital for five months before I was discharged. Now that I have grown up, I’ve come back to work as a volunteer.”
I felt deeply moved all of a sudden. The black district in the neighbourhood of Yale University was often regarded as a second-rate district. At that time, all the doctors called him the ‘million dollar’ child as it would cost one million dollars to save a child who might become a drug addict in the future. “What’s the point? Just forget it!” That was the view of most doctors. However, this hospital agreed to provide medical treatment. Now, he has realised how others had once saved his life and today, he has decided to repay the society.
This is why one cannot use money to assess everything. If we could use money to assess matters, there would not be many things worth doing in this world; at least those matters that do not concern us are not worth doing! For example, take this young man returning to our hospital to work voluntarily, not taking into account the effort he puts in, the kind act alone will have moved many people! Hence, the size of the benevolent thought is not important, but rather the unceasing flow of compassion around the universe.
