Last year, I was frustrated that I wasn’t more topical; I can already tell that I will be this year. However, let me start off by making what should be an easy observation: it’s a lot easier for us to feel good about donating to help Africa’s water situation than it is their blood situation. I think that there are two reasons for that:

1. We all drink water every day, and many of us have been in a situation where we were faced with poor quality drinking water, whether on a trip, because of natural disasters knocking out a treatment facility, or just because that’s how we grew up.
2. Blood is harder to contemplate, because it’s a part of us. Give blood, and what do you do? Pass out. Many folks have fears of needles, blood, etc. [Fact: my squeamishness with blood wiped out any possibility of me being a doctor before I hit age 8. Of course, I would make a very poor doctor.]

I think that this is where I admit that I’m type O—that is, the universal donor—and have never given blood.

Yeah, I’m not real happy with that, but man … I can always make an excuse. [And if the bloodmobile pulled up in front of my house to collect right now, it would be, "HEY! I need that blood for the Blogathon!]