The real truth about AIDS
So, the morning of the 12th
of January 2015, I took a leave from work to watch the Golden Globe awards
live. This year’s winners were mostly first-timers and a large group of actors
were awarded this time. One such significant winner for me was actor Matt
Bomer, who won the award for Best Supporting actor in a TV movie or miniseries,
for his work in the movie ‘The Normal Heart.’
In this film, he portrays the
lead actor’s gay lover, ultimately dying in the movie due to AIDS. I haven’t seen
the movie yet (all this information is sourced from Wikipedia) but I read that the
movie got rave reviews, especially Bomer being singled out for his performance,
culminating in a win for him at the Globes.
This is a consecutive award for
an actor playing an HIV-AIDS patient. Last year, Matthew Mcconaughey and Jared
Leto swept the acting honours at almost all the award ceremonies. They, too,
won for portraying characters battling the dreaded disease.
After all, they all worked hard,
underwent dramatic weight loss to correctly portray the effects of the disease
on oneself.
The world is more aware about
this doom than it was 30 years ago.
The web can provide you with exhaustive
information on the R & D undergoing the world over for HIV-AIDS. There are
charities, funds, donations, etc., which are making sure the baton doesn’t fall.
The entire world is united to defeat this monster.
But AIDS can never be defeated..
Yes, this is the grim truth.
AIDS is a never-ending,
multi-faced Hydra monster. You chop one head and a new head will sprout in its
place.
I am sorry for sounding bitter,
but this is the truth. We, as an organism, on this big planet, can never end
it. We have no chance of making AIDS sound a thing of the past. It is our dirty
legacy to our future generations.
You may question the reason for
me sounding so pessimistic. You may even feel like abusing me or bashing me for
being blunt. Some may even suggest me to look on the brighter side of things. There
would be reports being waved on my face, showing how far we have come from
1981.
The reports are nothing, but a
way of escape; a denial that humans choose to take refuge in from escaping this
harsh reality. We never left 1981. We are still in the same place.
The real truth behind the growth
of AIDS; the real reason why it can be never be defeated is because of the
STIGMA attached to it.
To all those, who question this
reason and state it as obsolete; I have one question for you all:
CAN YOU OVERCOME THE STIGMA?
Being diagnosed with HIV is like
getting a label stamped across your forehead. You are a criminal of the
society.
But have you ever wondered why a
person becomes a criminal? Why is a person treated like an outcast? Science has
proved that HIV is not transmitted by body contact and yet, a HIV person is
given a wide berth. We tend to avoid that person. A friend yesterday, becomes a
stranger today. We avoid eye contact, touch or even getting close to that
person.
This really does sound odd and to
some extent, even annoying, considering the amount of information we have on
this disease.
This leads me to my next question:
WHY DO PEOPLE BEHAVE IN THIS WAY?
As stated above, people are knowledgeable
about it. But yet, I have seen and witnessed the duplicity of society it for
myself. The person loses all support – friends, colleagues and sadly, even
family. The entire society turns against you. My own mother was turned away
from a number of private hospitals, resulting in her losing hope and
sanity. In India, at least in the city
of Mumbai, there is not even a single private hospital that treats HIV
patients. You have to go to the government hospitals, where lack of empathy
further saps the patient’s morale.
The trauma has already kicked in,
even before the virus has started to deteriorate the body.
The patient’s mental health has
given up. It can sustain no more. It cannot take the pressure. It cannot take the
pain society is inflicting on it.
Doesn’t it make you think about
it? We are all for peace and support and love, yet when it comes to proving it,
we walk away from showing the simplest of human emotion of compassion.
Why are we like this? What drives
a person to hate a HIV-AIDS person?
The answer lies in our mentality.
It seriously does.
We get stuck at the very start –
the fact that a person has HIV – we fail to look past this primary aspect.
It is a known fact that HIV
transmits through body fluids particularly semen and blood. So, no matter even
if a person has contracted the virus through anything else perhaps via contaminated
needles or syringes, the first thought that crosses our mind is ‘sexual
transmission’. And by that, I mean, the
thought process shifting towards the character of the person:
‘He/She must be sleeping with
hundreds of people around’
‘Deserves it for going against
God and Nature’
This is the sad truth; the real
reason behind the triumph of AIDS in our society. It has radicalized us. We are
no longer human beings. Today, there is a new label in town – gay or straight.
A friend’s hand on your shoulder or a lingering hug arouses the other’s
suspicion. We are no longer bound
together by humanity, but are separated by sexuality and its preconceived notions.
No matter how well you knew a person, the fact of them ‘being not normal’, is
reason enough to sever all bonds and justify the neglect and sick attitude.
Even as I am writing this, I see
CNN-IBN news channel flashing a breaking news story of Goa’s sports minister,
claiming LGBT youth need special treatment and there is a need to set-up centres,
required to help them convert back to normal.
Need I say more?
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