My Brilliant Brother

My brother is probably the most brilliant person I know--besides my husband. He is truly gifted. My mother expected great things of him--for him to solve broken economic models and invent perpetual motion machines. I am sure it was a lot of pressure. But in the end, he is just one cool dude.
He has traveled the world, and renounced America as his home. His soul is happier in other places. For now he is in Singapore, with his wife and his two beautiful daughters. My neices!
He works for an Australian bank and makes mega-million dollar finance deals with foreign governments for infrastructure projects. It is impressive and I am not sure I understand more than the sketchiest details. But he has worked long, and very very hard to get where he is now. He has given his company most of his life force.
On Thanksgiving day his company had a round of lay-offs. Although, unlike American banks, his company is not losing money, but rather making less of a profit, they laid off employees across the company, including 25% of his office. He lost two members of his team in the morning, and worked on, feeling slightly ill from some sickness he was fighting off. At 4:30 he was called in and given THE letter. He was out.
He had done the biggest deal of his career a month before. He was due for a huge bonus and a promotion. And I know he worked harder than most people there.
I feel rage. They cannot lay off my brilliant brother.
Now he has two weeks to evacuate the country, and fight for a piece of the bonus that he is owed (did they fire him just to get his bonus? I try not to think that) He is being strong, incredibly strong, as is his wife. He says he is relieved.
But what kind of a world do we live in where talents like his are not appreciated?
But I also wonder: Are we meant to be shaken up at 40?
It is such a turning point. No matter where you are it makes you stop and take stock. I left my job two months before my 40th birthday. Jonathan turned his career around. Ian will turn 40 in a month.
Maybe it is a gift to him. To give him his life back for the second half. To lead him to a job, a career that will make him happy AND really satisfy his soul. I hope.