Description:
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.)
