The Loudest Cries Are the Ones You Don’t Hear

Greeting Hivers! I am Iris, from East Java, Indonesia. I am a working mom and usually my posts are my daily journal of me traveling from city to city due to my job. But today, I heard a very sad story and I want to make a tribute for that but so confused where to write until I found this community. Hopefully, we can take a moment to empathize and celebrate the strength of this beautiful lady.

Last Friday, I heard an awful news that one of my friends was being laid off by her company. It was so sudden that she only heard it near her working time done that it is her last day. She worked as a marketing in one of the factory where my company manufacturing our goods and as a buyer representative, we often communicate and work along well and somehow became friend.

No matter what the reason, I didn't think that it was fair to let her know with few minutes notice when she didn't do any fatal mistake. But life must go on, and today he came to the office to handover her pending works, the company laptop and the uniforms. I came to the factory as well, to sort out some urgent matters and to meet her replacement.

Since today was her last day, we met up after work to catch up, say goodbyes and I thought will let her complaint and rant about the company. But, she didn't do that. I imagined that she will cry or angry, but she just smile and animately stories as usual. Her 23 years of dedication gone with a single notice but she just accepted it. Until I worried if she really grasped her situation or just genuinely kind.

And somehow the conversation slowly moved to more personal areas. I told her about my personal matters and issues with my family, and she showed a kind support as usual, the mood was okay, we were still sad, but pretty relaxed. Until I asked whether she will back to her hometown to work with her husband, because she said that she had to stay in this city because of this job while her husband opened a business in her hometown. And suddenly without any precaution or mood shift, she dropped the bomb.

She said that actually she was in the middle of divorcing her husband and it should be finalized this month. I never heard about this, she always said that her family was okay and I almost choked on my drink. Then when the story unfolded, it spiraled fast, become too tragic to talk over a simple meal in a coffee joint.

I didn't too comfortable to share the detail here, but turned out her husband cheated on her with one of her friends and married the side piece, had a little happy family, without formally divorced my friend. The detail will make any women's blood boiled with anger and vengeance. Suddenly I felt that I need stronger drink to swallow this piercing sorrows.

So she held on, years after years, pretending that her life was okay and she was okay. No wonder the sudden news of termination didn't sway her, coz the stroms that often hit her lifeboat was hurricanes. And it was just so sad that we are often required to endure this kind of hardship alone to avoid judgement in society and nosy questions. As if we had to stay pretty and strong, no matter what kind of rain that we just endured.

That's why the silent tears often scream the loudest pain. I believe there are cases like this around us. The silent battle that wrenched our soul without time to fully healed. Just try to hold on, steadily, one step at a time. That's why it is very important to be kind whenever we got a chance because you never know what kind of storm everyone had to weather. This is a very heartbreaking lesson for me too. I hope everyone stay strong on your own battle. Remember, sometimes even on the cloudiest night, you might see the fullmoon.

Thank you for reading my post. Pray for everyone so you can be a winner and survivor on your own battle. See you around Hivers.

-photos are all mine-