The decade of the 1980s was born with the sound in its ears of an indistinct rumbling as of distant thunder. As the decade winds to a close, the deadly juggernaut of AIDS, virtually unknown ten years ago, rolls relentlessly across the face of continents, threatening not only the health of their inhabitants, but the political and economic future of entire nations.

A newspaper in Ohio runs an advice column entitled “By George.” One question ran like this: “Dear George, I am looking for proof that Unidentified Flying Objects exit. Someone said you had information on this matter. Do Unidentified Flying Objects exist? And what, exactly, are they?”

Back on furlough and feeling pretty much recovered from his bout with Hepatitis B, missionary Phil Smith (not his real name) doubted it was really necessary to have his blood tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—the virus that causes AIDS.

Winston Churchill spoke of that “special moment” when a person is “figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his talents; what a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would have been his finest hour.”