During my four years in Brunswick, I became involved in the community through the local senior center, providing IT support, and participating in the writing group. My weeks were filled with meeting new people who needed computer help, writing weekly essays, trivia nights at several locations in Brunswick, regular bike rides around the community, and interesting outings with local friends. Life was good until my landlord asked for a nearly 40% increase in the rent on my small one-bedroom apartment.
His request changed everything for me. I argued that as an elderly person on a fixed income, with high healthcare costs and having to use a substantial portion of my income to visit my children abroad, his request seemed unreasonable and unethical. He looked at me with embarrassed but determined eyes and said, “Business is business.” » I stood outside my door in disbelief as the news trickled in. I didn’t know where to go or how to organize a move with only a month’s notice.
“Business is business,” I kept thinking as I desperately considered the options for moving out of my home. It finally became clear to me that I would have to make a radical change at age 76, having settled into a comfortable and rewarding life in Brunswick. I managed to organize my personal belongings and household furniture in the span of two weeks with a COVID crisis in between, and then chose moving into a shared apartment in Massachusetts from the options I had.
As I traveled over the next two months, I continued to think about the concept of “business is business.” I consoled myself with the thought that the owner’s family concerns, financial obligations, and the need to do what other Brunswick landowners had done were enough for him to fire me.
But I still wondered if retiring and then turning the small apartment into a Vrbo rental house was the right thing to do. I wonder if the world around us is evolving to the point where human relationships and sense of morality are subordinated to profits and personal gains.
I hope that one day we can revisit the concept of “business is business” from a human perspective. In these uncertain times, we seem to be abandoning what made Maine a special place to live. It’s not the Maine I cherish.
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