It seems to happen to a greater or lesser extent every year. The holiday season sneaks up on all of us, and then suddenly it's here. This past year seemed to zip by (Check your calendar - it's December), and the insanity that appears in the news everyday doesn't always carry much with it in the way of holiday spirit.
Look at the world right now: the GOP primary resembles nothing so much as some new, twisted reality show, like something they'd air on Fox. Maybe they could call it, "The Ego Factor." Yes, the economy appears to be recovering slightly - but we're not sure how long that'll last.
The bankruptcy of American Airlines also has us a bit down. While it doesn't appear that it'll disrupt holiday travel, the malfeasance of most of the airline's executives certainly may disrupt the jobs and lives of many of its employees in the new year. Sadly, most executives at American - who are responsible for running the airline into the ground - won't likely suffer much at all.
With all the bad news, we were so glad yesterday when a commentary talking about World AIDS Day - which was Thursday - caught our eye.
The piece was written by Bono - yes, the lead singer of U2 and worldwide rock star. He's also the founder and a driving force behind two of the most influential advocacy and aid groups in the battle against AIDS, namely ONE, and the (Product)RED campaign.
Just over a decade ago, the AIDS epidemic was still astoundingly appalling. Two million people worldwide died of the disease, with more deaths every year. Three million more people were becoming newly infected with AIDS everyday.
As Bono pointed out in his commentary, those numbers have DRASTICALLY changed over the last decade. More than six million people worldwide now take anti-retorviral drugs - and scientists think they're on the edge of a long-term solution.
What gave us the most hope though, was how that change over the last decade happened.
"How did we get here," Bono wrote. "America led. I mean really led."
"...It’s a tale of strange bedfellows: the gay community, evangelicals and scruffy student activists in a weird sort of harmony; military men calling AIDS in Africa a national security issue; the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Lee and John Kerry in lock step with Bill Frist and Rick Santorum; Jesse Helms, teary-eyed, arriving by walker to pledge support from the right; the big man, Patrick Leahy, offering to punch out a cranky Congressional appropriator; Jeffrey Sachs, George Soros and Bill Gates, backing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Rupert Murdoch (yes, him) offering the covers of the News Corporation.
Also: a conservative president, George W. Bush, leading the largest ever response to the pandemic; the same Mr. Bush banging his desk when I complained that the drugs weren’t getting there fast enough, me apologizing to Mr. Bush when they did; Bill Clinton, arm-twisting drug companies to drop their prices; Hillary Rodham Clinton, making it policy to eradicate the transmission of H.I.V. from mother to child; President Obama, who is expected to make a game changing announcement this World AIDS Day to finish what his predecessors started — the beginning of the end of AIDS.
And then there were the everyday, every-stripe Americans. Like a tattooed trucker I met off I-80 in Iowa who, when he heard how many African truck drivers were infected with H.I.V., told me he’d go and drive the pills there himself.
Thanks to them, America led. Really led."
For all the turkeys we each have to deal with in our lives each day, its still incredibly worthwhile to realize: when we ALL work together, REALLY work together, the kinds of things we can accomplish together are miraculous.
If we can get a hold on AIDS in just a couple decades, imagine what we could do for our government - and for ourselves - if we worked together and gave our all for each other.
It may feel like winter outside, but for us, hope springs eternal.
