Is 2021 the Year of Kintsugi?
We talk about scars as if they are bad. We speak of them as we speak of the wound that came before. We think of scars as a sign of damage. In reality, scars are beautiful. Scars are the damage — healed. Why do we not praise ourselves for the healing? Why are we more likely to berate ourselves for the fall? Perhaps this is human nature. We want to learn from our mistakes.
The Japanese have a word — Kintsugi. It is the art of repairing broken pottery with gold. More than that, it is the belief that the item repaired has become more beautiful for the breaking.
We break
We shatter
We rebuild
More beautiful
For being
Broken
Fill each crack in your heart with gold. You are more beautiful each time you rise.
Is 2021 the year of Kintsugi? Each of us, in some way, was broken by 2020. We found ourselves isolated. Jobless. Homeless.Without family. Without friends. Neighbor fighting neighbor. Brother fighting brother. We became a world divided. As we look towards a future that has just a glimmer of hope on the horizon, we can’t help but ask, where do we go from here?
Will the world ever be the same again? Can something so broken ever go back to what it was before? The short answer is, no. We will never be the same. The wounds will heal and the scars will remain. A reminder of what we lived through.
Yet, all is not lost. We can repair those wounds with gold. We can create a world that is more beautiful for having been broken.
Photo Credit https://flic.kr/p/2kjKvqa
