Someone close to me made an announcement the other day: “I’ve been retrenched”. There is something about this word that gets to me. Root word: trench. Like trench warfare, World War I. Fighting in the trenches, all that mud, dirty water, rats, gangrene. And to be “re-trenched” sounds like you have to go through with it all over again. Nobody ever said work is easy. At times, you really are waging a war.
The word retrenched by simple Google definition means:
reduce costs or spending in response to economic difficulty.
reduce or diminish (something) in extent or quantity.
Webster says:
to cut out; excise
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retrench)l
In contrast, let’s look at the word retired:
withdrawn from one’s position or occupation: having concluded one’s working or professional career
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retired)
Retired is dignified; the next step in a natural life-course trajectory.
Retrenched is bloody. And lacking.
This is like being slammed with “To Be Continued…” at the end of your favourite show. And then missing next week’s episode for some legitimate reason (ex. cooking, cleaning, ZOOM, being stuck in a COVID-19 queue etc.).
225 million people were retrenched in 2020, all left hanging. (https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/225-million-jobs-were-lost-worldwide-in-2020-thanks-to-the-pandemic-report-finds-1.5281152). What next?
It hurts to hear the word retrenched. Like you were cut out of the company. Like you were excised from your old way of life. If we tried to reword it in any other way, for instance, “laid off”, “furloughed”, I doubt one would feel any better about the situation created for them by COVID-19.
We need to dig ourselves out of this hole. We need to rise out of the trenches.
On March 3, 2021, the Federal Government announced that the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) will be extended to June 2021 (https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2021/03/03/chrystia-freeland-extends-emergency-rent-and-wage-subsidies-for-business-with-15-billion-boost.html). This is a welcome respite for small business owners. But to win this war, we need long-term solutions. Rebuild local businesses. Offer greater job security. Give foreign countries a solid reason for wanting to do business with Canada.
The next time someone close to me makes an announcement, I do not wish to hear the word retrenched.
Revived. I have been revived.
