In a small village away from the hustle and bustle of the city, a peaceful life is shattered by a piece of news. Lao Liu in the village, an amiable old man on weekdays, was infected with HIV because of prostitution. The news was like a bombshell and caused an uproar among the villagers.
When Lao Liu's wife learned of this, she was overwhelmed with grief and left the former home with her children.
Lao Liu has become lonely and miserable since then, and he can't live in fear. He is well aware that his mistakes have caused irreparable harm to his family, but it is too late to regret it.
Some good people in the village secretly informed the villagers of the news from door to door.
For a time, HIV became a topic of conversation among the people in the village. Whenever someone mentions Lao Liu, everyone avoids it, for fear of being infected.
Soon, someone in the village held a happy event, and everyone came to congratulate them. However, at the festive banquet, there was a strange phenomenon - no one wanted to eat at the same table with Lao Liu.
Despite the persuasion of the main family, the villagers rejected Lao Liu for various reasons. This kind of exclusion and discrimination makes Lao Liu even more isolated and helpless.
As time passed, the villagers' fear and rejection of HIV intensified.
They began to avoid contact with outsiders and even developed a sense of distrust of the village doctors. In this climate, some people living with HIV who would otherwise need treatment choose to hide their illness for fear of discrimination.
However, it didn't end there. One night, while drinking with a classmate, Lao Li in the village learned the startling news that the number of HIV infections in the county had skyrocketed, possibly reaching 1,000-2,000. There is even a grapevine that the traffic police have been found to have HIV when they catch drunk drivers and go to have their blood drawn. This number shocked Lao Li, and he realized that HIV was no longer an unattainable problem, but a reality very close to him.
Since then, the villagers' fear of HIV has deepened. They began to live more cautiously and avoided going to the county seat for recreation. Even if you occasionally go to the county seat for errands or shopping, you will be careful to avoid contact with strangers. In the county's entertainment venues, such as massage parlors, villagers are even more respectful of it, for fear that they will accidentally contract HIV.
The shadow of HIV looms over this small village, making an otherwise peaceful life precarious. However, in this panic and exclusion, we also see the complexity and fragility of human nature. When faced with the unknown and fear, people often choose to escape and reject rather than understand and accept. But it is this avoidance and exclusion that makes the spread of HIV more difficult to control.
In this special time, we need more understanding and love. For people living with HIV, they need more than just medical treatment, but also social acceptance and respect. Only in this way can we defeat this terrible disease together and bring peace and beauty back to life!