Happy World Aids Day- Page 2

[Calvin]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 11:25am

(Actually, I did. I didn't have to, but I did out of laziness. I wouldn't have included stage directions if I had written it.)

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 11:37am

Calvin, you are my new hero.

Now, back to World AIDS Day. What are you doing to commemorate the day?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 11:51am

And inspiring message for World AIDS day from a Keith Boykin, an inspiring leader for the gay community and the African-American community:

====

Chicago, Illinois, July 15, 2006 - Opening Ceremonies

“An Exhortation To A Weary Army”

By Keith Boykin

It has been 25 years since the war started, and 25 million people have perished. Last year, more than 3 million people died of AIDS. That’s three million coffins, three million eulogies, three million families.

But the war is far from over. Every 10 seconds, someone on the planet dies of AIDS. More than 8,000 people will die today from this disease. Eighteen of them will die before I leave this stage.

Many of us here tonight know all too well the toll that AIDS has taken. We have been fighting this war, battle by battle, deep in the trenches, out on the front lines for decades. And many of us are tired. When we look at the quilt, we are understandably heartbroken, for we see more than names and patches sewn into a fabric; we see the faces of our friends, lovers, brothers, sisters, parents and children.

We have fought the good fight, but we are a weary army in desperate need of comfort and assurance. So as we gather today, we have come to a turning point in this conflict.

The poet Essex Hemphill tells us that he conquered his sorrow after the loss of a good friend by taking up the cause of his friend. “When my brother fell, I picked up his weapons,” he said.

Like Hemphill, we must pick up the weapons left behind by our sisters and brothers in the struggle. To those who have gone before us, we honor them not by erecting new statues on pedestals, but by finishing the work that they began.

Our ceremony is not only a memorial, but a rededication. Tonight we commit ourselves not just to the legacy of the dead, but also to the hopes of the living. We pledge to be vigilant in this fight until victory is won.

As long as 40 million people on this planet are living with AIDS, we cannot give up. As long as 5 million people are infected with HIV every year, we cannot give up. As long as there is one person living with this virus, we cannot give up. Until there is a cure, there must be a fight.

Make no mistake about it, the cavalry will not come to save us. But this is not the time to wave the white flag of surrender. This is the time to fight back. You see, we are the cavalry. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. This is our moment in history. We are closer to victory than we may realize, and we have come too far to turn back now. So let us move forward.

Battle fatigued and war weary, we march on.
Sometimes beaten but never defeated, we march on.
Down but not out, we march on.
In memory of yesterday, we march on.
With courage for today, we march on.
With hope for tomorrow, we march on.

[Kringas]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 11:57am

Thanks for posting that, PalJoey.

How can we commemorate the day? By taking action, even in the simplest of ways. If you're sexually active, know your status. Get tested. Get the results. And tell everyone you know to do the same.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 11:59am

My thoughts and prayers go out to family and friends who have lost someone by this disease. And for those that are struggling with it today, God bless you, because you are not letting AIDS or HIV define who you are, but living your life to the fullest. One day there will be a cure and I hope to live to see it.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 12:02pm

When we were doing our first fund-raising benefits almost 20 years ago, we never imagined the fight would have to be renewed all these years later. We were making progress for a long time, but that seems to have beeen thwarted. How terribly sad.

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 12:29pm

Here is a special Blessing for all of our friends we have lost to this terrible disease!!

[MistressoftheHouse]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 12:33pm

I tried to participate in a human red ribbon on my campus today. They do it every year in front of a camera that's in our quad-type area.

Unfortunately we're having horrible storms and tornado warnings, so as soon as I got there everyone was running away to get out of the heavy rain.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 12:40pm

Rarely, if ever, does a day go by that I don't think of at least one of my friends who has passed away. But today is a day to remember them all. Get tested, stay safe, have fun but be smart.

[wexy]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 1:16pm

I started my job evaluating disability claims for Social Security in 1981 just as AIDs was being recognized. We had to develop policies and listings while the disease was beginning to be evaluated by doctors and researchers.
The days of ARC and AIDs and the three H's Homosexuals,Heroin Addicts and Haitians when everyone was an allowance as a diagnosis was virtual death sentence. I lost two dozen coworkers and friends.
For a straight guy who knew perhaps a half dozen people before the job, it didn't matter that they were gay. My claimants and friends were just people who were dying of a horrible disease.
A lot of progress has been made over the years with advances in treatment. We rarely even allow anyone for HIV anymore.Many people are able to lead normal functioning lives.
There's still lots to be done as I remember those we lost over the years.

[LilDiva05]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 1:46pm

It's a small gesture, but I'm wearing my (RED) pin that I got from the Gap...I'm sure I'd be doing something else if I actually had classes scheduled today.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 2:06pm

Rarely, if ever, does a day go by that I don't think of at least one of my friends who has passed away.

