Opinion: Making a pint-sized contribution could just make a difference

Published 7:30 am Friday, December 16, 2016

If you ever want to feel really important, give blood. From the moment you walk into a blood drive, whether it’s set up in a borrowed room inside a school or fire station, a motor-home-style bloodmobile, or an official donor center, you will experience people at their most deferential.

They thank you, repeatedly, for coming in. Approximately every two minutes, one of them will ask how you’re doing, and if they can get you anything.

As soon as you’re done, another one will start stuffing you with snacks and juices, and when you can’t consume any more, they’ll hand you a couple of cookies to keep in your pockets, “for later.”

And did I mention the prizes? There aren’t any new cars or trips to Cancun, but they do give you jewelry, a pin for every gallon of blood donated — that’s eight visits to a gallon, more than a year’s worth of donations for even the most regular blood donor.

Cookies, attention and bling? Not why I do it. In fact, the more anonymous I can be in the whole process, the better.

When I give blood, it’s an act of faith. I am doing it to help someone. Maybe it’s someone like me almost 30 years ago, who was hospitalized after a major bicycle accident. Or maybe it’s someone who was driving drunk and endangering other people before crashing into a tree. I won’t ever know, and I really don’t want to.

It’s not as if I could, or even would, ever take my donation back. But I can believe that whoever gets my donation will, again like me almost 30 years ago, understand that someone did this thing for them, and think about all that it implies. And I can believe that it helps to put us all on equal footing, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or creed. Maybe some day, even respectful of it.

Being treated like you’re a big, important person is OK, but it can’t compare to feeling like you’ve done something important.

And I have to admit, although I usually hate being fussed over, walking into a room of people who are able, and willing, to express how happy they are that you’re there is probably something we could all use a little more of.

Plus, qualified donors can give blood every eight weeks.