FAREWELL and thank you, Goondiwindi .
This is an abridged version of the farewell speech I gave at a meeting of the Goondiwindi chapter of the Toastmasters International I am privileged to be a member of.
I would like, again, to express my gratitude to the fellow Toasties for their companionship, help and fun we have all shared.
I worked in rural Queensland since October 2007 and, unexpectedly, liked it very much.
When I say unexpectedly, I mean that I did not expect to come across so many good people with such an array of impressive human qualities.
Being a born city rat, my connection with rural Australia was limited to the thought that pineapples grew on trees and to pick up a good one, I had to watch what women do in supermarket and follow the example.
I have never had an opportunity to meet rural Australians, despite living in this wonderful country for almost 30 years with my family.
When I started to treat rural Australians in Goondiwindi I realized after a while that I met the kind of people I have never met before.
These people were short on expressing their feelings, did not promise anything lightly, and always looked people they speak with in the eyes.
By and large, these people did not care where anyone came from, what color, creed or political persuasion anyone was.
They only cared about what kind of person they are dealing with.
When they shake your hand, you know that it is an honest to goodness confirmation of the truth of the dialogue.
They keep their promises; they are genuinely caring people without the fuss of boasting.
These rural Australians are a proud lot - they do not accept charity and insist on paying their own way; they are generous – when they are convinced of a goodness of a cause they donate freely; they are self-sufficient, and independent, possessing a great deal of a scarce commodity of today – common sense.
People of the bush are born and bred with the high regard to the opinion of the others.
Only in the bush could a city- slicker like me experience a heart warming, “How are you going” on the street from people I had never met.
People in the bush respect others and give a stranger a benefit of the doubt.
That’s the fundamental difference between the bush and the large city – people in the city assume a stranger to be a suspect, unless proven otherwise.
People in the bush assume a stranger to be a decent man, unless proven otherwise.
One of the most endearing qualities of rural Australians is their ability to laugh at the follies of their city cousins without rancor or envy.
The self-depreciating humor Australians direct at themselves is one of the healthiest and dignified ways to unload tension and to avoid confrontation.
As I have mentioned before, I have never met rural Australians before my work in Goondiwindi.
To give you an example – I have never thought of a farmer as a gambler.
It would never occur to me, to think of a farming person in such terms.
A man or a woman of the land simply does not fit the description of an all out gambler with the shifty eyes, trembling hands and the children forgotten in the locked car in the parking lot of the Crown Casino.
But, truly, to observe the unshakeable optimism and the seasonal gamble on a good weather every farmer has to make every year– to seed or not to seed, and if seed – what to seed, to plough or not to plough – that is gut wrenching. This is why, I think, when I tell the joke about the Russian definition of a difference between a pessimist and an optimist this joke is so well understood in rural Australia.
This joke goes like this:
To Russian people a pessimist is a person who believes that things can not get any worse! And an optimist, accordingly, says: but, of course, they can! It seems to me there are lots of optimists among Australian farmers. Human warmth and subtle humor, acceptance of the human foibles and their tolerance, community spirit and kindness, quiet belief in the goodness of humans and readiness to give a hand in times of need – this is how I saw Goondiwindi.
I liked it very much.
Thank you Goondiwindi.
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