22 March 2006 01:05 -06:00 GMT

Schindler's List is most popularly known as a film made by Steven Spielberg. Before that, it was a book written by Thomas Keneally, who incidentally is an Irishman. It describes a true story of the dichotomous efforts of a German man who made enormous profits under the Third Reich during the Second Great War. The man's name was Oskar Schindler. In his efforts to accumulate Reichmarks, he happened to save 800+ souls, and their generations to follow.

 I liken his efforts to the war on AIDS. I see parallels between his efforts, and the present day efforts of those who argue, persuade, and incessantly insist that what should be and what will be in our world will amount to the salvation of human lives.

Schindler settled for no less.

I first saw Schindler's List in the theatre, back in soCal, and I remember being disoriented when I exited the Costa Mesa theatre parking lot - the film had such an impact on my mind. I wrote about it in an earlier blog. This time, there were fewer tears; I've developed a more rational mind. But there are strong emotions that still are brought to bear with this film.

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In the midst of hell, an observant man identified a way to make a lot of money. He played his pieces well, and found himself in a position that proved to be...in current jargon...not golden, but platinum. While making his millions, he came to appreciate one of the expenses of the war - the dispensable lives of human cattle. And in a gradual change of focus, he began to work toward saving those lives under the guise of supporting the efforts of the 1940's Nazi war.

The film concludes with the result of Schindler's effort. More Schindler Jews are alive today than the number that remained in Poland in 1944.

Now let me tie the emotions that are brought up by Schindler's List with the emotions and the true struggles that are occurring every day in AIDS-ravaged, impoverished areas of our world. In addition to that, I'd like to present a more balanced view of the current Bush administration with regard to foreign policy than I did when I chastised Bush for his involvement in Iraq, in a different previous blog. I still strongly disagree with US efforts in Iraq, but I want to focus on the absolute good that the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relieve (PEPFAR) is doing.

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BACKGROUND

In the midst of circumstances that are largely out of their control, average sub-Saharan Africans have found themselves in an impoverished state that has resulted from, in large part, the exploitation of economic powers that have discounted the value of African lives. I have only recently come to think about the natural resources and lay of the land of the vast continent of Africa. Mother Africa presents geographic barriers to modern commerce that are perhaps higher than in any other temperate to tropical part of our Earth. Land masses are over 5,000 Km long, surrounded by oceans that separate Africa from other commercial nodes. The Internet alleviates some of that, but limits to that include laying the cable, so to speak, to make that Internet accessible.  Natural resource limitations have certainly played a part in the poverty that persists in much of Africa, but I would say that a great deal of poverty has been supported, whether inadvertently, by global economics that have always dealt Africans a draw from the smaller deck of cards.

Enter three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) that zoonotically transmitted a virus to we humans. In several decades, we have developed a viral epidemic that has killed more people than all of the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries combined. Forty Million are dead, and nearly that many infected right now.

And the number of new infections is rising each year. [FACT]

PEPFAR

In 2001, Bush's celebrated State of the Union Address announced a 15 Billlion dollar commitment toward the prevention and treatment of HIV in countries that could demonstrate the infrastructure and accountability necessary to sustain such an effort. Good Fortune placed Zambia and UAB (The University of Alabama at Birmingham) in one of the 15 spotlights for this program.

Now, nearly five years later, HIV medications are available for free to all who can overcome the stigma, distrust, and remaining economic obstacles to obtaining treatment. For those who can understand the benefit, and manage the access to care, they can live now to see their grandchildren. This is a taken-for-granted notion that you and I expect, but that in Zambia, where the average life expectancy is close to 40...that is, not quite reaching 40...is a gift of Life itself.

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Now let me quote from the film and make a few statements. When the time came to exterminate the Polish Jews, Itszak Stern, who serves as Schindler's accountant, remarks on the efforts of Schindler to provide their safety by getting them preferential status when they are moved to 1944 Czechoslovakia.

"You're not buying them?" Stern asks.

"You would convince me to not do it if you were wise. I'm losing too much money," Schindler replies.

After ledgering over 800 names, Stern says, "The list is an absolute good. The list is Life," he says.

The point I would like to make here is that here and now in the twenty-oughts, we can save 800 names - we can save 800 thousand names - we can save 800 million names, if you count the future generations lost to AIDS - if we simply apply the political and economic will to do so. We don't even have the evils of war hanging over our heads  while we make that decision. (At least we Americans didn't until the post-9/11 invasion of Iraq took place.)

Is it only a matter of money?

If it is, are we then prioritizing profit-making over the lives of names of individuals who would otherwise further generations of our Fellow Humankind?

Who are given the right to live?

Who grants that right? Are we beholden to ensure that preventable causes of death are just that...Prevented?

Is God or Allah watching? Who is keeping score? Are we winning? Or are we focused too much on ourselves?

I know that the Bible says that the greatest commandment is to Love one another.

I also learned tonight that the Jewish Talamut says that Whoever saves one life saves the World entire.

I imagine that Islam says the same.

Yet here we are.

For me personally, I've seen firsthand the unspeakable devastation of HIV (a word combination I do not use lightly), and I find that my personal mission is to improve the lives of those affected by HIV. Moreover, I think it is wrong to do otherwise. That is not to say that everyone's primary focus must be related to HIV. However, in the era we live in, and with the successful medications we have, I do not understand folks who do not support applying some of their efforts to thwarting the most productive thief of human life-years we have seen in the last 5,000 years of our brief Human history.

I am reminded of these quotations from Schindler and Stern near the end of the film:

"I didn't do enough", Schindler said.

Stern replied, "You did so much."