In observance of World AIDS Day earlier this week on December 1st, people from cities all over the globe came out to show their support for the ongoing battle against AIDS. A lighthouse in Umhlanga, A city on the coast of North West Africa covered it’s signature lighthouse with a giant canvas condom. Both Paris and Buenos Aries covered their Obelisks in enormous prophylactics and Chennai flew a gigantic condom shaped banner over the city’s busiest roads. In addition the the giant condoms that appeared on every continent, people all over the world wore red clothing and ribbons to show their support. Despite the efforts of millions, many people did not ever realize the significance of December 1st in the fight against AIDS. In many regions sex and sexually transmitted diseases are still taboo subjects that are not discussed among the community. Lubbock, Texas is an example of a place like that. Lubbock still has abstinence only policy when teaching sex ed to high school students. AIDS is by far the most destructive pandemic seen in history, making it much more dangerous than breast cancer, but everyone seems to be on the “pink” bandwagon. Boobies and pink are easier to think about and face than a deadly sexually transmitted disease. People with breast cancer are considered heroes while sufferers of HIV are highly discriminated against. I don’t understand this. People with breast cancer have sex too. Some even share needles. Why is it easier to sport a pink support ribbon than a red one?

Courtesy of SEO Company

Sometimes it is difficult to see how trying to help a group of people could actually do them more harm then good. For example, when I was working with a Mayan population in the Guatemalan highlands, I noticed lot of run-down porta-potties dotting the country side near their villages. Now, I was hanging out with a group of people who still dye and weave their own clothes from the wool of their own sheep, grow and roast their own coffee beans, and light fires with flints to cook over, so you can imagine my confusion when I came across these modern toilets. Since there was a language barrier, I had to ask the translator to ask them if I could use the rest room. He asked, and a Mayan woman nodded and pointed to one of the big, blue, plastic potties on a hill. I’m pretty skeptical of porta-potties to begin with, especially in a third world country and the translator must have picked up on my hesitation because he quickly told me that it’s best to just pop a squat behind a bush somewhere. Out of politeness to the Mayans, I walked over to the porta-potty and pretended to go about my business with full intentions of peeing in a bush on the way back down. While I was standing there being polite, I noticed a shovel and against the wall and foot prints on the toilet seat. Later I asked some of the folks I was working with about this and they told me that some Christian missionaries put the porta-potties there to try to bring the Mayans up to plumbing par with more developed countries, but failed to show them how to use or maintain them. Since it’s culturally correct to squat instead of sit to do business for these guys, they planted their feet on the seat instead of their cheeks which explained to footprints. The explanation for the shovel was an unfortunate one. Since the missionaries did not explain the health hazards of standing excrement or provide the tools to pump the potty, the farmers began to use the contents as fertilizer for the crops which has widely contributed to the spread of diseases including hepatitis. Incidences such as this occur all the time but can easily be prevented by studying cultures and identifying their needs before implementing the wrong kinds of “help”.

Courtesy of SEO Company

Humans weren’t built to consume cow milk. Most babies come with lactose digesting enzymes built in because milk is all they eat, but as we grow up and sprout teeth, we no longer need to receive all of out nutrients via boobies. In non-pastoral societies, many people become lactose intolerant as they grow up but in cultures where dairy is a common dietary component, the lactose digesting enzyme sticks around. Before pasteurization was implemented, not a ton of people consumed milk since it had a very short shelf-life and developed the tendency to infect the consumer with bovine tuberculosis. No body wanted TB, so long ago, the general public started shunning the opaque beverage. This caused a problem. The problem was that people stopped getting enough calcium to maintain healthy bones. The solution was pasteurization. Bada bing! No more TB and people could once again enjoy milk and calcium. The problem with this was that people still didn’t trust cow milk yet. Dairy farmers were suffering. While all of this leeriness towards milk was going on, the industrial revolution began to take place. Kids were heading into factory jobs before the sun came up and going home after dark so they were not receiving any sunlight. The problem with no sunlight is that the body is not able to produce Vitamin D. The problem with not making Vitamin D, is that the body is not able to synthesize calcium and maintain solid bone structure. Rickets is the disease that is suffered when bones become soft due to lack of calcium. Rickets can deform the legs, pelvis and any other weight-bearing bones. This leads to becoming crippled or even death. No one wants Rickets. The Dairy companies came up with a solution that saved everyone. They infused milk with synthetic Vitamin D and encouraged folks to drink boat loads of it so that they would once again get calcium and Vitamin D, even though they didn’t get a lot of sunlight. People swarmed out to buy milk and rickets became a disease of the past. The end.

Courtesy of SEO Company