I Hate Needles :: Personal Narrative

I Hate Needles    Dr. Ross’ comments: As part of our study of American Literature, my class and I explore the continuing theme of â€Å"connection to community† as revealed by the writers. I also offer my students bonus points for performing a community service and writing about their own â€Å"connection to community† as discovered through their act of service. This student chose to donate blood and writes a surprisingly delightful description of her experience. She humorously finds her own good connections. I hate needles. That doesn’t come as a shock to most people who know me. I’m a wuss. I have a fairly long list of phobias, but needles rank right up there at the top. I once read somewhere that public speaking is the number one fear of most Americans. Coming in a not-so-close second place was death. So the way I interpret that statistic, that must mean that at a funeral, most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. That’s pretty shocking. So what does this have to do with my fear of needles, you may ask? Not much. I just figured that since this paper is for extra credit, I can pretty much write whatever I want and not have to worry about getting a bad grade for being creative, so I just thought I’d throw that in there for giggles and make it a little more entertaining. But it actually does tie in. Can you guess what the third-ranking fear of most Americans is? Needles. (Okay, not really. I made all that up, but I hear t hat 90% of all statistics are made up anyway, so I guess it is possible that I could’ve read that somewhere.) So I’m terrified of needles, but they say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I am certainly banking on that to be true every time I go to the Blood Center to donate blood, which is about every two months. I don’t like it, but it’s just such a good thing to do. I used to give whenever they would come around in those buses, but I stopped doing that after my first visit to the Blood Center. I discovered that you get much more individual attention when you go to the Blood Center at about seven o’clock on a Thursday night.