“Please, please, please people do some editing of your work. You said that the guy had AIDS after having sex one month prior to killing himself. It does not happen like that. This only perpetuates the ignorance that people have about the disease and you tried to make a point about the disease and killed the story with your statement that a month after he had sex, “He had AIDS.” Please read your work before publishing it. Know your facts before printing them. You tried to change ignorance, but exhibited yourself. And man, get off that y’all stuff. You have overused that word.”
M. Roddy
Administrative manager
Dallas, Texas
In last week’s editorial, I talked about my experience in Thailand (an AIDS-infested country where you can get yo’ “shop on”) while I was in the Navy, and an AIDS-related incident that occurred and resulted in the suicide death of one of the engineers on the ship. I mentioned that this particular engineer had a fiancee on the ship who was unable to go out in town with him while we were in port because she had to work. Therefore, he went out on his own and did his “thing.”
I also mentioned that a month later he began to feel sick and got tested. So then I said a month after “having sex in Thailand” he got AIDS and killed himself, RIGHT? Many of you probably assumed that that’s what I was implying so I would like to deviate from the norm by responding to this feedback. I know AIDS is a very touchy issue, and I don’t want to further “perpetuate the ignorance that people have about the disease.”
In the story, notice that I never once said that the guy “had sex” in Thailand. I did say that he “did a little more than went shopping” while he was there. I didn’t know the engineer personally, his sexual habits, or anything in detail that he did in Thailand to contract AIDS, so I couldn’t speak on that.
The information I received was that he participated in things that he had no business participating in during the trip. Coincidentally, a month after we returned from Thailand, he discovered that “he had AIDS.”
I don’t know whether he got it there, brought it there, or if his fiancee gave it to him. Maybe he shared a drug needle with someone while he was there. Maybe he had it all along and didn’t know. I don’t know.
I DO KNOW that he had AIDS, and because he found out that he had the disease he took his life. I know this because he was hanging right around the corner from where I was eating. I DO KNOW that he had AIDS because that was the official word throughout the ship.
The only reason I even mentioned the visit to Thailand in the story was to show the ignorant, passive attitude of certain members of the crew toward the deadly virus after being warned of it’s consequences. Just like them, many of you display these same attitudes about AIDS/HIV and have unprotected sex. Just like that engineer, you could be the next one in the hospital receiving that “bad news.” It’s real.
“Y’ALL” stop playin’!!!
