[Beamer]

I am 21 years old, a vegetarian often attempting macrobiotics, but not fully converted. I have given a total of 2 gallons of blood (16 donations) thus far in my life. I appreciate the conversation on blood donation. Damon, I have a similar circumstance to yours. First of all, typically due to my diet absent from meat and high in tea (which has antioxidants that do not promote the uptake of iron into the hemoglobin) I am often deferred from blood donation due to iron deficiency. I also am a smaller person, and my body does not react well to rapid loss of fluid, as happens in blood donation, so I lay down while I give and move up slowly following donation.
Donating blood is one way that I can feel that I truly help others in need. I have extreme feelings of accomplishment when I make a successful blood donation, and I know that my blood is important because of where science has brought us. I am almost as on-the-fence about blood donation as Bruce is. Often times though, my understanding of our society's functioning draws me back into the blood bank. You see, science has made blood donation available, so we can't go back to not having it. My blood is universally used since I am O-negative. In trauma situations, when blood is needed quickly without typing, they use O-negative blood to sustain life. And they use a lot of it (at least 4 or 5 pints).
I am often frustrated when I am deferred from the blood bank, having used precious time to attempt this act of volunteering. I often want to give up on blood donation all together. But then I think about the small amount of pain and suffering that it puts me through to try, and compare that to the pain and suffering of the people that receive my blood... or the pain and suffering of the family of someone who died because of lack of blood supply... and I continue to attend blood banks every 56 days, when my blood supply is replenished.
I think that we all have to weigh our own personal values, though. I am not saying that blood donation is the right thing for everyone to do, and I certainly agree with Bruce that there are huge contributions that you, Damon, and other macros are making to the world by your choice of lifestyle. Can't we all always do more though, judging by the state of the world?