Gestation and Blood Donation
Josh’s younger sister started dating her now-husband a month or two after Josh and I started dating. She got married less than a year later, decided to drop out of college, and got pregnant right before Josh and I got engaged. I was in no way envious of the speed of her life, but some late nights as I was keenly aware of the meaninglessness of my academic efforts, I was envious of her pregnancy.
After all, at the end of the day if I had read a bit and written five pages, then all I had was five pages of worthless writing. If she did nothing all day, at the end of the day she had a preborn child who was a little bit bigger, a little bit more developed, a little bit more ready for the world.
I would joke with my sister about how I should just “go off and gestate” because what could be more important than that?
I still feel that way at times, even though I am quite confident that gestation is not the meaning of my life, and my value as a person is not based on my fertility.
But there remains a fascination with the concept of simply living, and still accomplishing the great good of giving life to another. So I was quite amused when I realized that my view on blood donation is quite similar to my view of pregnancy. I can sit here typing at my computer and grow red blood cells! And then after a few months I can give them to another person, to help them recover and potentially save a life.
That is pretty cool. Not nearly as exciting as pregnancy, but still very good.
Thinking of donating blood as a process whereby I can daily “grow life” for another is enough to make me never want to miss a chance to donate.
What tricks do you have to make sure that you donate blood whenever you can?
That’s a great way to look at donation!
I can’t donate though. Never have been able too. Thankfully I’m down to one reason instead of three (its been over the required number of years since I was in Africa and I’m no longer underweight)… but that one reason, being hypoglycemic, still makes it very dangerous for me to do so. Part of me is sad that I can’t.. it really is a good thing to do. But on the other hand I’m also afraid of needles and the selfish part of me doesn’t mind as much because of that.
My husband on the other hand, has tried and failed to give blood. First his skin healed around the needle and then the blood started flowing backwards ??? Scared the person taking it pretty good lol. He has trouble with blood tests for the same reason. They can get it out, but it takes a long time and he starts healing around it.
Thankfully other family members can/do give blood though.
Well you have a great trick, but I again am not allowed to donate. I have a couple times and it was easy to get myself there since I needed blood in 8th grade. However, my doctor says I’m not allowed to anymore, even when I pass the iron test (because I get severely anemic at times) so I can’t anymore – my husband gives though
He gets out of work for it because his company does blood drives, so I guess that is a trick his company does.
What a great post! The first time I tried donating blood I didn’t weigh enough. The second time they couldn’t find a good vein and sent me away. I haven’t tried since then, even though I really want to. I will try again someday soon!
I used to donate quite regularly, but about a year ago, they found something in my blood they didn’t like. They triple tested and eventually decided it was negative, but now they won’t take me anymore. PPPPLLLBBBTT on that.
I’ve never actually donated blood as I am terribly squeamish around needles, which usually causes me to faint. One time when I got like 10+ vials of blood taken and I forgot to ask to lie down and I progressively got whiter and whiter. When they were done drawing blood, the nurse asked me if I wanted to lie down, so I stood up, took a step and then I remember waking up in the recovery position on the floor. So, I think the prospect of having a needle in me taking blood for like 20 minutes isn’t exactly convincing me to donate blood. Plus with my food allergies, who knows if there are any sort of things in my blood stream that wouldn’t be good for another person. But I guess I could mainly say that I’m too chicken to actually do it.
Can’t.
I’ve had malaria twice, and it stays in your bloodstream, thus, no blood-giving for me. And I hate needles so I’m not completely sad. 
last time i gave blood i came back anemic. i could probably try again, but i have done some crazy traveling in the past few years so i wonder if i meet the requirements. nevertheless, i like your reasoning
You have such an interesting perspective on life! I must say I’ve never thought about donating blood in quite that way. Actually it usually makes me feel kind of “ooky.”
But I do resonate with the idea of simply being, the frequent futility of productivity and the genius of “giving life.” I am very driven to accomplish…too much so probably. I often envy those that are able to be more simple about living. In that way I see the beauty of giving life through this simple act of giving blood. It has a harmony to it like the idea of giving small things to God with great love. Thanks for the thoughts.