It happened on a Friday before the opening of a new school year. I could not believe what was happening. One minute, I was the chairman of the London (Ohio) High School guidance department; the next minute, in the middle of a department meeting, I was replaced.
“You step down. You are no longer the head of the department. I am. During the lunch break, I talked to the boss and the boss told me to take your place,” a newly hired co-worker told me when the meeting resumed after lunch.
At first, I thought the new co-worker was playing a joke on me. Unfortunately, it was not a joke.
I knew leadership positions come and go, but my heart was broken in the way it was done.
Neither the superintendent nor the principal told me of my demotion. It was so weird.
There was no phone call, no email and no memo about my demotion.
And it was done publicly, not done by an Administrator. It was done by a newcomer co-worker.
It was done while I was presiding at a countywide meeting of counselors, school nurses and attendance officers.
My demotion was orchestrated and executed by my new co-worker, a lady of my size. Can you imagine that?
It was unbelievable. It was like a coup d’etat.
Everyone in the meeting room looked at each other with surprise and disgust as the coup unfolded in front of their very eyes.
It was an insult to my career and to my personhood.
And there I was, like a timid little boy stepping down from the podium with a fake smile, while the bully stepped up to replace me in a position which I held with great pride and diligence for several years.
It reminded of my homeland, the Philippines, when Ferdinand Marcos destroyed democracy and made himself a dictator.
“This lady is a dictator!” I thought to myself. Correction: “This woman… She did not deserved to be addresses as a “lady” by the way she acted.
I had heard stories about workplace shootings by disgruntled employees.
I was so disgruntled that were it not for my faith in God and my being gifted with a good mind, I would have shot the newly hired coworker, the principal and the superintendent.
It is a blessing I never wanted to own a gun.
To this day, I wonder why the superintendent, the principal and I kowtowed to this newly hired woman.
She was a mean woman. In my book, she was the wicked witch of Madison County.
I do not know why the superintendent and the principal did not discuss my demotion with me. It is a mystery I will take to my grave.
I was hurt. I was angry. My first thoughts were of revenge and getting even.
I longed for justice. I relished the thought of vengeance.
A number of options flashed through my mind while driving home to Columbus at the end of that awful day.
But thinking of my wife and children prevented me from doing something stupid and irreversible.
At some point on my way home on Interstate 70 East from London to Columbus, a scene flashed through my mind.
I had a “God moment”!
It came when I thought of the scene from Scripture of Joseph’s brothers in Egypt.
Joseph’s brothers did not recognize him but he recognized them, though they had larger stomachs and less hair than when they last saw him 20 years earlier.
The last time Joseph saw his brothers’ faces, he was looking up from the bottom of a deep, dry well.
The last time he heard their voices, they were laughing at him.
The last time his brothers called Joseph’s name, they called him every name in the book.
“Get even?” “Revenge?” These were in Joseph’s power.
Joseph was in control because he had the highest position in Egypt. He took orders from no one except the Pharaoh.
With a snap of Joseph’s fingers, his brothers would be dead.
Joseph could order the guards to bind their hands and feet and show them what an Egyptian dungeon was like.
But Joseph did not do any of this.
Why?
Vengeance was in Joseph’s power, but he understood that the power of revenge is toxic.
I know. I have tasted it. Have you? The fleeting pleasure of revenge is not worth it. The aftereffect is so bitter.
Rather than get even, Joseph revealed his identity to them.
Then he had his family brought to Egypt, granted them safety and provided them a place to live.
Vengeance belongs to God. If it belongs to God, then it is not mine.
I searched the Scripture and could not find the command “get even with those who hurt you.”
No one could ever find it because God never commanded it.
Instead, God said, “Vengeance is mine. I will repay” (Hebrews 10:30).
“Do not say ‘I will pay you back for the wrong you did. Wait for the Lord, He will make things right.” (Proverbs 20:22).
Judgement is God’s job. To assume otherwise is to assume that God can’t do it, and such an assumption would be irreverent.
To forgive then, is to show reverence to God.
When I forgive you, I am saying “God is fair and He will do what is right.”
When I went back to work on the Monday after my demotion, I turned a new page of my life.
I decided to follow Joseph’s example. I resolved to wait for the Lord and believed that God would someday make things right.
I resolved to work with the cards in my hand.
As the teachers’ union prepared to fight my demotion in court, I told them not to proceed.
The union had already contacted the union’s lawyer, who was waiting for an order from me to proceed.
To add insult to the injury…
“Lany, the new counselor will be in charge of the junior and senior classes. You will have the freshmen and sophomores,” the principal told me, peeking in my office doorway.
I did not understand why he did not enter the office, sit down and discuss the issues civilly.
I felt something fishy was going on.
“Thank you for at least telling me,” I replied in a peaceful voice.
The situation did not bother me anymore because I knew God would take care of it.
And God did.
A few years later, I was restored to the chairman’s position. My tenure at London High School lasted 35 years without interruption, which made me one of its longest-serving employees.
I believe that God had orchestrated a situation for me to last 35 years at London High School.
I believe that it was in His plan that the position of Directorship of the Missions Office at the Diocese of Columbus to become vacant on time I retired from London.
Praise the Lord!