B is for Broken to Brave and Beautiful

MAY 30, 2025

Like many others, I crave a life of security, predictability, safety. A life with adventures but also with steady ground beneath my feet. There have been times, however, when my ground has shaken mightily, when things were clearly broken. Those were moments in which I felt mired in confusion and chaos and darkness.

When I was a very young child, I was diagnosed with an illness that persisted until about age 12. What my little child mind took away from this experience was a sense of being broken, defective, not quite right. There were light and happy times during those years - many - but I always felt a shadow, a darkness in the background, that stayed with me for a time even beyond the end of the illness.

Most of us have experienced times of darkness in our lives, a sense of things being not right or broken - a loss, betrayal, injustice, rejection. Often we internalize these darknesses, thinking that there is something wrong with us that caused the brokenness. Other times we are able to point to an event, a system, even a person outside of us who held much of the responsibility for the situation. In either case - brokenness and shadows were part of our lives for awhile.

I know this sounds trite, but this has been my truth. On the other side of the brokenness - often even in the midst of it - there has always been some redeeming light. From my illness grew compassion for people, for children in particular, who are suffering. From losses - grief, yes, but also gratitude for what was there before the loss and for what remains - memories, lessons learned. A big betrayal helped me to develop a greater sense of who I am and to grow a spine. And again to have compassion for those in similar circumstances.

While some pain and darkness linger, through the light on the other side I have been able to feel increased competence and to find some action, some way of being that aims to send healing out into the world.

It seems to me that our nation is in dark times - with chaos, confusion, cruelty, injustices, and losses reigning - indeed, raining down on us daily. As humans, we are all imperfect and a little bit broken in that sense. But what is happening now is brokenness perpetrated by forces outside of our individual selves, negatively affecting millions of people in our nation and across the globe. This brokenness is shaking the foundations of our daily lives, threatening our most basic human needs, per Abraham Maslow - basic physiological needs (air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, and more), and basic safety needs (security of body, employment, resources, health, and more).

It has become very difficult for many people to survive, much less thrive. For some, just getting through a day takes an enormous amount of courage.

What light can we expect in the midst of or on the other side of these dark times? What light can we move toward, work for? Dare we imagine wonderful times ahead?

I learned of Rob Hopkins several years ago when I first began to explore ideas about sustainability. He was one of the founders of the Transition Network, through which communities learned to work locally to meet community needs. A couple of years ago, he wrote a book that has really challenged me - "From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want."

When your feet are on the ground in the present, as they must be, it is sometimes hard to simultaneously imagine and work toward a different better future. But most of us have been able to do this in some arena - to think of things to do today that may lead to a better job, more fulfilling relationships, a life with more adventures.

Can we do this collectively, today, to help us create and walk toward a communal future with more justice, a green and clean environment, better housing and jobs and education and health care, less poverty, greater personal autonomy, and more?

Many of us are courageously taking steps to resist and push back against injustices now, through rallies and protests, calls and post cards to representatives, helping marginalized people in the community whose safety is at risk. These are steps toward a brighter future.

And I am challenging myself to do this, while I do that: to fully imagine what that future could look like - the colors and sounds and smells, the sights, the material features of homes and transportation and schools and hospitals, with laughter and hope and senses of rightness and trust and security - to imagine in great detail with an open heart what we can ultimately work toward...

... to heal our brokenness.

I am reminded of "nurse logs" - those dead and broken down trees that become fertile sites for new life.

Photo: "New Life from Brokenness"

Bird Park, Mt. Lebanon May 2025