I just found out that today is World AIDS Day. I wanted to share a link here on my blog to help raise awareness of this awful disease. AIDS is absolutely devastating some parts of the world to this day despite all the gains we've made in treating and preventing it. I hope one day that this disease is eradicated from the face of the Earth forever. It's claimed far too many victims.
I'm remembering my friend Michael Shirley today who died of AIDS ten years ago when we were both only 30 years old. Michael was brilliantly funny, kind, and caring. The world is a darker place without him, and he is loved and missed. If talking about Michael can help raise awareness and prevent even one new infection, then his death will not have been in vain.
http://www.worldaidsday.org/
It's World AIDS Day every 1st of December. At my hometown's Christmas market, one of the most active charities helping AIDS victims and raising awareness always has a stand there that day.
ReplyDeleteIn April 1999, one of our closest family friends died of AIDS. He was not yet 32, same as I. We still talk about him often and I sometimes wonder what he would be like now as a middle-aged man of close to 50.