Today is World AIDS Day.

I have a beautiful address book a friend gave me in 1966. I literally cannot open it again.

Ever.

It sits on the shelf
with over a hundred names crossed out.

What is there to say?

There are no words.

I’ll never understand why it happened to us.

—Jerry Herman

When we were wasting away and dying every day, so many people thought that it wasn’t their disease, that it wasn’t their problem. But it was. And AIDS is not over. It is still killing women and men every day. We must never forget. It must end. And it must never happen again.