I Want Your Blood

Back in January, when I turned 40, I donated blood for the first time.  Today, I donated for the third time this year.  There are a few reasons that I have now embraced this as a way to give to others.

1. Free cookies.  Yes, some of my reasons are selfish.  After I donate, I get a bag of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies.  They’re tasty.  And though I haven’t confirmed this with science, I do believe the cookies are calorie-free if eaten within an hour of donating.
2. Daydreaming.  I donate plasma, which means that I’m hooked up to a machine for nearly 45 minutes.  Except for an occasional chill or slightly tingly lips, the experience is uneventful. That gives me 45 glorious minutes to daydream in guilt-free and undistracted bliss.  
3. The tribe.  I donate when our school has a blood drive.  As a plasma donor, I sit upright and can observe all the activity in the gym.  I love to watch to see who else comes to donate.  It really is a motley crowd of students, faculty, and staff.  Just during my time, a math teacher, a paraprofessional, and a maintenance worker came in to give. And the diversity of the students who participate is incredible:  “normal” kids and “weird” kids (however you define each group), quiet kids and obnoxious ones, athletes and artists and nerds and Hot Topic goths.  There are students who stand out and there are those who are often invisible.  But I saw them today.  In our society, we are all so proud of our “tribes,” whether they involve politics, religion, sports, universities, musical acts, exercise regimens, or dietary choices.  We find ways to clump and divide ourselves into tribes that all strive to out-Facebook each other. Well, if you’re looking for a tribe that welcomes all (unless you fail the screener quiz), join the blood donor tribe. (Even if you fail the screener, they still might let you have cookies. Ask.)
4. Humanity wins.  I may hate your political and social views. You might hate mine. But the plasma doesn’t care.  And truly, if you need my blood so badly, I don’t care either.  You can have it.  Out of the cacophony of a fractured society, a hero arises. That’s why I’m voting Plasma-Famous Amos in 2016.
5. Guaranteed awesomeness.  No matter how the rest of my day goes, I saved lives. You can too.