The virus would surely
kill him but not today. Today he was stable enough to be released. He would
need the support of loved ones and constant medical care the rest of his
remaining days but people were afraid of the virus and insisted on keeping it
as far away as possible, even if it meant isolating its host…
Ebola isn’t the first deadly
virus to come knocking on America’s door. Daily headlines of Ebola diagnoses
brought the early days of HIV ignorance roaring back to life, a time when fear
led so quickly to closed borders
and hundreds, then thousands of people left to die, untouched and alone.
…He was no longer
welcome to stay in this foreign land and the diagnosis now banned him from
returning to his own…
What had humanity
learned from its 25 year crusade against HIV that could provide solace as we
squarely face Ebola today? Could fears be eased by facts as they had in the
past? Most importantly, would compassion rise above our worries to heal the
world?
My brother got lucky
in the midst of his most ill-fated days to know such bravery at the time of his
AIDS diagnosis decades ago. There’s hope in the similar stories of heroic
boldness in the presence of this Ebola outbreak. It causes me to linger on the
“World” of World AIDS Day and reflect on the tenacity of a global generation that
lassoed HIV and maintains a tight grasp to postpone its devastating spiral to a
fatal AIDS diagnosis. What began as an ego-driven race to exclusive credit for
the next breakthrough evolved into dependence on global partnerships, a
humbling acceptance that one size treatment, delivery method, and prevention
message does not fit all and AIDS cannot be defeated until the world is cured.
HIV, like Ebola, is
an equal opportunity virus that laughs at the walls and closed doors containing
our fear. To defeat such a beast requires no less than the message contained in
this year’s themefor the World AIDS Day goal to bring about an AIDS-free generation – Focus,
Partner, Achieve. Cure the world.
