I’m no expert on loss or how to deal with it. All I know is that I am experiencing loss and watching others close to me experience it. My former co-workers and I talk about losing the sense of fun, teamwork, family, and success that we often experienced while working together. We all know that time is gone forever and we miss it.
I lost a friend and co-worker to a stupid, senseless death; killed by a drunk driver who was back out partying days after killing my friend. He had just started working with us at my new job, but he made a great impression on his co-workers. He is gone forever and we miss him.
I lost my mother to cancer and several of my people have lost close family members recently. Our family members are gone and we miss them.
Many people in this country (and others) have lost their jobs, lost their homes, lost their retirement funds, had their salaries and benefits cut, and have suffered a general loss of self-identity and self-worth. Suicides and murder-suicides are now common in my city. People have lost hope.
Hope
It seems the rate of change is increasing and we are all having trouble keeping up. We are being squeezed both at home and at work. It is easy to lose hope. We Americans have been at war for almost 10 years, we are being polluted by oil, coal and chemicals, our schools stink, too many abuse our animals, children and elderly, our health care is outrageously cover-your-ass expensive and our food supply is disgraceful and abusive to both animals and people.
Nevertheless, I say that we need to have hope. Pain is the fulcrum for change. We need to say enough is enough, and stop believing that we have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Enough of us have to believe that there is a better way. Believe that we can have a better home life and a better work life. Believe that we can have clean energy, clean, efficient public transportation, affordable, quality health care and quality schools. Believe that we can raise and eat healthy food, that we can have time with our families, that we can take care of our young and our old. Believe that we can work in a fun, respectful workplace where we each know what is expected, know how we support our company’s success and know what we need to learn so that we can do our jobs better.
You might think that this is kooky talk, but I’ll remind you that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of kooky.
Do you believe that we can do better? If so, what are you doing or going to do differently to change one thing to improve your home or work life?
