Categories: Editorial, OpinionTen years ago on Thanksgiving Day, my 25-year-old brother, Trey, died after a car accident. Trey was handsome and popular – a high school valedictorian and college basketball player with a coveted job working for Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.But what stood out most about Trey was his innate capacity to love his neighbor as himself. This condolence note captures Trey well:“I do janitorial and maintenance work in the building that houses the Alexander campaign office. Trey and I would often speak in passing or occasionally make small talk.“After a few weeks, he took the time to introduce himself to me. Trey was always polite, mannerable and usually had a smile on his face.“In short, he was an impressive individual. “I am of a different generation, race and probably differ on some political issues, and all too often today people allow these things to solely define them and separate them from others.“I did not see that with Trey. I consider myself honored to have known him.”The Thanksgiving timing of Trey’s death was significant, framing our grief through a lens of gratitude.Trey’s boss, Sen. Alexander (whom I also worked for as press secretary), likes to quote his friend Alex Haley, who said, “Find the good and praise it.” We found “good” when we learned Trey would die the same way he lived – by loving and giving.Only three in 1,000 people die in a way that allows for organ donation.If you knew Trey, it wouldn’t surprise you that he marked “yes” to organ donation when he renewed his driver’s license the previous May. Ten years later, he is enjoying remarkably good health.He remarried, watched his grandchildren grow and continued his 40-year medical practice, now serving veterans. It turned out the “stranger” Trey helped with the gift of a kidney wasn’t a stranger.He was a neighbor.It’s made me realize there are no strangers, only neighbors awaiting our love and kindness in ways big and small.Laura Lefler Herzog is a resident of the District of Columbia. More from The Daily Gazette:EDITORIAL: Find a way to get family members into nursing homesEDITORIAL: Urgent: Today is the last day to complete the censusEDITORIAL: Beware of voter intimidationFoss: Should main downtown branch of the Schenectady County Public Library reopen?EDITORIAL: Thruway tax unfair to working motorists We were able to carry out Trey’s wishes with peace and confidence. I struggled with the decision to donate his eyes.It seemed so invasive. But he had made it clear he wanted to “give it all.”Now, somewhere out there is a person seeing the world through Trey’s eyes. In a divine plot twist, one of Trey’s kidneys went 250 miles away to a man living down the street from my mother and stepfather.We were advised that donors and recipients typically remain confidential, but as people in the small town learned that Trey had died on Thanksgiving and donated his organs and that a local doctor had finally received a long-awaited kidney the same day, the connection was unavoidable.On her birthday that March, my mom was out for dinner when she saw the physician for the first time.She introduced herself, and he thanked her for the gift Trey had given him.  His girlfriend also recalled an eerily relevant conversation with him just a few weeks before the accident affirming his decision. “I’ll be with the Big Guy,” he told her. “Give it all.”As a result, five people – two single mothers in their 40s, a 56-year-old mother of two, a 36-year-old uncle, and a 62-year-old doctor and father of four – received a Thanksgiving miracle: a life-giving organ from my brother. More than 116,000 men, women and children are on the national transplant waiting list, and 20 people die waiting each day.But here’s the stat that hits home for me: 95 percent of American adults support organ donation, but only 54 percent are signed up as donors.When I flipped my driver’s license over the day Trey died, it wasn’t signed.If you haven’t already, I urge you to register as an organ donor and to share your wishes with loved ones.Talking about organ donation may feel morbid and unnecessary, but it mattered to my family. read more

To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week. Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters

To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week. Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters

Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week.

Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week.

To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week. Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters

Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week.

To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week. Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters

Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week.

Concerns over the coronavirus outbreak have begun to take a toll on tourism in North Sulawesi – a popular destination for Chinese visitors – as the province reported declining international tourist numbers in the past week.The Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA) chairperson in North Sulawesi, Merry Karouwan, said concerns regarding the viral outbreak had caused foreign arrivals in the province, particularly those coming from China, to plummet.“Direct flights from China to Manado have been temporarily grounded, directly affecting tourism in North Sulawesi. I hope this will all pass soon,” she said on Wednesday. She said the current situation had left the province with just 30 percent of the usual international arrivals, directly impacting local businesses, including hotels that have been rendered largely vacant, as collective anxiety over the deadly virus grows.“Financial circulation in the region has sputtered. Restaurants, coffee shops, chartered buses, tour guides and other sources of revenue have been hit hard amid the coronavirus outbreak,” she said, adding that the province had also recorded declining numbers of tourists from countries other than China.Read also: Govt to lure more citizens to visit local destinations as tourism copes with virus fearsAston Hotel representative in Manado, Sven, said the present outlook stood in stark contrast to the thriving business climate just a few weeks ago, when the management handled an influx of Chinese tourists as usual. “Chinese tourists usually account for 10 percent of foreign visitors staying at our hotel. [The current situation] has had quite an impact on our income,” he said.The country’s tourism sector has been trudging through a tumultuous period since the government grounded all flights to and from mainland China due to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei province.Thousands of Chinese tourists are at risk of being stranded in Bali as a result of the government’s decision. Many are hoping to get a visa extension as the Wuhan coronavirus continues to spread back home.However, the viral outbreak has yet to have any significant impact on a number of destinations in the country that are less popular among Chinese tourists, such as East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).Read also: Chinese tourists’ favorite places in Indonesia“Our tourism is free from any disruption caused by the deadly virus, as Chinese tourists only represent a small number of foreign visitors in NTT,” said ASITA chairperson Abed Frans.Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama said the government would focus on attracting domestic tourists to popular destinations in the country to ensure that the sector remained lucrative and healthy.“I, along with the transportation minister [Budi Karya Sumadi], will discuss the matter with about 30 airlines that are probably able to reroute to domestic destinations and, therefore, support local tourism,” he said on Tuesday.He estimated that the country would lose about US$4 million as a result of flight cancellations to mainland China.Chinese tourists made up the second-highest number of foreign tourists visit to Indonesia, after Malaysia, last year. Around 1.9 million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia from January to November 2019, representing nearly 13 percent of overall foreign tourist visits, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS). (rfa)Topics : read more