Living in North Dakota is often like living in a bubble. Things that are affecting the rest of the nation don't seem to affect us and if we are affected, it's rarely to the same degree as others. The recession, for example, is not something by which our state has been drastically affected. Today, however, the recession has shown us that we won't be excluded.
My father, and nearly 500 other employees, learned that they will be without a job by the end of the year. The plant at which they work will be closing and only a few of those jobs will be transferred to the remaining plant in a different part of the state. When I heard the news this morning, I could hardly believe it. My dad has been with this company for over 30 years and to know that he will no longer be there when the calendar reads 2010 is nothing less than shocking.
I feel awful for my dad and the other men and women who received this news today. I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through. All I know is that these people need our thoughts and prayers.
As they said on the news this evening, "The bubble has burst."
