plane ride to DC

here is DC, our nations capitol. I had a very interesting conversation with a gentleman on my flight from Sacramento to Denver. He was a church elder and he told me of a conversation that the elders had regarding HIV transmission and drinking from the communal cup. There was concern that the church members could get HIV from sharing the cup at communion. They thought that perhaps they should not allow people to share the same cup.

Fortunately, he actually asked me if it was possible. I was thrilled that he asked and he wanted the truth for the answer. I explained that that would be considered casual contact and there are no known cases of HIV spread via casual contact.

He seemed relieved and said that he would share that information. I did say that I have concerns about the spread of Flu A & Swine by sharing the cup and that they may consider changing for the winter season.

He then asked me lots of questions about HIV in Sacramento and in East Africa.

He was really surprised that there were new infections still occurring. He was surprised when I told him that there are people getting HIV from heterosexual sex. He was surprised when I told him that a growing group of newly infected are folks in the senior years who are now single for whatever reason.. they are returning to the dating world and not taking precautions. The last time they were single there was no HIV.

Let me tell you this. This virus does not care who you sleep with, what your religion is, how much money you make, what god you believe in. All it cares is that you are human. This is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It likes human blood and will do what it can to latch on.

As I said before this is spread via sex, IV drug use when folks are sharing needles, mother to baby during delivery and breast milk.

This is a completely avoidable illness. This infection comes from making choices, poor choices.

It does not take a rocket scientist to put on a condom, to not share your rig...

What is it with humans that we can not do these simple procedures to save our own lives.

Why do we live in the place of "it could not happen to me:? If you can help me with the answer to this question then perhaps we will get somewhere in prevention. We must understand the human psychology. Most of our actions are about survival but when it comes to sex and drugs and instincts fall by the wayside. How interesting is that?