All the King's Horses

"I'm a bit cracked," he said. "I'm broken. Got anything that'll glue me back together?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." She replied. "I've patched together guys in worse shape than you."

"You're sweet."

"I'm sincere."
And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.
~Ingrid Michaelson, Breakable

It matters not how strong any of us may be. At some point in our lives, and likely at several points in our lives, we are all hobbled by something. Events happen that we can't foresee, people we care about hurt us, and the spinning globe we've got such a foothold on changes course on its axis. We get sad, we get angry, we rant, we weep, we scream, we rage - we crack. We fall apart, and then we can't believe we are weak enough to fall apart. Often, it does take someone outside of ourselves to help pick up the pieces and glue us back together again.
One person can have a profound effect on another person's life.
Two people... well, two people together can work miracles.
~Northern Exposure

Love is a glue that comes in many forms. Unconditional love is an epoxy. I've found, in my youngish, oft shattered life, that it's the only thing that can rebuild a broken spirit. Sometimes it comes from within ourselves; it seeps out when we reach out to care for someone else. Sometimes it sneaks in quietly and mends without our knowledge, until one day, we realize that which was broken inside us has bonded together again. Occasionally, we'll see it in action - we may even question the validity of the goop being slathered on, we may be somewhat startled to watch it solidify into a glaze that is nearly seamless. We'll even fight against it, largely (I believe) because we don't want to believe that we need anything.

All you need is love. Love is all you need.
~John Lennon

Even so, we are not unbreakable. Not ever. Mend a piece of fine china together - if you do it well, you won't even see the crack. It'll look as good as new. Now toss the mended piece on the floor. It'll break again. That's the fear in this. Healing is painful. Maybe ol' Humpty refused help, "Don't put me back together again, because that just sets me up to be broken once more." So it does. C'est la vie.

It's easy to want to build walls. It's even necessary to give ourselves some measure of protection; it's instinctive, after all, to want to guard against being hurt. The problem with building walls, is that they don't allow anything to come through or go out, and there's still a busted up figure on the other side. New territory is scary, but no one ever conquered the land by staying inside the castle. Sometimes being out on a limb is the safest place you can be. And walls crumble - they always do.


Now open your arms
And pick up your head
Open your eyes
So you can see
What happens next
You won’t believe
Just how good it can get
~The Wallflowers, How Good It Can Get