28,222 DAYS LATER, A NEW THING HAPPENED

I did not look for this picture, I stumbled upon it just today and the thought touched me.
I will use in in another venue, that's why I added the English and the Spanish.
The original I found is in French.

It was yesterday that for the first time in my life I felt some real strange and interesting movements in my internal being.  Something really serious and heavy happened to a dear colleague whom I admire a lot for her zeal, dedication, generosity and placid approach to life.  She is a person who is single minded and focused on her mission in life.  She is a one career type of person who would no doubt be a fish out of water anywhere else than the environment in which I and she work, when we do, indeed find ourselves side by side on the same project.  I know that I am not too far off base in my assessment of her, because I am witness to the glowing reviews that she gets from every quarter of our common working area.

Yesterday, I learned that she had been terminated from her local work division and that the headquarters had taken the decision to exclude her from the entire corporation as well.  Yesterday I knew little about the details but even in the face of such devastating news, I was left with nothing but emptiness.  The strangest emotion, or lack thereof that I have ever experienced.  I am still overwhelmed by my reaction.  But that's not all.  

Today, I learned more details about the situation and the emptiness is still there.  Now it has changed to a low grade feeling of mercy and sympathy but nothing seismic, despite the devastation that has come into her life.  Am I this way because the effect on her life is so catastrophic that I know that I can do nothing but to promise spiritual support?  Is it because the unexpected details of the situation are so conflicting on the one hand but also so daring on the other that they are hard to process?  Some of the details are not surprising because I know her and have known her for a rather long while.  Some of the conflicting details amaze me because they point to a person who was leading a double life and seemingly got picked off first base in a moment of uncharacteristic distraction.  Is it the result of my knowledge of the environment in which we live and work that has taken the edge off my ability to polarize my emotions in moments of sudden change?  It is a really strange realization that I am living.

I know that this person is in a position where she is now forced to change career.  In her present situation, there is no other choice, despite the mountainous quantity and the high quality of the education and training that she has acquired, she is now forced to move on.  She has to move on and I am sure that it will be a large challenge.  Success in the second half of her life is now defied  by circumstances that she herself brought upon herself, but perhaps never thought that the gauntlet would someday be thrown at her feet.  

Along the road of life, I have observed that "old people" don't react too violently to sudden and unexpected change.  They have seen so much of it that it doesn't throw them off balance as much as it does younger people.  So, I suppose that is the "take-away" that I have...I'm old.
I say that and it doesn't bother me.  I'm old and glad of it.  I have done a lot of jobs in my life. Some I liked and some I didn't.  Some I had trained for and some I hadn't.  The one I have now I didn't train for but I like it and I am good at it.  Every now and then I wonder if I'll like pushing daisies.  I've not trained for that so I still don't know if I'll like it or not.  I hope I like it because it's one job that no one walks away from...not even me.  Now, that's a change!