Emotional Adhesion

Goodbyes are not my forte, they have never been. I have always been very clumsy and pathetic in saying goodbye. I think I know the reason behind my being that way. Honestly, it is a very scientific one.  I have named it Emotional Adhesion. Let me attempt to explain how this is scientific; stronger the adhesive bond between any two things the more difficult it gets to separate them; and any forced (unavoidable) separation would result in some tear; so the bond will not come out clean, it would rather be Clumsy. Same principle of Adhesion applies here. I have strong Emotional Adhesion properties. I get attached to people (it is always due to the fact that people are wonderful, God’s best creation. And everyone is so unique and so loaded with exclusive qualities, that the attachment becomes obvious.)

Like all the fingers in the same hand have different sizes similarly all the bonds one develops do not have same strength. However in my case even the weak ones are bonded well enough to cause the rip at separation. And the person whom today is the day to say goodbye is one of the stronger ones. May be in my professional circles the person I am talking about is one of the strongest if not the strongest of the bonds.

It has been many years since we are working together and without going into the Org-Chart details, I would say that he has been a mentor and at times a beacon. With his admirable traits of building relationships, being fun, strategic thinking (even in most difficult of the times), carrying a very long fuse in terms of his temper and caring for his people even when he is not making it obvious. He has mostly been a role model. 

Not that he has always been right (in my eyes). We had disagreements at times and I had openly confronted him in group and in person, and he had kept channels open for such confrontation. So that was another learning received through association with him. His career growth over last few years had been excellent, but all that was expected based on his qualities.

Anyhow today is the day to say goodbye to him, and I as usual will have no courage to say it, especially not face to face. May appear like a weakness but it isn’t. It is strength; Strong Emotional Adhesion is developed out of this inherent strength. It is the strength that enables to develop a strong bond; emotional adhesion!

Strength, weakness, being naïve, impractical or whatever this is phenomenon may be referred to as, I don’t care today. Today I am sad that a good friend and a mentor is moving away. I am certain that he will be successful, because that is how he is. And there will be people benefiting from his association in the new location. So in the big scheme of things this is happening for good. But still I will not try and gather courage for face to face goodbye. So here it is;

All the best my friend; you know who you are. And so-long; till we meet again!!!