contest

*This is the winning entry in the Text category from YAHAnet's first contest in summer 2008.* This poem illustrates that a person will engage in a behaviour which they know puts them at risk, because they are getting some sort of payoff (reward) for engaging in that behaviour. This perceived reward ensures that the person persists in a behaviour which they know has negative and unwanted consequences for them. For instance, in this poem, a girl has a boyfriend who has multiple sexual partners.The girl goes ahead to have unprotected sex with him, even though she is aware of the risk (of getting HIV) involved. She persists in this risky behaviour because she values the feeling of love she gets from this relationship so greatly, that it becomes the payoff that sustains her risky behaviour.

My write-up is an autobiographical account, which, I believe, many ordinary individuals of my age group can relate to. This contest question led me to do a lot of soul-searching and critical thinking. My write-up thus seeks to provide its readers with the answer to what makes me or any individual for that matter engage in unsafe and risky behavior, in spite of the knowledge of HIV prevention methods. I have attributed this risky behavior to a 'mental picture', wherein "THE TODDLER LEADS THE MAN" (symbolic of the 'follower's syndrome') and appealed to the readers to contain this 'follower's syndrome', by evolving one's primordial infantile emotions into reasonable and responsible consciousness within oneself. This can then enable one not to engage oneself in unsafe practices in spite of the knowledge of the bitter consequences. (This story was a submission to YAHAnet's first contest held in summer 2008.)

The poem “LETTER” is a “warning message” from the HIV/AIDS virus itself, drawing attention to the fact that risky human sexual behavior, and not HIV/AIDS, is the real enemy in this (medical) battle for the soul and survival of the human race. (This poem was a submission to YAHAnet's first contest held in summer 2008.)