Friday, December 6, 2013

What World AIDS Day Means to Me


Greetings of peace to all of you, aking mga minamahal na kapatid.
Noel E. Bordador, NYC/USA

I came out as a gay man in the 1980s when the world was just trying to understand what later became known as HIV/AIDS.  No one knew what the strange illness that was affecting mostly gay men.  Before it was known as HIV/or AIDS, it used to be referred to as GRID or Gay Related Infectious Disease. Soon, we suffered a great deal of loss of lives in our community. Because it was happening mostly to gay men, many thought that it was a punishment from God, and so many people referred to HIV/AIDS as WOG or Wrath of God (Isn’t that terrible?) The early years of the epidemic were marked by despair, fear and a sense of helplessness. We soon realized that no one would take care of us except us(!) So we galvanized, we organized, we protested and we fought like crazy to get attention and better access to treatment.  Support and community brought us hope and made us fight our own sense of hopelessness. With the advent of new medications thirteen years later after the first diagnosis of HIV/AIDS,, there was MORE hope. People did not automatically die of AIDS-related complications. People were living longer. (I know of people- CLOSE FRIENDS!!!- who are living well with HIV or AIDS for the last thirty years!) And with further advances in medicine, HIV/AIDS became a chronic yet manageable illness. People can live with HIV or AIDS and at the same time pursue the life they want to live. But medications only work hand in hand with a lively sense of hope- hope that people can live longer with the help of treatment and emotional and spiritual support. HIV or AIDS is not a death sentence. You’ve got to believe in treatment. Without hope, however, people lose their reason to live and some stop caring for their health and well-being.  You have to fight hopelessness and despair in order to live.
 On this day as we commemorate WORLD AIDS DAY, I offer you a quote from Mother Jones (an  early 20th century American political agitator and human rights advocate) which I have carried with me in these last thirty years of doing HIVAIDS work and ministry: “Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.” Yes, pray for the dead and remember their memory. Yet fight for your lives so that you might live. Fight for your political rights. Fight for a fair share from the government for HIV/AIDS care. Fight to get access to the best treatment. If your doctor doesn’t care about you or doesn’t seem to know much about you and your condition, for God’s sake, fight (not ask) for a better doctor! Fight stigma and discrimination that make PLWH/As hide and not receive the support they need. Fight misinformation about HIV/AIDS that makes people scared to get tested or ask for medical care. Fight isolation by joining a community of support that would coalesce around you when you are about to give up. Fight hopelessness by believing that HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence, that you can live longer with the help of your treatment and your support.

Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living. Fight like hell for yourself and for each other. Who else will fight for you or each other? Only you. Fight, fight, fight! 







"WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
NO PLHIV is alone with his or her struggle with HIV!"

-Pozziepinoy-



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