“Please Take Care of This for Me” – borrowed from Robert N. Test, author
“The day will come when my body will lie determined by doctors to be without life. When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don’t call it my deathbed. Call it my Bed of Life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face, or the love in the eyes of a significant other. Give my heart to the person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain. Give my blood to a teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of a car, so he might live to see his grandchildren play. Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist. Take my bones, every nerve and muscle to find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells if necessary, and make them grow so one day a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.
Burn what is left and scatter my ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses, and all prejudice against my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil; give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs it. If you do all that I have asked, I will live forever.”
© 2012 Julie Hall
Wow! Can I use this?? I have all intentions of doing the same with my body (except have my remaining ashes scattered in the Bay of Fundy so I can come and go with the tides!). This is an area in New Brunswick Canada that I grew up and have my most fondest memories. Oh and I will add I am going to make sure there is a bonfire, marshmallow and hot dog party on the beach. I want a celebration of my life not sadness. These words are perfect and so fitting!
How elegant…..I wish I had known this person, because it would have been a privilege. Thank you for sharing this wisdom.
I’m so very happy to find this again. I first saw it in the Reader’s Digest probably 30 years ago and kept a clipping in my wallet for years until it fell apart. Thank you!