Fired into Silence

Goodness Misunderstood

When a take over of new management happens, there are casualties.

After 15-years of service, my mother’s aid was fired! Or was it actually silencing the voice of reason that could foresee oncoming problems.

The senior residence, mom has called home for 8-years, occupies the old Ringling Brothers Circus base camp. You can easily imagine the various family acts residing in the different sized rooms.

And down the road, past the bend in the lake, is what was once the elephant house!

The home is an old structure with boiler and plumbing problems. It’s fashioned with a wrap around porch that holds the chill coming off the lake; and in turn, chilling the residence. And, home-repair needs abound.

Add this to the newly infirmed residence, that new management profiled and accepted, whom need more care than the facility is equipped to provide, mayhem was on the rise!

The institutional experience of new management did not want to hear of mom’s old-home problem—a broken toilet seat. So the messenger, mom’s aid, got fired for voicing it amongst the other unaddressed problems.

Surely, it wasn’t the toilet seat that seeded the sudden firing. My guess is, new management wanted the aid to work for them, not with them.

What could have been a seamless transition became a soul crushing acquisition!

It reminded me of being fired years ago from a studio/gym after 30-years of service. I was like the beloved old dog everyone tripped over as they walked into the gym. But this affection was exactly the reason I was fired.

Of course, new ownership created a phantom drama about me bad-mouthing their choices. Just as an accusation was made about mom’s aid.

The workers who care the most speak up the most when they see inevitable problems arising. Not to deface anyone, but rather, to show that they can be depended on.

Unfortunately, some people compete for rightness, rather than discern right action. So, instead of fixing a toilet seat they fire the aid. (Let’s hope mom doesn’t end up on the floor through this drama!)

This got me thinking…

Service is giving from a state of empathy and expertise to accomplish a desired result. A role that is looked up to for its know-how, and down at for its servant status.

But, being the recipient of service has an equal dual nature.

Recipients’ receive what they need, even when the need is resisted. We can have a love/hate relationship with our needs. They can make us feel impotent or empowered in regard to our own development.

We need each other to learn our purpose and grow into ourselves. Growth is spawned from this two way deliverance of giving and receiving. Silencing smothers that potential!

If you struggle when feeling your needs, remember it’s an opportunity to find your voice to service your life purpose. And, when you’re giving service, remember their need is an opportunity for your growth.

Work with how needs serve you, rather than for your resistance to need.