Americans respond in times of crisis such as the recent earthquake that has devastated Haiti, or in New York after the 9/11 attacks. But what about at other times, when nothing big seems to be happening? Ira Riklis knows that even then people face crises in their lives and need the help of others to see them through. That’s one reason he makes it a point to donate blood on a regular (or at least semi-regular) basis. He donates each December as part of his synagogue’s annual blood drive, and he tries to make two or three additional donations throughout the year.
Doing so sets him apart from most of us: fewer than one in seven people eligible to donate blood actually do so. Perhaps that because, caught up in our daily lives, we fail to see the daily crises that go on all across the country as victims of trauma, injuries, and illnesses which require surgery, desperately need blood. Perhaps if we were aware of the magnitude of need—43,000 pints a year, 30 pints a minute. Knowing that, do you think you might make time, say half an hour or so, a few times a year to make a donation yourself. Ira Riklis certainly hopes so.