part two: fighting back
page 1 of 5
contents
of issue 80/81
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Michael is 27 and has just been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He's
frightened, confused, and furious: 'Why me?'
Martin is also 27 and has just been diagnosed with HIV. He's frightened,
confused, and in despair.
Why are these two reactions to a life-threatening diagnosis so different?
Michael doesn't feel he deserves cancer and is naturally outraged at life
being so unfair. Martin, though, is overcome by deep feelings of shame:
'I always feared this would happen to me'.
But no one deserves HIV. It is not a punishment for wrongdoing - despite
the fact that historically many religions and societies have singled out
particular diseases over the centuries as examples of 'God punishing sinners'.
Cancer, epilepsy, syphilis and leprosy, for instance, have each played
the dubious role that HIV and Hepatitis C currently hold.
HIV is not a 'punishment from God' but a reminder of man's inhumanity
to man.
Don't accept shame, fight back
Shame is one of the most potent immunosuppressants known to man. It literally
tells our immune system not to fight back, but to accept. Like HIV, shame
is both infectious and immunosuppressive. We can contract it at any time
in our lives,
through sexual abuse, religious persecution, community intolerance, and indifference to our suffering. This indifference and lack of support represses
