world AIDS day

yesterday was world AIDS day. what happened to the AIDS quilt? does anyone remember that? when we used to make large panels to celebrate the life of someone who had died of AIDS. they used to spread it out in front of the washington monument and it seemed to go for miles. yesterday kind of came and went.

 

true, AIDS in the u.s. is a different beast than it is in the rest of the world, especially in Africa and other developing nations. it is no longer the ferocious death sentence here, instead it stalks silently. the naive, the uneducated, the victims.
 i am flabbergasted when someone says to me that AIDS is curable, or like herpes or diabetes.  THIS IS A LIE

some facts from my second home, tanzania:1,300,000: Estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2007
6.2%: Estimated percentage of adults (ages 15-49) living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2007
140,000: Estimated number of children (ages 0-15) living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2007
96,000: Estimated number of deaths due to AIDS during 2007

i can't remember how old i was when i went to my first funeral. but i have been to far too many. many were celebrations of life, one even had a full on dance troupe, but i never learned to rejoice.

PLEASE. use condoms. practice safe sex.
don't share needles.
where ever you are take a moment, just one moment, to think.
being HIV+ is not an excuse to be unsafe.
having HIV in NOT a scouts badge.