This past week, I attended a meeting in order to see an issue through a different social lens than Ii am accustomed to viewing. So, I attended a meeting about AIDS. I must admit that I was not at first intrigued to attend this meeting, but I was quite surprised by how informative it actually was.
Part of the reason I was hesitant to attend this meeting was due to the fact that this isn’t a group I’d normally associate with whatsoever. You see, when someone mentions “AIDS”, the first thing that most people think of is Africa. I guess this would be the reason for my lack of enthusiasm to attend this meeting, since I am not African, and do not really relate to anyone that is associated with AIDS. When I first entered the lecture hall, I felt quite out of place. The main reason for this was that I am white and I was part of the minority in the room. Although all the African students here were nice and polite, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit strange. I can honestly say this is probably the first time that I felt like the minority in my life, and it was a change of pace. As a white person, its the sort of feeling that you really don’t know until you’ve felt it yourself.
In regards to the meeting, it is also an interesting sociological event. At first it seems pretty simple why they would have a meeting like this. Sure, its informative. But lets think about it a little deeper. Remember how I said that when most people think of “AIDS”, they think of Africa? Well, I think this meeting had another goal: to make this a “people” issue and not just an “African” issue. I think part of this meeting’s agenda was to get support for fighting AIDS, to get every race involved, not just blacks. If we all stopped just viewing this disease as a “black issue” and stopped thinking that its their problem and to let them solve it, we might actually fight the disease.
Lastly, I can say that it was a good decision to attend this meeting. I believe that most of being a good citizen is knowing all the information. At first I was hesitant to attend this meeting, but by the time it was over, I can say that my opinion on the topic of AIDS has changed. I no longer see it as just a “black issue”, but rather I see it as a global issue. I would highly recommend others to go and attend meetings like this. It doesn’t have to be about AIDS, it can be about almost anything. Even if it doesn’t change your mind, it will help you to be more understanding and see where other’s come from and why they think the way the do about a particular issue.
Sociology 