To use this on Monday (or from today until Monday) as your signature line, either quote this post and cut and paste the vB code into your sig line editor, or manually choose the font “webdings” and type a “minus” (-).
(Not that I advocate a sudden plethora of different colored ribbon campaigns or anything, just that the red AIDS ribbon was the original IIRC and is, I feel, a worthwhile awareness-raising mechanism for one day).
Anyone with stories of courage or loss related to HIV and AIDS are also encouraged to share here.
If I may post a tribute to Grant. He helped my homophobic family, or at least some of them, see that he was just a normal guy. We miss you Grant.
Melissa
I was born in San Francisco in 1978. Just at the time I was becoming, you know, aware of my surroundings, when I was about five years old, AIDS was beginning to run wild. The AIDS epidemic is one of my formatic experiences, listening to the grown-ups talking about how this person was sick and that person was sick. It was too much for me to comprehend; it wasn’t one or two people, it was like everyone was dying.
Anyway, I remember when I was about, of, twelve or thirteen or so, asking my dad who he respected most in the whole world, and he told me that would be his former coworker, Ben. My dad explained: when AIDS began to be a serious problem and people were still not 100% sure what caused it, a lot of people were pretty paranoid. But Ben would go out of his way to become friends with HIV/AIDS patients, to make sure that they weren’t alone, that they had support. The world needs more people like that.
More currently, the African AIDS crisis is probably the single worst thing in the world today. God, I can’t imagine how it’s going to improve.