My contractor supervisor over the past year had his farewell yesterday.Easily the best supervisor I've had in years with a positive, supportive disposition, totally professional. So early this afternoon I get a call from my Oracle Support ombudsman on a thorny technical issue; about halfway through the call, my acting supervisor interrupts me to say I have to go to a general meeting in the nearby auditorium with no prior announcement in 5 minutes. It's not the first time this has happened. I was initially unhappy having to interrupt my Oracle Support conversation; don't they realize how hard it is for me to get a hold of these people? Little did I know hours later I would be driving home with tears streaming down my cheeks.
Our client chief technical executive was waiting for us to gather, I know as a libertarian I've taken shots at a number of dreadful, incompetent civil servants I've dealt with over the years, but the ones I've dealt with here are some of the best, most personable clients I've ever met. This executive, a man of color, is s highly competent, communicative leader, among the best in my decades of academic and professional experience; he believes in letting us know about where we're going; he makes sure we are aware of his open-door policy, although his road warrior schedule makes my own past ones look quite ordinary. He is one of the best executives I've ever worked under, but I don't know him on a personal level (he's 2 levels over my client supervisor; to him, I'm probably the "Oracle guy").
Let this be a warning to people who make judgments about people they don't even know and what's going on in their personal life; I had no clue of what was going on in this man's life. This man was articulate in talking about our direction for years to come as well as near-term goals and objectives.
So he called us in to tell us he had given his 90 days notice. Really, he wanted to resign immediately but he felt he owed it to the organization to transition his duties.
Then he explained why he was resigning, and it broke my heart. His daughter is dying of something doctors can't diagnose; they've traveled everywhere to find a diagnosis and treatment, and she's running out of time. Most parents live for their children's future; can you imagine surviving the death of your own child? And Daddies are their daughters' first heroes; they can fix anything, make things better, much like Zuzu implored George Bailey to paste her prize flower's petals back on. It reminds you of Calvin Coolidge's son, dying from an infection of his blister, begging his father, the President, one of the most powerful men of the world, to do something. Alas, Daddies, being mere mortals, cannot perform miracles. But you know you'll be second-guessing yourself for the rest of your life, wondering maybe you stopped one doctor short of a definitive cure.
And then there's his better half, the love of his life. She is suffering from cancer and is refusing possibly her only real chance of survival, cruel chemotherapy. I can't imagine dealing with that; my godmother and maternal grandmother died of complications of colon cancer before I turned 3. My grandfather never really recovered from that shock. His family was his world. He had struggled through the Depression as a mom-and-pop grocer, a workaholic who was known to open his store in the middle of the night for a customer who needed to buy milk or a loaf of bread. His dream was to travel with his wife in retirement, and his dream was shattered by the ugliness of an untimely brutal disease.
I cannot imagine having one's own family, his own support system, implode under me. So this good man is resigning so he can make his dying family his first priority. And I have a lot of respect for this good husband and father to follow his heart and be there for them, not wondering what loving moments he missed spending another lonely night in a hotel room.
So for the 2 or 3 people who may read this blog post, I ask you for your kind thoughts and prayers tonight for this good man and his beautiful family.
