Spare.

Dictionary.com defines the verb as “to give or lend, as from a supply, especially without inconvenience or loss.”

At that rate, why wouldn’t we spare roses this February, and perhaps all year long?

The premise is simple: click here, donate $5- the cost of a rose you may normally give to a loved one on Valentine’s Day (or, set up additional monthly donations if you can!), and save a child by providing life-sustaining insulin through your donation.

If you are reading this blog post from a cell phone or a computer screen, chances are you have $5.00 to spare.  If you do not, that is okay, too; instead, please help to spread the word about #sparearose.

What is $5.00 worth?

-one medium coffee and one donut from your local coffee shop

-half of a movie ticket  (What use is that?!)

-crappy red wine and a headache you don’t need, anyway

-an overpriced bottle of water at a sporting event

 

*****-And oh, yeah, A LIFE!!!!!!!!

 

Close your eyes and think of a time when you did not receive a viable amount of insulin for a few hours.  We have all been there: a kinked insulin pump cannula, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) during diagnosis or severe illness, or whatever the case may have been.  We have felt the heartburn and nausea of high ketones, the unquenchable thirst, and the longing for comfort that takes too long to get there.

For most of us, those days represent acute instances of distress.  Scary, yes.  Life-threatening, sometimes.  But if we are reading this blog post today, we somehow escaped diabetes’ wrath and are feeling better thanks to the insulin taking up all of the shelf space in our refrigerators.

Without insulin, kids in developing countries know that type of suffering intimately.  Those of us who are more fortunate cannot lay our heads on our pillows at night and be okay with that.  We understand diabetic ketoacidosis.  We have a moral obligation to curtail DKA as best we can before it senselessly takes any more lives.

If my words come off too harsh here- well, it is a risk I am willing to take.  If our moral obligation leaves us momentarily uncomfortable in our realization of its truth, so be it.  These kids are more than uncomfortable as they await insulin that they should have to begin with.  We owe it to them to do the right thing.

If you can, please spare a rose this February.  Through the simple act of sparing, we can dry so many tears.

Thank you