Post #5-The POST! (It plays to be a good citizen.)

So continuing on from my discussion post, I realize how much I continue to grow every day from this class. The accident I described was very much a private thing I didn't share with many people before today. I struggled every since that accident to continue to believe that despite people like that driver that hit me and ran that day, that there are plenty good people in the world, and plenty of good deeds done. What always upset me the most was that that man did not just total my car, a graduation present from my parents who had worked so hard to save and get it for me. He didn't just cost me thousands of dollars in damage that wasn't my fault that I would work a year to make up repair and replace, but he stole away so much more than that. He stole away my sense of security. I felt a heighten sense of risk every time I walked out the door. He stole away my faith in people, and if I couldn't believe in love and people I see all the time, how could I not question my faith in a God I couldn't see? It was a turbulent time in my life. But I have grown so much from it, just as I have this class.

I've learned that there is a risk in everything we do. Every step we take. Every decision we make. Small, large... Anything could happen, at any second. What we do with each breath makes all the difference, or no difference at all.

So would helping a person a bleeding person on the side of the road who could potentially have HIV, who most likely does since they have mumbled something about it be a risk? It would be. Is the risk worth it? I think it's important to self reflect here. What if it were you? There would be no question you'd want someone to help you.

I was looking hard to find a way to relate this back to my focus area of Women and HIV. The degrees of separation, but I find this topic seems human more than either gender. So I go back to, did you know?

Did you know that... turning our heads the other way is a very human trait? May it is more of a flaw. If you guys have ever turned on E! or Oprah, it's nearly impossible that you haven't heard of actor, Tyler Perry. In his blog he describes a run in he has with a homeless woman with AIDS. He describes all the feelings I know are familiar to me, like how he hope she wouldn't approach him, and how he kept expecting her sales pitch for money. It turns out that her family had turn their backs on her and she was delayed placement in a shelter because she had been diagnosed with AIDS.

You can read it here: http://hivaidsandme.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/tyler-perry-reflects-on-helping-a-homeless-woman-with-aids/

It was very touching. Even celebrities feel the way we do, and even a celebrity like Tyler Perry was humbled by the woman in this story. I hope you will check it out. I really moved me.

Also, did you know that there is a organization called "The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS"? It is a wealth of information and provides support to women all over the world, working with other groups as well as the United Nations. They don't just support the cause to protect women and girls but one of their "key principles" is to engage men and boys, it about "uniting the world against AIDS". They have 8 areas of focus they'd like to use for change:

"Preventing HIV infections among women and girls
Reducing violence against women
Protecting property and inheritance rights of women and girls
Ensuring equal access to treatment and care for women
Supporting improved and properly resourced community-based care
Promoting access to new prevention options that women can initiate, including the female condom and microbicides
Supporting ongoing efforts towards universal education for girls
Promoting women’s leadership in global, national and community response to AIDS."

They are absolutely awesome. They tackle all levels of prevention, (primary, secondary and teritary.)

They can be found at: http://womenandaids.unaids.org .