It was 1996 when I really started to learn about AIDs and HIV. We had heard about it in high school and there were references on the news, television, and the movies. Back then people who were HIV+ were pariahs and if they got full blown AIDs, they were dying quickly. I got this pin at Hartwick College. One of my friends had an uncle who died of AIDs. She herself has since passed away at a young age from ovarian cancer. She wanted people to know more and for us to find a cure.
This pin has seen better days, for sure. It's been scratched, nicked, thrown around, moved to different cities, and has lost its luster. In some ways, the search for a cure is the same thing. Now there is a search for a cure for everything else too. With the amazing advances in preventing the spread of HIV+ from one person to another, and the medical advancements that have all but stopped death from AIDs in the developed world, the search for a cure has almost slowed.
My prayer today for World Aids Day:
Creator, Loving, and Healing God. First, thank you. Always thank you first for all you have done and will do. Thank you for medical advancements like Prep, Truvada, and medicines for people who are HIV + to lower their viral load to undetectable. Thank you for holding my friends who are positive and those that don't know in your hands and comforting them. Thank you for the brains of the scientists who have achieved this much and are poised to achieve more. God, my God, please help us find a cure for HIV and AIDs. Give strength and peace to those affected by this both directly and indirectly. We feel your love and know that you can help us all, so that the world is free of both the disease and the stigma against those who have it.
Amen
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