World AIDS day, 2021
It has been over 40 years since knowledge of the human immunodeficiency virus began to creep into the human consciousness and we began to die at an alarming rate. Now, millions of us have died and tens of millions of us live with the virus lurking in our bodies. Still, there is no cure only door stop treatments that currently hold the virus at bay. Worst of all, these treatments while keeping us alive, have inspired many to drop their protection guard regarding HIV and AIDS (two names for the same thing) as more of an annoyance than a potentially lethal life long disease.
My personal experience began back in 1991 when I lived in Richmond, Virginia. My partner discovered he was infected with HIV. Absolutely everything about our lives changed overnight. We both fought to find something that would prevent the inevitible, but of course, there was nothing to find and in January 1993, while I was holding him in my arms, he drew his last breath. In 2005, the virus that avoided being detected for 10 years, burst into my life and I tested positive for the virus. I was not only positive but my immune system was so trashed that I was designated as having full blown AIDS. By that time treatments had been developed to put the virus in a suspended state, but not eradicate it. To make things worse, the drugs were toxic and life was anything but normal ever since. Today, the drugs have changed, but the result has not, the virus will not go away. Science has since learned so much about HIV and and retro viruses in general, but the more we learn, the more we discover just how far that we have to go. Even worse, respect for the virus and what it can do has nearly disappeared thus people are becoming careless. One does not have to take a personal oath of celibacy like I did, but for humanities sake protect yourself and if you can't bring yourself to do that then at least protect those with whom you mingle. It is not hard to do and, you can still live a full life. If all of us were to stop spreading this around, when we die the virus dies with us. Yeah, it sounds gruesome, and it is, but nothing else seems to work. We must reevaluate how we live our lives so we can simply live.
So today we solumnly acknowledge World AIDS day and remember the millions upon millions who have died from AIDS. Millions upon millions that might still be with us. It is time for all of us, every last one to commit to doing our part to eradicate HIV. We know we can react quickly to a viral threat as demonstrated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we can use that same energy to bring HIV to it's knees. This is not a gay problem, the disease doesn't care who gets infected, the gay population has just managed, to keep it mostly to themselves. But, it won't stay that way. If you do not protect yourself, HIV will kill you.
I no longer post a red ribbon because it is no longer an effective motivation tool. All I can use is harsh words.
Peace.
My personal experience began back in 1991 when I lived in Richmond, Virginia. My partner discovered he was infected with HIV. Absolutely everything about our lives changed overnight. We both fought to find something that would prevent the inevitible, but of course, there was nothing to find and in January 1993, while I was holding him in my arms, he drew his last breath. In 2005, the virus that avoided being detected for 10 years, burst into my life and I tested positive for the virus. I was not only positive but my immune system was so trashed that I was designated as having full blown AIDS. By that time treatments had been developed to put the virus in a suspended state, but not eradicate it. To make things worse, the drugs were toxic and life was anything but normal ever since. Today, the drugs have changed, but the result has not, the virus will not go away. Science has since learned so much about HIV and and retro viruses in general, but the more we learn, the more we discover just how far that we have to go. Even worse, respect for the virus and what it can do has nearly disappeared thus people are becoming careless. One does not have to take a personal oath of celibacy like I did, but for humanities sake protect yourself and if you can't bring yourself to do that then at least protect those with whom you mingle. It is not hard to do and, you can still live a full life. If all of us were to stop spreading this around, when we die the virus dies with us. Yeah, it sounds gruesome, and it is, but nothing else seems to work. We must reevaluate how we live our lives so we can simply live.
So today we solumnly acknowledge World AIDS day and remember the millions upon millions who have died from AIDS. Millions upon millions that might still be with us. It is time for all of us, every last one to commit to doing our part to eradicate HIV. We know we can react quickly to a viral threat as demonstrated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we can use that same energy to bring HIV to it's knees. This is not a gay problem, the disease doesn't care who gets infected, the gay population has just managed, to keep it mostly to themselves. But, it won't stay that way. If you do not protect yourself, HIV will kill you.
I no longer post a red ribbon because it is no longer an effective motivation tool. All I can use is harsh words.
Peace.