Post#68 » by The Rebel » Mon May 25, 2020 10:57 pm
The media and some people talk about remembering where they were when Jordan announced his 1st retirement, I don't remember where I even heard it but it had been rumored for a few days before it happened. With Magic we just knew that he had been out sick for a few days, I rushed home from school that day and caught the beginning of his speech. I had not even sat down when the announcement was made.
One thing younger people today do not really understand is how HIV and aids were thought of back then. There was a guy down the street who had aids for a couple of years before he died and had been HIV positive for a couple of years before that, so I knew it took time, but nobody thought he would survive longer than a few years. Watching what happened to teh guy down the street was scary as could be, he literally wasted away, went from a body builder type to looking anorexic just prior to his death. I did not want to watch Magic or anybody else go through that again, but especially Magic since he was one of my childhood heros like many of my generation.
Oddly his getting HIV was key to the treatment for patients and public acceptance that people with HIV experience now. Prior to that nobody knew much about how to get it, there were rumors it was gay sex only, it was blood transfusions, sharing drug needles, and some who insisted on straight sex being possible. The research was limited he raised millions upon millions for research. The public knowledge was even more limited, everybody especially kids and their parents started learning everything they could about HIV, Aids, and all that goes with it. I also knew a lot of guys who started wearing condoms religiously after that. There is no way to measure the lives he has saved and the knowledge we gained from him becoming HIV positive, so there is some silver lining to him going through what he did.
