Civic duty

I dont like the word duty. It means obligation and responsibility. You are not obligated to do something you volunteer for. This is a common term though probably coined by our "founding fathers." It means to vote in elections, sit in jury duty, pay your taxes, etc. But it really means much more. In our society we really should be civic minded. We really should volunteer more. I find that the attitude of most people is what can society do for me.

I volunteer with some of my time, sweat, blood, and money. Since the mid 90's I have volunteered my time and sweat with Adopt-A-Highway. Litter really irks me, so this may be a driving force behind my volunteering. The best thing would be to educate the idiots who litter, but that would not completely solve the problem. So, 4 times a year I get together with some coworkers and we pick up trash along our stretch of highway. More frequently, I pick up trash along the road in front of my house. I cant say that is civic duty though, I am trying to keep my yard looking nice.

Today I am giving blood. I donate platelets and the process takes about 2 hours. They take blood from one arm, run it through a machine to separate the platelets, and then return the blood to the other arm. One can donate platelets every 4 days. Right now, I am on a schedule to donate every 3 weeks. The local blood center tries to keep the schedule for this machine full. I was "chosen" for this procedure because I have the most common blood type, and they apparently have enough of that type. Platelets are most commonly given to cancer patients and other patients with blood disorders.

I really think that I could do more. What do you do?