On World AIDS Day, Don't Forget
Every December 1st, World AIDS Day brings a chance to remember those who have fallen to the disease and those who are currently fighting for their lives. This year, however, it seems that World AIDS Day is not as much about remembering as it's about not forgetting.
With a chaotic world economy, it might be easy to overlook AIDS in favor of more "pressing" matters. Catholic Relief Services' Ken Hackett says this would be a mistake for three reasons: 1. "If the current structure built to fight HIV and AIDS is not strengthened and extended but instead allowed to crumble, rebuilding it will cost much more." 2. Engaging AIDS "makes good foreign-policy sense," giving the U.S. a positive presence in unstable regions. Finally:
This horrible pandemic is affecting the poorest people in the world, those least able to address the ravaging effects of this disease. If we do not help them, we will cede the moral authority that the United States needs to lead the world in the 21st century.
Fuel for forgetting also comes from health experts who claim we're in a "post-AIDS era." These thoughts, though, ignore the unsteady nature of any progress made in the fight against AIDS.
Ultimately, to forget the world AIDS crisis would be to ignore the tremendous amount of goodwill and want-to that people of faith have built. Many young evangelicals, including myself, were introduced to social justice through the AIDS pandemic. We saw the horrors of Darfur because our eyes were already trained on Africa; we first engaged poverty because we saw it as the root cause to the global spread of AIDS.
To forget about AIDS now would be to turn our backs on the cause that opened a broader agenda that is changing the face of faith in the public square. We must send the message that we are mobilized and motivated; we can't let the world forget.
Another thought on World AIDS Day
In high school I participated in a program that trained students in counseling and paired them with elementary school kids in need of support. One year my mentee was a 5th grader who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion as a baby. His deceased older brother was infected in the same manner.
We didn't sit around and talk about what it felt like to have AIDS, to stare death in the face, to deal with the grueling side effects of countless medications. We talked about his weary mom, his lost brother, his favorite hospitals, his distant schoolmates. We played Connect Four and took walks and practiced multiplication. He didn't complain much about his suffering, but he clearly knew he was going to stay sick. (This was before antiretroviral treatment was widely available.) In such circumstances, courage is a matter of simple necessity.
He was just one of the diverse faces of HIV/AIDS. Just like Ryan White. Just like Magic Johnson. Just like every one of the silent thousands who die every day.
The people who make AIDS their life's work have a fortitude I can't fathom -- I can't even bring myself to confirm whether my little buddy died after we lost touch. But I can offer a prayer for the victims and the mourners, as well as the caregivers, activists and researchers who seek to relieve, prevent and cure HIV. I hope you'll join me.
Compassion Forum Focus: Global HIV/AIDS
Rick Warren talks politics, Clinton and theology on CBS
Clinton joins Rick Warren's AIDS summit. Will other candidates?
Edwards, Obama, Huckabee, Giuliani and Romney also were invited to the summit but have yet to commit, although all have expressed interest.
Warren says
Inviting politicians from different perspectives to the Summit is not a political decision -- it is a humanitarian and Christian action. When millions are dying each year, we're interested in lives, not labels. We want everyone to become concerned about the AIDS pandemic.
With an endless litany of issues and events to address, presidential candidates are only able to focus on the things we tell them are most important. That's why the Global Summit on AIDS is important -- it helps keep the disease on both parties' political agenda by reminding them how much people of faith care about the plight of the people and nations being destroyed by AIDS.
Clinton should be commended for seizing this opportunity, as should other candidates if they follow suit.
VIDEO: Special World AIDS Day moving pictures roundup