In our Lifetime
The impact of Magic’s announcement; the significance of that day, in my opinion, can only be compared to the bombing of the ‘Twin Towers’ on September 11th; I’m talking in terms of how one incident changed the conscious and outlook of the entire nation, and the whole world for that matter.
Now before you start to call me a jerk for comparing the lost lives of many people to the health and well being of one person; hear me out. What I mean is that over the last 20 years no other two events have had the same type of shock value. After 9/11, people in this nation started to take a deeper look at religion and politics, which led to more public concern, which in turn led to some leadership accountability and ultimately to the election of this nation’s first black president.
By the same token, after Magic Johnson’s announced that he had HIV, people started to look more into their health and lifestyle, which led to public awareness, which in turn to some new public policies and ultimately led to progress in minimizing the effects of diseases like AIDS and Cancer. Just think about it; in 1981, the public was introduce to the diease, it was the first time people ever heard of the term HIV/AIDS. It was used to describe a mysterious illness that was found in the bodies of some gay men in Los Angeles. After that, it was believed that you can only get HIV from homosexual men. So Magic’s announcement was a wake up call for many ignorant people around the world.