Have We Lost Our Humanity?

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We are in the process of firing at least 200,000 people from Federal Government. Without severance. Without advance notice.

A large number of Americans enthusiastically support and encourage this act. "They are lazy bureaucrats who don't show up in the office and if they do, they don't do anything." They are people who do nothing but cause "waste, fraud, and abuse." They are “crooked” and their removal is described as “getting rid of all the cancer.”

Elon Musk revels in saying "we took USAID to the wood chipper".

Let me provide another perspective.

It's your niece who got her first job out of college eight months ago, moved to Virginia, and was working in the Veterans Administration. Now laid off.

It's your neighbor who has been working hard for years to get a promotion into a management position in the FDA. They finally achieved a promotion six months ago after multiple good performance appraisals. Let go because they are in a probationary period for the new role. No benefits. No severance. No explanation.

It's the veteran, who while serving in the Army, saw how people in other countries needed help and started a new career in the USAID providing food and medicines in Africa.

While the stories may be made up, they are close to the reality. Real human beings, doing their best, cast aside. And people cheer for the spectacle of their demise. Sounds like Ancient Rome.

Most of us have had to go through "reductions in force" in our careers (if you haven't, you have been very lucky). It hurts. Your financial situation is in danger. Your health care has gotten more expensive. You worry that you need to find a new job, unexpectedly, fast. Your ego is hurt, because you have been deemed "surplus" or "expendable". People don't know what to say to you.

If we weren't the ones directly let go, it still hurt. How many of those people we worked with that got terminated did we say "deserved it"?

These people are someone's husband or wife. A son or a daughter. A neighbor. A stranger. But they are human beings. Are we losing our souls that we don't see a major problem with the words being used to talk about our fellow humans?

If you had this happen to you, what would you think if you were spoken about that way?

Outside Magazine had an article about fired workers in the National Park Service. About one of them, the author wrote:

He called his position . . .a “dream job,” and said that losing the position has forced his family into a dire financial situation. “We’re sad and frightened, and feel like we’ve had the rug pulled out from under us,” he said. Gibbs and his wife have a four-year-old son, and they are expecting a second child this year. Gibbs said that his wife had to skip a monitoring appointment with her doctor after the family’s health insurance was terminated.

Do we feel good about a pregnant woman cancelling a doctor's appointment because her husband lost his job unexpectedly and unexplained?

BTW, those fired "lazy workers" included Schedule A hires—workers with a qualifying disability—and veterans and their spouses recruited through Veterans Recruitment Appointments. Do we feel good about that?

It is easy to demonize others, especially Federal Government employees. But they are human beings, worthy of our love like everyone else.

Take a moment to think about what we are doing. Because we have done it. We voted for the people in the executive and legislative branches, in both parties, that are standing aside and allowing carnage. We applaud when all of the "great $ savings" are announced. We don't take the time to humanize others. Got a minute?