So much pain and so much beauty -- all in one day.”

-- Larry 1956-1991

What's the first word that comes to mind when you hear the word AIDS?

Just call it out.
DEATH PAIN LOSS SORROW DEPRESSION TRAGEDY SICKNESS FEAR

That's right. We've all heard a lot about those words, which are certainly a part of AIDS. But there's another side to AIDS as well. A side rarely spoken about. When I hear the word AIDS, the first word I think of is...LOVE.

Ironically, one of the blessings HIV/AIDS has brought me is the abundance of love right here in this room. Certainly, the need for it exists. AIDS has inspired me to get a bunch of really terrific teenagers together to sit around and talk about our feelings. We are doing what needs to be done. And in so doing, we are creating a certain kind of cure.

There is a healing around AIDS that exists when we look into each other's eyes and when we really communicate with each other. We can learn to say, "I'm not afraid to be near you if you are HIV+. I'm not afraid of you because you are like me. You have the same dreams as I do." AIDS prompts us to say, "Hey, I care about you and I want to make sure that you stay alive. I'll do what I can."

In every generation there has been something that characterizes the inner struggle of the general masses. AIDS is ours. And as with every struggle, there is always an emancipation, something that needs to be liberated or loosened from our collective spirit. In coming together and learning how to care for each other we are liberating the love within us, the love that heals.

In its purest form, we all experience love on some level, in every day of our lives, though we may not always realize it. In fact, it's why we've come together today. So when we talk about AIDS, we need to also talk about love. This doesn't necessarily take AIDS away, but it does make room for it in our world. Room for the acceptance of the need to be educated. Room for the deep level of compassion and understanding needed in order to remember our oneness. Room for each other. Like what we're doing here in this room today -- educating people, enlightening people, encouraging people to function from more of an emotional place.

When we turn our faces away from AIDS, we are also turning our faces away from each other. And all we've got is each other. Whatever it is we do, we are sharing this life together.

AIDS is a part of that sharing. AIDS draws us closer and helps us to understand each other more. The words you all mentioned before, like death, pain and sorrow, were brought up because you understand something about them from your own life experiences. Indeed, everyone in this room has experienced some sort of pain or life challenge, whatever it is. We all want to help each other. It's no different if you are HIV positive or HIV negative.

AIDS makes people talk.

Indeed, everyone is thinking about it, and everyone has something to say about it. Most of us even have the same questions. What's more important to me than even giving you the answers is giving you the opportunity to find out that you have questions. Then at least you'll know that you have the right to ask. It's not so much in knowing the answers that we learn. It's in opening up enough to talk that we learn, because we feel safer when we talk. Words have the power to help us feel safe.

AIDS gets us in touch with the moment at hand, so that we live in the moment and hope the moments will last for a long, long time. I still want the things that you want for yourselves: a life well-lived with all my dreams coming true. One of those dreams is to see an army of teenagers across this country and around this world, that are changing the general perception of AIDS from ignorance to education, from fear to motivation, and from loss to love.

I think that love is a cure.
If someone loves,
you feel better.

-- Chris, Age 11

© 1997 by Scott Fried
Published by Scott Fried, PO Box 112 Old Chelsea Station, New York, NY 10113

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