This is an illness that is close to my heart. This is something that has taken numerous family members out of my life and the life of my loved ones. I can count six family members I've lost to this killer that is AIDS. Did it have to be that way? Did the stigma of having the disease kill those that died because they were to ashamed to seek treatment and help? Could one question have saved their lives?
I live in Belle Glade, Florida. A small rural town on the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee. We are a farming community, here the haves really have a lot, and the have nots really have nothing. The gap between the population in economics and education is staggering. We are in Palm Beach County, just 40 plus miles away from Donald Trump's Mara Lago. Yet we may never see it outside of the local news, or magazine. This is the very same community that was once featured in a documentary during the early 1980's about how AIDS had destroyed and taken so many lives in our area, and how we had such a high rate of infection, a fact that made many ashamed to admit they were from Belle Glade, Pahokee, or South Bay. Those people that were lucky enough to move away often told others that they were from West Palm Beach, or simply Palm Beach County. It was hard to say they were from here because people automatically -out of ignorance, placed the stigma of AIDS on them. I was born, raised, educated, and still live in this community with nearly my entire family. Our three cities Belle Glade, Pahokee,and South Bay all sit within a ten mile radius of eachother, and are often called the Glades tri-city area.
It is quite different now and we have so much more information and education on the subject of this illness, its effects, treatment, and contraction. I can't help wonder if the stigma had been removed from this illness, had it not been so taboo, would so many people have lost their lives battling, or not battling this disease. AIDS is proof that silence can be deadly. Not sharing or knowing can kill and cause those still living great pain. At this very moment I know someone in my immediate family infected with AIDS. Their face hasn't turned green. It's not stamped on their forehead. They don't have a number tattooed across their face. If they don't inform you of their status you may very well not know they are infected. That's why it is so important to be tested. It is so important to be treated. I know first hand that this person is a survivor, with an undetectable viral load. The amount of infection in their blood is so low that it is not easily detected on some tests. This can only come from treatment. The only way to eradicate AIDS is to stop the spread. It is important to know your status and that of your partner, or partners. Think of it as if your playing russian roulet. Everytime you have unprotected sex, you are putting a loaded gun to your head and not knowing if a bullet is going to come out and end it all for you. No momentary feeling of temporary pleasure, and superficial love is worth the rest of your life. People do live with AIDS and HIV the virus that causes it, but life is much simpler and healthier without it.
Anyone willing to put a gun to their heads should know if there is a bullet in it. The truth is LOVE. If you are truly loved and you truly love anyone in this world you will tell them the truth. You will know your status. You will not put them in the position my family has been in time and time again having to bury and care for suffering loved ones. You will not put yourself in the positon to suffer. When it comes down to it, be polite to no one. Ask the hard questions that hurt their feelings, make them uncomfortable, and uneasy. Ask them their status, when they were tested, to see results, to be retested. Don't just accept an answer, demand proof. Sometimes hurt feelings can save your life. The person I know that was infected was told that the person who infected them was infected. They believed this person when they said they weren't infected. Trust and not asking the hard questions didn't benefit them. They are no longer in that relationship, but the person that infected them looks better than they did before they were infected themselves. They look young and strong, with beautiful smooth skin, physically fit,and nice white teeth. Thats why you must know for yourself. The face of AIDS belongs to all of us because it doesn't look any different.
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