Propositions on AIDS

In response to your editorial “Fighting AIDS: No on 102,” Oct. 20:

I just had lunch with a friend who’s hooked on tobacco and, I think, some other stuff. In between complaints about what a shambles his life is, he complained about not having any energy. Suddenly he blurted, “What do I have to do?” After some thought, I replied, “I can tell you not to smoke and not to do all the other things that are abusive to your body, but what good will it do? There must be a desire to change.” But, how does one get it? Where does this desire come from?

Now he knows he’s hurting himself. So, if it were simply a matter of the will, surely he would have stopped by now. But maybe not! Smoking and drinking and all the other things we put into our bodies that hurt us, take up an awful lot of time and demand the company of certain individuals. If my friend ever does stop anything, he’ll have to fill all that time and he’ll have to make a new circle of friends. He’ll have to begin a new life style.

The writer of “Fighting AIDS: No on 102” believes that “voluntary cooperation in a testing program (is) the only avenue to changing behavior that places others at risk.” Thus, your writer’s reasoning for urging a no vote on 102. But intravenous-drug users and homosexuals are also putting things into their bodies and hurting themselves. They’re living a life style that demands the company of certain individuals and requires an awful lot of time.

What I have learned from my own addiction, and that of my friend, is that people can’t change unless the circumstances become drastic--and sometimes not even then. The Times seems to be saying that death is drastic but once these folks realize the deadly problem they’re carrying around, they’ll change their life style and everybody will be protected. A gigantic assumption.

This type of reasoning actually places society at the mercy of people who are, quite literally, out of control. Someone out of control cannot be an objective thinker. Whoever coined the word “hooked” knew what he was talking about.

WILEY B. BURNES

Westminster