I know this is mostly a green and frugal living blog, but today I wanted to take the time to ask a serious question about donating blood. I suppose I could have somehow made this related to Valentine’s Day, let’s see … hearts … pumping blood … ok maybe not. If you think about it though, donating blood and living green share the same philosophies. I try to live greenly to support a clean, functioning planet that will be there for me in the future, and I also believe in supporting the blood donor system so that it will be there for me and my loved ones if we ever need it.

So the question is, if the worst happened and you or someone you know needed a life-saving blood transfusion … would you want there to be a supply of donated blood available to use?

Duh. Of course you would.

Now get yourself to the blood donor clinic or bloodmobile and donate some blood. If you want to use a system in the future you have to support it today. Blood donors are always needed.

I started giving blood two years ago, mostly because I wanted to find out my blood type, and I’ve kept it up because it turned out to be sort of awesome. A few times a year I literally give the life-saving power that is within my veins, and it pretty much makes me feel like a goddamn superhero. I lay back in a padded recliner and hang out with other superheroes while our nurses attend us, and then we go have a juice box and some cookies.

Okay, to be honest the cookies suck. It’s kind of misleading that they advertise delicious free cookies as an incentive to give blood when you get two Oreos in cellophane.

But because I donated today, in the future, if me or my loved ones should ever need blood, that system will be there for us. Maybe it’s selfish reasoning, but I believe in supporting a system that I want to benefit from. That I will be saving lots of other people’s lives with my donations is just a side benefit. Also, it turns out I can get behind any system that suggests you eat steak and red wine.

It sounds supremely selfish when I write it all out, but maybe it’s a philosophy that works. All I know is that supporting the blood donor system makes sense to me and it absolutely feels like the right thing to do. Besides participating in a system of insurance for yourself and your loved ones, other selfish reasons to give blood are:

• Every time you donate you save up to three lives because there are three different products in your blood that can be used by others. You will be helping to save car crash victims, cancer patients, premature babies, and others. It feels pretty friggin’ good.

• You get to find out your blood type, which is cool.

• You get an hour off work.

• It doesn’t hurt, not really. It hurts a little bit at the very start, and then it stops. If it hurts after that, tell them to adjust the needle.

• The government can’t discover you have superpowered blood and ask you to assume the role of world hero if you don’t donate.

• You can meet cool people. You will be seated near lots of other people who all have something in common with you. If you go to a bloodmobile parked outside an office building you will meet the people who work there. Just saying.

• It’s easy to do. You can book an appointment online at www.blood.ca with the closest clinic or bloodmobile. You can also book by calling 1-888-2 DONATE.

http://youtu.be/48Fs_cq0nKo

Give from the heart!