Don't ask, don't tell

While getting Gene's Learners Permit at the Department of Motor Vehicles I asked if he wanted to sign the Organ Donor agreement making him an organ donor. He said (in a classically teen aged way) "I dunno... how does it work"... I explained that it didn't mean anything unless he died.... so that AFTER his death his organs could be given to someone who was going to die without a transplant. He shrugged again and said "I dunno... maybe... I dunno". I said "you don't have to decide right NOW and then added, but I don't have to feed you for the next four years either!" and he smirked at me and I smirked back. In the car I asked him to explain his concern. (Now, I SOOO understand that this is a VERY difficult concept for a teenager to understand and I'd imagine there are lots of teenagers who do NOT sign up to be organ donors, unless they have a connection to someone who is terminally ill on a transplant list or someone who has had a transplant etc etc AND I SOOO do not take this personally, HOWEVER Gene is becoming an adult and adults DO have to face things that are distasteful and/or difficult to process or face and he DOES know someone how has an illness that could require a transplant some day (and we have always been very open with this). So my point is??? This is another example of why we should question allowing kids to get behind the wheel of a car at age 15!!! They are still immature and still have little or no awareness of their own mortality (of course most people are still that way at age 25!)

The organ donor issue is a moot point because we would be making that awful decision for our children anyway. BUT.... this is also an instance where I shouldn't have asked the question if I was okay with the answer regardless of how Gene felt about it. I am certain (oh yes, CERTAIN) that by the time Gene gets his "real" license he will be an organ donor because he will know that in our house there is no other choice. (As if there was a choice in the first place.)