Editorial: Donate and savour your gift of life

I'VE got a rather nice bottle of 2006 red wine at home and it's apparently on the cusp of reaching its prime time for being opened and savoured.
Which we will do, when the appropriate occasion arises.
I was going to suggest the final whistle of the 2011 Rugby World Cup but fate is not a trivial thing to tempt.
What it's actually worth ... I don't know ... except that someone tied up with the winery which produced it said he didn't think they even had any of that vintage left and he offered me $100.
I offered to give him the empty bottle back after it had been consumed, along with a glassful of it.
"Not the same," he laughed.
So, if I assume that 750ml of this dark red potion is worth $100, what would six litres of the stuff be worth?
Well, about $800.
A valuable liquid indeed, but at the end of the day (or the end of the glass), its value is nothing compared with the six litres or so you and I have got corked up inside.
Blood.
Life blood, literally.
Without it ... forget it.
You can lose your car keys or your wallet but it's not the end of the world. But become a serious victim of violent misfortune and lose a few litres of this fancy "vino" and you are in terrible trouble.
Just as valuable as the red stuff itself is the person who produces it ... the donor.
At this time of the year, with winter's ailments and chills hobbling more folk than usual, the donations of blood fall back and that is the case here in the Bay.
So it warmed my blood recently to hear of a teenager, who had never donated blood before, approaching the Bay's blood donor service to do her bit. Nervous? Oh yes ... to the point of trembling, but her determination eclipsed her trepidation and she did it ... and has vowed to do it again.
Because, simply, it is about life.
Equally buoying is that some secondary schools are also now committed donor spots ... but there's been a shortage along the lines of fit, young blokes. The sort who play sports and are arguably on "top of their game" in terms of good health.
Come on lads ... where are you?
One day you might need something more valuable than a 750ml bottle of red.
You've seen the ads on TV ... the ones that warn against drinking then driving.
About how anyone who pursues that dangerous path is described as "a bloody idiot".
And that's good. So instead ... how about being a bloody donor?