I started donating blood in college when I realized they gave out free t-shirts. I hate needles, but I'm a sucker for freebies. I've got more blood donor shirts than I need, and they never fit anyway, but I've kept giving whenever I have the time and opportunity. My distaste for needles has lessened over time, especially when weighed against the benefit. I suppose I give blood for the same reason I stop for stray dogs...I hope that if my dog were wandering beside the road, someone would stop for her. I realize there isn't a direct correlation between me doing the right thing and someone else doing the right thing for me in the future, but I can hope.
You can't donate blood when you're pregnant, so I haven't given in almost a year. Yesterday I got a card in the mail from the red cross notifying me of an upcoming blood drive in my area. I get these periodically, but the text on this one was amusing enough that I thought I would share. I won't post the whole thing, just a couple of sentences to sum it up:
"You may have struggled with many fears the first time you donated blood. You may still struggle with those fears each time you donate. While you might be afraid of needles, someone else might be afraid of dying."
I guess they needed a nice way of saying, "Hey wuss....SUCK IT UP!!!"
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