Not what I would have wished

"My service did not end as I would have wished."
—Gen. Stanley McChrystal, at his retirement ceremony

I can empathize with McChrystal, who was forced into retirement after Rolling Stone magazine published some indiscreet and embarrassing quotes from the general in command of forces in Afghanistan and his aides. One does not rise to the level of four-star general without a lot of hard work, intelligence and dedication. His retirement is bittersweet, but he has no one to blame but himself.

I empathize with McChrystal because my newspaper career did not end "as I would have wished." In my case, there was no embarrassing incident, no error of judgment, no policy disagreement I can blame for my layoff nearly two years ago. Rather, there was a series of events, including my boss' determination that drastic change, including change of staff, would improve the newspaper. Other events include the dramatic slide in advertising as a result of economic downturn, a shift toward online readership and a cultural decline in print readership.

Many thousands of journalists in newspapers, magazines, broadcast and online news lost their jobs over the past decade as fiscal realities slaughtered news jobs. Locally, about half the news staff is gone, and most of those individuals feel, like McChrystal, that their lifetime of dedication to the newspaper did not end as they would have wished. The layoffs were without ceremony, even without acknowledgment in most cases. The jobs just disappeared.

When I had planned ahead just a few years ago, I envisioned a long process of selecting and training my replacement and perhaps continuing to work on a part-time basis as a columnist or editorial writer, as some older colleagues had done. I imagined a retirement ceremony at which I could thank coworkers for their support and loyalty. Instead, I have embarked on a new career, where I will not build up the decades of seniority I once had and will not get the send-off I once assumed was inevitable.

General McChrystal, several years younger than I, will enjoy a lucrative retirement befitting a four-star general (an exception is being made to the usual tenure rules to allow him to keep all four stars and their higher retirement pay). Three-hundred people attended his retirement ceremony at Fort McNair. I will continue working.