TO FIX WHAT IS BROKEN
- Kathy Halamka
- Jul 20
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 21
Personally, each of us has a set of principles that guide our lives. Because I am a child of the 1960's I tend to prefer personal conversations and "handwritten" email instead of texting and social media. I read an hour a day instead of watching a screen.
Yet, I grew up in an era that emphasized the need to acquire things -"keeping up with the Joneses" social pressure to match or exceed the perceived wealth, status, or possessions of neighbors and peers.
Starting in my teens, I asked a different question. How little do I need? How small a carry-on bag will last a week? How much should my backpack weigh for hiking and climbing (less than 10lbs including food and water for non-Arctic conditions). Since we all die with nothing, anything that is acquired is something that will need to be "deaccessioned" eventually.
Where did I get this idea?
In 1967, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of the Little Prince, wrote "Wind, Sand, and Stars", a memoir reflecting on his experiences as an airline pilot in the early 20th century. He writes
"Have you ever looked at a modern airplane? Have you followed from year to year the evolution of its lines? Have you ever thought, not only about the airplane, but about whatever man builds, that all of man's industrial efforts, all his computations and calculations, all the nights spent over working draughts and blueprints, invariably culminate in the production of a thing whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity?"
He summarizes his life philosophy as "In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away"
And that has guided the pattern of my life for decades.
There is another aspect to finding meaning beyond reaching the point that there is no longer anything to take away.
And that is what drives you to get out of bed in the morning.
It's a bit odd to quote Star Trek canon, but one character in Strange New Worlds captured my thinking perfectly.
Lieutenant Hemmer was a male Aenar Starfleet officer who lived during the mid-23rd century. He served as chief engineer aboard the USS Enterprise in 2259.
Hemmer believed that death only came after one had achieved their life's meaning. He considered his purpose in life "to fix what is broken".
For me, there are many aspects to fixing what is broken. It could be a machine, a process, or a relationship. Recently I mentioned to a few friends that when there is nothing left to fix, it will be time for me to go. They pointed out that there will always be something to fix and my life has been a journey of acquiring the skills and experience to fix what is broken on a larger and more complex scale.
Some days, fixing will be manual labor and some days it will be intellectual. Some days I will not be able to fix a complex human problem, but I will persevere.
My wife knows that I have limits - I can only focus on 5 things to fix at a time and despite my pursuit of Saint-Exupéry's simplicity principle, the world we live in often presents more things to fix than I can process concurrently. And that's ok, because it means I have not yet fulfilled my life's purpose and I'll need many more years before I'm done.
