“Can I have a drink of that?”
“If you don’t have herpes!” (laughs)

For a moment self-loathing fills me, but only for a moment. It quickly morphs to fiery rage at your blatant ignorance. You think youre being funny? I think someone who makes jokes about a highly contagious virus has a fucked up sense of humor. Oh, but keep the insults commin, Im strong, I can handle it! What do you wanna make fun of next? Suicide? Divorce? Or does your insensitivity know bounds?

I have fought for years to accept the fact that I have herpes. I have herpes. Through my youth I was ashamed of the flaming bumps that would cover my hands, what would other people think? But today I find they are a mark of my individuality. A shinny scar revealing another war I have waged in my few years; a scar that makes me who I am today.

For a long time I let people make me believe I was a contagion; a disease that needed to be contained. You can only imagine what this did to my self worth… How disgusting I felt. But I learned to live with it… Just like you will.

And what a glorious day that will be! To find out you’ve had it all along! Maybe your thoughts will linger on the words you once said jokingly to a friend, probably not. Maybe this will mark a change in character, where you no longer judge or say insensitive comments around others, just maybe... But I can guarantee this: you will feel like a contagion; a disease that needs to be contained.