An Open Letter To Our Exiting Co-employees

AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR EXITING CO-EMPLOYEES

Dear “Kabayan”:

On your departure, bring along our best wishes for good luck, good health, and success.

It is a sad thing that after sometime being together, you will be bidding goodbye. This may be a mixed feeling on your part.

On one hand, there is a degree of happiness because at long last, you will be back to your home country, loved ones, and families for good; on the other hand, there is also the pain of leaving behind the treasured friendships and the shared moments. It’s like being “torn between two lovers”, as one song goes; one you will be going back to, and the other, you’ll leave behind. But as there is no other way but move forward, just you “smile though your heart is aching”, as another song goes.

There are many “Goodbyes” in life. Some of them happen because people want them; some, because circumstance compels them to happen. But whether they are for good or for temporary, all “going-aways” are bittersweet because in spite of the yearning to move on or to make up for the lost time with loved ones, there is also the longing for the “Auld Lang Syne”.

Life is a “Constant Change”, so another song goes. In life, nothing is permanent. There is a time to say “Hello” and a time to say “Goodbye”. One time or another in a man’s life, he moves from place to place, meets people, establishes relationship.

But all the while he moves on to a new place and bid goodbye to the people in whose friendship and camaraderie he had learned to treasure. Then again, he meets new faces, new friends, new relationships.

This cycle goes on for as long as man aims at a higher goal, strives for a greater happiness, or simply adjusts to changing needs of time. And as man overcomes every new hurdle along the way, he becomes wiser, better person. Nothing is indispensable to change; not even the greenness of the mountains, the depth of the oceans, nor the immensity of the universe. Even butterflies undergo lifecycles before they soar freely through the air.

For those of you who may have stayed with this company for many years, change must be truly abrupt, if not difficult to tackle. But the good thing about change is that there is always something new to begin with and different things to discover. The bad thing is, there are always hard works to do. But, if one has prepared himself for the rainy days like the proverbial “busy ant” then there is nothing much to worry. Whatever is your position at the moment, life after this company is something to look forward to.

So to you, KABAYAN, we wish you the best of luck on your next endeavors. Today, it may be your time to go. Tomorrow, we will never know. But the one thing sure is that for foreign workers like us, there is always a time to go back to where we came from. We may have different due goodbye times but tomorrow will tell when our paths shall cross again. When that time comes, we hope to see your targets realized and your dreams come true. And then maybe, we could bring back that juncture when we shared together part of our lives.

In the meantime, your absence will surely be felt – in the roll of each machine, in the clanging of trays at the kitchen, in every commotion at the hall, in every visit to the “HUKAY-HUKAY”, in every sports activities and get-together, every payday, or every dinner at a Khobar restaurant… we will cherish those shared moments.

‘Until we meet again... in another time and place. PAALAM, GOODBYE, MAASALAMA, SAYONARA!

FROM YOUR CO-WORKER KABAYANS