The difference between discarding a broken object and repairing it is that repair requires a particular quality of engagement — undisturbed, inviting, open. Repair calls for approaching the object with an attentiveness some would call friendly. With generosity and interest, friendliness develops into familiarity (family), then intimacy, and by then, the relationship is transformed, is life-affirming.

Discarding is separation. Discarding generally involves not seeing, not recognizing what’s there, no engagement. Discarding something that is seen comes from a stance some would describe as aggressive. Even violent.

In discarding there’s disregard. The object is “unworthy of regard or notice.” [Note 1]

In repairing there’s a quality to the regard some would call love.

At the heart of The Culture of Repair Project is an aspiration to cultivate an ethos of life-affirming care through repairing broken objects.

Repairing a broken object is hope embodied. It begins with turning to the object, and into it, with an attitude of expectancy, openness and goodwill, with a sense of possibility, with love.

This is the model I want for how I live my life.

Note 1: Disregard — “treat as unworthy of regard or notice,” 1640’s, from dis + regard.
From Online Eymology Dictionary.