Life can still be meaningful despite layoff

A good fellow and journalist -- two terms that do not necessarily go together -- lamented in writing about how empty his life felt after being laid off yesterday at a Gannett newspaper.

The journalist wrote of how he would miss his colleagues and making a difference. I know exactly how he feels. I felt exactly the same when The Tennessean eliminated my job more than a year ago during my continuing fight with leukemia.

I wrote for Gannett as an editorial page editor and political columnist for 14 years. I kept writing from my hospital bed until Aetna said stop and I almost died during 12 days in Vanderbilt Medical Center.

But I got better enough to go back to my job. However, it was not to be.

Sure I was angry. And I cried. But my life really is better now.

First, God, saved my life. So my my life is dedicated to his will and the people around us in need. Yes, I write a blog that no one really reads. I am a nobody and technically a failure at 50 years of age. I can't help people like I could when I was a columnist in a newspaper that reached a lot of people.

But God still provides us opportunities. Yes, I'm still a failure. I make little money compared to what I did as a columnist with a long career. I feel shame and am glad my parents are not alive to see me this way. But I still believe God kept me alive for a reason.

And so for my colleague -- now in losing a job in the profession we love -- I'll keep him in my prayers and hope he finds a new way to make a difference and find new colleagues in the cause of making a better community and world.