‘Tis the season of giving. ‘Tis the season for every charity under the sun to hit you up either via mail, email, telephone, or in person as they wait outside of shopping centers ready to open fire on you with guilt-laced words of mass destruction (WMDs). “Hi, would you like to help a starving child this holiday season,” the charity collector might open with before unleashing the real blow: “or would you rather see the poor, innocent creature die?” So then you’re left with a choice: give to this charity you may know nothing about, or walk away worried about what the passers-by may be thinking of you.
Don’t get me wrong. Charity is a good thing. A very good thing. But it’s important that you do your homework before giving. Some are outright scams, others aren’t exactly unethical but their overhead is so high that very little of your contribution makes it to the intended needy. Which is why I usually don’t mind giving blood. There’s just not many ways a group can misuse a blood donation.
I have a somewhat rare blood type: A Negative. About 85% of Americans are Rh positive, and of the remaining 15%, about 6% of us are A Negative. So the Red Cross calls me pretty regularly asking me to give. I feel it’s my duty to give blood because I need to cover for all of my Jehovah Witness friends who won’t give blood because of their belief system, and I need to cover for lots of other people who just don’t give for no specific reason.
I started giving blood regularly about two years ago and I set a goal for myself: to give at least 12 times. Today marks my seventh time donating which means (for those of you mathematically inclined who are paying attention) that I’m more than half way there. The reason 12 is my magic number is because that’s the average number of pints in an adult male. Once I’ve given 12 times I can say I gave it all. After that, if I need to turn the Red Cross phone solicitor down for any reason, I won’t have any guilt.
I’ve learned that the Red Cross has a scale similar to the U.S. Government’s color-coded terror alert level system. The Red Cross’s level of need relative to the amount of blood in storage falls under the following categories:
1. Critical
2. Desperate
3. Emergency
4. We’re all doomed
Today they were only at the “Critical “level which means all is well with the blood supply.
Besides alleviating your guilt, there are other good reasons to give: one pint of your blood can save up to three lives, you’re helping your fellow man and getting nothing for it besides juice and cookies, and last but definitely not least, you become a cheap date. As I type this I’m sipping a Samuel Adams Winter Lager and it’s going right to my head.
Cheers and happy giving!
I used to donate blood on a regular basis. I started in my twenties in an effort to overcome a fear of needles and because, at the time, my mother was director of donations at a regional blood center. Within the past 13 years, I was even part of the platlet donation program, but with a low/normal platlet count, I could only donate twice a month. That was until several years ago when the Red Cross, after taking my blood and fluids without comment for a number of years, decided that, having lived in Germany for five years, my blood was no longer acceptable. So now, instead of blood, I let my hair grow for two years, then donate the excess growth to Locks of Love. The advantage of donating (literally) a part of ourselves is that we can be sure the donation is used in a manner we intended. I have to say, though, I miss the juice and cookies.