I have no real problem with releasing Harris. It's sad in that particular way that releasing a long-time veteran is always sad. But unless you're willing to do a Jim Brown or Barry Sanders, no one gets to choose when he leaves the team.
But that said, it definitely sounds like the Packers could have handled things better. The fact that "it is time" doesn't change the fact that how you terminate should matter to you.
I look at the quotes from McCarthy, and Harris describing what Thompson/McCarthy did/didn't do, and I see the kind of manager/boss that drives me nuts. The person who treats people as machines in an industrial process.
If Harris has to go to Thompson's box and confront him before Thompson admits what's happening, what does that say about how Thompson and McCarthy view their employees?
If you're going to be a manager, at some point you're going to have to let people go. That's part of your job. But how you approach that letting go reveals something about you as a person.
If Vandermause has the facts right here, IMO the manner of this release does not reflect very well on Thompson/McCarthy.
Sentimentality is not needed. But neither is treating a long-time valuable employee like a worn-out machine.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)