As many of you know, I spent over 14 years in radio broadcasting—hosting talk shows, reporting the news, and anchoring newscasts. In 1983, I transitioned into the federal civil service, where I worked until my retirement in 2011.

I’ve written before about the often unfair attacks on the news media (some criticism is certainly warranted), but I can no longer stay silent about the alarming direction of the federal civil service. Massive staffing and budget cuts are underway across government agencies, and the public will soon begin to feel the effects. Unfortunately, it won’t be pleasant.

These changes will hit home when Social Security payments are delayed and processing times slow dramatically. Mass layoffs at the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center could jeopardize early warnings about dangerous weather events. And I can’t even begin to quantify the harm being done at agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—though respected public health experts are sounding the alarm.  These are just a few examples.

I know many people believe the tired narrative that federal employees are lazy or unmotivated. But having spent 14 years in the private sector and 28 years in government, I can say with confidence that I saw more freeloading in the private sector than in the public one. It exists in both worlds, of course—but in my experience, favoritism and coasting are more tolerated in private companies, where being friends with the boss often goes a long way. That kind of behavior is far less common in government settings.

I don’t usually use this space to review books, but I want to recommend one: Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis, best known for Moneyball and The Big Short. In this book, Lewis and his team of writers tell the stories of individual federal workers who have made extraordinary contributions. One developed building designs that saved the lives of mine workers. Another discovered an effective treatment for a rare disease. Yet another tracked cryptocurrency transactions and helped take down child exploitation networks.

The central message of the book is clear: federal workers rarely get the credit they deserve. Most shy away from the spotlight, preferring to acknowledge their colleagues rather than take individual praise.

As we begin to hear about thousands of federal employees being laid off, some will celebrate. I will not. I believe in efficiency—I spent a good part of my government career working to improve it. But there is nothing efficient about indiscriminate firings.

Planes don’t land themselves. Government payments don’t process themselves. Weather alerts don’t issue themselves. Behind each of these tasks are real people doing real, important work.

The work of government matters. It’s unfortunate that only through public hardship will some come to fully appreciate that.