BE OUR GUEST: MEMORIAL FOR AIDS VICTIMS, PROPOSED IN ST. LOUIS, HAS NO PLACE IN A PUBLIC PARK

Julia A. Kridelbaugh is a free-lance writer and resides in Cape Girardeau. She is a previous contributor to this column.

A St. Louis Group, St. Louis AIDS Memorial Inc., wants to spend up to $400,000 to construct a memorial site for the St. Louis Victims of AIDS in St. Louis' Forest Park. Resembling a war memorial, this proposed 240-foot-wide granite and concrete structure would bear the names of St. Louisans who have died of AIDS. This memorial would be the first of it~s kind in the country. Although the site of this memorial would be a place for unfortunate family and friends of AIDS victims to grieve, we should really question the logic of this endeavor.

With the exception of those acquiring AIDS by blood transfusions or from a spouse carrying AIDS, the disease is largely a behavioral contracted disease. Thus, should we also have a memorial for those who have died from excessive smoking, drinking, or even over eating? Should we have memorials for those who overdose on intravenous drugs? Families and friends also grieve for the loss of these victims.

Thousands have died for our country fighting wars for the rights and principals we believe in. We have many memorials in the city parks all over the United States honoring those brave men and women who fought. But, can we really equate the deaths of these Americans who gave their lives for our country with those who lost their lives through choices they made about their own behavior?

In addition we should question the location of this AIDS memorial. It's proposed site is located on public park land. Although it will be funded with private donations it is nevertheless located in a city park. Thus, the funding of the project is not the issue but the location should be. This memorial, in St. Louis' Forest Park, could send the message to generations of children who visit the park that it was a noble and honorable thing for these victims of AIDS to die from such a fate. Those children may ask, ~~Is it as honorable to die from AIDS as it is to die for one~'s service to his country?~~

Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims of AIDS, but is it moral, ethical, and logically correct for us to memorialize those who have died from this hideous behavioral contracted disease with an expensive public park memorial? It would be far better if the St. Louis AIDS Memorial Inc. were to invest the $400,000 dollars on educational programs that would change the behaviors that continue to encourage the spread of this ugly disease before we pay the price of more human lives.