Taking a Stand, Making a Change

This summer in Yosemite is coming to a an end more quickly than I had expected.

Indeed, I have quit my job and am looking toward tomorrow to see what the horizon of my future will bring.

At the moment, it looks like cities and beaches are to be my new home, but I shall see.

I quit my job because a moment arose in time where I could quit and also take a stand at the same time. I had feelings of disquiet and restlessness, but I had determined to stay until the end of my obligation, which was sometime in mid-September.

However, I felt that my obligation changed when my co-worker was fired unjustly and without dignity.

He was fired after returning late from climbing The Nose route of El Capitan, an accomplishment worthy of a lifetime goal.

To quickly summarize the situation, he was let go, said my ex-manager, because he had [twice] broken the rules and not notified the management of his absence. Each of his absences, however, was insignificant to the function of everyday activities and one time the phone lines were down, and the other time he had another person call in for him, because he didn't have cell phone reception.

Regardless of the merits of the decision, when my co-worker was fired, the manager was not present. To me, that was egregious and very disrespectful and an indicator of that manager's sense of duty toward any one of the employees. And so that was the final straw that kindled my ire to the point of resignation.

It is all a minor thing. This was just a summer job, and it won't affect my co-worker that he was fired, but all the same, I couldn't stand by and be witness to such an undignified injustice without doing anything. To voice my protest would have been impotent and inconsequential and his firing would have been overlooked and my protest ignored. However, I believe I made the strongest protest by quitting immediately after he was fired. It was obviously not in my own best interest (superficially), but that's part of the power of the gesture. Indeed, my ex-manager noted that everything would have been fine if I had not quit right after he was fired, but now they are in a bind because they are short on people. Additionally, in consequence one other co-worker has decided to quit as well, and several others are seriously considering quitting within the week.

Again, it was all a rather minor incident, but it's also empowering and it has given me a new sense of possibility. I'm “on the precipice” as you [I] might say.

I do not regret the decision at all.

I'm very happy to cross off “Quit a job based on principle” from my bucket list.

Currently, I've moved out of White Wolf, and I am now down in the valley, awaiting a ride.

I've been invited to Los Angeles to check it out, and I'm thinking I will take the offer up. I still need to make a little more money for the certification I wish to earn, so I would work and live for as long as I care to, if I like it there. If I don't like it, I will streamline my possessions a little more, and then hit the road.

All in all, I like the turn my life is taking.