Anyway, during that time, people were anxious on what to email as their farewell to colleagues and contacts from outside. Most want the right amount of drama mixed with reminiscing and thank yous to the people who they want to say thanks to. Others add some last snide remarks to bosses that they hate (Or an alternative: I know of a number that just plain skipped the name of their boss in the long roster of thank yous).
I came across this brilliant, short, sweet farewell memo:
Dear colleagues, dear friends:
My feelings at this perplexed moment are too strong for farewells. I will miss you terribly, but I can be grateful to have had your companionship for part of my journey through the years. Whatever our individual roles at The New Yorker, whether on the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth floor, we have built something quite wonderful together. Love has been the controlling emotion, and love is the essential word. We have done our work with honesty and love. The New Yorker, as a reader once said, has been the gentlest of magazines. Perhaps it has also been the greatest, but that matters far less. What matters most is that you and I, working together, taking strength from the inspiration of our first editor, Harold Ross, gave us, have tried constantly to find and say what is true. I must speak of love once more. I love all of you, and will love you as long as I live.
William Shawn.If Ive seen this letter during the time that I myself had to leave, I might have been inspired to send one farewell of my own. Some letter that I should have printed and kept for posterity.
Each letter should be special, since one should try everything not to leave a company in less than 3 years, after all. Writing too many farewell letters in your life surely means something negative (for the person writing).
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