It was all MTV.

As the International AIDS Conference churned out more seminars, speeches, research abstracts & demonstrations in Toronto, it was MTV that pointed the way to the future. 

An emotional candlelight vigil attended by thousands in the heart of downtown Toronto was a sorrowful remembrance of things past, of people lost during this 25-year long plague. But a little further uptown, at a renovated Masonic Temple that serves as MTV Canada's headquarters, future leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS were blossoming all over, and MTV was cultivating their passion and their power to tell the truth about the virus.

In a brilliant brainchild of MTV International's head of public affairs Georgia Arnold,  MTV ran a week-long HIV/AIDS film competition ingeniously entitled "48 Fest".  The festival picked 48 students attending the AIDS Conference--6 teams of 8, with each team containing members from different countries--and told them to produce a short documentary about some aspect of how the virus affects their lives.  The student filmmakers had 48 hours to conceptualize, write, produce and edit their film, with strong assistance from an MTV mentor.

MTV's "48 Fest"gave the students--some of whom were HIV positive--the power, the means and the skills to tell their stories, without, as MTV's Arnold said, "interference from adults."   The results were fresh and insightful--with  the winning video being a dramatic depiction of how stigma against the disease--and discrimination against people who have it-- damages individual's lives.

The teams of student filmmakers--new friends from Estonia, Australia, Africa, and Asia--were brought together by an old friend--MTV--that spoke one common language with each of them:  the language of hope and confidence; of love and faith in the future, and belief in each other.

Twenty-five years of AIDS and 25 years of MTV.  Talking with these students,  and feeling their enthusiasm, life and excitement, I could see in their eyes the confidence that they could do anything--including conquer AIDS--with an ally like MTV in their corner.

I was stunned by the statement.

"There is one person in this conference for every 1500 HIV positive people in the world," former US President Bill Clinton said to a packed auditorium of  international delegates.  "If we pool our efforts can each of us account for 1500 lives?

The busy gathering was hushed, as his words landed on each of us.  I looked at the faces of people sitting around me--elegant black women dressed in colorful, flowing dresses of their native lands; young, bright eyed Asian men with the assured look that anything could be accomplished; women from the States or Canada or Europe with their flowing strands of grey hair covering one eye, but not obscuring their vision.

We can do this, our eyes said to each other.  Each of us can save 1500 lives--one life each day for the next 5 years.  We can do this.

"We know how to overcome AIDS," Clinton continued.  "We know how to prevent millions of needless deaths. Every single wasted dollar puts a life at risk."

"We need to intensify our efforts of prevention," he said, "seeing prevention as part of a mutually dependent society, along with care and treatment.  Empowering women to protect themselves seems so obvious, yet when I hear people pontificating about abstinence, it seems that they don't really know what women are up against throughout the world."  Bill Clinton was no longer trolling for votes for the next election; this time he was campaigning for redemption.

At a press conference, he acknowledged to a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle that he "had been wrong on needle exchange," when, as President, he sided with his Drug Czar in opposing the implementation of a study which clearly demonstrated that needle exchange programs cut down the rate of HIV infection among IV drug users.

And, in an echo of Melinda Gates strong pro-science position expressed the day before, Clinton supported creating "a climate in which policy makers are free to act upon evidence in every major area.  Like the Gates, Clinton was willing to back up his words with the resources of his foundation.

Will you stay with us in the fight, a woman with AIDS asked him?

Clinton smiled.  "Even my worst critics never accused me of being a quitter.  I can't think of anything that would divert me from this--if Father Time doesn't get me, I'll stay here until I turn it around."

They are everywhere--Bill & Melinda, and Bill.  At the largest AIDS Conference in world history, these larger than life figures--Bill & Melinda Gates and Bill Clinton--are everywhere.  Pushing, prodding, inspiring the 30,000 plus delegates to keep fighting the largest fight of any of our lives--against a ruthless terrorist called AIDS.

On the opening day of this week-long conference, Bill & Melinda were the stars, and they were investing their celebrity--and their fortune--in the future health of the world.  They filled the big domed stadium where the Toronto Blue Jays play baseball with hope and promises that what they've done, is only the beginning of their efforts.  They pledged more money to find a microbicide gel or pill that would empower women worldwide to take control of the HIV prevention process, by no longer having to ask men for permission to have safer sex, by relying upon them to use condoms.

The Gates' pledged a full-scale effort to train more doctors, nurses and health professionals to serve in countries with the highest rates of HIV infection.  In some places, they said, affording the anti-retroviral drugs was no longer the problem; getting the health care workers to administer them was.  And so, they vowed to use their resources to train more.

"I have made stopping AIDS the top priority of our foundation," said Bill Gates to tumultous applause from the thousands gathered in the Stadium.  But it was Melinda Gates, who shook the rafters when she clearly, confidently stated:  "Let's agree that every life has equal worth, and saving lives is the highest ethical act.  If we accept this, then science and evidence--untainted by stigma--can guide us in saving the greatest number of lives."

Their presence, their bold commitment empowered and invigorated the delegates who came from Africa, Asia, Australia and Atlanta. If these two rich and powerful people were on our side--and in this fight --for the long haul, how could we lose?

And our optimism--in the face of so many years of death, discrimination, spreading infection rates and false hopes-- was palpable. and we were yet to get our dose of the other Bill, who hails from a place called Hope.