My Broken Pieces A few weeks back, a longtime friend asked if I would meet her for lunch to discuss a new job offer. We sat in the restaurant for forty-five minutes discussing her new job opportunity when her face grew solemn. She sighed, staring down into her plate. I asked, “is everything all right,” knowing she did not ask me to meet to discuss a job offer. She said, “everything is fine, but I cannot get your story or quote about the broken pieces out of my mind.” She took a deep breath raised her head and, in half whisper, said, “it really described the broken pieces in my marriage? I answered, “when promises, borders and commitment are broken, and especially betrayal, the relationship may be repaired but never return to what it once was or could have been.” Before she left, she thanked me for giving her a copy. I refer to the story, as “The Broken Vase.” The Broken Vase Love and marriage are often broken by betrayal, lies and unkept promises. Betrayal is the ultimate form of deceit and deception. It reminded me of something I wrote many years ago about a vase that was knocked off the shelf and broken into many pieces. For a moment you’re not sure what to do but then you decide to try and repair it. Imagine trying to pick up the pieces of your life, left behind in the wake of betrayal. You must be methodical and cautious because your path is covered with egg shells. You realize it may not be the same as it once was, but would vase be good enough to keep. After all, you’ve had it for thirty years. When you believe all the pieces have been collected and placed on the table, you do one last search for the smallest pieces you may have missed. You find two small pieces, place them on the table and stare down at the broken pieces of something you cherished and was beautiful. Something so precious you often proudly displayed it to friends Over a period of three weeks, you managed to glue the vase back together. You slowly turn it around on the table and realize it is an archaic reproduction of its original form. There are holes in it created by pieces you did not find and never will. Like the pieces missing from your relationship. Held together by history and commitment but still broken. And severely damaged. The vase will never hold flowers again because it cannot hold water. And like your relationship, it has become fragile as you watch a piece fall off the vase when you lifted off the table. And when you think about the broken pieces collected from your relationship, you know that will also never be the same. As you held up the beautiful vase to show people it’s beauty, that now is simply a collection of glued pieces that resembles your relationship. You can no longer showcase your marriage. Only because of its history you place the vase back on the self, but it seems out of place and detracts from the ambience around it. After a few weeks you take the vase to your home office and place it on a shelf. A few weeks later, you sadly change the location to the closet. And like your relationship it has been moved to a different place. A dark place. When people say to you, you and your wife seem to get along very well. You think about showing them the vase. All that remains of the relationship is held together by glue. After several years you are still seeking out the missing pieces from your heart knowing deep inside you will never find. There’s only one way to get them back and that is to leave. But leaving will also mean breaking more pieces. Those are your two choices. If you leave, you will get back some of the pieces you lost but you would lose others by virtue of leaving.
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RJ Intindola
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Some doors slammed in your face need to be glued and nailed shut so they can never be reopened. RJ Intindola – 1983
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RJ Intindola
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Fools remain often glued to the different media and also claim to be updating their knowledge with the worldwide news.
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Anuj Somany
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Today is the day, nobody here is working. Everybody is glued to the television waiting for more information about when Venezuela will be free.
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Erica Rodriguez
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Just to see these theaters completely packed on a weekday with all types of people glued to the screen, laughing, cheering, crying. That for me was a moment I knew like, this is working.
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Kevin Kwan
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Totalitarianism begins in contempt for what you have. The second step is the notion: “Things must change—no matter how, Anything is better than what we have.” Totalitarian rulers organize this kind of mass sentiment, and by organizing it articulate it, and by articulating it make the people somehow love it. They were told before, thou shalt not kill; and they didn’t kill. Now they are told, thou shalt kill; and although they think it’s very difficult to kill, they do it because it's now part of the code of behavior. They learn whom to kill and how to kill and how to do it together. This is the much talked about Gleichschaltung—the coordination process. You are coordinated not with the powers that be, but with your neighbor—coordinated with the majority. But instead of communicating with the other you are now glued to him. And you feel of course marvelous. Totalitarianism appeals to the very dangerous emotional needs of people who live in complete isolation and in fear of one another.
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Hannah Arendt
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Like a celestial chaperon, the placebo leads us through the uncharted passageways of mind and gives us a greater sense of infinity than if we were to spend all our days with our eyes hypnotically glued to the giant telescope at Mt. Palomar. What we see ultimately is that the placebo isn't really necessary and that the mind can carry out its difficult and wondrous missions unprompted by little pills. The placebo is only a tangible object made essential in an age that feels uncomfortable with intangibles, an age that prefers to think that every inner effect must have an outer cause. Since it has size and shape and can be hand-held, the placebo satisfies the contemporary craving for visible mechanisms and visible answers . The placebo, then, is an emissary between the will to live and the body.
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Norman Cousins
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We had to spend all night creating this flower wall as best we possibly could, and the gown for the priest, I literally glued that myself. Yes, I glued a whole gown together myself, with my friends, overnight last night.
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Tricia Messeroux
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It brought up a lot of trauma. ... I decided, if we're reacting like this, if this is happening for us, and you've got millions and millions of people across the country who are glued to the TV, then this is happening across the board, regardless of what happens with Brett Kavanaugh, this is here. Right ? We have to deal with this.
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Katie Hill
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Rory didnt play the way he wanted to today, but still its so much fun to watch him play, you kind of get glued watching him hit balls. I mean, its mesmerizing watching him hit. You know its always nice to squeak out a victory over probably the best player right now.
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Brooks Koepka
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