Okay, I know I wrote a blog post about how much I wanted an iPad, but I wouldn’t give my kidney for it. You know who would? A 17 year old kid in Shanghai.
A 17-year-old student in Anhui Province sold one of his kidneys for 20,000 yuan only to buy an iPad 2. Now, with his health getting worse, the boy is feeling regret but it is too late, the Global Times reported today. Shanghai Daily
This is completely insane to me. Apparently, the teen was getting iPad 2 pricing from the internet and came across a person that offered to buy his kidney for about $3400 US. He gave the man his kidney and is now his health is suffering due to complications.
It’s sad to hear that this boy made the decision to sell his kidney and that his parents weren’t involved at all. It’s even worse to know that organ trafficking happens a lot in China. I couldn’t even imagine how many other children and teens have had this happen to them and their parents didn’t contact the police and the media.
It’s sad to think of what people will do for the newest, greatest thing.
I remember hearing about Michael Eugene Thomas a 15 year old teen that was killed for his Air Jordan Pump sneakers.
For 15-year old Michael Eugene Thomas, it definitely was the shoes. A ninth grader at Meade Senior High School in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Thomas was found strangled on May 2, 1989. Charged with first degree murder was James David Martin, 17, a basketball buddy who allegedly took Thomas’s two week old Air Jordan basketball shoes and left Thomas’s barefoot body in the woods near school. Chucksconnection
Who’s to blame in these situations? Should the 17 year old who sold his kidney know better? I would venture a guess that he did. His need for an iPad 2 was enough to allow him to lay himself down in a hospital and have a body part removed. Should James Martin have known better when he killed another teen for his shoes? I would also bet that he did.
How does wanting the “next greatest thing” become obsession? Can we blame this on society? Is there something we can do as parents to stop this from happening?
