ICU and You · Aphorism Series · Number 33
Everyone means to be a donor. Rather fewer have decided to be one.
The distance between meaning to and having decided is about one unspent minute — the minute it takes to register a decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register.
An aphorism is a compressed argument, not a rule. It earns its shape by leaving things out, which is exactly what makes it memorable and what makes it arguable. Every one in this series is contestable, and chosen because it is.
Each is a mantra, a paradigm, a truism or occasionally a plain myth — something repeated in our units often enough that nobody examines it any more. The piece sets out the case for it, the case against it, and the case for something in between, and then asks which you hold.
There is no right answer waiting at the bottom. The point is to find out what you actually believe and why, because the beliefs that run your practice at three in the morning are mostly ones you have never said out loud.
Challenge for you
So — do you agree with the proposition?
However you answer, hit a button — it opens a reply straight to me. Add a line on your reasoning if you can; I'll publish the most interesting responses (anonymously) in a future newsletter.
This aphorism is about the distance between meaning to and having decided. The distance is about one minute, and this is it.
Anyone in Australia aged 16 or over can register, and it takes about a minute with a Medicare card. Or go to donatelife.gov.au.