Every day is the end of the world for someone

When I watched the news today my heart sank. The bombings in England are yet another sign that will live in an extremely volitile world. Fundamentalists often talk about "the end" coming soon. They've been talking about this for years. The things is, it's the end of the world every single day for someone living on this planet. 10 people died in that bus today in England. How many more were injured in the 4 explosions? How many will never forget that moment for the rest of their lives?

Later in the day I watched Oprah. It was a re-run of the "Undercover Brother" phenomenon. Men who are supposedly "straight" and married or in relationships with women who secretly pursue sexual relationships with other men. It seems like no one is using protection anymore.

Oprah stated that 78 percent of the new HIV cases for women were African American women. This is a devistating number. I have heard people say that it is inaccurate but at this point I think that debating it's accuracy is a disservice to the people of this country. Something is very wrong. Even if this disease had only struck ONE person...That is one life that we would have lost due to ignorance and secrecy.

The truth is that this disease is running rampant through almost every community - from small towns, elderly communities, colleges, arts communities, and on and on and on. It will not stop. People fear to find out if they are infected because they say it will destroy them. But, I think that the truth is not that they are afraid it will destory them....but that it will hinder them from being able to pursue sexually intimate contact with others without feeling guilty or having to tell the truth.

We all want love, sex, intimacy. The reality of knowing that you may not be able to experience this intimacy and the stigma that we have placed on the disease stops people from wanting to know if they are infected. Can we create a world where you can love someone deeply and truly and be satisfied without being sexual - or find ways to be sexual without risking another persons life or health? I don't know the answer but I wish I did.

This world keeps becoming more scary to me. Every day I try to create something from love, concern, compassion, understanding and life. We need to come back to life.