Bloodlines

WALLY SALINGER

The most precious substance in the world is not traded on stock exchanges. It’s not a metal or an idea, not an option on something that may never come to fruition. It is a liquid but not a fossil fuel.

It is packed with the most amazing atoms and molecules and the reason every cell in your body lives. We underestimate its value, potential and historical significance.

There is not a culture which does not honour the blood shed by its people in the name of freedom, conquest, honour or sacrifice. A lifetime of study would not exhaust the bizarre, secretive practices associated when mixing blood and religion. Christians symbolically drink it, Christ shed it, Muslims ensure that it is carefully drained from meat. Video games are built on acquiring additional ‘lives’ from the enemy’s death.

Science tells us the lumps coursing through our arteries are more important than the fluids. The lumps collect oxygen and dump it for consumption by cells, then reverse the process with chemical toxins to arrange their deportation to the human body’s internal transfer station for recycling, processing and re-use or expulsion.

Though somewhat smaller, white blood cells form an internal army that is necessary for healing and immunity. They reproduce faster than Hyundais on a Korean production line to destroy foreign organisms.

Blood types separate the human species into subgroups. Theories involving how we behave, how we process food and fluids, likes and dislikes, reactions to stress and what turns us on or off have some proponents prescribing food groups, exercise patterns, sleep requirements and relationship needs based on blood types alone. They have been used to explain weight gain or loss and lifestyle choices.

Our physical constitution requires blood to circulate regularly through our body. The best way to do this is to stress the body with exercise most days of the week for a minimum of 40 minutes with an elevated heart rate. This contradiction of physical stress being good and psychological stress being not so good is the basis of a healthy life.

It doesn’t have to be hard work or painful. Sport and exercise are much easier when done in a social group. Find a team and get out to play: www.queersportsmelbourne.org