Broken Seashells

(See previous post, "Uniformity and Homogeneity", then know I took the pen to paper, and wrote this...)

I am at the beach writing today - by myself.  I must have randomly picked the right one, because this beach is nearly empty.  The waves are rolling in at just the right height and rhythm to be soothing, which is an awesome thing!

I spent the first hour walking the beach, letting the cold water wash over my feet while I picked up seashells; most of them were broken. "Why would I pick up broken shells," I wondered.  At first, I thought it was to spite my mother, after her many years of telling me to put them down. "We are not taking home a bag of broken shells!" she would insist.

But then a thought occurred to me, as they almost always do.  Aren't we all broken in some way?  Isn't everyone dealing with something that left, or leaves, us hurting just a bit?  I think it's safe to say the answer is yes.  This is not to say we are all laying in a heap on the bed crying ourselves to sleep, but maybe we are.  Perhaps, it just creeps up on us when we least expect it.  Maybe we do expect it but, don't know how, or want, to stop it.

Or, perhaps, while it broke us at the time, we have found a way to heal ourselves, leaving it as a mere memory.  Seashells are not this lucky; once it is broken, the damage is done, and there is no going back.  Unlike the shells, we have the power to heal ourselves, and to help other heal themselves.  Leaving the broken shells on the beach would have just left them to sit there until they broke to a point of no repair.  Leaving broken people will do the same.

I suspect this is the point where you expect me to tell you how to go about healing yourself.  I can't.  Healing has to come from within.  Maybe it's deciding to give it time, or to do something to heal yourself.  It could even mean calling on others for help, but in the end it is still up to us to choose to recover.  Either way, its up to the individual to decide for themselves, then do it.  I will offer one disclaimer, however.  It is always best to deal with brokenness in healthy ways, not with things like alcohol, drugs, promiscuous sex, self-injury, or other self-destructive behaviors.

So, even though my shells are damaged, some more than others, they still have beauty and value left in them. When I get home, I'm going to take my beautiful broken shells, carefully wash them off, and look for their beauty.  Then, I'm going to put them together. My goal is to find a way to make them beautiful again, both together with the other broken shells, and each on its own.