Aug 20th, 2007
Blood in the path of service
It behoveth thee to spend thy life, body and blood in the path of God . . . `Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í writings
One summer many years ago I took my children to the `Bahá’í-land Gathering’, in Aberdeen. While there the Bahá’ís decided to offer a service to the city: they would all become blood donors. So off to the blood donation centre we all went - most of us for the first time - and learned how to give blood so that others might live.
That session was the first of many for me and today I went again - not to romantic Aberdeen, unfortunately, but to the rather more prosaic (and closer to home) car park at the Biggleswade Sainsbury’s where the mobile unit attends every month.
While drinking my cold drink (it used to be hot tea, but no more) after donating my pint (I think it is still a pint, even in these metric days) I read the posters about blood. I learned that with my O negative blood I am only 7 per cent of the UK population and am a universal donor - so I have rather special blood that can be shared with anyone, a rather Bahá’í idea.
But mainly I looked at my fellow donors and was, as always, fascinated by the very different people who turn up to give a little bit of themselves to save the lives of strangers. There are a lot of business types in suits and women shopping for the week’s food - people you expect to see. And then there are those you don’t expect to see. Some seem incredibly old to actually have any blood themselves, yet there they are, giving it away. There are the bikers with spiked hair and leathers, an elderly ex-solider with tattoos on every available space who, from his stories, seems to have fought in the relief of Mafeking (although that just can’t be true) and, today, a young man there for the first time, eyeing with equal nervousness the bikers and the blood bags.
But it is the large number of young people who show up to give their blood that most impresses me. Barney Leith in his blog today mentioned how impressed he was by the Bahá’í youth who attended the recent summer school in Bath and how different they are from the image of young people so often portrayed in the media and by adults. I feel the same about these young local people who came today to give their blood at Sainsbury’s - girls chewing gum, kids with ipods, everyone texting away on their mobile phones and laughing at their messages. Relaxed, happy, useful people, each being a real benefit to a person they will never know. As the ad says, they did something amazing today and it made me proud to be a human being.
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, blood donor services UK
I’m ashamed to say that it is many years since I gave blood. In fact, I haven’t thought about for years. I haven’t seen a mobile unit in a long time.
Oh well, perhaps I should get onto the National Blood Service’s website and find out when they are doing donor sessions in my neighbourhood.
Blood donating … reminds me of the time, a few years ago now, when the 4 of us (R, T, S & S) were passing by Leatherhead Village Hall and saw a notice
outside about wanting blood donors and inviting people to stop by and give blood.
What a good idea, we all thought! They were just about to close the session (it was just before lunch) but on seeing 4 willing donors all at once, they invited us in and set to to take our blood. Then they asked us some questions just to see if there were any reasons why we might not be able to do so. They asked us our ages and found out that Ron was too old to give blood (over 60 at the time),
Simon had suffered from hepatitis while we were in Nepal and therefore couldn’t do so, Suzanne had recently been to Mexico on her travels and was at risk for some reason, and I hadn’t had breakfast that day (another good reason apparently not to give blood). It was very embarrassing! We slunk out and have never been back!
No time like the present to see if you can donate!