World AIDS Day: 'A Day to Paint a Picture of the Truth' (Page 2 of 2)

What a wonderful thing to meet a person that is living well with HIV that can still speak up without disgrace and say that ’I too am HIV positive.’ This person, like myself, is a living witness of where we have come as a society to fight the battle, knowing that the battle is not over. Then there are the people that are afraid to be open about their HIV status due to the actions of others. Uneducated people think that HIV is spread by shaking hands with an HIV positive person. I have been there and know how that feels. But I still have the energy to hold my head high.

World AIDS Day is also a day to see what changes still need to be made — issues like educating people about the virus. World AIDS Day should also be a political statement to show the community that we are united in continuing the job that our brothers and sisters started 26 years ago. To make sure that every person in the world has access to medications and care, and to make sure that a person can afford life-saving medications.” — Mark Clayton Hall, Knoxville resident and long-term HIV/AIDS survivor.

“Before I became an HIV prevention counselor, I would have said that World AIDS Day was just another one of those commemorative events, a reason for people to have a ceremony. Now having gained perspective, I realize that it is a day that commemorates a war in a whole new way because it is a war that is raging silently against the entire human race. And for those who fight themselves by choosing ignorance and fear over knowledge, this is a very sad day. It is a day when those who choose to acknowledge the truth about people living and dying with HIV/AIDS can stop and take a look at what they have witnessed and where they are... It is a day that should be acknowledged in every church and school, it is a day to put down the ‘weapons’ of this war and account for it all. It is a day when those who fight can come together, regroup and energize themselves because this battle is not over. It is the one day that those who are suffering and fighting can use all the ignorant hateful words thrown at them all year, along with all the stressful failures and small successes, to paint a picture of the truth. It is a day of inspiration, commemoration, truth and hope. It is that moment in the middle of every gruesome process where one receives their second wind. It is that proverbial, inspiring quote, that second cup of coffee, the light at the end of the tunnel in any process that reminds you to persevere.” — Aja Rodriguez, World AIDS Day organizer and director of “Positive.”

* The views expressed in Commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Knoxville Voice.