Last night was a good Tae Kwon Do night. I was learning fast and improving a lot, which makes me happy. I've now got the first three Tae Guk forms pretty well, almost have the fourth, and have begun to learn the first Palgwe form, too. It's been a ton of fun, and I'm learning and relearning a lot about myself in the process. It has been a year since I've done aikido, and I had forgotten that I'm a tough cookie, as my mom would put it. I stand up. When I first started out in martial arts I had some inhibitions about combative situations, but now I'm a cool, balanced, centered sort of person in any situation. I don't get scared. I can take a boot to the head and keep kicking. I'm proud of that. I have also rediscovered how I love to move, and the beauty of doing something that's inherently graceful, yet controlled and combative. It's good to use my body and brain so thoroughly at the same time. It's also good to be back on track with martial arts in general. It's a lifestyle I chose, and have neglected of late.
Tonight I have a decision to make. I'm not really sure what I think about it. Someone asked me if I would participate in a banner campaign for World AIDS Day (which is tomorrow), promoting a web-based dialogue where people can share information and stories about AIDS. The campaign is called "Day Without Art", and the idea is that I will take down my entire web site and post a blank page with a link to this AIDS site instead.
This bothers me for a number of reasons. First is that I'm being asked to promote something without even seeing it first. I would be taking it on faith that the information on the linked site would be accurate, non-inflammatory, and something I would want to send people to read.
You see, I'm an over-educated scientist by nature, and know quite a bit about AIDS and HIV, and prevention techniques for this terrifying epidemic. You, on the other hand, are an unknown person, reading my web page. You might be 12 years old, you might be 80. You might be a skeptical type, or you may have blind faith that I wouldn't mislead you. How will I feel if I send you, the loyal reader, to a web site that says you can prevent AIDS by using KY-jelly when having sex? Of *course* you can't. I would be mortified, and you would have been essentially misinformed by me about something potentially life-threatening.
On the other hand, AIDS awareness is very important today. People *should* be reading about it and talking about it, and know the facts. It impacts every single person on the planet, and only about a quarter of those people can accurately tell you any facts about it. That's terrifying. What's smore frightening is that according to the CDC's June report on AIDS, a third of the people diagnosed with AIDS (it's not *definite* that HIV causes AIDS...) were not previously aware they were carriers. That means they could have been walking around transmitting HIV for an undetermined amount of time before they finally got some symptoms. Granted, HIV is only present in 90 percent of AIDS patients. Still, though, this means there are still a lot of people out there who are not getting tested when they change partners, use needles, or are exposed to blood-borne pathogens in other ways. It's scary.
So I think I'm going to compromise. I think I will post the banner tomorrow for the Day Without Art campaign, but I think I will also link up some AIDS information I have pre-screened and feel is trustworthy. I'll shroud my page in black and remove my usual artwork. I'll still post a journal entry, and since I work in public health, if anyone has questions I will forward them to a coworker who is qualified to answer them.
Please let me know what you think. Overall, I keep my journal to keep myself sane, and I think it's pretty strange to use it to promote something... but I had an uncle who died of AIDS, so it's an issue I feel strongly about, and I figure it's the least I can do to inform a few people once a year. So please bear with me!
Forest's kindness was positively endearing this morning. As I was running blindly around the house trying to get to work as fast as possible, he made me breakfast and packed up my things. Then he drove me in, so I could eat on the way. How considerate of him! I really don't know how I ever got so lucky as to find such a companion. He's everything I dreamed about when I was a little girl inventing my own personal Prince Charming. It's wonderful to be in a relationship where both parties are overwhelmingly happy. Granted, we have our griefs and trials, and things haven't all been roses. But we've handled things together, and have always been glad to be a pair, even in the hard times. It's hard to believe we've only been going out for almost three months. I know every little part of him so well that I feel as though I could describe him inch by inch in exact detail, inside and out. I know he could do the same. That's the beauty of all of it - I don't have a single feeling for him that isn't returned in full. Balance is such a wonderful thing!!!
Whoever is out there in never-neverland watching over me, I'm eternally grateful.
