AIDS

Wonderful, thought provoking program on PBS the other day. 25 years of AIDS. I remember in high school- it was the gay/monkey disease. Then, about 1990, we all got scared, really scared. Among the girls we would talk about who we slept with and it wasn't them-- but about who they slept with. One girl had a bi-sexual boy friend, or at least she was beginning to think that. She was scared. The question came about-- to test or not to test. And it didn't matter if you had only one partner or a dozen or so, we came to the realization that we have all slept with everyone else that person slept with. (Which made some really interesting conversations with the guys-- the whole girl on girl thing)

I was tested back in 1990- it was a requirement to get a marriage license. Some people would give blood on a regular basis, so they knew they were negative. There were only a couple of people in the group who you would consider high risk. Most of us were just city kids in Chicago. I do remember, we were scared. Our lifestyles changed. We all knew sex could get you sick (VD it was called back in those days, and hey-- pop a few pills and you'd be okay), but to think you could die-- things did change.

I know and have seen quite a bit in my life, but I have never seen first hand the ravages of this disease. There is so much I thought I forgot about those years but looking back I remember some very specific moments. Like, going to church and having our pastor bring in a doctor to talk about AIDS. I also remember the story of Jesus and the man with leprosy. I remember fear and compassion. Mostly fear.

It's strange to think 25 years later, we have a pill that can give a guy a hard-on, but with all our research, we cannot prevent or cure this disease. The world has some strange priorities.