A Man of His Word
My Walk, My Witness
by
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Chapter 7
1985 Clinically Depressed
The beginning of 1985 saw my time involved with asking for wage freezes in Milwaukee and Fayetteville. That left Cleveland, the plant where it all began. Even in a depressed economy, our employees were a productive bunch. This was especially true in Cleveland; those employees worked with the oldest equipment but had the best knowledge, work ethic and dedication to get the job done.
The owner’s plan of action for Cleveland was to move the facilities to a more modern plant in Medina. He gave me my marching orders in the fall of 1984 to obtain a ninety-day extension of the current labor agreement to afford him more time to obtain the required financing for such a move. When ninety days came and went, he requested that I seek an additional ninety days. Both requests were achieved.
Lo and behold, just as the second ninety-day period was coming to an end, the owner told me that the company needed a third ninety days. The economy was to blame, he said, and the bankers were dragging their feet on the necessary funding.
Even after viewing the future site of Accurate in Medina, the committee was not unified in granting another ninety-day extension. The business agent pushed the extension, claiming, “Chuck, we are granting this request because of you. You have never led us wrong.
I approached the vice president of finance about these developing conditions and also inquired about what our financial package was going to be for the union negotiations. As I was asking the VP these questions, he got up and closed the door to his office. His comments still ring in my mind. “Do you know that new company car you are driving, that nice salary and fringe benefits of yours? We [officers] will all have them ten years down the road, but those poor bastards out in the shop, they’re f….. This plant will be a ghost town in ninety days.”
Ninety days! I walked out of his office numb. I was numb for weeks.
I now know that I experienced a nervous breakdown and was most likely clinically depressed while I tried to hang on working until the owner returned from Europe. I began to wake up during the night. I cried and trembled in the shower. I could not eat. Then I reflected upon my own family. How could I have led them into this trap?
Michele, Rochelle, Chuckie, and I struggled through each summer day until September 3, 1985. I agreed to be admitted to the hospital. But another fear set in. How were we going to pay for it? We had no income, no insurance. My psychiatrist’s analysis was that I was simply “on strike”.Anyone who accomplished so much in so little a time desired a rest. Some resting place!
After I was released, I had renewed energy and a desire to try to resume my career path. After seven interviews with a firm called RB&W, I was hired with a similar title and more money. I was back, or so I thought. In just a few hours at my desk, I realized that I was not going to be able to do this. I resigned
What kind of God has someone fall so deep, picks them up, and then when all seems well, everything goes to hell again?
Things got so bad that Michele and I were separated, divorce papers were filed, and outside sources were pulling us in different directions.
What an illness. Not only does depression zap you of all energy, it carries a stigma. People understand bankruptcy, divorce, deadbeat daddies and moms, broken bones, but not broken brains and hearts.
As my depression reappeared, I fought those unthinkable, non-Christian, insane thoughts: It’s time to end it all. You gave it that valiant Rambaldo fight, but now face it, admit it. It’s over. Even if you survive this, you’ll be a disgrace to your family. How about making it look like an accident? It’s winter. You could take the car, drive it into that big old tree, and your family would at least have your insurance money and good memories. Believe it or not, I made a choice. I must have sped upon that same scene at least a dozen times one morning. And every time, that little voice in my head said, “What if---? What are you doing? What the hell is the matter with you? What if you don’t die and only get paralyzed?” So, every time, I pulled the wheel away from crashing into that big oak.
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About the Book
A Man of His Word
One Walk, One Witness
Feeling helpless or hopeless about the current job market, your finances, your family situation? Have you had enough of those “self-help” books that promise you everything short of total paradise?
Then, A Man of His Word is the book for you. It will not promise you anything other than the truth. It is an autobiography of one man and his witness to overcoming life’s trials.
Sure, sure you say, just another book about one of those “born again” guys writing his “tall tale”.
Well, for him it has been over a quarter-century since he lost everything; worldly possessions, family, and even his mind.
And in that period of time, God–through His Word and other witnesses, has given the Chuck Rambaldo an inner peace that most of us have heard those Sunday preachers speak about, but never have experienced.
A Man of His Word takes you on a journey from childhood, adulthood, to Christhood. He is offering his walk as a witness to what Jesus meant by “take up thy Cross, and follow Me daily.”
The book depicts a man’s belief before he was thirty-five years of age and reveals what happened in his life after he frantically tapped into that spiritual dimension most of us were either never taught about or simply shrug off as silly.
He shares with the reader some very honest moments in what was a life full of accomplishments. He takes you through his despair, depression, and deliverance, chapter by chapter. Although Chuck proclaims himself to have once been a doubting Thomas, he leaves you with a prescription to aid you in your own life’s journey.
About the Author
Now in his late fifties, Chuck Rambaldo is a happily married father of two adult children and one beautiful granddaughter. He has witnessed many extraordinary moments of both happiness and sadness. His career has been in three different fields; the military, corporate human resources/ labor relations, and business owner.
Chuck is a witness to what God’s grace can do in all of our lives. He had to choose to open his mind, body, and spirit to His Word. His education (M.B.A. from a prestigious Jesuit university) taught him that preparation is ninety percent of the battle. When it came to the business world, he could be considered a whiz kid before age thirty-five. But as for the other world (spiritual), he was not even ten percent prepared for the real spiritual warfare that we all face.
Chuck's generation was educated and trained that proud men have to win. Win at any cost. That’s what the late great Vince Lombardi said. Wrong! And Chuck had to learn the hard way that life is NOT about winning.
As Chuck shares with his readers, "We don’t need to win! We already have victory in Christ Jesus! And at the end of every day and every life, He is the only Man of His Word!"