Oh, My God, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Syphilis And Gonorrhea Are On The Rise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              I found this out the other day at my doctor's office.  No, dears, I was not being tested for either, but it made me wonder.

                              Since the AIDS epidemic came along, I think some people, especially the young, have the idea that these other STD's have been eradicated.  Well, they have not.

                                 Back in the early 70's, or at least before her iconic 1972 "New York Times Magazine" article, "An Eighteen-Year-Old Looks Back On Life," Joyce Maynard wrote for "Mademoiselle Magazine." an article titled "The Embarrassment Of Virginity," wherein she declared, "Where have we gone, what have we come to, that the scarlet letter these days is not A, but V?"

                                    This is the only statement Maynard has ever written I agree with.  And still do.

                                     Several summers ago, I was walking up a set of sixty-nine steps that leads one from the Ridge down to the Bay.  On my return walk, were two teens obviously having oral sex.  Now, I could have been a cop, a priest, anybody.   I pictured my toddler self-walking past this with my mother, asking, "Mommy, what are those people doing?"  She would have scooped me up and removed us both from the area faster than the tornado in "The Wizard Of Oz."

                                         Don't people know there is a time and place?  Does anyone care, anymore?  Sure, teens will act out sexually, but youth allows an abandonment of feeling there are consequences to actions, simply because they want to do them.  And sexual acts top that list.

                                           So, it is not surprising that these two STDs are on the rise.  And with the Political Correctness move, and the right-wing agenda, sex education is going out the window.  Is it any wonder there is an uptake?

                                            No one is going to stop the young from having sex.  But what about personal responsibility?  Waiting till marriage might not be a bad idea, because that is when sexual potency is used for a purpose.  And fidelity, coupled with love, is a powerful aphrodisiac!

                                             Sex will never be eradicated.  But gonorrhea and syphilis can be.

                                              Learn to treat your sexual health as well as the rest of you, kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              Avoid this trap of physical illness and emotional shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!