Shock

So this week I watched a movie/documentary titled Silverlake Life: The View From Here. It follows the lives of two gay men that have been together for over twenty years and both of them have AIDS. The film basically follows them on their everyday life and shows how each day their health is deteriorating. I have been reading about what HIV/AIDS does to your body but to actually see it happening to a person is a completely different feeling. I was horrified and saddened at the same time but couldn't stop watching. Towards the end of the film, the camera basically shows one of the characters on their deathbed. Each day he looks worse and worse and the life seems to be leaving him each second. I knew that he was going to pass away but I didn't think that it would be as terrible as it was. The camera shows him almost up to this last breath and shows his dead, lifeless body for over a minute just laying there with his eyes open. I was so disturbed that I couldn't even look at the screen anymore and I even started tearing up because it was so emotional. After his death, they show his emaciated body that is basically nothing but a skeleton. When the film was over, I couldn't move. I just sat in my chair and stared at the screen. I was so upset by this and couldn't believe that this is actually how people die from AIDS. I had no idea how horrendous it really was. Even now, I can't stop picturing his dead body and I feel sick everytime I do. I just can't shake that image from my head and I really don't know to do about it.

On a lighter note, I read about what a great job UNICEF is doing to help children with HIV/AIDS. They started a campaign called Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS.