Perusing the papers today I see picture after picture of men who have been laid off or “excessed.” How can we speak of “excessing” a fellow human being? --Dismissing them as unnecessary, insignificant? Their faces share a common look: they are in their 50s and are trying to maintain their dignity in the stark reality of a dollars and cents economy that could care less. They have taken care of their families, worked to feed their babies and send them to college. They have served their country and their communities. They were accounted as a member of a work force. Their faces show struggle but also pride. Their eyes reveal the worry as to how they will keep their children in school, pay their mortgage, hold up their heads in their community. As middle aged men they see themselves as expendable and they know their future does not look bright. No one’s does, of course, in the current economic meltdown but if you are a 55 year old man, too young to retire and too old to re-invent yourself perhaps, where do you go? His family and friends look to him for nurture, for guidance, for protection. If he is married, his spouse works hard too. Perhaps she works in the home or perhaps out there in the world but their life is on the rocks and neither quite knows what to do now. Attention must be paid to these quiet heros who have labored all their lives to provide and now appear to be tossed aside. Their responsibilities weigh heavily on their sloping shoulders but they square their back and face the future. Those who remain employed might be tempted to turn their face and ignore them; too close to the bone perhaps. But we should not. We should thank them, respect them and make room for them in our businesses and work places. This we should do.
