Adversity

Today was an interesting day because it was our first visit to Terrance Cardinal Cook Center. I had been anticipating this day since the beginning of the trip because i knew this was the largest rehabilitation center on the East Coast for individuals suffering from HIV/AIDS. Upon arriving i was befriended by Mr Butts, one of the  most interesting men i've met thus far. His story of struggle and faith in God to guide him through the process of a potentially fatal disease was extraordinary. This man had it all, successful parents, money, good family, popularity amongst his peers, etc. However, one bad decision led him to contract HIV through sexual means. This has changed his life around because now Mr Butts has become closer to God and believes that God is putting him through a test to cleanse his soul. He believes that the decisions that were made by him in his past were made for a reason. Mr Butts does not regret anything he has done in his life because he believes, as he himself states, "God is watching everything that human beings do, and if they do bad they will be tested. It is the adversity you go through, and the way you react to the adversity that shows truly what you are made of." Mr Butts is the man who is fighting adversity, every second of his life. HIV just tends to be the adversity that he is faced with.