Let us live, before we die There is a great deal of beauty in life and trauma resting in juxtaposition, each new morning, we hope for better than we were served before. And so what, that we can not control these truths fully and when they'll occur to us, we atleast get the odds and we can control our reactions, a little better than we can control our feelings, we can protect ourselves, by researching the causes, and not everything will go as planned, because HIV is a silent but deadly one night can change a whole life and it could be months before you learn whats wrong and years of work trying to make it right and it may never be right and so we know nobody is perfect and there's mostly nothing that anyone can do to avoid the things they aren't aware of cause 1 in 16 black men end up diagnosed with HIV... and each of those men have stories of how it happen and what they know now that they did not before how sex unprotected, or the shared use off needle injections, could put a whole life at risk and infect a mother with a virus that she may pass down to her kid, so she feels void and knows void, reflecting on her course and the moments she was tested attempting to taste lifes most sensational beauties, exposed to infiltration, how now do they describe faith, checking boxes, With the stats stacked in opposition strive for a new tradition, when we talk about health in the Black Community lets implement a better way of communicating imperfections and passing down the lessons learned through trial and error, and let go of the obsession that you are better than anyone else cause 1 in 32 Black women end up diagnosed as well. invited by temptation. Either intimidated or content amid the what ifs, theres not always bliss served with ignorance its important to know your status, to know your options, to keep up treatment, practice precautions, some communities may make it feel like taboo, like theres something wrong with accepting your truths but dont let the opinions of the world, consume you even if they assume or what they presume begins to agitate you youve got one life and that, you have to live for you! make time for the things that you value and decide who you are going to be in times of beauty and most importantly during the more traumatic scenes, cause it could happen to you or someone you love, and youll want to give up, or isolate yourself, because you don't know how to respond, so take time now to stay informed..
(HIV Awareness Contest Submission) by Dom Root