It goes without saying that there are always plenty of negatives in the world.
But if you try hard enough, you can find a positive in just about all of them.
And there would be few more positive sights for the staff at blood banks at the moment than new blood donors, given the supply of life-saving blood is under critical pressure.
Across Australia, blood donations currently are at record low levels as illnesses force donors to cancel appointments.
Nationally thousands of donor appointments per week are being cancelled, postponed or simply not attended.
There is a need for 0-negative blood especially.
O-negative blood can be given to anyone needing a transfusion, but fewer than one in 14 Australians have it, making about seven per cent of the population particularly valuable to Red Cross.
There are seven other main blood types, with some more rare or versatile than others.
But Lifeblood, the Red Cross branch that manages the nation's life-saving blood products, does not discriminate.
Someone you know is bound to need blood one day because one in three Australians do at some point.
What that means is a donation is needed in this country every 18 seconds.
If you are not motivated simply by knowing blood donation is likely to impact your life or that of someone you love, Kate Waterford's story illustrates the issue's importance.
She has been giving blood for more than 10 years and has this weekend urged new or lapsed donors to help make up the shortfalls at centres that have been almost empty in recent days.
Ms Waterford knows the power of blood donation not only because she has given her own, but also because transfusions have saved her life on three occasions.
She will never know the names of the people who kept her alive, nor will those she has saved know hers.
That sort of selflessness is why those who give the gift of life are, as Ms Waterford puts it, "absolute heroes".
Give blood today if you can.
The life you save may be someone you know and love, and even if it isn't, you'll still be someone's "hero".
That is a positive thing.
https://www.lifeblood.com.au
Craig Thomson
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