Inspired by that phrase in Sueleen's post, here are some words by Stephen Sondheim, in memory of Reed and Peter and Bradley and Mark and Richard and too many others, who are gone but their spirits empower.

===

Not a day goes by,
Not a single day,
But you're somewhere a part of my life,
And it looks like you'll stay.

As the days go by,
I keep thinking, "When does it end?"
Where's the day I'll have started forgetting?
But I just go on thinking and sweating
And cursing and crying
And turning and reaching
And waking and dying...

And no!
Not a day goes by!
Not a blessed day!
But you're still somehow part of my life,
And you WON'T go away!
So there's hell to pay!

And until I die,
I'll die day after day
After day after day
After day after day after day
Til the days go by!
Til the days go by!
Til the days go by!

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 2:32pm

I'm wearing my (RED) pin and bracelet as well. Every little bit helps--hopefully someone will ask you about it and then you can have an opportunity to share.

I've also put up links to some of my favorite AIDS charities on my Facebook in the hopes that just one person will decide to make a donation. I know I made mine.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 2:56pm

Help is On the Way
David Friedman

Don't give up the ship
Even when you feel it sinking
And you don't know what to do

Don't give up your dream
Even though you may be thinking
It never will come true

Life has its own ideas
Of how things come about
And if you just hang in there
Life is gonna work it out

Help is on the way
From places you don't about today
From friends you may not have met yet
Believe when I say, I know
Help is on the way

You don't have to know
Where the path you're on is leading
You just have to walk along

Dreaming as you go
Asking for the things you're needing
You never can go wrong

If you have faith
That things are happening as they should
And just believe each step you take
Is leading you to something good

Help is on the way
From places you don't about today
From friends you may not have met yet
Believe when I say, I know
Help is on the way

So open your heart
Open your mind
No matter how you've tried and failed
Tomorrow you could turn and find that

Help is on the way
From places you don't about today
From friends you may not have met yet
Believe when I say, I know
Help is on the way
Help is on the way
Help is on the way

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 3:25pm

I wear my Red Aids pin over my left breast and my pink breast cancer pin over my right breast 365 days a year. I know so many people who have died from both diseases.

Nobody ever never asked me about the pink pin, but people still ask me what the red pin is for here in Oregon!

[harris007]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 3:40pm

small thred jack about red ribbon, anyone else notice the tonys the past 5 yrs or so, no one wears them anymore.. mid 90's EVERYONE in the audence, noms, presenters, host etc wore them, past few years havent seen them .

Updated On: 12/1/06 at 03:40 PM

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 3:54pm

AIDS is no longer en vogue...did you not get the memo?

Honestly, most people probably don't think of this as being a problem anymore. It took me AGES to find one of those magnetic ribbons for my car. I had to end up going online because I couldn't find anyone selling an AIDS ribbon. It's absolutely tragic.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 3:56pm

There are so many ribbons for so many causes now - it used to be that AIDS was the only prominent one. It's no longer so.

[harris007]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 4:07pm

still!!!!!!!

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 4:09pm

I just wish Mr. actor would get back and take out the "Happy" part of the name of the thread.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 5:38pm

"There are so many ribbons for so many causes now "

Yes, one to match every outfit.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 11:26pm

Happy? Sheesh........what a stupid comment. I realize what you probably meant, but poor taste.

As a person living with HIV I am definately NOT happy there is a day such as this, as this disease should have had at the very least a vaccine long ago.

BAD wording actor, and not very thoughtful.......somehow I doubt all of my friends who have passed on from this disease are NOT happy this day exists.

This day should NOT exist.

[harris007]

Posted: 12/1/06 at 11:31pm

totally agree

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 2:01am

"When we were doing our first fund-raising benefits almost 20 years ago, we never imagined the fight would have to be renewed all these years later."

Actually, the bravest among us were doing our first benefits 24-25 years ago.

And many of us knew it wasn't going to end soon.

Me, personally, I thought about the late great poet Assotto Saint, today. Somebody I worked with in the '80s. All phone converstations with him began with, "This is Assotto Saint, A double s, o, double t, o, S, a, i, n, t," and you'd say, "Yeah, I recognized your voice Assotto, but thanks for spelling it." At least I would. But of course I was totally starstruck. The epidemic inspired him to become one HELL of a performance artist. His piece in which the towels on Fire Island became panels on the Names Project quilt with the refrain, "They were here...," absolute genius.

I miss him all the time.

Updated On: 12/2/06 at 02:01 AM

Posted: 12/2/06 at 4:35pm

I'm saying is I have sympathy to those who get AIDS through infected blood transfusions(and those who are born with it). I'm not saying I don't have sympathy.