I would have been happy, like all of you present, if Tose was here with us today, to personally receive this Decoration. However, although he is not among us today, he is with us every moment and everywhere. Tose is in our thoughts and hearts. His music, his angelic voice shall forever resonate the Macedonian radio stations, in our homes, clubs and concert halls. He is with us every moment and everywhere, and, for that reason, tomorrow we mark his 30th birthday. Birthdays are moments when we celebrate life, when we rejoice the wonderful moments and recall the good things.

Tpse Proeski is the man who, as Diogenes with the lamp, used music to look for humanity within people. He is the man who motivated us to start writing new pages allowing our posterity to understand the true dimension of the words: love, hope and faith.

Tose’s humanity, his sincere faith in goodness is transcribed in his songs, but also in his wish to help the children, the people, the less fortunate. Guided by the principle that “a person can always be more human than he is”, he opened his heart for all of us. He reminded us how important it is to love and respect each other, he thought us how to help each other. With his numerous humanitarian concerts and charity events, he entrusted us to continue his work. Aware of the truth that every person is responsible towards oneself and others, Tose used to say: “It’s very easy to make a bad deed, it’s very difficult to make a good deed.”

Larger than life, Tose succumbed to the temptations of great popularity. On the contrary, while preserving his character, he remained the same humble, sincere and spontaneous young man who, since the first performance captivated the audience with his voice. Full with love for people, Tose became an idol of the young and a symbol of humanity. Whit his example, this hero of our time was a champion for the true values of life.

The God bestowed gift to spread love and understanding through music, Tose used to unite us all, regardless of which people, faith or generation we belong to. Endeared among the children, teenagers but also the grown ups, Tose built bridges of friendships with his cloudless and smiling face. He sang in Macedonian, in Aromanian, in English, Serbian, Croatian, Italian… From the concert halls and TV monitors to the bleachers and sport stadiums, his enchanting energy bridged people and nations.

Tose promoted the Republic of Macedonia, showing her braveness and virtue, showing us that we should have trust in her, love, cherish and promote her with dignity. Once again, with his selfless efforts, Tose Proeski made us proud of our past and decisive for our future.

Despite the huge popularity and in spite of our expectations that the Macedonian and Balkan star will emerge as a world star as well, Tose never forgot his Macedonian roots. “I was very proud to be a Macedonian abroad”, he used to say after his concerts in foreign lands. Convinced that Macedonia is winning by the mare fact that it competes at the international festivals, this true patriot proudly and admirably represented his fatherland, conquering the audience wherever he sang.
Therefore, for his sincere and deep humanism, his artistic achievements, his unifying energy, today, we posthumously award him with the “Order of Merits of Macedonia”.

The Order is recognition for his temporal merits, but also an expression of our love and respect for the man who loved us all. With this act, Macedonia solemnly avails to continue cherishing the memory of its great son, to venerate his art and humanity with which he enriched us all. We vow to communicate humane messages to mankind, to build bridges of hope, just as Tose once did in the hearts of all those that had forgotten it.

Deeds speak of existence, and the continuation of Tose Proeski’s deeds means a continuation of his existence. Tomorrow is his birthday, and I believe that awarding an Order of merits is a symbolic and most humble, while the dedication to the cherishing of good thought, intention and deed is the true gift that we can give to Tose. To the man who touched our hears, showing us a dimension of humanity that, regrettably, we often forget.