Age like fine wine

I read The Godfather when I was a teenager.  I had to, because everybody around me seemed to be reading it.

I am yet to watch the movie version. 

Sure, I am familiar with the pop culture references to it. But, I always feel exactly like how the Meg Ryan character, Kathleen, in  You've Got Mail put it: "What's it with men and The Godfather?"

I was even more shocked when Dr. Fauci referred to The Godfather.  

What Fauci said was reported in my favorite magazine, The New Yorker:

“I go to my favorite book of philosophy, ‘The Godfather,’ and say, ‘It’s nothing personal, it’s strictly business.’ ”

Et tu, Fauci?

As Kathleen explained it to Joe, the character played by Tom Hanks, "it was not personal to you, but it was personal to me."

My problem is the same as Kathleen's--every damn thing is always personal to me.

Never before has the "it's strictly business" become as personal as it has now become.  As I wrote in this commentary, I could be out of a job soon.

A budget manager who speaks of compassion channeled the "it's strictly business" through "I have never felt like my argument was with you, Sriram."

That was the mildest cut of them all.

In recent emails, the following was conveyed by three colleagues:

We need to capitalize on new opportunities to keep WOU more than just afloat....and if we fail to act immediately by making both thoughtful and painful decisions, we won't float for long. 

At the forefront of my worries is the survival of this institution. 

I suppose this is the higher education's version of Mitt Romney's "corporations are people, my friend."  The university needs to survive; it's strictly business.

More than a decade ago, I watched Up in the air.  It is a movie about a guy who is hired to deliver the employment termination news to people because the management take is that a hired guy can be an impersonal messenger between them and the employees whose lives will be screwed.  It's strictly business only for one side, and it is all personal on the other side of the table.

As I was contemplating about all these, I got an email.  From a former student.  She had heard the news about my university.  She writes:

 I know my words won't replace the career you have spent years curating. I just wanted to reach out and let you know that of all the academics I have been taught by you are by far the best. The honesty you provide young adults is refreshing at an age when many still continue to shelter us. Though times are hard with covid I feel like it has allowed many of your advice to age like fine wine in my mind. There are many conversations I remember from your courses that still ring true and with ample effect now. I hope you are doing well and finding some peace in unpredictability of life.

She knows that it is personal.