So it happens in my life that i come to owe a friend 10 maybe 20 dollars. either unemployed or between paychecks at that time i rarely have extra cash so it is likely i may not have the money to give them. I have found a fairly consistent and effective means of procuring this money. I donate plasma at biolife. So I am borrowing from friends, for alcohol, food, whatever ..maybe a dubie..then i pay them back by donating my livelihood, a part of me. Not even a byproduct of my body but something it uses consistently. I'm just lucky enough to be able to produce it fast enough that I can sell it multiple times a week.
Some say there are health concerns, some say there are not. Certainly it is not as if I am just as healthy not donating as I am donating for the business makes sure I am healthy on the days that I donate. Think about their position, they have a business based on people giving a part of themselves for a measly sum of money compared to what they get for it.
Certainly much about this is parasitic in nature. I give a part of my body for something in return. By the end I've given my plasma to put money in my friends pockets for alcohol in my veins. Isn't that a curious exchange. Plasma which is the fluid that separates my blood cells is rather indirectly replaced by alcohol in my bloodstream. Should I be worried about this? Is this the most unhealthy and common college practice amongst my friends?
And certainly there are people who donate at biolife who replace their plasma with much harder, fiercer, scarier drugs. Heroin, Meth. So how parasitic is this? And who is the parasite. The company who takes it from us? The things we acquire with the money we are given for our plasma? Is it our plasma? Is it us? I guess it all depends on the perspective on has on the situation.
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I would really like to hear you dig into this notion of "how one does things with their blood".
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ReplyDeleteOoooh this is a really rich topic, and could easily be fleshed out in a thought experiment. If the blood bank is the origin of the parasite, then it is a parasitic reaction all the way down the line. Is money the parasite? The blood bank is taking advantage of poor people with time on their hands, giving them just barely enough compensation to make it worth the exchange. Money for blood. Blood Money. Blood bank. You should so roll with this! Thanks for writing on a topic that I've been curious about for years, more particularly blood donation. It's almost as if human goodness is the parasite there. I always inquire at those booths, asking questions I already know the answers to, like: "How much does the blood bank get paid for a pint of blood? You don't know? What a shame. Why don't you google it sometime. Every pint of blood saves how many lifes? Hmm... interesting. So there's a shortage of blood, eh? Do you think you could give the people donating a cut? That might get more people to donate, just a thought..."
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