One selfless act

What is your selfless activity? Please share your thoughts too.

As I was driving to donate blood at my local Red Cross the other day, I realized this was probably the only selfless act that I make an effort to do consistently. And even this I have had months and sometimes years that have slipped through between donations. I do have a wife, children, and contact with much of my extended family where hopefully I am more unselfish than not with them, but I gain way too much from them to consider any acts there selfless.

Also, it is not to say that I have not donated money to worthy causes, that I have not helped out a friend in need, nor that I have not volunteered with my kids activities. But in all of those activities, I probably gained as much or more through my act than others did, and my driving force was to fill an immediate need within a group (volunteer) or support my causes (money). This is not to say they were selfish but I do not think they were truly selfless either. Miriam-Webster OnLine dictionary defines selfless as “having no concern for self.”

Donating blood is a relatively small and simple act that I had not given much thought about until that day. I am blessed with having blood type o-negative, which is also know as the “universal donor” because nearly everyone can receive my blood in an emergency without worry of blood mismatch (I’m sure there is a technical term). Some how I never caught Cytomegalovirus (CMV), which is a common virus carried by more than half of the US population. Most people who have the virus never know it and for the average healthy person, CMV does not cause a problem. However, for patients whose immune systems are not functioning properly (e.g., premature babies, cancer patients, and others who cannot fight infection), CMV can be very serious. (CMV info source) Because of these two factors there have been times in my life where I have been called to donate blood when there was a critical need. Nowadays it seems like there is always a critical need for blood.

This posting is not intended to influence others to donate blood; however, if it does that’s okay. While I hope I can continue to donate blood for many more years, as I age odds are against me because there continue to be new hazards in the world that can render someone blood harmful to others or hopefully I’ll just get too old. So I’ve decided in 2007 I need find and start that next selfless activity for me to continue when the time eventually comes that I can no longer donate blood.

As I am looking for another selfless activity, it would be great for others to share their hidden selfless activities. I realize that many cannot donate blood because of societal regulations, health reasons (including fainting), and religious beliefs, so there must be numerous other activities available.

It seems to me that the US (and world) would be much better off if each of us would find just one selfless act that we could make our own to pursue that provided good without direct benefit to someone we know and without promoting one of our causes. Until you find your selfless activity to pursue, please continue to volunteer for and donate to those many other unselfish opportunities you have in your life.

If you are asking how does this tie in with the concept of this blog? I was there with you, until I realized that we have started to let governments perform acts that previously were provided by unselfish or selfless people. It seems to me that the more we pursue and support these activities first, the easier it will be to push governments back to the roll that they should do and do best.

As I finish this post, I realize that donating blood may not be as selfless as I had hoped, it improves my well-being.