Blood sings

Please forgive me if I seem to be once more banging on about a subject I bring up quite often here, but at the end of this week I got not only my reminder card from the blood transfusion service saying I could now come back in anytime but I got a letter from them too saying that stocks are still very, very low, especially in my group (slightly less than three in ten of the general population have that and apparently only six percent of the population overall actually donates regularly). So yes, I am again going to say to folks, if you have ever thought about donating blood, please, please, turn thought into deed.

With busy lifestyles we just often don't think about things like this today and notions of doing some sort of community service seem to have become old-fashioned; then someone we know and love falls ill and needs serious, long-term treatment and we realise how much a simple, short action like donating blood can impact on a life. A few spoonfulls of blood can save the life of a premature child - take the example of the lady who left a comment last time I discussed donating blood on here. She didn't give blood before, but when her baby's little life was kept going by donations of blood she realised how important it was and she now gives herself.

The pool of people giving seems to keep shrinking - people are busy and don't think about it, they've had a piercing or tattoo recently and aren't allowed to give, or they've had an infection or a trip to a foreign clime where malaria is common and so can't give, some folks plain don't care and assume other folks will take care of it (until it matters to someone in their life) - there are all sorts of reasons why the pool of people who are able and willing to donate several times a year is shrinking, some practical, some down to a mindset. There's only two good reasons why you should be doing it - it can save a life and it is a good thing to do. There's far too much wrong in our little world, so why not do just a little to make something good? Everytime I mention this subject someone always says "oh, I keep meaning to do that" to me. Well, stop thinking and please try it - its a short bit of time, pretty much painless and you get a choccy biccy afterwards :-).

There's something running through your veins, a rich resource driven by the beating of the heart, the greenest power source on planet Earth, a rich biofuel, a resource which endlessly renews itself and fuels life itself. And you can share it. Feel that pulse in your wrist. Feel the beat of your heart. And then think how you could help keep that same pulse and beat of life going in another person's body. How amazing is that?

"When blood sees blood
Of its own
It sings to see itself again
It sings to hear the voice it's known
It sings to recognize the face

One body split and passed along the line
From the shoulder to the hip
I know these bones as being mine
And the curving of the lip"

Blood Sings, Suzanne Vega