Elizabeth Anne's Farewell

by Elizabeth Anne

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

Dear trans community,

It is now time for me to say good-bye.

I have learnt an enormous amount about myself and I want to thank each and every one of you that has supported my position over the years. I want to thank the Management Committee for their support, the staff (there have been many since I first started in 1999) and especially Elizabeth who always supported me when I needed a shoulder to cry on.

But mostly I want to thank you, the clients who have taught me how crucial it is that individual needs, circumstances and desired outcomes dictate what course any one person will need to take and not the "programmed" approach that has been historically imposed.

Thank you to those who gave me permission to tape our sessions thereby contributing to my Master in Counselling that I completed in 2001.

I look forward to a continued association with the community as the supervisor of Gaye (your new counsellor). To future clients who choose to see me privately, I will be practicing in Macquarie Street in the city and the Gender Centre has my practice details.

I look forward to doing more teaching, some writing, continuing my work at the St James Ethics Centre and on the Executive Committee of the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Association (C.A.P.A.)

I have loved my time here and I wish each and every one of you happiness and fulfilment for your future. Before I go I want to share with you a piece of writing that touches me deeply. It was given to me by a friend many years ago ...

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, your dreams, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, if you can dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without caution to be careful.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from God's presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

I doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer (an American Indian Elder)

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