im so tired of trying

rejected. again.

The Things Old People Say

Ok, so I was at my grandparents house tonight, along with my sister and her husband.  We were sitting there talking after supper about various things.  At one point we were discussing my job (pharmacy tech), which then led to healthcare in general, and then AIDS.  At this point, out of the blue, my grandpa says, "You know, I'm not completely sure this is right, but sometimes I think that all those people in Africa having AIDS is God's way of controlling the population, weeding people out you know, kinda like natural selection and survival of the fittest."  

Wow.  Ok, that kind of talk scares me.  If he weren't my grandpa, and I heard someone on the radio or something say that, I'd immediately label them as crazy.  You know, like Nazi-militia freak-radical-super conservative-religious fanatic crazy.  

Let us ponder the issues of that statement for a monent.  Firstly, AIDS is super bad.  I mean, it sucks.  It's transimitted in various ways, primarily via unprotected sex.  And there's the sterotypes that only gays get AIDS, and if you're a druggie you'll get AIDS.  Don't get me wrong, it can happen that way, but usually people associate AIDS only with those forms of transmission.  Numero deux, people seem to think Africa = AIDS, black people = AIDS, moreover, black Africans = AIDS.  Really, that's what they think, it's simple as addition.  Tres, Religiously speaking (this is gonna come from a Christian worldview, but I'm quite sure remains true for other main world religions), AREN'T WE SUPPOSED TO HAVE COMPASSION ON THE HURTING, SICK, BROKENHEARTED, and LESS-FORTUNATE??  Right?  Did I miss something?  We provide for those who don't have.  We share, we love, we give, we pray, we HEAL.  That's what Jesus did....In fact, that's what he was all about.  And # fo, this just sounds like that crazy Malthus guy, with his crazy Malthusian ideas, something about how we didn't have enough food in the world to feed everybody, so the undesirables would just die off for the betterment of the rest of us (us meaning, of course, Caucasian Judeo-Christian Western rich folk).  

Ok.  End rant.

Thoughts?