by Rosa Hayes

Created on: January 13, 2009

Giving blood is a selfless act that many do everyday to help save lives. Knowing that you did your part to save someone's life that you don't even know should be reward in itself. The cool t-shirt that you walk away with is also cool but not as cool as being able to know that you did your part by giving blood.

Giving blood takes a lot of patience but it is well worth the satisfaction that you get when you walk out of the blood donation center knowing what you did and why you did it. Giving blood means that you took the time to give someone something that could help them to live longer and by this I would have to say that it is a selfless act.

The best incentive to motivate a selfless act like giving blood should be that of saving a life and knowing that someday it could by you or a loved one that needs the blood and it may not be there since many people have not or will not be donating in the future.

One incentive that many people have probably been waiting for is money but I don't see this happening in the future since many schools and other centers such as hospitals are doing their best to advertise the need for blood and what it can do for others. An incentive for money is given to people for donating plasma and many are probably waiting the day when they give you money for donating blood.

Another incentive that is given is a t-shirt with an above average saying on it that many people like. I have seen shirts in the form of "real cowboys give blood" and "I donated to save a life" and these are all great but did you know that you truly are helping those who may be dying from blood loss.

An incentive doesn't always have to be given and for those who have had someone lose blood and need to have a transfusion, they know the importance of donating. Donating to save lives is one of the best incentives that you could possibly give someone.

An incentive for donating blood could be to give out small gift certificates after so many donations to motivate people to give blood and to do it often. Name recognition might also be a good incentive for giving blood such as posting the top donators for all to see. Small incentives may be given in the future but if you are looking for a much bigger incentive for doing a selfless act such as donating blood, you might want to look into donating plasma instead.

Donating blood to help save lives is a feeling that I can not explain but it is one that will help you sleep better at night when you know that you just helped to save a life.

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