Social Justice and Human Rights
Social justice is about equal distribution of privileges and opportunities among the populations. It is an aspect of the society that touches on every paradigm of human existence. One common denominator in social justice is the adherence to human rights. Human rights are universal and ought to be respected irrespective of the status and situation of an individual.
The Implications of HIV/AIDS
The discovery of the HIV/AIDS virus in the 1980s brought to light the implications of social justice when talking about issues related to the endemic. HIV/AIDS is a social justice issue especially when one part of the population is highly likely to be infected than the other and nothing substantive is done to avert the infections and the implications of the disease. It is quite obvious that at the beginning of the discovery of the virus, HIV/AIDS was mostly associated with the gay community and as such nothing much was done to help the situation. However, individuals such as Edmund White took it upon themselves to ensure that the gap was bridged. It is rather apparent that White and the rest of the activist applied certain elements of the Franciscan peacemaking to advocate for social justice in the same regards.
Positive Steps Towards Peacemaking
One of the essential elements of the Franciscan peacemaking is that one must take positive steps towards making peace. This is an element that Edmund applied in his activism, although obliviously. It is quite apparent that one of the most significant steps that the author took towards the course is to ensure that he protected his lover by breaking up with him. This act would pave the way for several other steps including writing about living with an illness that was like a death sentence. It is also prudent to note that White did not allow his life to be defined by the disease.
Being Open and Taking Necessary Steps
He went about his duties and was openly public about his status and sexuality despite the fact that they would jeopardize his integrity as a member of a society that was still not appreciative of gay men. By being open, it is quite obvious that he was making a positive step in line with the Franciscan peacemaking. When funds were not forthcoming towards the research on HIV and its prevalence among the gay community, White and four other men decided to form the Gay Men’s Health Crisis that would help the infected members of the community and as such sought to raise funds towards the course. He realized that he could not just sit and wait for it to happen, he had to do it by taking necessary steps. Just like peace is not just an intellectual element, the course against HIV/AIDS was also not an intelligent one and needed someone to take the necessary steps towards it.
A Just Cause
Looking at the epidemic of HIV/AIDS as the wolf in White's life, it is essential to understand that a significant element in the course would have been to ensure that the course was a just one. White was focused on ensuring that the cause of the disease was known and that more gay people were not subjected to the disease that felt like a death sentence. His course was a just one, and even though he confessed to having had multiple partners, he was sure to ensure that people did not fall into the same situation as he did. For instance, while in France, he met Michael Foucault and told him about HIV/AIDS and told him about the disease. However, the thinker dismissed the reality of the disease as just a disease formulated to punish the gay community for having unnatural sex. White and the rest of his group members still went ahead to try and gather as much information about the disease as possible as well as raise funds towards the course.
The Battle Against HIV/AIDS
White's course was a just one. It was a course that sought to make a difference in the lives of not just the gay community but of the entire population in the world. With no sense of support financially or even socially, White was an individual who faced the course rather unarmed. He states that at some point he was too dejected to write. The fact that there were no medications to help the situations when it was first discovered implied that his battle was being faced without any weapons against the disease.
Bravery in the Face of Adversity
In a nutshell, Edmund White exemplified the bravery that St. Francis of Assisi showed when he was facing the wolf. The HIV/AIDS pandemic was the wolf in White's case, and it is quite apparent that he borrowed several elements from the Franciscan peacemaking. He took a positive step towards the course having realized that no one else was willing to help. Additionally, he was quite unarmed with limited information and no funds as well as no medication; he took a step of faith towards a just course that would eventually help millions of other people, especially in the gay community, to face the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
