Geraldton – Rottnest – Busselton – Albany

Communities are spread out over the west of Australia. The space between the sand, land and human can be quite a distance. I have seen the beauty of Geraldton, made friends with the quakkers on Rottnest, to move to where wine flows from the rivers in Busselton. Grace town shows that surfing looks easy and if I wasn’t only a nine times stander and a two times turner, I would of taken on those waves that wrapped this coast. Oh well it seems the wine has won my moment of leisure. Cheers to that.  

Anyone who has travelled to regional areas would relate to the ease in which it is to connect to people. Throw in the concept of a project inclusive of a plane named phoenix, flying from east to west, lifting the silence and abuse, intrigue really starts to kick in. With communities like Geraldton taking on the White Ribbon walk in November, their desire to encourage more men to be a voice is inspired. My connections at Busselton expose themselves to be open to support anything new and Albany’s artists include me to their community as though I had lived there all of my life.

Front page of all Western Australian papers right now, are stories of the findings of The Royal Commission. This exposes stories and craziness of abuse that has happened within institutions, families and communities from our past. Ralph Harris is on page two, with Hey Dad not far behind.  This exposure of many experiences, have left people discussing how common it was before and how hidden it has been in history. The reality is, abuse hasn’t stopped – it is very deep root in society today.

 Since announcing this trip, I have received many messages from people sharing the abuse they are experiencing in this moment, rape that they have recently experienced or the silent spaces of self abuse. These actions are not from times gone by, this is ‘now.’ My question is, when will humanity wake up from the insanity and choose another reaction? When will we as individuals stop abusing? Even self-abuse through silent self sabotage, abuse through words we say about others or abuse on a more physical level, make their way into the collective actions we see in society ‘now.’  Abuse has been a part of the human condition; we can look back in our history books or if you want a fictional approach, check out ‘Game of Thrones’.  This blockbuster show might be a fantasy, but within any fiction exist truths about the human condition. So does this mean we are born like it? Does this mean we continue to react like our ancestors have done? Some would say, ‘that is just the way we are,’ ‘it’s our instincts’, ‘survival’, ‘you will always have abuse’, ‘some people can’t help themselves’.

MMMMM. yes we could say that if we choose to use our out-dated brain. But hey, this little human being is interested in sharing up the possibility of jumping into the potential of each and every one of us. I had the privilege of connecting with an incredible individual who was brutally raped as a six-year-old boy, where surgery was necessary to heal his wounds. He lived a life of physically and emotionally abusing others inclusive of himself. He became an alcoholic and found himself in the streets, to then transform his life, to be a person who lives with his heart bigger than the ocean, helps others through tough times and is choosing, not only actions that give kindness, but words as well. This is a human being who has said ‘no’ to his reactive states of out-dated conditioning and opened up to the possibility of personal peace and power.

Individuals inclusive of you and me, have the power to change the world by changing and choosing how we react to our immediate environment. Whether it is a word, wacked out action or war- we can all take action in letting go of abuse. Whether we are receiving it, or giving it, we have the greater human potential of choice over our actions and reactions.

What ever the reasons are, why it is we humans are doing things that hurt others or ourselves, it doesn’t matter. Reasons are Band-Aids on a mirror- they are absolutely uselsess. The isness of what human beings do to others sometimes is where the insanity is. Let us wake up from this insanity and start to react in ways, which serve us rather than hurt us.

As I sit and take a sip of red over the river, I sit in awe of the individuals I have met on this trip, who have transformed their lives from self abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse. Whether they have been the abuser or are victims of abuse, they are proof, that nothing is permanent, healing is possible and choice is our power. Cheers to the awe makers and forever inspiring and exposing the capability of human potential. Thank you