I was just thinking as I often do, about the fact that based on statistics every 9.5 minutes someone is infected with HIV! That means that since I began this blog on July 30, 2010 just 2 months ago approximately 10,500 people have become infected during this short period of time!
What is the problem?! It is not that people are not aware of HIV & AIDS. As crazy as it sounds I believe people just don't believe it can or will ever happen to them. For example, I know a young man who had an uncle who died as a result of having complications from advanced AIDS. Prior to his death the uncle lived in the home with the young man, his mother and a his sisters. I would think that after having been exposed to the uncle's health issues, that the rest of the family would have been more on guard about their own health. But that is not the case with this family at all! The young man and his now ex-girlfriend has had two unintended pregnancies and his sisters have done the same. I would seriously doubt that either of them knew their partners status before obviously engaging in their unprotected sexual encounters. It's insane.
I'm a very visual person. Imagine for a moment that there is a burning building and you decide to run through that building wearing a pair of gasoline doused pants. This is symbolic to a person going through life practicing high-risk behaviors that put them at risk for contracting HIV, such as unprotected sex or sharing needles for example. Now how many times do you think a person needs to run through that burning building before they make the decision to stop the behavior that's putting their life at risk? Do they keep running until they burst into flames? It's logical in my mind for a person to once they have become aware of the dangers, stop and remove themselves from the dangers, but quite the opposite is happening.
I took a brief survey in one of my classes last week and the question that I asked was, "What would it take to motivate you to take a test for HIV?" Several responded that they would be motivated if they believed they had been exposed! It made me want to scream when I read their responses! There needs to be a paradigm shift in our way of thinking or too many of us will continue to die unnecessarily. Because once you've been exposed to the virus there is no rewind button for your life. You're going to have to play the cards that you so willingly accepted.
