Burnt Orange Report

World AIDS Day

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Though I wrote this entry two years ago on my personal site, I think it is still appropriate for today, December 1.

I cannot say that I write this entry today in honor of World AIDS Day for I feel sad that such a day should be honored. It is sad that such a day should have to exist. It is sad that I know that this day will continue to exist. For years to come.

That said, I write.

I have not ever had to deal with AIDS. I do not know of anyone close that has died of AIDS. I do not know of anyone close that has AIDS.

But I am blind to the world. I know that even though I have not been affected by AIDS, I have been.

And that makes me sad.

I have not known the pain- the pain of those that suffer from the disease, the pain of those families who know a friend is dying, the pain of those who have gone to the funeral of a friend. Or lover.

I have not known the hate that has been directed toward HIV+ people. I have not known the discrimination they have undergone because of the simple change from a - to a + after HIV.

I do not know the boy who is wasting away on the streets of a big city, because they have no life left, because their family has outcast them because of their orientation. I do not know that boy who ended up dying of AIDS because his parents could not accept him for who he was in the first place. I do not know the girl who is alone and quite and dying from AIDS because she sells herself to make money, not to buy AIDS drugs to save her life, but to buy food so that she has a life to save.

But what I do know is that too many people are ignoring these people, ignoring these stories, ignoring the facts.

I do know that my generation is ignorant. How can we be so naive as to deem ourselves invincible? How can we be so unforgiving? How can we forget?

We can forget because we never knew.
But that is no excuse. Because excuses are what end up spreading this plague.

Let this be not just a day that is forgotten once it passes. Let this not just be a month in which we just casually think about it. Let this be a reminder, an everlasting reminder, of what has and is happening so that we may be able to stop it from continuing to happen tomorrow.