AIDS day
When I was fifteen years old I caught the movie Longtime Companion on TV. It was one of the first movies that involved AIDS (in fact, I'm pretty certain that it was the second, preceded by An Early Frost, which was heavily censored) and, while slow at times, is really well done, especially for its time. This dialogue from the end scene stuck with me, and I think the point Willy makes is really important.
Willy: Seems inconceivable, doesn't it? That there was ever a time before all this? When you didn't wake up every day wondering, "Who's sick now?" "Who else is gone?"
Fuzzy: You ever wonder if they ever do find a cure people will go back to, you know, sleeping around?
Willy: Oh, who cares.
Fuzzy: Just a question.
Willy: I know. I know, but... I'm sorry, I just think that whether people do or don't sleep around, or what they do, it's just not the point. I'm sick of hearing people pontificate about it.
Lisa: Except us.
Willy: Except us, exactly.
I just want to be there, if they ever do find a cure. I just want to be there.
Of course, AIDS as an issue has changed now. In first world countries it's more of a chronic disease than a death sentence. In third world countries there's all the stigma that existed when AIDS was first discovered here, and plenty more on top of that. Plus, of course, there's the lack of health care and the constant need to battle pharmaceutical companies to get drugs to the people who need them. Then there's the orphaned generation, the children of AIDS victimes in Africa, who have no one to take them in, because there are already so many other orphans. There's so much that still needs to be done, and that can't be forgotten or diminished.
Despite changing dynamics and new discoveries, though, Willy's point remains. It doesn't matter how people become infected with HIV. Whether it was the baths, blood transfusions, a cheating spouse, a broken condom, a stupid one night stand, because your mother had it while she carried you; hell, it doesn't matter if it was a monkey-hunting accident. Everyone deserves care and treatment, and no one deserves to be abandoned. I think that of the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS, that perspective is among the most important.
Willy: Seems inconceivable, doesn't it? That there was ever a time before all this? When you didn't wake up every day wondering, "Who's sick now?" "Who else is gone?"
Fuzzy: You ever wonder if they ever do find a cure people will go back to, you know, sleeping around?
Willy: Oh, who cares.
Fuzzy: Just a question.
Willy: I know. I know, but... I'm sorry, I just think that whether people do or don't sleep around, or what they do, it's just not the point. I'm sick of hearing people pontificate about it.
Lisa: Except us.
Willy: Except us, exactly.
I just want to be there, if they ever do find a cure. I just want to be there.
Of course, AIDS as an issue has changed now. In first world countries it's more of a chronic disease than a death sentence. In third world countries there's all the stigma that existed when AIDS was first discovered here, and plenty more on top of that. Plus, of course, there's the lack of health care and the constant need to battle pharmaceutical companies to get drugs to the people who need them. Then there's the orphaned generation, the children of AIDS victimes in Africa, who have no one to take them in, because there are already so many other orphans. There's so much that still needs to be done, and that can't be forgotten or diminished.
Despite changing dynamics and new discoveries, though, Willy's point remains. It doesn't matter how people become infected with HIV. Whether it was the baths, blood transfusions, a cheating spouse, a broken condom, a stupid one night stand, because your mother had it while she carried you; hell, it doesn't matter if it was a monkey-hunting accident. Everyone deserves care and treatment, and no one deserves to be abandoned. I think that of the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS, that perspective is among the most important.