World AIDS Day

Just a personal reflection... 

World AIDS day has come and gone again this year. Like most global problems, the AIDS epidemic has failed to concretely affect the lives of most Americans. It isn’t our problem because it is an “African problem,” half a world away on the “Dark Continent.”

For the record, I’m no better myself. My routine did not change, I did nothing different than I would have any other Thursday. AIDS is, at best, a vague reality in my existence. AIDS has only briefly touched my life, once, when I was in high school.

Anyone who grew-up in a small town knows how quickly gossip spreads, especially when it is scandalous or particularly juicy. And few topics during the 80’s were more dramatic and/or scary than AIDS. So when word began to spread that a senior at a nearby high school had contracted AIDS while serving over-seas in the military, the gossip spread at a frenetic pace.

Everybody was talking about it, “Can you believe…?” Paranoia spread, many were afraid to be anywhere near him, “He works at Hardies, I’m not going to eat there anymore…” Some even responded with threats of violence, “If he gets close to me I’m going to kick his @ss.” Obviously, most reactions were caused by fear and ignorance.

That was as close as AIDS has ever been to me: “some guy” in my hometown who I met a couple of times, with a name I cannot remember. As big of an issue has AIDS has become, it isn’t palpable to me. My AIDS knowledge is scientific, not emotional.

While education has produced a better understanding of AIDS, actual progress on stopping the spread or curing AIDS have been woefully slow. It is not easy to turn-back the tide of such a colossal problem. This is especially true in the United States; so few Americans have been directly affected by the disease.

I’m sorry for being a “Debbie Downer” on a Friday, but I felt compelled to reflect about the AIDS epidemic. I have no resolution, no answers, only hope that I’ll live to see the day that AIDS is referred to only in the past tense.