There is something so incredibly heart-warming about sharing a knowing smile with someone who in a short moment knew your heart.
I had the luxury of meeting this person (whom I will probably never meet again) some time ago and we basically had a 40-minute (first) conversation without realising it. In that forty minutes, I learnt of family, relationships, career, ideologies and belief systems and there was just something about this person where we very effortlessly had an instant connection like long-time friends.
Long story short, this much-older person gave me invaluable advice that basically put everything I have ever considered, in perspective.
So comes the idea of brokenness.
I always thought that everyone suffers from varying degrees of brokenness. We're all broken in multiple ways - always trying to get back up to pick up the pieces of broken china on a daily basis. For some, our upbringing and the ways our parents have shaped us as a child caused us to forget some parts of ourselves, parts that we were originally born with - empathy, warmth, how to love others etc. For others, some are cynical or especially lacking trust in the people they care about, only because they were once tricked or cheated into believing a decently-complicated web of lies. Everyone has a chip on their shoulder. Everyone thinks they're irreparable.
We hate this brokenness only because it reminds us how very imperfect we are.
Fortunately, it is people with the same kind of brokenness that relate and connect with each other. Our tea cups are warmed by each other's hands, our confessions are nestled safely within our friendships and our eyes reflect the same kind of knowing understanding not found anywhere else.
It's priceless. It's human. It brings out the best parts in us.
Brokenness brings people together.
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