It is December, 1st. The World HIV/AIDS Day.

What does this day mean to me?

I was thinking about it... and I am afraid, it doesn't mean much.

Unfortunately, it is such a marginalised topic that you simply don't hear about HIV/AIDS. It is generally perceived as the curse of other continents, or of the lowest classes. It is a horrible thing to say but this is a general belief and although absolutely false and shameful, we all do know it has some grounds. Human rights and health campaigners overstretch their efforts to raise AIDS awareness globally but ... did they achieve much? I guess they did achieve something. Much?

Come on, how many people do you know with HIV? How many people have you seen?

I know none. (I want to put a smiley face here but I am not sure whether it should be a sad one or a happy one; both seem appropriate and yet both may be insensitive, depending on how one interprets it)

It is not my choice not to know them. I just never met the guys or girls who got the virus.

How much do we know about HIV/AIDS?

I mean, apart from the fact that because of those things we have to use condom every time we want to have 'good times', thus reducing the pleasure from our infamous 'good times'?

Personally, growing up in an unnamed retarded country in Eastern Europe, I never got my sexual education classes at school. No one talked to me on the subject of STDs (or sex, really). Maybe the authorities should do a bit more and educate the masses?

I don't really know that much about that thing. I don't know what the chances of contracting it via unprotected sex are (I recently found out that it actually is NOT 100% and was really surprised)? I have no idea how antiviral medicine, which is available, works and how effective it is?

The point of this monologue is as follows:

It is the World AIDS Day today... but the world doesn't care.

No one knows about this day (did YOU know before you saw the Google start page today?) although HIV/AIDS really is a big deal. Roughly 25% of the population of many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are infected. In neighbouring Russia, there are thousands of new HIV cases every week, and yet the government pretends there is no such thing in the Motherland. It really is a big deal. We must care...

Someone asked me whether we should pay particular attention to the HIV/AIDS issues and care because we are members of the LGBT community? Well... I don't see why we should... We should care because we are humans, and our human brethren are dying because of some evil little things in their bloodstream (yep... this is how much I know about this).

And at least today, we should make a contribution to the society and to ourselves: donate money to AIDS charities, join some support groups, or simply go online and do the freaking research, learning more about HIV/AIDS not to ask stupid questions and have misperceptions.

That's it. Be safe. Go have good times.

1 December 2009