Give Life

A few weeks ago, I donated blood at a local blood drive. Now, I'll be the first to admit that 10 years ago, the only reason I would dream of doing this was because it was considered "mandatory" during Homecoming and Greek Week festivities at Mizzou. Unless of course you were one of those lucky jerks that was deferred because you were anemic or didn't make the 110 lb cutoff. My first experience with donating in college was no doubt traumatic. The donation itself was hard enough, but I made it through. Then as I was walking down the hall in my dorm post-donation, out of nowhere, I passed out. Hit the floor right in front of my room. Quite embarassing. Even subsequent attempts to give brought on the same level of anxiety for me. I remember trying to donate several years ago here in town, and after almost 30 minutes of sitting there with the needle in my arm, bag almost full, they decided I had "clotted off." My donation was no good because I couldn't finish off that little pint bag of blood. All my efforts down the toilet. I then decided that I simply was not meant to donate blood. Ever. Then a few months ago, there was a blood drive at church and for some reason I felt inspired to give it another go. And it was a wonderful experience. From start to finish, everything went smooth as silk. And I donated in just a little over 10 minutes. Then, I went again the beginning of this month, again it went smoothly, and I gave in a little over 7 minutes!! As silly as it sounds, I was so proud! However, my point in this long, drawn out story is that despite what bad experiences you might have had donating in the past, give it another try. You could save up to 3 lives with a single donation. Just think if it were your child, your mother, your spouse, father, sister or brother who needed the donation.
So, there's my piece. I'm stepping down from my soap box. Hope this inspires you all to give it a try. :)