I dont often talk about this subject. I am grateful for my health and busy getting on with my life. But this anniversary means something to me and I am happy to see that others are taking action on an issue that concerns me. 33 years ago today the CDC made its first announcement about the disease that would become known as HIV/AIDS. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died before effective treatments slowed the carnage. As of today, nearly 600,000 Americans have died of AIDS. 15,000 will still die this year. There were the same number of deaths in the American Civil War, and a similar demographic - primarily young men struck down in their prime. The nation memorialized the soldiers of the Civil War, north and south, and we still carry on the Memorial Day established to honor them. That war also left long scars on the living. The grieving parents, the widows and fatherless children, the wounded veterans who would carry physical and emotional scars for the rest of their lives were all casualties of that war. How have we remembered the dead and treated the survivors of our war, the HIV epidemic? Maybe it is time to think about that. Maybe it is time to recognize that those who lived through those years in the communities most affected have physical and emotional scars but are not honored, even within those communities. Maybe it is time to admit that HIV/AIDS did not go away in 1997, it just became invisible to those not still living with it. Maybe it is time to show some respect.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 22:46:24 +0000
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