Today’s post is in support of Blogger’s Unite. In case you missed my explanation last month, “Bloggers Unite is an attempt to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By asking bloggers to write about a particular subject on 1 day of the month, a single voice can be joined with thousands to help make a difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or supporting 3rd world countries”
This month’s subject: World AIDS Day. Sadly this is a subject I know far too much about and probably one of the hardest subjects for me to speak on. I was in high school when I first heard the word AIDS. I was in my early 20’s when I started to watch a generation of people fade from existence. I never expected to witness so many lives ending just as mine seemed to be beginning. Men and women under the age of 30 morphed into hollow versions of their former selves. Almost overnight they seemed to age decades. The sharpest of minds became confused by the simplest of tasks. Eyes, once so full of life, became vacant, desperate, and terrified. It broke my heart over and over and over again until I couldn’t feel it anymore.
Contrary to what a lot of people think, AIDS doesn’t kill you. It destroys your immune system to the point that an insignificant germ, harmless to everyone around you, becomes deadly. Just when I thought I’d seen every bizarre infection, I’d run into someone with a twelve syllable disease I’d never heard of before, and found out they could have gotten it because they liked their eggs sunny-side up.
Back in those days the treatment for the disease wasn’t much better than the disease itself. I had friends who made the conscious decision to discontinue treatment and plan their funerals instead. Others made back-up plans. They set up pacts with those they could trust to help them put an end to things if they became stricken with the infection that terrified them the most.
Today we mark the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, and to the next generation I’d like to say: It’s not over. Infection rates are on the rise in groups that once felt they were insulated from exposure. Sadly, if it hasn’t touched your life in some way, the odds are it will. Just because you don’t see it in the news everyday, doesn’t mean it isn’t still a deadly disease. Some experts even think we could be on the verge of a second coming of the disease. This new version, mutated by failed therapies could be even more insidious than the first. And in countries where regular medical treatment isn’t accessible, this threat is even more of a reality. Please, don’t be complacent. I hope none of you have to witness the images that burned themselves so deeply into my mind’s eye. But if you do – Don’t give up the fight. Don’t give up hope.
I’d like to close by honoring the memory of four people who meant the world to me:
Ty L. Goodnight – left us in 1991
Phil “Causha” Exstrom – left us in 1994
Shawn Eric Roe – left us in 1999
Lester (Shawn) Cummings – left us in 2000
Each of you helped make me who I am today & I thank you for it. I think of you often, miss you more than you know, and I’ll remember you always. My happiest mornings are the ones when I wake up after dreaming you’re still alive. We’ll meet again one day & we’ll laugh so hard we cry – only this time I won’t have to cry alone afterwards.
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