Christmas 2012

The ending of this holiday leaves me feeling indescribable sadness.  It is as if I feel all of the world’s loneliness and all of the world’s loss.  It isn’t even just because of the recent shooting in Newtown, CT.  It is a sadness in how American culture has turned out: something that is BIG, BIG news today, is forgotten tomorrow.  Already, not even two weeks after the school shooting, you can hardly find a single news article on the subject.

What happened to everyone’s passion?  Did it, too, die like those children?

The school shooting is really just the latest symptom of an apathetic American society.  Every single day children die from hunger, yet there is no call to arms.  Every day there are shootings, yet they leave no impression on the collective psyche.  Every day people still die from HIV and AIDS, yet to find a news story on anything HIV related is like looking in a field for a 4-leaf clover.

I know New Years is a few days off; and I know that to make a resolution is almost a sure bet that it will be broken.  However, despite that, I resolve to make 2013 the year that HIV will be given a new voice.  I resolve to be a loud voice in HIV education and outreach.

I will probably become an annoying voice, but that is nothing new to me.  But even a tiny mosquito can not be ignored, and even though a mosquito's life does not last but a millisecond after it is acknowledged, I will not be silenced.  My ROTC instructor used to always say that if you throw enough mud against a wall, some of it will stick.  

My message will be this:

I believe everyone should be tested for HIV.
I believe HIV criminalization should end.
I believe the HIV stigma should begin from within; own your status.
I believe safe sex should happen every time, not just most of the time.

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