CAMP Safe  

The summer is really still just beginning…oh wait, damn…it’s almost over! Anyway, one of the good things about this job is that it gets me out of the office. If you know me well, you probably think that this time of year I live there. I’m there all the time—and it isn’t true, either, that the basement is where I sleep nor is it my dungeon. But my job does get me out of the office and to the beach on weekends and into the bars in the evenings. Some of you may think that makes it a perfect job. Some days it is. The thing that makes my job the most worthwhile is seeing the success it brings. Success is measured by many people in many different ways. My personal goal is to have zero sero-conversions here in Rehoboth this summer. It is difficult to measure this but I look for little signs that mean this program, my efforts, the efforts of many volunteers, and your efforts are being successful.

The theme for this summer’s safe sex campaign is an Olympic one. It’s about being a winner. When I see our community responding to the CAMPsafe program, I know that we are all winners. Even if we are not the buffed and beautiful athletes that our culture sometimes leads us to believe we have to be—we are all winners.

I have seen a lot of winners this year. I measure this success in a variety of different ways. A good buddy told me one day that when he first came to Rehoboth, he knew before he ever met me or heard anything about CAMPsafe that "he knew he wasn’t going to do anything in this town without a condom." The message was clear. That’s one measure of success.

We also give away a lot of condoms. I understand that just giving them away doesn’t mean that people are always using them but you have to believe that if you give away three thousand condoms in one weekend that someone got the message and avoided being exposed to HIV or other STDs. That’s another measure of success.

A third reason is that guys are contacting me more and more with very specific questions. This tells me that men are learning more about their sexual health and have these questions because they have a better base of knowledge. That makes me happy.

All of these things indicate a more knowledgeable and healthy community. That raises our self-esteem as a community as a whole and gives us the energy and stamina to keep forging ahead with our heads held high. This really is a sign of success—and a sign that we are all winners.

I want to know that men are using condoms not because I have told them to but because they care too much about themselves and people in the community to risk their health, safety, and well being. That makes us all winners.

A buddy’s favorite line is that "it is a perspective issue," and it is. If you feel good about yourself, it’s easier to take care of yourself—and others—and it makes us all winners.

The guy on our card this week is a winner. From what I know of him personally, he is beautiful inside and out—just like most of us. Whether we are buffed, burly, slim, plump, smooth, or hairy, we are all beautiful somehow, both inside and out. If you take that perspective, we are, indeed, all winners.

Next time you pass one of our condom dispensers, take a few. Always be prepared. Be a winner. Get the knowledge you need to be a responsible member of the community. Get the knowledge you need to be safe. Respect the beauty in yourself and the others around you. There is room for all of us in the winners’ circle!