It is the practice of repairing valued if not valuable objects with precious metals. It's also known as Kintsugi. It preserves the functionality and immeasurably enhances the beauty and ultimately the value of the repaired object. It has become the symbol of philosophies that, if understood, make my banal thoughts inadequate at best.
Stumbling on this concept made me think of people I've known all my life and people I've known all of their lives. We all have known people who, after some shaking misfortune, have been discarded, sometimes by even themselves, like so much broken crockery. A tragedy and a failure of faith. A failure of faith in themselves and others. Failure of belief in a future.
We've also seen victories if not triumphs of faith in individuals both great and small. Witnessing the damage done by mere circumstance or even malice can break our own hearts. Witnessing the precious repair can also repair and advance our own hearts. In a large way that can become the basis of faith and we see it all around us day after day.
I'm reminded of the story of a little girl with two apples. Her mother asked if she could have one. The little girl bit into one and then, immediately, the other. In that moment the mother's faith collapsed in herself and in her daughter. The mother's faith collapsed in all she had tried to do. Then the little girl held out an apple and said, " Take this one, it's sweeter." In an instant, the mother's humble bowl was repaired and made more precious than imaginable.
Then I saw this example of persistence meeting resistance. Someone planted a tree. Fifty or so years later, someone cut down that tree. Then ten or so years later, someone cut down the volunteer offshoots from the stump. Somehow the two photographic images became related in my mind. The sap and sinew of all life. Regrowth, renewal and restoration. I'll be by in the spring just to see that long story continue to work itself out. Repair can be an instant, a season or a lifetime.
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