A mass layoff is occurring where I work. I am one of those unfortunates that have been deemed expendable.

An older man who appears near retirement is duly worried about the future. The future he is worried about has nothing to do with the reality facing us. He walks around with ashen face, almost zombie like appearance in his demeanor.

During one lunch period he chose to sit at my table. His purpose was clear. He wanted to tell me about the coming apocalypse. Yes, he thought all the misery we were suffering was the dawn of a coming apocalypse and that he was going to save my soul from the destruction that was certainly coming.

His mind was not on the layoff, his mind was on the middle east and the most certain calamity facing it in the next twenty years.

I tried in vain to inform him that I did not share his faith, I all  but told him I was a non-believer. To no avail. I didn’t want to dash his hope in his faith so I didn’t pursue the matter. I merely left, telling him that I thought the world would be better off if the Middle East did not exist. This ended the conversation. He was too angry at me to continue to press his assertions.

I respect this man’s ability. He performs his job well. I just wonder at this man’s obsession with the myth when so much reality is at hand. Perhaps it diverts his stress. After all, if everyone is doomed, then a mere layoff is of no consequence.

(Human behavior observation 081117)