30 years...

I read an article in the newspaper yesterday

and then promptly cut it out to post in my journal.

The thirty year anniversary of the first known AIDS case.

This is significant to me because I was a brand new nurse

when the AIDS scare began.

It is the disease that changed the course of medicine

to where we are now when speaking of universal precautions

and protecting yourself as though each patient may have

some type of contagious disease.

Back in the early 80's there was so much scare,

so much that was not known and because of people's fear

many mean things were said and done.

How far we have come in 30 years with this disease.

Having lost a first cousin to this disease and knowing many

more who have also succumbed it has always been

something I kept my knowledge fresh.

In the beginning the talk was that AIDS was sent from God

to kill all those that were gay.

How this statement burned me up.

As though our God would make a disease to wipe out

a group of people was beside me that anyone would be

so ignorant to believe that.

It did not explain why children with bleeding disorders

were dying from it, why mothers were not only dying of it

but passing it to their unborn children.

Like our God has time to be causing suffering on Earth,

man does that for themselves, God doesn't have to help.

My sister-in-law that has now died ( in a car accident) was gay

and I remember how hard it was for her to be herself

in the days of the early 80's and I remember how much

I admired her because she always kept her head up high

and changed the way some felt about the gay community.

What a better world it is now for people who are gay

than it was back then.

I thank those who walked the path of being judged

that now have made it so much easier to come out and

be happy.

My cousin also showed his strength while living

with AIDS. He lost his battle but not before he

taught many, many people that he had not changed,

he was the same person he was before AIDS.

We have come so far in 30 years.

It is a story that I can share because I was there in the beginning.

30 years of nursing has allowed me to see this

disease come full circle.

AIDS is no longer a death sentence.

Thanks to many who fought to change the worlds views on

the the gay community.