Today, December 1, 2020, is the day that we recognize the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (AIDS/HIV) and all the damage that it has done and all of the people that have lost their lives to this terminal disease. We acknowledge all of the people that continues to walk among us in this world that remains infected and who will be on immune balancing medications and treatments for probably the rest of their lives, as there is no cure. Even though, COVID-19 has taken precedent over out thinking, we cannot help but to things about the compounds and compilation of other ailments that people worldwide suffer from.
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Tough science and technologies are evolving, and there has been treatments developed, such as Antiretroviral therapy (ART), to reduce the amounts of virus in the system and to prevent the spread from one person to the other, no cure has been formulated. Yes, people are able to live normal lives and engage sexually, but given that AIDS/HIV can be a terminal illness, there is still a great deal of stigma associated with the disease. For the most part, taking the various medications, i.e., NRTIs, NNRTIs, PIs, and Integrase inhibitors, just to name a few, and going through treatments such as ART has seeming, can be mentally draining. I am not sure of the side effect that this treatments and medications ensue, but having to take medication for long periods of time can have wear and tear on your physical and mental being. What happens when your body becomes immune to such medication, or is this possible with this medication? Does the prescribing doctors increase the dosage, and if so, how can they determine when and how much.
If this is true, then it is definitely a breakthrough, as a cure has been a long time coming and it well deserved. AIDS/HIV has been known to be a sexually transmitted disease and can be contracted through blood or blood transfusion. That is still the case. If there is a cure on the horizon, or a cure have been found, tested, and proven, we must given kudos to our scientist, donors, supporters, and advocates who have been working around the clocks to make this happen. Speaking, of scientist, it seems that a cure to cancer is on the horizon.
It would be even more amazing if they found a cure for cancer, as some reports are suggesting that Dr. Haidiyah-Nicole Green, the first black woman to cure cancer in mice and have been given grants to expand her findings. Who knows where this could go, hopefully it will lead to a cure of cancer in humans. However, the research does not determine what type of cancer was cured. In any matter, any time of cancer that is cured is astronomical.
While most individual have become vigilant regarding the transmission of HIV/AIDS, there are some people who have been exposed to this disease by force. Men and women have been raped by others infected. People have transmitted the disease not know they were infected because their partners sexual proclivities and urges outweighed the risks or harms that they were subjecting others to. So, in most cases, the transmission was intention or unintentional. The sharing of needles by addicts are another form of transmission, as an addicts need to get high outweigh the risk of transmission by using the needles of others. Its a tragedy to be subjected to this disease, but given that they have found viable treatment and potential cure it sort of put some people more at ease, mainly those infected and can afford the medications and treatments. For those persons who cannot, they continue to walk the planet-a walking viral plague. But what can we do. Most of these persons are black/African American or Africans who most likely fall at the short end when it comes to medical treatments, healthcare, and healthcare insurance.
It has been suggested that the aids pandemic started from African American same-sex male partners. From being on the down-low, meaning embarrassed by your sexual preferability or desirability, or bi-sexual males, who have transmitted the disease to women partners through unprotected sex. And given that these women become pregnant, these morbidities are then transmitted to unborn children.
So, I leave you with, remain supportive and vigilant. We must all do our part to stay safe and protect ourselves when it comes to sexual engagements. People with AIDS/HIV do not look sickly and you make not witness any symptom, yet the continuance of have sexual encounters unprotected can not only lead to the infection of others but can also result in their death.
Is it Happy Thanksgiving? For some yes, but for most, no
Today most of us sit around our dining room or kitchen tables with friends and family, and some alone, giving thanks for being alive, COVID-free, or winning the battle of the COVID infection. These are great thanks, as this year, 2020, has ascribed us to some of the biggest life challenges we’ll ever face and never saw coming. Being forced into isolation and quarantine has heightened some deep-rooted mental and psychological issues. People worldwide have lost their homes, loved ones, jobs, and their only source of income. We have seen increased racial tensions and intentions and injustices. We have seen the POTUS behaving irresponsibly, selfishly, and ill-mannered when it came to public order and getting ahead of the spread of a deadly virus. But let us not point fingers, as we are all responsible for ourselves and well-being and should never look for anyone to make a determination of whether we should behave responsibly when it will result in saving lives, mainly your own and those close to you.
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Today, a great deal of people assemble around dining tables with distant friends and family members laughing, joking, and speaking about how they’ve dealt with a trying year and how they were able to pull all of their resources for the purposes of survival. Some afforded the ability to travel near or far. Well, there are some persons that did not have reserves to begin with, and these are the persons that are suffering the most. Yes, even middle-class persons who never thought in a million years that they would experience a sense of destitute, have now come face-to-face with impecunious experiences. The entire situation is not their fault, as it is not the fault of anyone, well maybe it is, but that is beside the point, as we did not ask to be placed in this situation. If we were given the option, I am sure a hundred percent of the world would have checked or penciled in the NO-opt out box. However, becomes the situation was not optional and the boxes has been checked for us already, we have to live out this situation and pray and behave in ways in which will be come out on the life side of this pandemic.
