Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Fixing Things

Had an amazing cup of coffee this evening.


Oh, it didn't taste any more amazing than any other cup of coffee any other time. What made it amazing is that it came out of a coffee maker that was broken this morning.

Early this morning, before sunrise, I found this coffee maker wouldn't work, had no idea why, and simply made other plans. Told my wife about it as I left for the day, and, honestly, forgot all about it.

This evening, I saw my wife do something I never would have tried to do:  She took that machine apart, washed out all the pieces, ran water through it, and somehow, I have no clue how, restored it to working order.

I mean, seriously.

It works again, like it did before.

And I made a cup of coffee that smelled and tasted just like it was supposed to, just like it always had before whatever went wrong, went wrong.

I would have simply thrown the machine away and bought a new one.

Probably wouldn't have thought much about it.

And I don't think that is a judgment on me in any way, though it makes me think maybe we can tell something about a person by what they are willing to try to fix, to repair, to save. What they still see potential in, what they believe is worth the effort to take apart, run water through, and put back together again. What they're willing to go to that kind of effort to make work again like it's supposed to. And, what they're not willing to try to fix.

Is there a point of no repair with some broken things?

Am I sometimes too quick to assume we're past that point?

Perhaps not just with things, but with people?

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