Author: clfuu

We call something “screwed up” when it’s broken, but really screws are a means of putting things back together, or assembling things for the first time.

When have you screwed something up by fixing it—or fixed something by screwing it up?

“Nature repairs her ravages, but not all. The uptorn trees are not rooted again; the parted hills are left scarred; if there is a new growth, the trees are not the same as the old, and the hills underneath their green vesture bear the marks of the past rending. To the eyes that have dwelt on the past, there is no thorough repair.”
― George Eliot

What from your past has never been repaired?

The point of a mortar and pestle is to destroy things—to grind them to tiny bits. That’s not what we generally thing of as a good thing, but spices, for instance, release their scent and flavor most readily when they are smashed to smithereens.

When have you found that what you thought was destruction released something new?

“Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.”
― Chimamanda Adichie

What story has helped to heal you?

We tend to think of restoration as something that happens to surfaces, as when you sand and varnish a scratched or stained table top. But sometimes the work of restoration requires that we go deeper to locate where damage has been done and where healing can occur.

How have you found healing through going deep?