I willing to bleed for my fellow man (and woman).
I used to donate blood fairly often, when I lived in Houston. I got my gallon pin and then donated a few more times before I moved to a little mountain town in California and it became much less convenient.
I’ve been thinking for years I should get back into it.
But the way I imagine it happening is through an atheist blood drive. I did a little research and found that freethought/atheist groups all over the U.S., possibly the world, have already had the idea and made it happen regionally.
What I’m picturing, though, is a coordinated international blood drive, on some particular significant date, with atheists everywhere donating.
Darwin’s birthday, February 12, seems like a good date. It’s also Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, significant in the U.S. for its association with slavery and emancipation.
But then again, that’s less than 3 weeks away, at least for this year. Is it possible to put something like this together in that time? Or is it better to put it off and really get it cranking for next year? I know it would require some powerful organizational talent — possibly from an organization already in existence. FreethoughtBlogs? Dawkins Foundation? Someone else? (Or, knowing my ability to totally miss things that everybody else knows about, is someone already doing it?)
I’m imagining the PR pitches:
100 Percent Pure Atheist Blood
Or maybe
No Red Crosses. Just Red Blood.
Or how about the slightly more wicked
Maybe we can’t get into their heads, but we CAN get into their hearts.
So: Ideas, anyone? Thoughts? Volunteers?
(Just FYI: I know for a fact that I can’t be the main organizer. I’m hamstrung by debts and the struggle to make a living right now and, in the midst of focusing on that, it’s all I can do to manage the blog.)