'Rent' reflections

To be corny, things have changed a lot since I was in high school.\nBack then, the only kids who admitted loving the musical "Rent" were either in the theater club or gay (and oftentimes, both). But when I went to see the movie on opening night, the theater was packed with "normal" high school kids, their parents and even one group that had been singing church songs outside. And when it was over, everyone was crying.\nBut one thing in the introduction of the movie slightly confused me: Mark, our protagonist, adds 1989 to the original phrase "Dec. 24, 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time."\nEarlier that day, I had heard the reviewer on CNN Headline News say the film was "dated." Afterwards, I read CNN's online review: "It's a tale about that particular time and place in New York City."\nNothing, other than the aforementioned edit, informs us as to a specific time, and while it is set in New York City, it could have just as easily been any urban setting (provided, of course, that city gets cold in the winter).\nFinally, it hit me why there's so much obsession with the setting of the musical.\nFour letters: AIDS.\nAs many don't have to be told, AIDS figures prominently into the plotline, with one character succumbing to the disease and another coming close.\nIt was a scary revelation for me. It tells me that people think that we have already "ACTed up and fought AIDS," and that only people who live in Africa contract it. \nThat's dangerous thinking, and such critics are propagating it. Not only is it a disservice to Jonathan Larson's vision, it's a disservice to the whole world. Until the disease is completely eradicated, we can't afford apathy.\nConsider that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 43,171 reported new cases of HIV infection in the United States in 2003, and at least 1,039,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in this country alone.\nSure, we've come a long way in the past 20 years; today people with HIV can expect to live much longer lives than those infected in the '80s. But it's still a lethal disease, and there's still no cure. If we believe that AIDS "has been taken care of," we will behave accordingly, and more people will be infected.\nWe still need more aggressive AIDS education. AIDS is after all, in most cases, wholly preventable. Kids need to hear early and often about the dangers of unprotected sex and the importance of condoms. It's one of the few lessons in school that might actually save lives.\nWe also need to continue aggressive funding of AIDS research. It's not the time or place for legislators taking the "moral high ground" because there's nothing more immoral than allowing people to suffer unnecessarily. \nSo, while we might believe that AIDS is no longer a problem, I'd be willing to bet there are at least a million in this country alone who beg to differ.