Forums → The Tavern → Your blood or your money?
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Which would you rather donate? I thought about this as I passed a blood donation drive, and saw quite a few people lined up. You never really see people lined up to donate money, do you? There are two likely reasons for this:
1) It takes more time to donate blood, and there are less places to do it. Hence, lines.
2) You don't have to spend as much conscious effort replenishing your lost blood compared to your lost money.
But, I still feel like people are much more okay with donating blood. Which is kind of weird, if you think about it. I mean, you literally need blood to live. Your life will be much more difficult without money, but losing money is much less lethal than blood loss. You are giving part of what enables you to live to some random stranger, and people (at least where I live) do this seemingly on the spur of the moment.
Furthermore, it can be quite uncomfortable and time consuming (depending on methods used). You can't start a conversation about blood donation without someone bringing up a story about how it took the technician 500 tries to find a vein. The blood loss also leaves you noticeably weaker. Some of my thinner friends can't engage in physical activities for quite a while after donating blood.
AND, while you are constantly replenishing your blood, you only have so much of it at any single moment. Its not like money, where there is no upper limit to how much you can possess. Sure, bigger people have more blood, but it isn't like people can be comfortably blood filled to the point where donating a gallon or so is no big deal. There are no super bloody people the way there are super rich people.
With blood, its like pretty much every healthy person is lower middle class. We can give up a little without dying, but there will be consequences.
It takes at least 4 weeks to replenish the blood cells lost during donation. Working for four weeks full time at a pretty low wage job, you can make about 1000 dollars. But, somehow, donating blood seems like it is a lot easier than donating 1000 dollars. Granted, you don't have to actively "work" for your blood, but you are still giving up something crucial that takes a similar amount of time to replenish.
So, which do you value more? Your blood, or your money?
- 53 Replies
I vaguely remember reading about that but don't remember it too well... I think that if a lot of charities were corrupt there would be more scandals than what we've had. Of course, there could also be the view that for every 10 or so scandals there are 20 more that aren't found.
I'm thinking he meant that blood will definitely go to a good cause; what's the use of a bag of blood other than giving it to those medically in need of it? On the other hand, the chances of money going into wrong hands has been rising over the years, with new charity scandals coming into the limelight one after another, like lamb to the slaughter.
Oh, I know. I was just pointing out that your blood won't necessarily help GOOD* people, just people. For instance, I imagine drunk drivers receive a substantial amount of donated blood. Not that they shouldn't, of course. I agree that blood donation is inherently less corruptible than money donation. But that doesn't necesarily mean that blood donation groups are working in the most effecient, safe manner. That's what my "why are you so sure?" question was pointing at.
For instance, about 1-3 percent of blood donations are thrown away because they reach their expiration date before they need to be used. Is this number high? Or is a necessary cost resulting from there being no permanent way to store blood? Should we be spending more money on researching blood storage methods instead of spending so much on blood donation drives?
you go there yourself which is a big time waste.
How is spending your time directly helping people a waste of time, while spending your time donating blood a worthy effort?
And on this note, I return to my second question. Suppose, for some reason, there is a market for blood. Don't ask why, its not important to the question. The blood will still be used to help injured people. There is no private market for blood, however.
So, since you all seem to think that blood is less corrupting than money, would you be opposed to the government mandating that everyone donate a pint of blood a year (again, ignoring the impossibility of this), with some sort of drop in monetary taxes to compensate? I mean, its not like the government could abuse this, right?
*whatever that means.
I would dontae a little of each or not at all, cause both r important for u to live
Money is an evil neccessity in life... it's a vital and lively (how ironicly) part of our current capitalistic economy and is even considered important enough to spill our blood for numerous times in the history of mankind. Look at all the wars being fought over money, which prooves that greed is a thriving factor here...
So donating money is more difficult for people in general, as it is considered very important to them. Sure, they will state it is not, but how many people would actually give everything they can spare when asked to donate money?
Personally, I have to admit I do care some for money, as I too have been infected with this 'virus'... the computer I'm writing this post on right now, prooves this point without argument.
But when asked, I would surely donate either blood or money to aid the community. I think it's a part of life and a duty as a human being to be responsible and help others out! =)
(To clarify and elaborate a little: I donated both on numerous occasions.)
Hopefully....we had a massive corruption scandal years ago, when the country's main kidney foundation's charity was uncovered. Turns out that the CEO was siphoning money to build, of all things, gold plated toilet seats.
this can not happen with your donated blood, only with your donated money. that is the reason why i prefer to donate blood even if i get a strange feeling of guiltiness everytime i go past a beggar.
this can not happen with your donated blood, only with your donated money. that is the reason why i prefer to donate blood even if i get a strange feeling of guiltiness everytime i go past a beggar.
You could... of course... give that beggar some money as well xAyjAy!
(And to slide to the side off the topic a bit...)
Or better yet... 'buy' him a meal somewhere! This is something people tend to forget very often! If you see a beggar, don't give him/her money, but food! Basic neccessity in life that can't be paid for with blood... =)
this can not happen with your donated blood, only with your donated money.
Some execs could be taking the blood and giving it to rich people who are funding them who need it, leaving the poor to die. Just saying there's corruption in everything that has a demand.
I would probably be more willing to donate my money to a good cause that has been thouroughly vetted to make sure there are no scams, rather than donate my blood. The reason?
I'm terrified of needles.
i would donate my money cause its not really mne cause my body doesnt own it but my body owns my blood and my brain thinks if my blood is my bodys or is it mine and my brain has chosen my bodys cause it had it first
I would donate my money, because I'm pretty sure there are more people who need money than blood.
I would donate money.
For one i medically can't give blood and if i could I'm selfish in the fact i absolutely hate needles and usually pass out during blood tests. I don't take away from those who donate blood, i've benefited from it so thumbs up.
I would definitely donate blood. I'd rather be dead than poor.
I would donate money. Of course, I'd choose very carefully to whom I donate, considering there's a LOT of scams out there. I've donated blood many times as well, I haven't really felt anything afterwards though. Swimmer's blood? No idea.
Some execs could be taking the blood and giving it to rich people who are funding them who need it, leaving the poor to die. Just saying there's corruption in everything that has a demand.
Or, as I noted, some blood will go bad before it gets used, and will be thrown away. So, there is a small chance that instead of your blood going to an injured person, you are basically just spending your time bleeding into a bag for no reason. Missmangement of blood would increase the odds of this. So, while you can always ask "How do I know charities are using my money for good?" you can also always ask "How do I know my blood will be used at all?".
Some other interesting points were raised:
i would donate my money cause its not really mne cause my body doesnt own it but my body owns my blood and my brain thinks if my blood is my bodys or is it mine and my brain has chosen my bodys cause it had it first
But, as Strop pointed out, your body goes through blood rather quick. So, while you might have some sort of attachment to your blood, your body is hardly sentimental. And, how does this relate to blood transfusions? If your blood is so precious, would you accept someone else's blood into your body, knowing it might save your life?
I'd donate my blood post-mortem. I wouldn't have use of it then, even if anyone else wouldn't either.... Oh well. At least post-blood-take i would be (This) much closer to becoming Skulduggery Pleasant. =D
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