Shall The Day of Parting Be The Day of Gathering?
When Kahlil Gibran missed the ‘y’

It was my last week at office. I was, as they say, ‘moving on to greener pastures.’ They just forgot I was strictly non-vegetarian.
Monday, 11 am.
I called over my admin and asked him to compose the goodbye email. I narrated the basic content and quoted Kahlil Gibran at the end.
I made sure he got the entire quote in the email.
Asking him to send the email to the entire company, I went for a quick coffee.
11:10.
I came back to see my inbox flooded with emails from enthusiastic youngsters and from people in mid-life-crisis-who-are-always-looking-for-some-entertainment along with suggestions of places to party.
Samples of what I got as replies are below:
To:Company
22-June-2017
Subject:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Goodbye
Hey, where’s the party man? You got to tell the place. You got to tell the date!
—
To:Company
22-June-2017
Subject:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Goodbye
Hey, shall I get some weed? Oh, did I say weed?!
—
To:Company
22-June-2017
Subject:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Goodbye
Can we get guests? I’m getting guests.
—
To:Company
22-June-2017
Subject:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Goodbye
I can offer you my place for an after-party party. Anyday, anytime! Keys under the neighbor’s doormat.
—
To:Company
22-June-2017
Subject:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Goodbye
We are the nodders. We are nodding for the parrrrtyyy!
—
I almost died reading all the replies.
12:00 pm.
Finally, one from the HR addressed specifically to me:
To:Company
22-June-2017
Subject:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Goodbye
Please host your goodbye party anywhere outside the office. Note that the company email is for official use only, and not for party-planning.
This thread is closed for now. Anymore emails on this one, and your badge will stop working from today.
What party? What party? I screamed! What party?!
I checked the email that went out to the entire company from me that morning:
To:Company
22-June-2017
Subject: Goodbye
Hi Everyone,
It is with a heavy heart that I write this email. This is my last week here and I’ve decided to move on. I must tell you that the last three years have been immensely wonderful, and I have learned a lot from each one of you that I’ve interacted with.
I wanted to thank all of you for the time I’ve spent here. Lastly, I just wanted to quote Kahlil Gibran and say ‘‘Shall the day of partying be the day of gathering?’
Thanks!
My signature.
I banged my fist so hard that the tiny cactus toppled from the desk.
The actual quote from Kahlil Gibran said: “Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?”
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