Soap Box

"The need is constant. The gratification is instant. Give blood."

I feel so strongly about this: if you are eligible, you should try to give blood. You may not be eligible. You may have lived too long overseas, or recently gotten a tattoo, or your iron might be too low, or you might be at risk for certain diseases that make your blood undesirable to the Red Cross. But! You might not be not eligible. You might have good blood. And if you do - if there's even the chance that you do have good blood, you should try to donate.

Why?

People need blood all of the time. And there is absolutely no substitute for it. The only way for someone to receive blood is if someone else has given it.

When you give blood, you make yourself uncomfortable. You allow someone to stick a needle into your body and remove a sizable amount of a fluid that keeps you alive. It can be scary; it can be intimidating; it can feel not-worth-it. And there aren't any obvious benefits in it for you. You don't make money, you don't get gifts or coupons or immunity from certain diseases. But you do come away with the awareness that you've done something selfless for another human merely being. I think that is Valuable. I think it is Worthwhile. I think it is Important.

Life is Precious. What if you could give something of yourself to help some other Person hold onto it? You can.

Give blood.