Please read the compelling story of Nkosi Johnson, courtesy of an NPR interview on All Things Considered tonight with Jim Wooten, who recently wrote a book titled We Are All the Same, which was the result of a series of interviews with Nkosi, before he died at the age of 12. Adopted at an early age by an english speaking white woman, he was uniquely qualified to clearly convey the message of those who struggled with him, but were (and still are) largely ignored or outcast by the larger society.
Wooten tells NPR’s Michele Norris that at the end of one of his interviews with Johnson, the boy reminded him: “Wait just a moment, Jim. You haven’t asked me about death.” Johnson then went on to say that while he didn’t want to die, he was not afraid of dying.
And he left Wooten with a message that floored the newsman for its youthful insight: “Do all you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are.”
Also consider a statement I overheard recently: the greatest causes of the spread of AIDS are ignorance and denial. In our society it seems very easy to not talk about issues like this, since it makes people uncomfortable, which must only perpetuate the cycle.