In all the world, there is no one exactly like me.
Because I alone choose who I am.
I own everything about me.
I own my body, my feelings, my attitudes, my actions,
all of my decisions.
Whether they be towards myself or others I own them.
I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hope, and, yes,
even the fears.
I own my triumps and my successes and I own the
responsibility for all my failures and my mistakes.
I alone own what becomes of me. I alone accept the
responsibility for me being HIV/AIDS.
I can become intimately acquainted with myself.
By doing so I can be friendly with myself, and
even love myself.
But as long as I am friendly and loving to myself
and others I can courageously and honestly look
for ways to find out more about me.
However I may look and sound, whatever I say and do,
whatever I think and feel at any given moment in time
is authentically me.
If later there are looks, thoughts or feelings that
turn out to be unfitting just for me, I can discard
those that I do not want and keep the rest.
As long as I can see, hear, feel and think, I own
the tools to survive.
Survive, I own the tools to become a better person,
I own the tools to be productive. I own the tools
to make sense and order out of this disease called HIV/AIDS.
With these tools I own, I can always accept me, as
I will always strive to be a better me. For god
now owns all of me.
In loving memory of Janice
Here essence was that of Love
Her inspiration was that of hope!
footnote: HIV/AIDS needed to redress the enormous preceived
distances between "the general public" and "the AIDS infected,"
between "doctor" and "patient" between "straight" and "gay" by
examining the language of political and medical expediency and
finding common bonds of the human in all of us.
