The Torture of the Thousand Cuts In the old days, way back when...there was a torture of the thousand cuts.  Not death quickly but over the figurative 1000 cuts from a blade, eventually death comes.  Sounds bad right?  I think so.  Well, the Torture of a Thousand Cuts can be inflicted several ways.  In modern terms it could be an offering of something that a person wants, that is desirable but when investigated or accepted they find out that there is more than meets the eye.   No matter if it is done in malice or if just a misplaced "I ought to have known", it will still have the same effect.  The effect is mental, psychological and physical.  The situation I am referring to is the following: Church backstabbs the organist and fires him. Church offers a party/event, Recognition for years of service ( A letter or certificate) Offers an amount of money as an honorarium. Agrees for him to be an "Emeritus" organist.  (This means someone who has retired from a profession or partially retired, but who still functions in said profession.  An honorary title.) Now the church stipulates that he stays for 60 to 120 days to find a new organist. (FACT) Keep in mind that an initial stab in the back is not a very good start toward any type of future association, regardless of the perks or conditions that might be considered as desirable. The church attached  this stipulation to the whole thing and guess what results?: If the organist has any self esteem and personal honour, he would decline the whole show and walk out of the door. In this case the church considers that if the organist is summarily leaving (has left), then the organist is guilty somehow in attempting to interfere with their worship service! Why would a church do this?  Give me some answers! I don't have any.  What is their thinking process? This is an example of inflicting mental anguish (regardless if one was or was not aware of the ramifications) and a host of mental health clinical problems that could develop, involving stress, lack of sleep, inability to work, changes in psychology and numerous other conditions. This is the Torture of The Thousand Cuts in the modern world. This situation intercepts the standard fight or flight response by human beings.  The result is stress. I am totally amazed at this mixture of conflicting elements.  What a tangled web. I refused to participate in any of it. What do you think of that?