World AIDS Day

World AIDS day is coming, the international day of action concerning AIDS and HIV infection, and I dread the memories it conjures. Having a father, and several uncles, and aunts, and cousins succumb to this wretched disease brings forth memories of those whose lives were cut short for the temporary feeling of a high that narcotics and/or sex brings. The choice was made to become involved in activities that some did not know were dangerous, who thought it only activities of fun, and could never come to terms that these momentary pleasures would lead them down a dark path and into an internal slumber. The children born of those adults who partook in instances that changed the course of their lives are the most tragic. These instances brought about a disease that would ultimate kill them and infect their unborn children. Children of AIDS, embryonically, were not given a choice. These children were given a short existence raft with debilitating disease, developed in utero, that was given opportunity because of irresponsibility. They are the ones mourned most as they never had a life to live. I do also mourn the adults I know and am related to who are gone, not for the reason of their death, but for the life they never had. The greatness of those taken from me and society, who could have left an indelible mark on the world, was erased before their time, their destinies denied. Never would they fulfill their legacies, and that is what I mourn and am reminded of when hearing of World AIDS Day, December 1st.