Everything Is Broken

Though Fixable

The deterioration of humankind on the planet weighed me down more than usual. The true state of the union got me thinking about the increasing warmongering corporatism and the constant xenophobic politicking. Almost everything I read or heard was a devious proclamation or nationalistic jargon emitted from the mouths of those whose motive was the acquisition of more power.

Indeed we live in dark times where divisiveness, on small and large scales, has become an uncontrolable dominant force worldwide. Like a volcano or earthquake or tornado, the wrath of human self-destructiveness is growing in a relentless surge. Finding the small joys in life has become a strenuous spiritual quest as the dark shadow of discontent foreshadows more trouble.

The defects and damage overwhelmed me — and I pondered the sad state of our dysfunctional world. I recalled the words of Bob Dylan’s song, Everything Is Broken:

Broken lines, broken strings
Broken threads, broken springs
Broken idols, broken heads
People sleeping in broken beds
Ain't no use jiving, ain't no use joking
Everything is broken

Broken bottles, broken plates
Broken switches, broken gates
Broken dishes, broken parts
Streets are filled with broken hearts
Broken words never meant to be spoken
Everything is broken

Seem like every time you stop and turn around
Something else just hit the ground

Broken cutters, broken saws
Broken buckles, broken laws
Broken bodies, broken bones
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you're choking
Everything is broken

Every time you leave and go off someplace
Things fall to pieces in my face

Broken hands on broken ploughs
Broken treaties, broken vows
Broken pipes, broken tools
People bending broken rules
Hound dog howling, bull frog croaking
Everything is broken

While considering this poetic assessment of our troubled times, I recalled a story I had read years ago. In an article about desperate people who took their lives jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, there is an account that has remained with me.

Almost everyone who takes this dramatic leap dies when they hit the water over 200 feet below the roadway. One of the few people who survived described the darkness of his world that drove him to take his own life. Nothing was going well; everything was a painful challenge, impossible to overcome.

Yet in the twenty seconds before hitting the water there was enough time for a few final thoughts. While dropping through the air, he had a revelation. The man who had just leaped to his death recognized that all the things that had weighed on him so heavily were — fixable — except for what he had just done.

A life-changing moment of self-awareness does not need to be initiated by a self-destructive act. We can recognize that the personal challenges we face in our lives are not insurmountable; all of the broken elements are indeed fixable. Much of the suffering we deem painful, quickly pales when the important elements of our existence come to the forefront.

And if individuals recognize how their behavior and approach to living impact the world, there can be a global shift away from hostility.

How we qualify Importance is at the core of our perceptions and judgments.

The 19th-century philosopher-physician, William James, had profound insights on this matter. In the following thoughts, he succinctly captures the essence of human frailty — with some suggested remedies:

~ A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

~ The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.

~ Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.

~ No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one's sentiments may be, if one has not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, one's character may remain entirely unaffected for the better.

~ If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.

Often we feel the consequences of our actions are minimal compared to what seems the unstoppable entropy of humanity toward aggression, destruction, and painful alienation.

However, at the core of conflicts between individuals and nations is the dominance of unfriendliness. Instead of welcoming and comforting strangers, we assume their worst intentions. Rather than attempting to understand foreign cultures, we accentuate the dangers of differences, deeming these a threat.

Contemporary reality is directed by the fear of engaging with the unknown. Divisiveness and war are the direct result of this trend.

This second anecdote about suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge is also revelatory. A person who succeeded in ending their life had left a note, found by investigators. It read:

I’m going to walk to the bridge. If at least one person smiles at me on the way, I will not jump.

A smile from a stranger would have saved his life. The power we hold to affect others and the course of their lives is immense. It may seem that everything is broken, yet the way we relate to strangers — and loved ones — can change the world.

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