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Friday, February 04, 2000 Page: 12A
It took a lot of courage to do what 13-year old Christopher Robinson did in
August 1995. Staring Northeastern Pennsylvania straight in the eye,
Christopher said “I have AIDS.” And this community could never look at the
AIDS epidemic in the same way again. That would have been accomplishment
enough. But in his short life, Christopher did something more fearless and
more lasting than merely revealing his traumatic secret to Times Leader
readers in that 1995 article, “Christopher’s Secret.” He went on to become a
committed advocate for AIDS prevention, research and for the simple notion
that AIDS prevention, research and for the simple notion that AIDS patients
need not be feared, Excluded or mistreated. Whether speaking to his peers in
school audiences or participating in AIDS awareness events, Christopher took
on responsibilities few healthy teenagers could handle. And he took them on
with great candor, grace and kindness. Christopher, a hemophiliac who’d
contracted AIDS through tained blood products, did all that while dealing with
the adolescent issues all teenagers face and attempting to live an ordinary
life. I’m just trying to live normal,” he said in 1996, “trying to forget
that I have it.” While Christopher said he felt his decision to “go public” in
1995 lifted a burden from him, in some ways it probably would have been easier
for him had he kept his “secret.” But he chose instead to use the 4 1/2 years
he had left to remind us how much our community, our nation and our world have
lost in the AIDS epidemic; how much pure, raw human potential has been wasted
by the disease; how its spread can be prevented; and how much work remains in
order to eradicate it. In Christopher’s case, he accomplished more in his
short life than some people who live to old age. His family and his community
have lost a young man of great courage, empathy and compassion. How one young
man’s life changed a community.