Between A Rock and A Hard Place

Leading up to World AIDS Day / Day With(out) Art, TheBody.com asks, Can We Afford to Cure HIV, with community members responding. Former Visual AIDS Programs Director Ted Kerr complicated the question by suggesting that rather than just focusing on a cure, we should be focusing on the moment we are in. Below is an excerpt of his piece, along with links to the other responses.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place
...Members of VOCAL-NY (a grassroots organization building power among low-income people affected by HIV/AIDS) often say, "we could end the crisis tomorrow without a cure," and I agree.

I think "the end" comes from us looking at the in-between. By focusing on the middle -- without losing sight of past or future -- we engage in what theologian Shelly Rambo calls the "theology of remaining." It is where spirit meets trauma, from where we can "forge a path amid all of the complexities" that "speaks to the perplexing space of survival." A way forward respecting that we are hurting.

HIV is a manageable, chronic illness for some. For others -- depending often on race, gender, sexuality and class -- it is a death sentence. In some communities, prevention is a subsidized pill; in others, it is a fight for education, running water and to be recognized. Remaining allows us to see that in between these disparities is health for all.

Read the rest of Kerr's op-ed, and posts from Richard Jefferys, Melanie Thompson, M.D., Jose DeMarco, and Jeff Sheehy, here.