Letters From Here
by Jesse Cameron Alick
Which way will we turn at the crossroads of compassion and greed?
Dear C.A.L.G.A.,
I’ve been reading the news all week long. On the list of bad ideas that can plunge you into a frenzy, this activity is near the top. But inquiring minds want to know. Oh what a world sister! Bush pardons Libby for breaking the law, proving that it does indeed pay to have friends in high places; this dude in Union Square park is arrested for reciting the First Amendment (yeah, the one that promises freedom of speech, that First Amendment); and this poor kid who was savagely beaten for hours by Texan bigots as they screamed “white power” commits suicide. Still our older brother doesn’t think hate crimes legislation is necessary. America!
And then we come to the HIV portion of the news. My favorite. I read an article the other day (I’m sorry, you know how I’m fond of starting the majority of my conversations in this manner) that said that the Food and Drug Administration is going to implement new rules that recommend that any man who has engaged in homosexual sex in the previous five years be barred from serving as a sperm donor. The reasoning behind this being that homosexual men are at a “higher than average risk” of carrying the virus that causes AIDS. Which is just super. Ban gays from sperm donation, blood donation, Salvation Army clothing donation, anything to protect the people. At any cost. I’m just not sure banning gay men is going far enough. Aren’t you black women the fastest growing group of new HIV infections? (At first they came for the homosexuals, and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t a homosexual….) How about proposing a new FDA regulation banning all women of color from donating blood and eggs? Or just ban all black people in general. Takes less thought. Big sweeping judgments make me feel all warm inside. Like life has rules. A certain amount of order in the midst of madness. Even if that means we have to use the tools of bigotry and hate to achieve it.
It’s hard for me to stay calm as I watch the news. Is it my imagination or does it really suck to be a person of the HIV-positive persuasion recently? I mean, more than it usually does. More articles run past my fingertips. Criminal HIV exposure. Tons of people being arrested all the time for spreading HIV. Egregious harm they call it. The California Supreme Court ruled that if you have a high-risk sex life, you must inform your partner that you are a high-risk individual. Which means if you’re a straight dude that experimented in college during a drunk frat party (yeah, that’s hot, right?), and now you’re dating women again, by law, you must inform every future partner that you’ve had sex with a man before having sex with them. Straight up (forgive the pun). Safety first, rah, rah, rah, but call me crazy, isn’t this going just a bit too far?
I’m not defending people who knowingly have unprotected sex with other people. But it does give me pause. Remember that guy who traveled on all those international flights even though he knew he had a highly contagious and drug-resistant form of tuberculosis? I read today that he’s being sued by seven Canadians and two Czechs for his “reckless and selfish behavior.” If HIV-positive people can be thrown in jail for putting people at risk shouldn’t this TB poster boy get taken for every penny he’s worth? What if someone sneezes in someone else’s face and gives them bird flu? Lock them away too? It raises an important question: Since when is being selfish a criminal offence? I mean, I think it should be illegal to be a selfish person (you know how I’ve been the king of the moral high ground since I was five, unforgiving Buddhist for just as long) but if we’re prosecuting people for not caring, is this capitalist society really going to work out? Things aren’t lining up. I’m convinced that we’re at a crossroads.
America, I mean. A place in history where out-of-control compassion and self-actualized greed are wrestling for who will rule this planet. And on days like this I feel afraid that no matter who wins, reason will lose. And you can blame it on the Republicans, the Democrats, the liberals or the conservatives. They’re all nuts anyway. We get the leaders/governments/social movements we deserve. A voice rings in my head as I close my eyes and wonder why you have to be all the way across the country right now, “Reason will lose….” In the end, blame it on the news. I blame it all on the news. This is what being informed gets you.
More soon.
Peace, JC
Jesse Cameron Alick is a poet, playwright, and Zen Master. He works as associate producer for Smokin Word, associate artistic director for Subjective Theatre, and as assistant to the artistic director at the Public Theater. He sits on the executive board for LID.
August 2007
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