Memorial Planting Speech I pay Tribute to the traditional owners and the Elders of the land I walk on today. Welcome to The Elders and peers of my community gathered here today, new friends and furry friends. I thank you all for attending today as we join here in positivity, love and light to remember those of our friends, family and chosen family who have departed the physical rhealm and now watch over us in spirit and continue to fill our hearts with love and sadness when we remember them. This year is especially tough for me as I find it hard to express the devastation I have seen around me, and felt within me this year due to the volume of friends and chosen family who have passed naturally or accidentally, those that have almost passed, or those who struggle everyday with the thoughts of making a choice to determine their own time to release their mortal self and enter the ever after. I also find it hard, as I made a promise to a very dear friend that I would remember his friends and family who he has planted for previously in the Mount Cooth-tha Botanical Gardens at the inaugural planting and the planting at the City Botanical Gardens last year, if he were ever to pass before me. Unfortunately this year, I am here to honour that promise, well before I ever thought I would have to. For so many years he struggled with his health issues that we knew could snatch him from us, but having been successfully managing his HIV for more years that I have known him and surviving every hurdle, to be stolen away by his angles by way of a heart attack while he slept, was not the way he, or we, expected him to depart this world. With bells on, yes, with devastation in his wake, yes, but alone with no one beside him was his greatest fear and for me to have left his side mere hours before his passing, my biggest regret. My drive to see a unified community has been strengthened to do honour to his drive to better himself and make this world a better place for us all to live in in the process. So today for Daryl Pike, aka Alaska St James aka Jewels and some names akas that are not polite to mention in dignified company, I will plant for his most beloved ex Neil, his fellow dancing boys, his fellow Drag Queens, his Sister Girls, his Trans itioning, Trans gendered and Trans ally friends with Nicky Du Val being the nearest to his heart, his chosen family members and mine Peter Stapleton, Darren Pool, DJ Edwin, Vince from the door of the Palms in Sydney, Shaune Hunt, Jayk, Bubbles and also a furry friend of a Facebook friend of mine Miss Piper. There are also other friends and chosen friends that I honour here today whose names and memories are in my heart and mind who are now in spirit with my best mate and I hope that there are enough plants left for you all when Im done. Each year and today I will plant for the 5 almost sisters I never had the pleasure to meet and thank what ever being or freak of destiny it was that allowed me to be the one who made it all the way and gave my parents hope again that they could have the three children they always dreamed of. Not saying I am perfect, but I made it, for better or for worse I was the one had the strength to stay to the end of term. Each day I wake up will be another that I can carry them all in my heart, remember them in my times of introspection and reflection, and use their words of wisdom and inspiration that linger still in my ears to guide me on my future wanderings. And a note to those here today that know someone who has battled and overcome, have themselves battled with and survived or are still battling with your decision to continue with the path of life in front of you. I encourage you to fight for peace within yourselves, to seek the love and support of your friends and chosen family and real family that are not contributing factors to your darkened path, and to accept the love and support of those who offer it to you. I also plead with you to raise your hand or your voice or post where we can see on Facebook, when the need arises, whatever that need may be, whatever the time of day or night so that those who can help you, know they need to. Always have your In Case of Emergency in your glove box and wallet or purse and in your phone. Share it with your friends, stick it on your fridge.a Only because I have your attention, To everyone here today if you dont have one, write a will this week even if it is the only thing you do this week. Also I encourage you to check and make sure you have marked your life insurance or superfund beneficiaries as not negotiable and not transferable. If not your wishes when you pass will not be known, or valid. Please join the Rainbow OK Foundation team who gathered together in their grief at the passing of our mate Dagzz and decided that something had to change for the better within our community, that support of our peers and access to important services is paramount to try and limit the number of losses from within our community. Most of us will be over at the sausage sizzle after planting and hope you enjoy the spread or your picnic on this special day. The Foundation will soon be set up officially and will be striving to support and raise awareness of the mental health and suicide prevention organisations within our community and will be continuing to host the Rainbow OK BBQs as part of our grass roots core. We hope to see you wandering this and the other two gardens closer to their blooming in September for Pride month and when ever your need a space to remember those on the other side. All hugs gratefully given and accepted at the end of proceedings.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 01:40:41 +0000
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