Today on World AIDS Day I reflect on the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS across the globe, and those many people over the last 30-plus years who have died due to HIV/AIDS or related complications. My thoughts are also on the importance of change and growth. Colleagues, friends, past lovers and family who due to advances in modern treatment options and support, are able to live, and not die, with HIV. I am thinking on the folk who are getting up each day with this now manageable disease and making the choices that support their health and the health of their partners. I am thinking on those friends and colleagues who are living full and impact-full lives, some standing boldly in the truth of their HIV-status and working towards changing attitudes. I am thinking on others too, who choose perhaps to live more quietly, but are still being just as bold in their personal or professional work toward change. Hats off to all of you. On the flip, my thoughts are also with those who might not be doing quite as well. Truth is, there are still people even here in Toronto who are struggling with their health and HIV. Those folks who, because of a myriad of factors, most specifically HIV-stigma, fear and shame, may be struggling with getting tested, seeking treatment, maintaining their health, or in some instances making the choices to ensure the health of their partners. These are the people, some of whom I know (some of whom I’ve loved), who have been silenced and disempowered by stigma. My thoughts are on you too. My thoughts are also with the rest of us. Those of us who in truth are only one partner, one moment, one choice away from HIV. Those of us who are consistent in our practices, those of us who aren’t, and those of us who slip up from time to time. Nearly 7 years ago thanks to my first and only broken condom, I had my own scare. It shifted my whole understanding of HIV, and changed the way I did my work. That three months of fear and doubt tapped into a reservoir that had previously been absent from me; integrity. Prior to that moment, I had worked with people with HIV, supported folk, did education in community, but in my personal life was batshit scared of HIV, and more truthfully, of those who had it. That brief scare did however foster something in me that is important for all of us to acquire if we’re to really end this disease – compassion not sympathy - for all the people who are living (and thankfully thriving too) with HIV. Sympathy sees HIV-positive folks as victims (or in some cases villains), compassion sees people as people, just like everybody else. I acquired compassion. I now acknowledge that I don’t have to be infected to be affected, to give a shit, and to know, from a place of understanding and no longer of fear, that at any point it could be me. My thoughts are on all of us in this boat, and on the work we can do in every moment to both combat stigma, build community, and yes, to also ensure we remain free of HIV. So today, on World AIDS Day and on behalf of Sunset Service, my nephew James Japheth Ken Bailey, my spiritual-partner Rev. Chiedza Pasipanodya and I came together to put together a word and some prayer, recognizing those who’ve been lost to, those currently living with (both well or not), those at risk for, and those who just care about HIV. This was our offering. Please, take a listen.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 14:04:13 +0000
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