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Shrink Rap – The Shortest Month
Written by Dr. Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.DFebruary 24, 2010 – 4:36 pm
I have a very good friend in Los Angeles, Owen, who is African American. He has about the best sense of humor of anyone I know. His take on February being Black History Month is, “Oh, sure, give us the shortest month!”
During the course of our 20 years of friendship, Owen has added immeasurably to my sensitivity, awareness, and appreciation for African American culture. A new movie, novel, or a particular cultural event—if it’s related to the African American community, we will often discuss its merits, impact, history, pros and cons, etc. And since I love to learn about cultures that are in any way different from my own—the people, language, spiritual beliefs, food! —I soak up as much as I can.
One of the best events I’ve attended since moving to Chattanooga about four years ago (and I go to quite a few!), was the Rickey Smiley benefit performance at the Tivoli. A well-known B.E.T. comic, he was here two Februarys ago to help raise money for National African-American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. The man had the sold-out audience in tears from laughing so hard. Now I must admit, I did not get all the jokes. But I got most of them. I think certain things are particular to certain communities, and if someone is outside that community, there are bound to be some colloquialisms and familial references that just don’t click. In a way, I felt a bit envious to be missing out on some of the punch lines that my audience neighbors were clearly enjoying. But even so, I believe that the funniest ironies of life are universal and cross racial lines, and Mr. Smiley certainly brought many tears of laughter to my eyes that night.
Perhaps one of the most enduring traits of the human condition is our ability to laugh through tears. In the face of painful tragedies and sorrows, we find ways to reclaim our sense of humor, and use that humor to come up for air, gain some perspective, fortify ourselves, and remind us that we are surviving. It’s usually a pretty good sign someone is coping well with a personal loss once they are able to laugh again. Laughter, like tears, is a healthy, natural mechanism for getting through the tough times.
And attending a comedy performance for HIV/AIDS, such as Rickey Smiley’s, is a perfect example of this. AIDS is the most globally devastating disease in the history of mankind, wiping out entire villages in Africa and creating, for the first time, generations of orphans raising orphans. AIDS is an equal-opportunity problem, and knows no color, race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. If there’s ever been a need to fortify ourselves and learn how to survive in the face of disaster, it’s been during the past 30 years of this epidemic.
Here are a few sobering statistics (from 2008) that we all, regardless of the color of our skin, need to appreciate:
1. An estimated 44 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, 1.2 million of them here in the U.S., approximately 13,000 (reported cases) here in TN.
2. Half of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in our country occur among African Americans, even though African Americans account for less than 13 percent of the population.
3. Here in Tennessee, more than 600 African Americans test HIV-positive each year. And along with heterosexual women, African Americans represent the sharpest increase in infection rates.
HIV has absolutely no prejudice. It is not a gay disease, nor a black disease. It’s not a Baptist disease nor a young person’s disease. It’s not a female disease, a blonde’s disease, or a tall person’s disease. We have HIV on our planet. Our planet. It belongs to all of us. And it’s up to all of us to become educated so we can take care of ourselves and our loved ones, friends and strangers alike. The pandemic is not over. Knowledge equals power, folks. Get smart. Get tested (it’s free). Get condoms and use them every time. Love yourself enough to play safely. And if you don’t love yourself, get some therapy so you can learn to. Your planet, and your loved ones, are counting on you.
Till next week, a Celtic prayer: “I will bless my neighbor. May my neighbor bless me.”
AIDS Info hotline: (800) 525-2437
Chattanooga CARES: (423) 265-2273
Nancy’s House: (423) 559-8592
Dr. Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist, minister, and educator, in private practice in Chattanooga, and the author of “Empowering the Tribe” and “The Power of a Partner.” Visit his new wellness center, Well Nest, at www.WellNestChattanooga.com, and his website at www.DrRPH.com.
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3 Comments »
Laugh and pay and take half a loaf, so far so good. Does God know how AIDS feels? Read Psalm 88 (Cal Beisner speculated that psalmist “Heman the Ezrahite” may have become a leper, something like AIDS 3000 years ago.) And of course Jesus Christ was whipped, made fun of, and nailed naked to a cross to die. God can empathize, and so do some of His people–local missionary Andy Warren and his family (New City Fellowship church here) were working with AIDS sufferers in Addis Ababa last I knew.
But “AIDS is an equal-opportunity problem, and knows no color, race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation”? Of course the AIDS virus takes whatever it can get. But bluntly, not every lifestyle gives AIDS equal opportunity. Not all, but most, AIDS suffering comes with either–bluntly–fornication of some kind, or drug use. Practice chastity in its two forms (sexual abstinence and monogamy), and practice sobriety (from drug use, taken as an extreme form of drunkenness), and the AIDS virus goes on the Endangered Species list. I hear tell that when the government of Uganda teamed up with churches to explain the value of chastity, the AIDS rate fell off a cliff. (Castro’s Cuba contained AIDS by locking up AIDS sufferers.)
Who did Jesus Christ die for? Us sinners. What else did He do? Heal people, and rise up alive from the dead. That, along with chastity and sobriety, is the standard Christian claim, Biblical and historical and often fallen short of, though some modern people who want to be called Christians claim they can deny some or all of this without falling short of what God requires. On the healing side, Jim Rutz’s book MEGASHIFT claims that some people have been healed of AIDS in the Name of Jesus Christ. (Don’t even try the names of Mohammed or Buddha; whatever their virtues, they weren’t into healing, nor into dying for sins to show God’s love nor into rising from the dead to show God’s power. Want love and power and dealing with sins and sinners, Jesus is the man.) Worth a flight to Africa? Worth repenting (changing lifestyle)? Rahab the prostitute became an ancestor of Jesus; so did Tamar (Genesis 38/Matthew 1). God can handle my past and yours. I’m not familiar with their services, but maybe Harvest USA, 266-0434, or CBI Counseling, 756-2894, could help some.
I very much appreciate Dr. Rick’s expose on the state of HIV/AIDS in our community, and in the African-American community specifically. What I find sad is when holier-than-thou types use the Bible not as loving guidance, but as a club to wield against others, and to justify small-mindedness and small heartedness. It’s a finger-pointing, “us-versus-them” argument, and it contributes to diviseveness instead of compassion, hatred instead of understanding. Perhaps if these people opened their minds to other ways of thinking for just a moment, or at the very least respected that others may believe differently from them, they could be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Maybe if they themselves were relegated to a secluded island a la Castro’s Cuba, they would then understand the rejecting sting of being one of “them.”
It is estimated that over 3,000 children die each day from AIDS complications in Subsaharan Africa. Take a moment to let that sink in. Please think about them, their families, their siblings, and their schoolmates when you feel compelled to comment.