Ignorance is bliss? A note to the haters…..

The word hate is defined as “intense or passionate dislike”…with synonyms like loathing, detestation, dislike and even abomination.

At some point it was bound to happen. In fact, I expected it much sooner than this. Alas, I received my first negative comment regarding the Race For Awareness campaign the other day. While I don’t think it has any merit to go into the details of the inflammatory conversation, it does present the reality that there are some folks who will take the time to spew out their negativity about what I’m trying to achieve. Awareness.

3/4 of Americans carry at least one type of HSV and over 80% of them have no idea.

Maybe ignorance IS bliss? Lord knows there is a possibility I would have been happier in some situations if I had kept my mouth shut about my diagnosis. Maybe I would have dated that guy a little longer? Maybe I wouldn’t have lost those few friends when I outed myself? Or…maybe some family members would quit looking at me sadly? Or maybe….just maybe….that person at work would quit ignoring me?

We can all play unto ignorance…all we have to do is ignore the circumstances of the situation because ignorance IS bliss? How many times did you catch yourself ignoring a voice mail, text message or email? Hiding from the phone when it rang? We’ve all done it.

So what’s the correlation to “haters”….well most, in my experience, are ignorant. The information they know is only what they’ve been told by society and right now society’s view is pretty ugly when it comes to herpes. The haters that make brash comments within a social forum or a public setting are the easier ones to deal with. You can simply drop a comment or two and walk away, move on with your life. It’s the haters you have to deal with on a daily basis or even consistent basis that tend to sting me the most. What’s even more saddening, is when they all decide to hit ya in the same day….or even the same week.

Some of us with herpes, and/or HPV don’t have it bad at all. We live in bliss because we’ve chosen to ensure that everyone around us is ignorant to our diagnosis. The unfortunate part about that lifestyle is it can be very lonely. Suddenly those important conversations with sisters, brothers, parents, aunts, uncles and the like all have this little shadow over them because one isn’t completely forth coming? Or even conversations with your own children? But hey, no one knows our little secret right?

Then there’s some of us who have announced it to the world…and are dealing with the haters. The ones that say brash words. The ones that question your actions or even your integrity. The ones that look at you with pity. And yes, the ones that completely ignore you.

Having lived both, I honestly, right now, couldn’t tell you which lifestyle is easier to deal with. What I can tell you is, now that I have started this journey, I have NEVER SEEN MORE LOVE.

We are beautiful, no matter what they say…er….or don’t say.