Thursday, December 1, 2022

Today is World AIDS Day. The fear and panic that erupted in the early 1980s seems like a distant nightmare but the discrimination against persons with AIDS still persists. First thought to only affect gay men, it became clear that AIDS could affect any person who used unclean needles taking drugs, and that children could acquire it from their mothers in delivery.

Once researchers found the cause, the search for medications began and now HIV infected persons can live something akin to a normal life. Societal discrimination still exists against persons with AIDS (PWAs), and in some countries, the condition often goes untreated, ending in a horrible death.

It is fitting that World AIDS Day should be commemorated during the first week of Advent, the week we think of hope -- hope for the day when HIV will be as rare as many diseases eradicated by vaccination and medication. Ignorance is a terrible curse, often leading to moral judgments that destroys lives. Let us hope for an end to the scourge.

Prayer for the Day

Frozen and unable to change even the smallest part of our lives,
   Often we do not know how to find hope in today’s world;
Trapped in memories of times past, we become immobilized by fear,
   And we do not know how to move into a new way of thinking.
Open us to the Spirit of knowledge so we are able to move forward,
    And not be trapped by ignorance and prejudice.
In the name of the One who broadens our vision,
    Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Thoughts for the Day

If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgement of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgement now.
     - Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, from Meditations (121-180)

If I would not do something – right now – I would never get to live my dreams in waiting.    
     - Gisela Hausmann, writer

I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
   I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Do not be like a horse or mule without understanding,   
    Whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
        Else it will not stay near you
    Psalm 32: 8-9