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Ironic and Tragic

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I cannot imagine what it would be like to have no home to return to, no familiar place to lay my head at night, no friendly voice to ask in the morning, “Did you sleep well?” Nor can I imagine what it would be like to be discharged from a hospital stay and not be able to say, “I am going home.”

There are six persons with AIDS who are living in the Fraternity House in Oceanside because they have no other place to go. They receive loving care and attention around the clock. In the past three years, more than 100 people with this disease-without-a-cure have been cared for there; 70 of them have died. The numbers are not huge, but they represent seriously sick human beings who require comfort and care.

Unfortunately, they do not always find compassion.

Places like Fraternity House must exist until the day comes when health insurance will cover all costs and education will wipe out both homophobia and the multitude of myths about the disease.

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Tragically, Fraternity House has just been informed that an anticipated $10,000 grant from Wells Fargo Bank will not be available. Fraternity House receives no public money. The size of the grant is infinitesimal when one compares it to the millions wasted in Sacramento and Washington. But to six patients, those dollars represent three daily meals, regular medication, competent nursing care, clean linen, heat and the rest of the comforts that most of us take for granted.

It is difficult for me to understand how we spend so much money in this country for so many causes without any apparent attempt at prioritizing. I cannot resist noting that, printed on the back of the story about the grant loss, there is an article titled “Wanted: Private Jet for Five Finicky Passengers,” (Nov. 20).

The San Diego Zoo seeks “$50,000 to charter a jet to fly five gorillas from Cincinnati and Philadelphia” to San Diego. Moving gorillas across the country must certainly pose a problem. As a Diamond Club member of the Zoological Society of San Diego, I know how important those animals are to the zoo and to the public. The irony, nevertheless, remains.

AGNES HERMAN, San Marcos

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