This weeks attention!! photo of the stairway between Harrington Classroom
Building and Harrington Tower was taken by graduate student Corrie Bergeron.
I love someone who is dying
of AIDS.
About four years ago, a
friend of mine had to have
open-heart surgery, and when
the doctors gave him a blood
transfusion, they gave him
AIDS. In October, the hospital
contacted him to inform him
that the homosexual who had
given the infected blood had
died. My friend will be the next
to die^
I was mad and hurt when I
found out that I was going to
lose my friend. However, the
fact that my friend has AIDS is
not what inspired this column.
The inspiration was sparked by
the way one of his family
members is treating him.
My friend is a father of four
and a grandfather of eleven, He
was in World War II and is
considered a hero of his
country. He was a hard worker
and remains a man of God. He
loves his family and has always
been a strong influence in their
lives. Yet when one of his
daughters was told about his
condition, she refused to let him
in her house or near her
children. The most ironic part of
her denial is that she holds a
doctorate in biology.
Scientists tell us that AIDS is
not a disease that can be
transmitted like the flu. AIDS
can be transmitted sexually.
AIDS can be transmitted
through the use of a
hypodermic needle that has
been used by someone with the
disease. And AIDS can be
transmitted through a blood
transfusion. AIDS cannot be
breathed on someone. AIDS
cannot be coughed on
someone. And AIDS cannot be
transmitted by hugging
someone.
My friend asked his family to
test for the virus to confirm that
they were at no risk in receiving
AIDS, and all of the tests
proved negative. His daughter
still would not change her
decision —even after the tests
v .re completed. Because of
stupidity and unfounded fear,
an innocent victim of this
deadly disease is dying in more
ways than one: AIDS is taking
his life; his daughter is breaking
his heart.
I went home to see my friend
about three weeks ago. I was
scared to face him, but all the
way home I tried to put myself
in his place. I wondered what it
must feel like to know that you
are going to die very soon. I
wondered if he cried when no
one else could see or hear him.
I wondered if he would look or
act any differently than the man
that I had loved for so long. And
I tried to remember that the
terror that I wondered about
was running through his veins.
When I saw him, I realized
that he had not changed. He
was the same person that I had
known all of my life. I tried to
bite back tears when I hugged
him because that will probably
be one of the last hugs I will
ever be able to give him. You
see, my friend doesn’t know
that I know his secret, because
my friend doesn’t want the
family he loves so much to be
afraid of him as his one
daughter is. And this person in
his family isn’t.
You see, the friend who I
love so much and who is dying
of AIDS is my grandfather.
This week’s attention!!
column was written by
Denise Thompson, a
sophomore journalism
major.