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Kintsugi The Art of Repairing the Broken
AW AMONG WORLDS
FROM THE DIRECTOR
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MICHAEL POLLOCK
The Art of Repairing the Broken – Michael Pollock, Executive Director of Interaction International
We are, all of us, broken. There is simply no way to walk this journey as human beings and not get dinged, scratched, cracked, dented, and sometimes, shattered. In my 52 trips
around the sun I have come to understand “healing” as an ongoing process, simply because the battering of life is a constant. Even sleep has been shown to be a healing process from the ravages of the day.
“TCKs generally experience more losses before the age of eighteen than most other people experience in their lifetime,” was a quote I grew up hearing from my father, Dave. My own story of losses bears out the truth that repair and healing are possible, and the new ‘vessel’ can be beautiful.
When I left the US for Kenya at age eight it did not feel like a breaking—more like the start of a great adventure. However, when our planned six years shrank to three, and ran out, my twelve-year-old self felt smashed. My close friends (local and international), my classmates, teachers, caring adults—I lost them all. The foods I loved—mandazis, irio, getheri, chapatti, nyama choma, chai, and samosa—would be replaced. I would never climb the cedars,
explore the caves, chase game riding in the old LandRover, or play on the white sands of Diani Beach again. We even gave away our dog! In my early thirties there was a shattering time stemming from the death of my beloved older brother, Nate, my name-sake grandfather, and my dad in the short span of three years. There seemed to be shards of me everywhere.
What then, brings healing and even beauty to the broken places of our lives? For me as a child there was the connection of family; a crisis in faith that led me to believe deeply that a caring God existed; the reforming of relationships in our new home in Vermont; and the realization over the years that my Kenya-life was not all gone, just changed. New eyes for the rearranged and restored pieces prepared me to say “yes” to taking our family to China on an adventure of our own. That nine-year journey held great draughts of joy, relationships, and life.
The “trio-of-loss” years was also the period we left the US for China. The golden repairs took place in the deep love of my life-partner—my wife, Kristen; the presence of my three children; a renewed encounter with the present and living Christ; the powerful impact of the two caring communities that sent us out and received us in. Along the way I have benefitted greatly from wise guides: counselors, spiritual directors, mentors, and therapists who have affirmed my work towards wholeness. I accept that after those losses I will never be the same. Full stop. AND also I am able to embrace an ongoing process and marvel at the unique beauty created in the repairing process.
Ultimately, I am grateful, even for the pain. Here at Interaction we hold firmly to hope in healing and to the belief that brokenness can be a pathway to beauty. #KintsugiLife
