7 Paths Blog

Last night I watched an Italian film, Days and Clouds, about a man, Michele, who is forced out of a twenty-year business partnership by a good friend. For two months he keeps the loss of his job a secret from his wife, Elsa, who is completing a degree.

The 2007 film is an unblinking look at a marriage under the duress of a man losing his career. Life closes in around them and they are forced to sell both their boat and their home. A middle-aged man, he desperately tries to find another job while dealing with the shame of his job loss. Not only did he not tell his wife for two months, even after he told her, he refused to tell their twenty-year old daughter. She discovers her father’s job loss when she sees him working as a courier delivering packages on a motorbike, a job he has taken out of desperation.

Elsa responds to their plight by taking two part time job as a telemarketer and secretary, both jobs that do not use her degree.

The film especially hit home for me because earlier this fall I began to have back trouble, eventually diagnosed as four compression fractures of vertebrae. In the middle of raising funds for a EGL project, I haven’t been able to drive for almost a month. Sarah has had to give me a hand much more than usual. She recently told a friend that in addition to her job as a nurse, caring for me is like a second full time job. Life has closed in around me. It’s been very humbling to not be able to travel for my work like I’m used to doing. And it’s very humbling to have to ask Sarah for help and other friends as well.

I’m fortunate that I haven’t lost my job. I’ve switched from raising funds to underwrite the writing and production of a 200-page eBook to actually writing the book  (Green Light Fundraising: Your guide to raising $50,000 to $500,000 a year to light up the eyes of people you serve) with plans to pick up with the fund raising in 2010 when my back has healed.

Also, unlike the couple in the film,  Sarah and I are part of Plow Creek Fellowship, a group that shares finances, so we will not lose our home because of my health crisis.

As I watched the film I couldn’t help but think of all the people my age who have lost their jobs worldwide in the two years since the film came out.  There’s no easy way out of the wilderness when life becomes uncharted territory.

The film and my life both point to the same faint hope–the people around you suffer with you, struggle with you, and love you. Thanks Sarah, Plow Creek friends, and Evergreen Leaders board.