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Horrible, horrible feeling. If you ask most other westerners "what do you do?" they'll tell you they hike, write poetry, play guitar, ride bikes, etc. But if you ask an American that question, he/she will tell you they what their job is. Americans associate their jobs with who they are as a person and that's why it hurts so damn much to be fired, because it feels like someone has told you that you're not a good person.
In every job I've had, I've always been the MVP. I'm the guy everyone counts on when the chips are down and I'm always the guy who knows how to do practically everyone else's job as well as my own. Therefore, imagine my continuing shock and confusion over being fired by the State of Mississippi. I had many, many years of successful teaching experience and I was working in a state that needed good teachers more than any other. Yet, the Dean of my college told my Department Head that he wanted me gone at the end of the year back in 2001. The specific quote I remember more than any other was, "I don't care if he wins a Nobel prize, I want him gone." I managed to find another job before I was actually fired and as it turned out it was the best possible thing that could have ever happened to me. The current path I'm on is miraculous and could only have happened because of all the shit in Mississippi that Grancey and I went through.
But it still pisses me off that the State of Mississippi (of all places) is the only place to ever tell me I wasn't good enough to work there.
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Living is easy with eyes closed.
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