Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Carl W. Dieffenbach, PhD, Director, Division of AIDS, NIAID
This year, 2016, the world marked the 35th anniversary of the first published reports of what would come to be known as HIV/AIDS.
This disease has wrought enormous suffering and devastation and caused more than 35 million deaths. Yet today, thanks to remarkable achievements in biomedical science and public health, we have the tools to build a better future for individuals living with HIV and for those at risk of infection.
We are hopeful that new approaches currently under exploration could expedite the end of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
When we arrive on this world, we are connected to Source. We are like a blank page on a notebook. There’s nothing written there. There are no rules yet established. It’s like an empty CD. There’s innocence, all is good and pleasurable. No boundaries or limits are in place.
There’s intense love and purity.
How long does this stage last?
As soon as we realize what is around us, after the mother figure ceases to be the center of attention, that’s when the outside world starts invading our small inside “world”.
I remember when I first held Angelika, my oldest grandchild, in my forearm (that’s how tiny she was). I looked into those big, brown eyes and saw nothing but bright light and wonder. I didn’t want to let her go. I didn’t want to see her grow. I knew then that this couldn’t be. Of course, she would grow up and start making her way in her world.
As we all walk along our path we have experiences that leave their marks in our self. There’s pain generated through some experiences. There’s mistrust generated also. We may become bitter because of this.
Try with all our might to still believe that this is a beautiful world.
That’s our mission.
Keeping this mission, during the days that we are living, is proving to be difficult. How can we remain soft, avoid hate and bitterness? How can we remain soft when all that surrounds us can have no other effect but to make us hard?
We see greed, dishonesty, conflict, prejudice, disease, inequality, persecution, racism, bullying, poverty, hunger, conflicts, war, killing … on a daily basis, be it at “home” or around the world. Try as hard as you can …. keep the faith, continue your journey and believe.
“Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.”
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ( November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer. His works such as Cat’s Cradle (1963), Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), and Breakfast of Champions (1973) blend satire,gallows humor, and science fiction. As a citizen he was a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union and a critical pacifist intellectual. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.
The New York Times headline at the time of Vonnegut’s passing called Vonnegut “the counterculture’s novelist”.
When people have to cope with difficult situations in their lives, they sometimes reassure themselves by saying that everything happens for a reason. For some people, thinking this way makes it easier to deal with relationship problems, financial crises, disease, death, and even natural disasters such as earthquakes. It can be distressing to think that bad things happen merely through chance or accident. But they do.
The saying that everything happens for a reason is the modern, New Age version of the old religious saying: “It’s God’s will.” The two sayings have the same problem – the complete lack of evidence that they’re true. Not only is there no good evidence that God exists, we have no way of knowing what it is that he (or she) wanted to happen, other than that it actually did happen. Did God really will that hundreds of thousands of people die in an earthquake in one of the world’s poorest countries?
Fortunately, even without religious or New Age illusions, people have many psychological resources for coping with the difficulties of life. These include cognitive strategies for generating explanations and problem solutions, and emotional strategies for managing the fear, anxiety, and anger that naturally accompany setbacks and threats. Psychological research has identified many ways to build resilience in individuals and groups, such as developing problem solving skills and strong social networks. Life can be highly meaningful even if some things that happen are just accidents.
I am a firm believer of this statement: Everything happens for a reason. Many times we aren’t aware why at the specific time. We are confused by events, by unexpected happenings, by the actions and reactions of others.
This confusion makes us question our own beliefs and actions. We wonder if we chose the correct path, if we made the right decision, if we have done the best we can. This applies to all the situations that come our way: professional, personal, financial, environment/natural disasters, social inequalities and injustices, friendships, intimacy.
It Is What It Is 