On the third of March (coincidentally on the third anniversary of my father’s passing making my credo now “Forget the Ides, beware the third of March”) I was informed that my employer of 19 1/2 years was eliminating my position and I would be out of a job at the end of the month.

Everyone in my department had been looking over our shoulders for the past three years. The company had been doing quite well. Revenue was increasing every year, even though my department had an expected bad year in 2002. We rebounded the following year and last year we had our best year ever. Indeed, my position and the position of three of my colleagues was eliminated on a Thursday while on the previous Monday we had received our bonuses (the first time we had achieved the maximum available) along with a letter from the CEO praising our contributions. Our problem? We were considered little more than expense items on a ledger.

So after a week licking my wounds, sleeping poorly and fearing the worst, I went back and asked if I could receive outplacement assistance. I had not looked for a job seriously for more than ten years and the employment world had no doubt changed radically during that time. A small amount was granted to me and I prepared to make the most of it, starting this past Monday at a firm in Manhattan with offices throughout the world.

What I have found in this experience is the best of humankind. Among my fellow unemployed workers are former bank vice-presidents, CFO’s of large corporations, and executives in information technology firms making several times my salary. Being unemployed is the great leveler, however, and the generosity of spirit, the offers of help and the camraderie shown from top to bottom and vice versa has been moving. This is the sort of experience that creates bonds and humbles people.

Why? Aside from the obvious economic fact that most of us need to make a living to survive, not to mention the value of employer sponsored health insurance, we define ourselves all too often by what we do for a living. When you have that taken away from you, the natural reaction (whether it makes sense or not) is to feel somewhat diminshed. Think of the last time you met someone for the first time and consider what the first subject that came up was.

We are so much more than our jobs. We are husbands, wives, cousins, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, aunts uncles, friends, parents, thinkers, etc. I was talking with another friend of mine who happens to also be married to a Brazilian. He was telling me recently that one of the aspects of life in Brazil he loves the most is that when he meets people, the first thing they ask him is not “What do you do?”

I certainly agree. While it appears that my time unemployed will be mercifully and blessedly brief (for which I thank God, my lucky stars and practically strangers on the street), I know that whatever I take away from this experience will be transformative. I will be a kinder person. I will be more patient. I will be more compassionate. I will also be of the mind that my life and the aspects of my life that cannot be purchased (e.g. family and a wonderful, supportive wife) mean so much more to me than any job.