A Tragic Death

I didn’t know Max (name changed to protect his family), but his death makes me angry. A former student and success story, he’d been a construction trainer at youth development program in Brockton, MA for a decade before being laid off recently. The administrators in charge of running the place moved people around like cogs in a machine with absolutely no regard for their personal situation or their emotional responses. The same director recently laid off a certified teacher weeks before his wedding, in the middle of student orientation, with similar lack of interest. Just hand him the packet of info from HR and say “Goodbye.” Budget crunches are a ready excuse for layoffs, but the WAY they were done in this very large non-profit corporation just simply lacked human compassion.

As one knowledgeable person in another facility said, after yet another similar lay off, “There is no ‘human’ in their human service agency.”

No thought was given to any consequences, as one employee is just like another. No one bothered to even tell Max that they might be working on acquiring money to rehire him—why tell the employees anything to get their hopes up—or make them even feel like they mattered—because if it didn’t come through, they’d be mad or perhaps even confrontational. God forbid that there be any unpleasantness!

Maybe Max had other disappointments he was struggling with in his life. Doesn’t matter. Not now. He apparently used a key no one knew he had to enter his former workplace, and hanged himself in the early morning hours of Wednesday, his only way to make a statement. He was found by his construction supervisor and friend, who had no say in the lay-off, and will likely never get that image out of his mind. Unfortunately the Christian organization Max worked for will likely not even face the recriminations they deserve. I doubt even the Program Director, VP, or even the devout CEO will acknowledge, even privately, that they are to blame for this tragedy.

I have a friend who blogs more regularly than I who quotes MLK on his page:

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

How I wish that Max had been treated with justice and love by the powers for whom he worked that last ten years. In death they will laud him as a fine example, a product of their good programming, but it's too late now. This kind of tragedy always brings out the "should of, could of, would have's" second thoughts in those touched by it. Unfortunately, the wrong people will likely be asking themselves what they could have done to prevent this. The powerful culprits will remain blind to their responsibility. Anger is so intertwined with sadness that I can't tell them apart as they morph back and forth. There is still so much work to be done to change in our world. Pick a small corner near you and begin. That will be the best tribute to Max.