Broken is Beautiful

There was this unforgettable Twilight Zone episode (one of my all-time favorites) about this old woman who had a museum in her home. She was surrounded by robots who did the housework and helped her with chores. One of her robots was broken, and a young man who visited kept offering to fix him for her and she kept politely refusing.

Sprinkled around her home were these fantastic sculptures, and she opened her home up as a museum for others to enjoy. Then one day, this ambitious young man came into her house and “fixed” her defective robot without her permission while she was out. When she found out, she broke down and screamed at him that he had ruined everything because that broken robot was the thing making the beautiful artwork. She was heartbroken because now the robot was just like all the rest, dull, uninteresting, and incapable of greatness. I loved the lesson in that, and I have never forgotten how it felt to watch it.

We Are all Broken in Some Way

I have always held fast to the idea that we are all broken in some way, and our brokenness makes us unique and beautiful. It’s what makes life interesting. Many of us, myself included spend a lifetime trying to “fix” ourselves, but all that focus on fixing may be counterproductive. Instead, perhaps we should be embracing who we really are and allow these differences in ourselves to create the beauty we were meant to create. If we were all identical, there would be no art, no music, and no sense of individuality. Some of the younger generations are obsessed with being all the same. I would never want to live like that. I am very far off from normal, and I am more than okay with that.

Broken is Just Another Word for Growth

Our experiences, our pain, our suffering is what makes us stronger and more resilient. It teaches us who we really want to be and helps us forge a path to the truth. A gentler, kinder way of looking at the parts of ourselves that we call “broken” would be individuality, personality, and identity. We wear our experiences as expressions of our minds and bodies. Calling ourselves broken puts a negative slant on it, and I think that may be off base. Similar to the broken robot, we can’t express ourselves without a signature. Just like fingerprints, we are all unique in exciting and fun ways. We would never judge the varieties in nature as broken. Every leaf, every flower is different and beautiful in its uniqueness. Why then do we judge differences as broken in people?

I Want to Stay Beautifully Broken

It may be time to reevaluate how we see our imperfect selves and change the story. What makes me broken is also what makes me lovable and vulnerable and has also made me strong. I don’t want to be like everyone else; I want to be me with all my broken, beautiful aspects. In fact, I cannot be anyone else, so why not love all of me, even the broken pieces. I vow to erase the word “broken” from my vocabulary when I talk about my eccentric oddities and instead value and cherish them as me, being me.