Do Good Already

Find something that is ridiculously easy to do that will benefit someone else and do it. Whether it's adding two dollars onto your electricity bill every month so that someone else can get a reduced bill or buying an extra can of food to donate every time you go to the grocery store. Just do it.

Here are the absolute simplest things that almost anyone can do to benefit humanity. If you don't know about these already then contact the organizations listed and tell them to increase their marketing budget:

1. Grow your hair out. Yes, this may apply more to women than men, but people will understand the hippie look if you're doing it for a good cause. Locks of Love takes donated hair and turns it into wigs for children under 18 who are suffering from hair loss due to medical illness or treatment. All they need is a 10 inch (tip to tip) ponytail or braid to combine with others and create wigs for children. Hair shorter than 10 inches is sold to offset the cost of making wigs. Normal hair growth is usually about 1/2 an inch per month, so be prepared to wait this one out.

2. Give Blood. The Red Cross holds blood drives or open donation banks almost everywhere at any time. Find the location nearest you at www.givelife.org and sign up to give ASAP. Their website gives a count of how many people need a transfusion every second, which looks like 2. Your eligibility to give depends on your health and health history, countries you've visited and prescriptions. The staff are highly trained and used to seeing blood all day, so they can help you out if you're a bit squeamish. And they usually have cookies on hand.

3. Register as an organ donor. Rules vary in each state but for the most part all you need to do is check a box on your driver's license and sign the back. Tell your loved ones that you want your organs donated if possible. As of November 28th, 2007 6:15pm there are 97,945 people in the U.S. waiting for transplants. If your religion or personal beliefs do not interfere, someone else can get a second chance at life after you go.

4. Will your body to science. States vary on laws and who can donate and who can accept, but generally medical schools are hard-up for cadavers to use for research. Living Bank has a good overview of options in each state, and the United Network for Organ Sharing oversees organ donation in the U.S.. Once you've found a medical school that will take willed bodies, they will give you registration material. Usually you have to sign your consent and arrange a way for the school to be notified of your death. Most schools will cremate the remains after they are finished and return them to your family. If you drop before you can finish all the paperwork yourself, your bereaved can fill out an after-death donor form to make sure your body bypasses the coffin and goes straight back to school.

I'm lazy, so #3 is done already, and I do #1 & #2 as often as possible. If your religion or beliefs interfere with any of these, you don't HAVE to do them to get good karma. Just find another way to make sure that the world is a little better because you're here. Because if you're not doing anything good for others, they might do the same for you.