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Remembrance and Change

The power of remembrance - past, present, and future - is driven home with AIDS.

It was a very moving moment as a nation ground to a temporary halt—even as we sped through the air at hundreds of miles per hour, it felt like we were still. My fellow passengers, many of them non-Britons, bowed their heads to honor the moment and all that it meant, with only the hum of jet engines piercing the sudden silence in the cabin. It was an extraordinary act of togetherness, one we could all learn from. Remembering bestows a power that not only honors the past and those lost to it, but also gives meaning to our actions today. And remembering together gives us a common purpose and sense of unity.

We remember the 15 million children who have been orphaned by the virus.

We remember that poverty, race, and gender all are significant risk factors for contracting HIV. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2006 and 2009 there were 171,840 new cases of HIV diagnosed in the United States. African Americans accounted for 50% of these new diagnoses, whites 30%, and Latinos 20%.

But we also must remember and honor those who have lost loved ones along the way. I spoke to my friend Ted yesterday about what, if anything, World AIDS Day meant to him. Ted lost his partner of 20 years, Kirk, to AIDS almost 20 years ago. Kirk was just 38 years old when he collapsed on a street in Madrid not long after his diagnosis. He died a few weeks later, on May 9, 1992. They thought they'd grow old together. They didn't have that chance. Kirk never benefitted from the antiretroviral therapies that have dramatically extended the lives of many HIV/AIDS patients. He died just a few years before they became widely available.

At the end of our conversation, Ted reminded me that for him, every day is World AIDS Day. Every day, with a heavy heart, he remembers his long-gone partner Kirk. And so should we.

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