Information and Communicative Technology and Socialization, and ThanksGiving
It is thanksgiving, and many people are still allowed to physically interact with loved ones without risking the transmission of the coronavirus or being asymptomatic. Well, at least most of us, those of us who are abiding by the social distancing and social gathering rules. Technology has been our best friends until now, whereby we have all become dependent on digitized information communicative technologies to socialize ourselves and communicate with others. However, some persons are not provided with the advantages of using digital technologies. In most cases, this is due to affordability issues, inaccessibility to robust broadband connections and other materials, or are uncomfortable in using innovative gizmos and gadgets. This is mainly true for older adults whose preferred method of communication is person-to-person. In using technology today for the purpose of communication and socialization, it may be a bit intimidating or overwhelming. Or it can be seemingly exciting, given that they have developed a certain level of comfortably and digital literacy.
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Moreover, when older adults receive the necessary support or training from younger generations to assist them with their use, namely their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or others, this can be an exceptional benefit to increased well-being and the reduction of senses of loneliness, boredom, and isolation.
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Technology is everywhere. Everywhere you turn and look, people, mainly younger generations, are using technology to communicate. Yes, this is to even communicate with senior adults in their family or otherwise. If grandparents or older parents have technologies, such as smartphones or email or using social networking sites, family members can share and post daily activities and sent mother, father, grandmother, and grandfather a text message to say, “Happy Thanksgiving.” This is true even for great-grands as people to have longer lifespans.
FaceTime has probably being used in 2020 more than it has ever been. Just this year, I had no idea of what Microsoft Teams were until a few of my doctoral learner colleagues and I started to regularly connect as a way to motivate one another. We have started to use this tool to stay focused and overcome stressors and mental strains associated with life and the doctoral iterative processes. It has been an outlet to speak about life in general.
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ICTs and socially-oriented technologies (SOTs)have become our best friends, but for some, their worst enemy. Most of the tech-savvy persons, mainly young generations and some older adults, those educated, have the capacity to implement workarounds or fix small glitches, while others are not, making them want to toss their phones or computers out of the window.
Still Thankful Even in the Midst of the 2020COVID Pandemic
What I am thankful for today and for the rest of my life is being healthy and happy. This year alone has shifted my thinking to be more optimistic and to have a positive outlook on life. I have become more humble and have started to choose my affiliations, and lack thereof, more carefully. I have decided that only if you can add benefit to my life will I engage; otherwise, it will be time wasted. I have decided that I will give back. I will speak up and give voice to the voiceless, overlooked, and underserved. Today, and from here on out, I will challenge myself to be better and to do better. Life is worth living, as it does not matter what you have or what you can get. It is more about being in a happy place and space that starts with you.
I am extremely grateful for the new people that have come into my life for the good, mainly those from an academic standpoint and those who have provided me with the opportunity to become a better me, professionally, personally, and academically. I no longer care about materialistic things and have decided that what I have, big or small, I will make do. I give kudos to the naysayers, the negative prayers, and the haters who have only added fuel to my fires, thus causing my rocket to reach unbeknownst heights. Other things that I am personally thankful for are:
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My children
My husband
My immediate friends and family
My mental and physical health, even when it vetoes.
Life challenges and complexities that make me a stronger and better individual.
Technologies and social media outlets. Just imagine the world had there not been ICTs or SOTs. This has been the primary communication source for those infected with COVID and their death beds, who had to say their last goodbyes to their loved ones.
I am thankful for mental health professionals, as there has been a dramatic increase in mental health cases in 2020 alone. This is for those who have sought help or refused treatment due to the stigma associated with mental health treatments.
I am thankful for prayer. A lot of people have turned to the graces of God as a way to fight this pandemic. People who have not prayed or said thank you in a long time will open their mouths and hearts to give thanks to the heavens above.
I am thankful for others’ kindness and giving back to communities, the known and the unknown.
I am thankful for life’s happiness, love, joy, respect, and positive environments and energy.
I am thankful for making this far in 2020 and will continue to pray that I make it past 2020, as we know, most of us will not.
A SPECIAL THANKS!!!
I wish to give a special thanks to all essential workers and those who have put themselves at risk and stood on the frontlines to protect others. Thank you to all persons in the medical, legal, and food industries and others that ensure people are getting proper care, necessities, and nourishment. I especially want to thank those who have gone above and beyond for making sure that no one went hungry for thanksgiving and all of the days before, as well as those to come. This is especially true as millions of people are jobless, which has led to homelessness and shortages of food for themselves and their families.
LET’S NOT FORGET ABOUT OUR SENIORS AND VULNERABLE POPULATIONS
Paying attention to those persons most vulnerable is essential. It is undoubtedly that the world continues to age, and more people are living longer these days. People with existing medical conditions make them more susceptible to contract the covid virus, whereas consequences could be deadly. That does not mean that they should be ignored. They should be embraced. When it comes to enjoying thanksgiving, there may be opportunities where social distancing is not possible. So, even you feel that it’s mandatory to spend time with vulnerable populations, the best thing is to be mindful and eliminating any chance that they could be exposed to the coronavirus, given that you have been, are affected, or is asymptomatic, not knowing that you are positive. Millions of people have traveled, and medical professionals are anticipating an increase in positive tests and deaths. But, looking at the situation as a whole, is a turkey dinner or stuffing to die for? Whatever your decision, be grateful, be thankful, and nevertheless, be blessed.
Au'Pearce 