Are You Human?

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Are you human?

You witness the destruction of lives around you,

But are you human?

You stereotype the sufferers who need your acceptance,

So are you human?

You refuse to put aside prejudices and care for those who need you,

And are you human?

 

The black infant

          struggling with tubes in a Philadelphia hospital,

She is human.

The lonely gay man

          sheltering a flickering candle from his family’s cold rejection,

He is human.

The million Americans

          in whose bodies HIV will inevitably turn to AIDS,

They are human.

 

The AIDS virus is not human.

It does not care whose body it invades,

As long as they are human.

It is a killer who stalks members from every segment of society,

So it is not human.

It is the epidemic that wins despite all forms of political intervention,

And it is not human.

 

But you are human.

And you have the ability to make a change;

          to lift the shroud of silence that encompasses AIDS.

They are human.

And they do not deserve to live in shame;

          to be ignored and discriminated against because of AIDS.

The future is human.

And your children should not be afraid

          to someday whisper the words “HIV” and “AIDS.”

 

And one day, in a better future,

Humans need not whisper those words at all…

…But if, and only if, you are a human.

 

So, are you human? 

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