Blood, sweat and jeers
I want to talk about politics again this week as my “Open letter to our next president” column on Jan. 24 brought about more reader response than I expected. Unfortunately it has yet to garner much response from the candidates.
I'll get to that in a minute, but first there's something much more important that I want to write about. Though there isn't much in this country that's more important than who we elect as our next president, the topic of saving lives and the deficit in our local blood supply seems to be about as important as it gets.
According to the American Red Cross, the winter storm a few weeks back caused the cancellation of several blood drives. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but similarly to the way our streams and lakes are way below their normal levels due to drought, the blood supply for this region is dangerously low as well. Prior to the winter storm the Red Cross was warning local residents that it has little more than a day's supply of types O, B and A blood. Then a few days of snow and ice prevented the collection of 625 units of blood or platelets. Considering that each unit of blood can save up to two lives, that's too many risks to be taking when it comes to life or death situations.
All blood types are needed, and anyone 17 or older, weighing at least 110 pounds and in generally good health can donate. For more information, call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.
Upcoming blood drives for Caldwell County include:
€ Monday, Feb. 18 - Yadkin Baptist Church, 2044 Roby Martin Road, Lenoir from 2:30-7 p.m.
€ Tuesday, Feb. 19 - Blue Ridge Electric will host a blood drive from 7:30 a.m.-noon. Blue Ridge Electric is located at 1216 Blowing Rock Blvd. NE in Lenoir.
€ Thursday, Feb. 21 - Quest4Life in Lenoir will host a blood drive from 2:30-7 p.m. Quest4Life is located at 1031 Morganton Boulevard in Lenoir.
€ Saturday, Feb. 23 - Colliers Methodist Church will have a blood drive from 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. The church is located at 113 Clarks Chapel Road, Lenoir.
It only takes about 30 minutes to make a donation, but it could equal a lifetime for someone else.
Now, back to the presidential race.
Several readers said “Amen” to my sentiments, and others have inquired whether anyone has responded.
Not surprisingly, there have been only two responses and I don't really count what I did receive over the past five days.
Just to recap, I basically expressed my disappointment in North Carolina's “late” primary not really meaning anything and that I wanted each candidate to have an opportunity to speak directly to News-Topic readers. The three topics I brought up were: recent job losses, gas prices and the Social Security/healthcare crisis in this country.
I received only two replies, and neither directly addressed my concerns. I won't share the names of the candidates who “wrote back” (one of them dropped out of the race Wednesday) due to the simple fact that neither correspondence was sincere. No one deserves credit for forwarding a canned e-mail. Both manufactured messages made reference to the race in South Carolina (hello, I'm writing from the other Carolina) and several other topics that had nothing to do with my letter. To beat it all, I'm now receiving countless e-mails asking for money, support and their vote.
It's no wonder that voter apathy is so high.
I know that all of the remaining candidates are out there working hard (sweat), but I can't help but wonder if the concerns of real Americans are truly reaching their ears (jeers).
If I happen to get a real reply (which is about as likely as John Edwards coming in last at a grinning contest), I'll be sure to pass it along as soon as possible.
Edward Terry
Editor