Laid off

I am not sure if it is appropriate to use people's ill fortune as writing inspiration, but then again most influential works of literature have stemmed from empathy.

My boyfriend works for an architectural firm as an intern. Today his firm had the fourth round of laying people off. The economy has crashed, but I think there is a greater crash of morale taking place here. One by one, as he says goodbye to friends he has made over the last few months, I can feel his growing frustration of being in a space surrounded by empty desks where once colleagues became friends. I can feel his helplessness as he stays on, a guest for a few months, sure of his own job only because of its temporariness as he goes to work each day with a nagging dread of finding more empty desks and fewer familiar faces.

At such a time, I would be afraid to make friends, to get close to people lest I would have to face them as they packed years of work and dedication into a carton and left. But that's me, I live life defensively, but for many others there is hope that clings persistently and in such cases it is a huge blow to the morale every time hope lets them down.

Yet it would all be over if hope gets laid off....