SAD

I spent all day in the training. But I had to speak also with my colleague and friend Ismail. We were planning to develop together a business idea for our company. During the breaks I wanted to call him one, two, three, four times. But at the end I didn't do it and I didn't see him today. At the end of training I went back to the project room. And after one hour that I was there with my colleagues I overheard a piece of conversation between a couple of them that made pretty much like this "Did you hear that they laid off all this people in that department? Basically they closed that group". I can't believe what I just heard. Wait. That is where Ismail works. I check the intranet. It is all true. I can't believe it. I call Ismail. He answers with his wonderful happy voice. For a moment I hope that I miss understood what I just read. I can't ask him. He is the one who is telling me. It is all true. March 1st will be his last day in the company. I don't know what to say. I am promising him that I will help him as much as I will be able to do. But I feel useless. I think to his kids. I think to his mortgage. I think to his medical plan costs that will skyrocket because he is not anymore employed. We promise to see each other tomorrow for lunch and we hang up. I am by myself in the room. And suddenly I feel scared like I felt when I was 10 years old and my dad came home and told to my mom that the factory he was working for had the gates closed. They declared bankruptcy. My mom and my dad called me and told me what happened. Even if I was 10, I got scared. Something that I will never forget is that my parents decided to buy the newspaper every other day, and not every day as we were used. I was shocked. Eventually things turned around in the right way. My dad found a new job in less than 1 month. But I think back to that single day and I think that it changed my life forever. That is one of the reasons why I don't want to settle down anywhere and put my roots anywhere, I guess I am still afraid to find me in a situation where I can't move and I suddenly I find myself without a job. I still have my job and I should be happy, but I am really sad tonight. I think something definitely wrong just happened. And I can't do much to help a friend.