As I was watching Barbara Walters "10 most fascinating people", Derek Jeter, of the New York Yankee's was being interviewed. I remember looking down at my phone and checking twitter to see what people's comments were, one tweet from a gal said "Derek Jeter, a man with a special gift" and she was not referring to "baseball". It is said that Derek Jeter has dated many of the most beautiful actresses, sharing his special gift.
When I do a blog I like to spend some time searching for some fitting pictures, it gives me a little time in collecting my thoughts. I personally found this picture above to be very fitting, as you see the art work is of a couple, I see what would be an attractive couple, but I'm not totally convinced because I can't see their faces. How well do you really know the person that you are dating before endeavoring into another phase of your relationship? So many things remain to be unseen, we should all take the time to ask our partners the right questions, because it may be, that unless you ask, you may not be told, the "unseen", which could ultimately change the rest of your life and remember that the rest of your life could be a very long time.
Below is a picture, this is what we can see when the blinders are off, I think this picture portrays a beautiful and trusting relationship, full of love. I absolutely love this picture...
When I took English 111, we had to write 5 major papers, the first was on literacy, so I wrote about my dog Oliver, my Australian Shepherd, some other papers I chose were Reality Television, Herpes, and Pringles Multigrain Chips. When I turned in my paper on the subject "Herpes", my English Teacher looked at me with wide eyes and said, "Kelly, this is the first time anyone has ever written on this topic", my response was "good, I guess this means that you won't get bored".
We all know that Herpes is ugly and if you contract this virus, naturally you are going to feel ashamed, dirty, and fear of what people will think of you, some may even feel that their future with another man is completely over. Herpes comes with a stigmatism, a perception of how one views this topic, almost like a forbidden fruit.
Many of us know that four out of five people contract this virus, keeping in mind their are two forms of this virus, one being sexually transmitted and the other being cold sores on the mouth/lips, which can also occur in your eye. I will tell you with all honesty, I have the other form and it is in my right eye. It is not pleasant having an ulcer in the retina of your eye. When I came down with this, it was at an extremely stressful point in my life. When I saw the ophthalmologist, I was in total disbeif when he told me that I had ulcers on my retina. (Herpes) The Doctor put me on a pill that would keep this from occurring often or as bad when it did appear. Do you have any idea what it is like walking into the pharmacy and picking up a prescription for Acyclovir? I want to have a tattoo on my forehead that says "the Acyclovir is for my eye".
The truth is people judge and sadly we can not get away from this and this is my purpose for speaking out, If only I could reach one person today...
I often think about celebrities, most of them have a platform, with so many great causes, but I want to ask the question, why doesn't anyone have a platform for Herpes? Anne Heche has come out publicly, she has herpes, she didn't ask for it, she was molested at a very young age. Awareness of this is so important, for one, we need to stop the spread of Herpes and secondly, we need to let go of the horrible stigmatism behind it. People who have been infected with this virus can lead a normal life. Just because you have Herpes doesn't mean that you can't have a beautiful sexual relationship again, If someone loves you, they are going to love you for who you are and they will take the good with the bad and make it a beautiful relationship.
Everybody is at risk. A person can have a sexual relationship for the first time and contract Herpes. Lets do some math, lets say two hundred people read this blog, using four out of five; which is eighty percent, do you realize that this means out of two hundred people, one hundred and sixty people will have one form of the Herpes Virus? (Fact: 98% of sexually active americans carry the HPV virus, which can cause cervical cancer and genital warts)
In my circle of friends, we had a friend, (referring to him in pass tense) he was in his early fifties, he would seem to be a fairly educated man, he seemed to have it all and yes, everything including Herpes. He was a single man, he was on the dating scene, and we of course got to learn a bit about him. I found it truly amazing because this man was very ignorant, he thought that if he didn't have an outbreak, he was safe to have unprotected sex. For a man who contracted Herpes in his early twenties and had never been married, you can only imagine his gift, that kept on giving and to how many? This man did not care to educate himself, he chose to ignore it, as many do. If you are educated you know that Herpes has "silent outbreaks", a trigger for a silent outbreak can be sexual feelings, like the act leading up to the act.
I truly believe that if people have contracted Herpes, and knowingly spread it, they should do time in jail or prison. It is wrong and yet it happens so often.
Surprisingly, the highest percentage of people who have contracted Herpes virus are between the ages of 40-60. There is a reason for this, however, I won't enlighten you, at least not today.
When you think of someone with Herpes, could you ever picture someone like this having the virus?
If you don't believe that some one as beautiful and glamorous as Jessica Alba can contract Herpes, you a wrong, no one is singled out from this virus.
If I had the chance to be a celebrity or a public figure, I would use my platform to increase awareness on Herpes, along with other sexually transmitted diseases and of course teenage pregnancies. This last picture is what I vision, something beautiful...
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