AIDS still a problem

Back in the '60s, third graders faced atom bomb drills. Youngsters in the '70s confronted drug-addicted uncles returning from Vietnam. Eighties babies worried about their parents being laid off. And in '92, when I was 7 years old, I was worried about developing AIDS.\nNo, really -- I had a reason to be terrified. Or so I thought.\nIt all started with Eugene Allen. He and I had shared a little lip-to-lip collision behind an evergreen tree located alongside the northernmost wall of Blessed Sacrament Parish. Any excitement over my first peck was overshadowed by concerns far greater than maintaining my second grade romance. \nMy first fear was Mrs. Dewes -- lunchroom aide, playground monitor and detention slip writer. My second fear was the idea of contracting what, to my understanding, was the single-most deadly communicable disease ever known to the grade-school mind -- AIDS.\nBack then, even if you were cable-less like me, AIDS awareness began with The Arsenio Hall Show appearances by "sex talking" duo Salt-N-Pepa and condom-wearing girl group TLC. The info kept coming thanks to documentaries featuring the likes of "Blossom," "Theo" (The Cosby Show's Malcolm Jamal Warner) and "Dylan" (90210's Luke Perry). There were Saturday afternoon PSA's, "Fight AIDS" T-shirts and headline after headline in the local, national and international media. HIV and AIDS had news value back then. Around the time of my evergreen tree scare, Magic Johnson had revealed to fellow teammates, fans and the media that he'd tested HIV positive -- a status he attributed to unprotected sex. All eyes were on HIV and AIDS -- including my own. Thinking back to my days in second grade, I recognize the widespread concern regarding HIV and AIDS. But things have changed.\nFor example, Feb. 7 marked National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day but it's likely that you'd never know. The media-driven, star-studded, populace-embraced campaign for HIV/AIDS prevention seems to have been tossed away with the Arsenio Hall-inspired "hoo, hoo, hoo" of the '90s.\nToday, the language of HIV and AIDS is limited to Trojan condom commercials and the "Knowing is beautiful" campaign a la MTV. Quite frankly it's a shame. At the end of 2003, there were nearly 2 million people suffering from HIV/AIDS in the United States -- with HIV diagnoses given to blacks eight times more often than whites. In Asia, approximately 8.3 million people suffer from HIV/AIDS. In places like Russia, the numbers are rising.\nBottom line: HIV/AIDS didn't end in 1999. The HIV/AIDS awareness tactics of the '90s weren't intended to scare the crap out of kiss-happy 7 year olds. The campaigns simply conveyed the importance of teaching everyone about HIV/AIDS. Sure, rocking the day-glo "Fight AIDS" T-shirt might be passé, but elevating and enjoining everyone in the conversation about HIV/AIDS, including the young'ins, not only makes us all more informed but less afraid and more cognizant of the world around us.