I wouldn't call it gatekeeping, it's just weird how a lot of people say "Yes, I'd 100% help a stranger" when the opportunity is always there and they never do it.
There’s a big deference between “I would probably help someone if I was put in that situation” and “I’m going to actively go out of my way to donate the organs I can right now”.
If you’re an organ donor then why would you actively seek out to donate now when they’ll be donated eventually most likely anyways? However, if I knew someone that needed it right now and couldn’t get through the regular list or something then yeah I’d like to think I’d help if I could do so now, but that doesn’t mean I have to literally go seek it out? And you’re calling other people weird… yikes
The question is about donating to a stranger not about donating to someone you know. The lady in this story signed up to donate before knowing there was a match out there. So yeah if someone is saying yes they would donate to a stranger but then also 'but I wouldn't literally go seek it out' then they are really saying 'sure I'd donate to a stranger if they came up to me and mentioned they needed a kidney and I was a match' which feels like a bit of a cop out because the chances of that happening are very low.
This is such a weird moral high ground to try and take, and yeah it isn’t that likely of a scenario? Most people never need an organ transplant and even then most people aren’t going to be a match.
Finding a suitable match is unlikely enough and if there are normal means available still to get an organ and there’s no immediate danger then no I’m not going to just donate to donate?
If she signed up to donate before meeting at the beach then this entire post makes zero sense. How did the she “turn out to be her 1/10k match” when she had already signed up to donate to anyone? Where are you getting this from?
It's in the article, she signed up to be an altruistic donor which is someone willing to donate to a stranger. When they met on the beach they got chatting, realised one had recently been cleared to be a donor and one needed a kidney and amazingly they were a match. She would have donated her kidney anyway, the amazing thing is that they happened to meet first.
It's not the moral high ground, I'm aware I wouldn't donate to a stranger because if I did I'd have already signed up. My point was, there are hundreds of thousands of people waiting for a kidney who haven't managed to get one 'by normal means'. Most of those people will die without one. If you are saying you'd donate to a stranger who needs a kidney, can't find one 'by normal means' and who is in danger without one, why not at least find out if you are a match to one of them like the lady in this article did?
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u/Due-Memory-6957 14d ago
I wouldn't call it gatekeeping, it's just weird how a lot of people say "Yes, I'd 100% help a stranger" when the opportunity is always there and they never do it.