I got to thinking about all the people who have lost their jobs and are not working. In a sense, suffering a stroke is something like that. Superficially, the inactivity of not having a destination each day and being clearly able to mark one's progress by counting up money earned shows a world of difference
Having had a stroke puts you in a different place from all those other folks who are not impaired. In a sense, losing one's job deprives the jobless of his or her identity. I used to be a specific person with a unique history that made me unlike other toilers. Now I am not like any of those who work and spend my time trying to overcome the damage done in that split-second of time. Unlike the many who today have been harmed by forces unseen, unthought of and which are as vicious as a debilitating stroke - whether organic or economic, the result is similar, but not very much alike.
The jobless can be grouped together with the unlucky homeowners who find one day that they are dispossessed. Very much like having had a stroke - but the damage is done to things rather than to one's bodies and abilities. To lose anything that defines you is like having your identity stolen -you have been robbed and you have no recourse. The attack on your individuality came out of the blue. No matter if all the King's horses or all the king's Men try to put this country and you back together again - it hasn't happened - yet