Giving Blood

Japanese= 献血 (kenketsu) . I donated blood for the first time in my life last week, and it felt pretty good. Actually, physically it didn’t feel great, and I don’t like needles/ blood anyway, and the needle was brushing up against my skin causing a prickling sensation throughout that didn’t exactly tickle my fancy, but the knowledge of having given was good.

I’m not sure why I’ve never given blood, but it just never was insisted upon me. I’m pretty sure my parents have never given blood, and I don’t belong to any religious affiliations so it never occurred to me or was presented to me as an obligation or even an offer. Sure, I had heard about people from school giving blood and getting a fancy “I donated blood” sticker afterwards, but it never seemed like something that I HAD to do. In fact, I didn’t plan on doing so until I saw a “blood drive” truck outside my local library last week. I’ll admit, I don’t’ like blood, and I don’t like the knowledge of voluntarily hurting myself or sticking myself with a needle…..it’s just not something I look forward to. It’s similar to going on a roller coaster- I know it’s not going to kill me or even be that terrible of an experience, it’s just the anticipation of it and knowing it will happen, the impending doom……that’s what I can’t say.

But I got over it this time around, and toughed it out. What I didn’t realize was the aftereffects……ok now you have to actually squeeze this rubber ball until you pump out a pint of blood. It’s not a great feeling, feeling blood rush out of one’s veins and arm getting cool, plus feeling just slightly weaker. Maybe some people get used to it, but I actually was trying to finish up as soon as I could to get outta there, the blood rushing out did not feel great. It’s not a pain really as just a weird sensation, like lifting weights for the first time or stretching one’s body really hard. It just doesn’t feel……right. The nurses were supportive, everyone was pretty friendly and coached me through it, spoke about the whole process, so I mustered through it and got through it.  (かろうじてそれを経て作る) “BE A MAN! DO THE RIGHT THING!” was definitely ringing in my head.

The tough thing was actually not being able to exercise afterwards- I had to skip that day’s physical activities. Still, a small price to pay for knowing you possibly helped someone in need of blood- a very small way of giving back, and selfishly a bit of “hey I contributed to society” feeling. That magnanimity was not reciprocated in Vegas, however, later that weekend.

It brings up a good point: why do most people volunteer, or give blood, or donate to charities? Is it really because they want to “help others?” Or selfishly they want to get good karma, seem like a good person, feel good about themselves, etc, selfish reasons, etc.? Hard to extrapolate others’ motivations, but I think it’s probably a bit of both. Certainly I have a belief that there’s karma in the world and that giving a bit to someone might eventually somehow be channeled into something good for myself, so there is at least some selfishness on my part, but then again I do hold the belief of thinking everyone has some good in them, especially those who are hurt at a hospital and need the blood at that time to stay healthy/ maybe even stay alive. I’m not just giving blood to satisfy my own self-esteem but I do wonder where that blood goes, hopefully to someone who’s in need who can make use of it.

So long story short, I would recommend giving blood, despite the somewhat queasiness of it. Surprisingly only 37% of the population are eligible to donate (certain requirements like not taking antibiotics, not having sexually transmitted diseases, must be 110 pounds, etc. disqualify some people), but less than 10% actually donate. I figure if they didn’t need the blood, they wouldn’t be out asking for donations, so it probably does help to donate, they’re not going to just store your blood in a vault forever or feed it to Dracula.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan