You know, I used to remember a time when the Christmas catalog came to my parent’s house around this time of year. Sadly, it has been sitting on the coffee table as a coaster for the last few months now, probably since August. The holiday season seems to come earlier and earlier each year. My family has a cardinal family tradition that many other American folks (used to) abide to: not discussing anything Christmas-related until Miracle on 34th Street or It’s A Wonderful Life was done playing, at the very least. Still, as I walk around the neighboring mall’s food court and corridors of shops on my lunch break, I already see Black Friday advertisements plastering store windows.
Right now many blood banks are approaching a very hard time of the year. Believe it or not, the holiday season is one of the hardest times of the year for many blood centers to be able to fulfill their blood unit goals. The only other time of year on the calendar that is comparable in that sense is summertime.
Giving just one whole blood donation can save up to three people’s lives, in most cases. At the very least, if your donation does save a life it is definitely improving the living conditions of a person who needs it. For all the time we take during the year to do mindless tasks, watch mind-numbing television shows, and basically just sit around, if we take just an hour out of our lives to give a pint of blood, we truly have the power to change a life forever.
That is the thing about donating blood. You don’t just change the recipient’s life, you change their family’s lives, you change their friends’ lives, and you inspire others to donate with your nameless and heroic action.
Remember, blood centers crucially need your help during the holidays.
What is stopping you from scheduling a simple blood donation to save others?