Yellow Lamp

When I was a kid my parents had this pair of giant yellow lamps. Some how, some way and at some point one of them had broken. I am sure this happen way before I was able to even comprehend that they indeed were lamps and what the color yellow was. As I recall looking at the broken lamp I could see that someone had tried to repair it. There were no visible globs of glue. Yet there were small and large cracks in the entire lamp on one side. There were chips of white where spots of yellow once were. It had been broken for sure. Perhaps accidently dropped at some point but indeed broken. Just because the lamp was broken did not mean it no longer worked. You were able to still turn the switch and the lamp would come on and have the warmest glow. You could turn it off and it would still be standing there in the daylight. It had’nt crumbled into a million pieces of ruined lamp. It still was good and it still did the job it was suppose to do.

The thing is someone loved that lamp enough to take time with it and glue it back together. It took time and I am sure it took a steady hand and patience. Sadly there were pieces missing but they were very small. Yes there were cracks, It was held together. It was still going to be ok and it was still going to do what it needed to do after it had some one to repair it. The lamp was not going to be able to fix itself. I would need the help of someone with hands to help and someone who cared enough to not toss it into the garbage because it was broken. After all a few broken pieces did not mean it was totally useless.

When I would toss this lamp as a kid at times I would get cut from the ceramic cracks in it or on a piece that had chipped off. I learned to be careful with this broken lamp because as much as I wanted to investigate it, it had defenses now and its not like it wanted to hurt me. It was just what happens when something gets broken it has jagged edges.

When dealing with other Human beings remember that we all have been broken at some point. We all have pieces that are jagged and we all need someone who cares enough to help put us back together and be patient with us. That is the loving thing to do.

Trauma, grief and mental health issues are all reasons why we break. You turn yourself to the world so that they all can not see the cracks and missing pieces. So that you look like you are good as new and they recognize that you are still able to function by turn on and off. Not every one can see that you have been repaired with glue or that you are hanging on by a thread or that you have even been shattered to pieces.