It came to me on my way to work yesterday, how oddly we react with surprise whenever things don't go the way the little life plan has set up for things to go.
How precariously close we totter to the brink, with the illusion of a safety net as we chart our own course and imagine stability and calm is because of our masterful management of life. :)
A work acquaintance at my former job was laid off. She had been there since the beginning of time and made it through round after round of layoffs, developing the kind of skin one develops in that situation, and I am sure a sense of immunity. She took the layoff laced routines in stride, and would have never prepared much for it believing the lessons that she was too valuable to let go.
It is little consoluation now, with the good staying behind and the company's contributions taking the form of a pink slip and a year on unemployment.
I would rather not have known what the office looks like, or the sound of being flattered by words of how valuable and instrumental I have been in bettering the school, and what a team player and hard worker I am, before the news that the budget cuts are deep and my position is being eliminated (or parceled out to interns making $10 an hour).
But since I do, I can tell her there is life beyond. There is hope. She has the 3 E's - energy, empathy, and education - and something will pop for her as it did for me.
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