I'll be honest; I'd be kidding myself if I said I'm not much of a soapbox person (i.e., the self-deluded declaration with which I had humbly intended to open this piece). Nope—in truth, if given the right opportunity, I would happily lecture you on the treatment of Latinos in the United States, the state of the institution of marriage in our society, the misplaced priorities and values of today's young woman and probably a half-dozen other issues that have been loudly thrashing about in my head and heart for the better part of a decade. That being said, I've discovered a new soapbox that has quietly formed beneath my feet, almost without my realizing it.

Do you shake your head in grief when you read an article about the AIDS pandemic that is ravaging sub-Saharan Africa (irrefutably the region most wracked by HIV)? Have you prayed that God would bring relief and healing to those desperate nations? Have you taken part in the One Campaign? Do you support Blood:Water Mission?

If your answer is yes, that is great. If you are sincere in those gestures, then I sincerely applaud your efforts. They are great organizations doing great things. Just one more question: When was the last time you thought about/prayed for/contributed to the 1.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in North America (according to The UNAIDS/WHO’s “AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2006”)?

Many people reading this article live in the Western world. Let me encourage you not to forget your own neighbors! There has been much publicized about AIDS sweeping African countries (and supporting that need is a noble cause) but it becomes easy to let those regions not in the spotlight fall by the wayside. Current North American cases account for “only” a fraction of the roughly 40 million people worldwide living with HIV (as of 2006). But please hear me when I say that even as a fraction, 1.4 million is still an enormous number, and it’s a number living—and growing—right where you live.

World AIDS Day came and went this past December 1 without turning nearly as many heads as would have been warranted. HIV/AIDS is not the hot topic it once was, especially not in the United States. I have to admit that a few short months ago, I myself was guilty of the very thing I am now trying to discourage—I had never known a world without AIDS, and it formed little more than a blip on my radar, a red dot blinking over the African continent.

Then, this past September, I found myself beginning a 10-month stint as an intern at an AIDS service agency in North Carolina. The scales fell from the eyes, and I’ve seen (and continue to see) how very real and present is this struggle to survive, even thousands of miles away from developing countries. What I’ve also seen is how little active compassion is often displayed and extended toward these men, women and children.

Now, at this point I’m sure that somebody out there is getting angry thinking that I’m shrugging off the suffering of Africa. Wrong! I don’t ask that your attentions be diverted away from the crisis there; I only ask that you care also for their sick brothers and sisters who are living and dying in your own neighborhood. Geography, the supposed availability of medication and death rates should not dictate the value of a life, or the value of helping one. If you can reach far, you can also reach near.

Fighting AIDS in Africa is clearly a good thing, and it’s also very popular. Championed by celebrities and social justice-minded media, the cause has received the attention necessary to put itself in the minds of even the least socially aware. Ironically (given the “land of plenty” stigma surrounding the United States and other western nations), those infected with the virus in the West have sometimes found themselves as underdogs in the running for compassion, so-to-speak, even from their neighbors, their compatriots.

I’m not asking you to build your own soapbox, just to evaluate your perspective. Though if that means jumping up here with me, I’d be more than happy to make room …and so would some 1.4 million others.

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