Make a blood donation

Ah, the great feeling of donating blood. When you travel you give. Giving blood is giving the gift of life. As I have learned from experience, a wonderful little teacher, for the last twenty odd years, giving blood helps someone who needs it more than me.

I have A- which is fairly rare. So, last century, I started donating and yesterday allowed me to donate. The blood mobile is parked downtown near a busy intersection. You walk down the street past pretzel sellers, cascading water fountains, statues of frozen soldiers firing rusty iron guns into cobalt skies and get on the bus.

A smiling nurse from Bulgaria asks you health questions in broken English. Another nurse takes your blood pressure. She attaches a tourniquet to your left arm and says, "You have excellent veins."

She swabs the vein and slides the needle in. Open and close your left hand. Blood flows.

Outside the tinted windows parents hold hands with their children in blinding sun. Scraggly faced men unload boxes of fresh red tomatoes from a white truck. Sunglasses on pedestrians reflect light. Teams of boys fold and crush cardboard boxes in their salvage operation and load them on metal rolling carts. Recycle sales potential.

Sad, oh so serious SAD looking businessmen carry their briefcases filled with secrets. Such a heavy burden.

Blood flows. A little gift.