Safe Places

For the last 3 weeks, I have been participating in a course about AIDS offered through Coursera and taught by Emory professors. As usual, and I admit I'm a tad biased, I am amazed by the quality of the teaching. We're completing a week of lectures on "Behavioral Prevention" and our primary professor shared a personal story about a friend of hers who died of AIDS a few years ago. He grew up in a small town in Georgia and returned home to tell his parents about his HIV diagnosis. Through their panic, they kicked him out of the house, told him never to return and then actually told others in their town that he had been killed in a car accident. They even had a funeral for him - but he was alive. He continued to love them and hid out in Atlanta - afraid that someone from his small home town would discover he was still alive and humiliate his family (who "killed" him off).

The story was not shared to remind us about how awful people can be. The story was part of a lecture on how we can help deal with behavioral prevention. Part of being able to help starts with understanding how "in control" the person is with the outcomes of their behavior - such as talking about their diagnosis. The story reminds us that not everyone is in control of these situations. Simply a good reminder to be willing to offer support and a safe place for others as they need it in their battle with HIV.