Exodus

I just got news that another staff member is leaving our department at the university, taking the tally to five. My other PhD colleagues are more discomfited by the news than I am. I suppose that is because I witnessed the last company I worked for bleed people over two years. After a point, me and colleagues got used to the uncertainty and low morale, and adjusted by not doing more than the barest minimum work that was required. I was paid well and I had no long-term ambitions in that line of work so I was not very bothered. Organizations go through upswings and downswings, and it is no use getting overly enthusiastic or dejected as the case may be. When an organization is in a slump, only two things can happen. Either it can hit the bottom and recover or it can go bust. A few months ago, my former organization closed the news bureau that I had been a part of, seven long years after it initially started downsizing.
I am quite keen on joining my department as a full-time staff but I realize that we live in times of extreme uncertainty. It is okay to have plans but not advisable to cling to them come what may. I realize that the university, or actually the whole country, might look very different by the time I finish my PhD. What will be will be, the future is not ours to see. Timeless words of wisdom...