If you have a business with 20 people and they are typical of most Americans, they will generally support fairness. However, a minority of them will have real attitude problems.

Americans need to know that we support them and will assist them in any way. It's imperative that our Prime Minister relays this message directly to [U.S.] President [George W.] Bush.

The first thing that comes to mind is that these are African Americans and how will they be treated. Will there be graciousness?

What makes AIDS hard to deal with is the remaining prejudice and unreasonable fear. Even today, 20 years after the epidemic started, a number of people have still not been personally affected and remain uninformed and reluctant to address the issue seriously.

Small businesses can less afford to have coworker complaints, negative offhand remarks and other fear-based behavior because those remarks have a bigger impact than at large companies.

This is not about special treatment.