When the church bell is rung for a funeral, said poet John Donne, don't ask who it's tolling for. Instead recognize how human mortality is shared by all. The bell tolls for thee.
Some of us who have been the loss of job or career ordeal might have thought that the bell was tolling for us today. Recently discharged from his job at Accent Signage Systems, Andrew Engeldinger returned to his former place of employment. He killed the owner, three others, and himself.
The tragic reality in capitalist America is that we are our jobs. The dirty little secret had been that when we don't have one our thinking narrows into a binary pattern: Suicide or murder. That's not so secret any more.
Suppose someone, anyone had reached out to Engeldinger. It could have been a simple phrase such as "The hell with them." Yet, the human tendency, particularly in this era of fear of losing how we make our living, is to distance ourselves. Maybe we should heed the sentiment that the bell tolls for us. If we reach out to help we will be more willing to look for it and get it when our own career implosion happens.
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