Well, we were young

With this being our HIV and AIDS issue, my mind began wandering to the first time I ever heard of the dreaded illness.
It was November 7, 1991 and I was watching television with my family. Then as quick as the wind blows, our show was interrupted with a flash of Earvin “Magic” Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers telling the world that he had contracted HIV.
The next day at school, everyone was talking about Magic, and making jokes about him having this mysterious illness. Of course ,we were young, and no one knew the seriousness of his declaration. We all assumed it was a publicity stunt, or some program the media had created to entertain us. Well, like I said, we were young.
By the time we realized that this was a reality, tennis legend Arthur Ashe, Greg Luganis and Tommy Morrison had all died from AIDS. Over one million people around the world were dead from AIDS or living with HIV. Blacks, whites, men, women and celebrities were crippled with a sickness that no doctor had the power to battle.
No one realized how serious this issue was until so many people were touched by it. AIDS and HIV have no boundaries and everyone must take precautions to prevent it from spreading.
And as Magic said the day he announced his prognosis, “Sometimes you are a little naïve and think it can never happen to you. You think it can only happen to other people. Well, here I am, to say, it can happen to anyone, even me, Magic Johnson.”