The seeding of aspiration.
I heard about the AIDS LifeCycle through my co-worker Talia about this time last year. At the time it sounded like something I could never do: a 585 mile bike from SF to LA in 7 days. Like a marathon, it held a the same ominous promise of a lot of physical exertion. Last year those things did not appeal to me. But that was a whole year ago.
It took 12 months, 365 1/4 days, for me to fall in love with SF and California. I don't think I belong here or that I could ever call this place home. Yet, one gets the feeling they are in the middle of it all here. There is everything you could want: agreeable weather, urban and rural areas, every type of community, every race of people, all topped off with some of the world's most beautiful land.
I've submerged myself in the culture of this city, which one of progression and compassion. The darker side of the culture of SF is drugs and sex and diseases without cures. The needle exchange has exposed me to shaky, worn figures who carry on with lives that are hard beyond reckoning. Some have HIV/AIDS. Their situations are more closely related to people suffering with HIV/AIDS in Africa: no access to the support one needs to treat the disease and improve quality of life. Like their situational counterparts in Africa, the homeless and poor here have little hope of dying with dignity.
Last year I was interested in the AIDS LifeCycle, but it was temporally, financially and logistically impossible for me then. This year finds me in good health, financially sound and ready for a challenge (I've recently completed applying to medical school). Whats more, I have seen too many people check the "positive" box of the survey sheet at the needle exchange to realize that HIV is still a problem in this country. Turning on the news to see the tragic effects of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, Russia, India and China expands its effects to the scope of Humanity.
Biking 585 miles in 7 days: it will easily be the most physically demanding undertaking of my life. Strange for me, I feel positive about the prospect of completing this ride. After all, the end products are 1) funding for research of this most horrific pandemic and 2) accomplishment.
Never think you are far from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, or that it will never affect you. It already does, if only indirectly. This is not a fact to fear, but rather a reason to act. Smallpox was eradicated, polio too, shouldn't HIV be next?
Please visit http://aidslifecycle.org/5423 and help me reach my sponsorship goal. Whatever you give, no matter how little, will be greatly appreciated. Check this blog frequently to get updates on my sponsorship and training. Thank you for your generous support.
Email me at matthew.lecomte@ucsf.edu
