Pop quiz hotshot: Would you trade one of your kidneys for an iPad?
If you are a sane, rational human being, you would of course say, “no way! That’s crazy!”
If, however, you were a 17-year-old Chinese high school student named Zheng, you would say, “absolutely! Who wouldn’t sell their kidney to get an iPad?!?!”
*sigh*
This is a story straight from the “so stupid it can’t possibly be made up” file.
As you have probably guessed, a kid living in China wanted an iPad 2 but couldn’t afford it. A broker contacted him and offered to buy one of his kidneys for the equivalent of $3,000 U.S. Being a budding entrepreneur, he of course said, “sure,” donated his kidney, got his money, and bought his iPad.
There’s not much more to the story, but you can read it for yourself here:
17-year-old sells his kidney for iPad 2
I…I don’t really know what to say…
The guy was a little young, but he’s still 17. That’s old enough to have some semblance of rationality behind your decision making process, right??
Sure, we all made some bad decisions when we were 17. I know I did. But they were more along the lines of, say, doing three shots of whiskey in five minutes when you’ve never had alcohol before, or lying to your parents about whose house you were going out to one night. Not, “let me sell off a vital organ so I can buy a piece of technology.”
It’s nice to know that not all teens are like this. Some 17 year olds do amazing and positive things. Like this girl who proved the impossible was possible…
Of course, this was an iPad 2, so you can see how someone would be desperate to get one, right? Right???
Ok, maybe not. I have a Chinese friend who is really into technology and gadgets, but even he would never sell an organ, for a new iPad. Not even a vestigial one!
Keep in mind, this isn’t some starving parent selling a kidney to earn enough money to buy food and critical medicine for his children. Nope. This is a kid wanted a gadget but didn’t have the money to buy it. Or the discipline to save up for it like a normal person. Or the intelligence to be like other stupid people and get a credit card and go into debt (yes, that too is stupid, but smarter than donating a kidney).
Though this story is about a guy from China, I would be no more surprised to find out that a similar story exists here in the U.S. (or anywhere, frankly).
I like to have a lesson in my posts; some takeaway we can all use to make our lives better, easier, and less stressful, but this is a bit of a tougher case.
Obviously, there are many lessons we could share with young Zheng:
- Don’t sell your vital organs for a piece of technology that will be out of date in a year.
- Have some perspective
- Don’t short change your excretory system for a glorified iPod Touch
- Develop some impulse control
- Don’t compromise your body’s homeostatic functions for what is essentially a nifty way to watch movies and play Angry Birds.
- Learn the idea of delayed gratification
- Get yourself declared incompetent to live on your own and hope the government will take care of you (I’m not sure how that works in China…)
But what about the rest of us? What about those of us sane people who would never do something so stupid as to sell one of our kidneys to earn enough money to buy an iPad (of any generation)?
While I firmly believe that anyone smart enough to read this blog is smart enough not to receive an iPad in exchange for a lifetime of visits to the Nephrologist, there are still three lessons we can all take away:
1) Have Long Term Vision
If there was ever a poster child for short term thinking, it would be Zheng. That iPad will be out of style in a couple of years; he’s going to miss that kidney forever.
While we may not make such drastically bad decisions, we all from time to time make decisions that give us short terms gain at the expense of the long term. This happens in finances, education, dieting, etc.
So the next time you think about whipping out your credit card to buy something you can’t afford, think about Zheng and his lonely kidney…
2) Face Reality
I write a lot on this blog about people who make stupid decisions in the moment. Like the guy who got in a fight over the TV show, A Game of Thrones, and ended up throwing his cousin out a window.
The scary thing about this iPad story is that the guy obviously had time to think about the plan. You don’t “all of a sudden: donate your kidney. You have to decide to do it, then talk to the broker, negotiate the fee, wait for the surgery, do pre-op, and only then do you go through with it.
Over all that time, how do you not realize that it’s a bad idea?!?
I’ll tell you how – you don’t think about!
Sounds obvious, but I’m sure you know people who, when faced with a problem, prefer to simply ignore it and hope that it will go away. You may do it yourself from time to time.
As nice as it feels in the moment to ignore our problems, it only serves to make them far, far worse in the long run.
So the next time you start to ignore a problem and avoid facing reality, think about Zheng and his lonely, lonely, kidney.
3) Get Help
No, not psychiatric help (though that might be a very good idea for Kidney-Boy).
For major life decisions, it’s usually a good idea to seek some counsel. Find people whose advice you value, who have some experience or wisdom, or who have gone through what you are going through and ask their advice.
I wonder if Zheng did this. And if so, did people try to talk him out of it or did they egg him on? We may never know…
Ultimately you’ll have to decide for yourself, but some outside advice can give you insights you may have missed. They may make you see things in a different way. They may even force you to face the reality you are trying to avoid.
(Interestingly, this is one of the reasons people avoid seeking advice; they are afraid people will tell them things they don’t want to hear…)
So the next time you are about to make a major life decision without talking to anyone at all, think about Zheng and his lonely, lonely, lonely kidney.
In Conclusion
This story would be hilarious if weren’t to tragically sad. Under all the stupidity we have a story about a 17 year old boy (man) who made a colossally stupid decision that may come back to haunt him. I hope he’s ok, and I hope he enjoys the hell out of his iPad.
For the rest of us, let’s use Zheng as a cautionary tale. We can all learn to make better long term decisions by having long term vision, facing reality, and getting help.
So, the next time you are about to do something really stupid, think about Zheng and his sad, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, kidney…
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