“B” is for brokenness

Brokenness is huge in my story. The more I write, the more the scope widens. And the deeper it cuts.

I have cried over these people in my head. Ached as I’ve written their stories. I yearn to scoop them all up and make it all better.

Yes, I am creating it – but I am not inventing anything that hasn’t happened somewhere in the world. Nothing in my fantasy story is actually fantasy. It’s happening today, in a million different ways.

People are broken.

Hearts are broken.

Lives are broken.

Families are broken.

The “system” is broken.

The world is broken.

And those who are broken, turn around and break.

My story is about a world at war – not only at war with each other, but with themselves. 

It is a story of people struggling to make sense of who they are, what they are, and why it matters. Or if it matters.

When I first started this story, I wanted it to be a look at what happens when people have no respect for life. As I’ve delved deeper into that, it’s gotten darker. Colder. More oppressive.

Yet I’ve fallen in love with people I hated and planned to kill.

I’ve fallen in love with the small displays of kindness, of love. With the people who, against the darkness of their lives, dare to shine as a beacon for others.

Even if it’s because they’ve been set on fire.

At the heart of my story-world is a mirror. A mirror of this world.

There has been a disconnect. A broken relationship.

Everything that follows is the effect of that brokenness.

Yet, amid that brokenness, beauty still arises.

Because no matter what anyone else says, life is worth respecting.

We can strip it of its meaning with any number of things, and by committing any number of horrible acts.

But it doesn’t actually strip it of its meaning.

You can dehumanize someone to the point that they believe they are nothing – but it doesn’t change the fact that they were created as a human.

Why does brokenness hurt so much?

Because life has meaning, people are intrinsically valuable, and it was never meant to be this way.

Why does goodness in the face of horror hit so deeply?

Because deep down, we all know that it used to be good. It was meant to be good.

One day, it will be again.

The sun will shine.

Sadness and sighing will flee.

And the brokenness that we thought was so consuming will fall away, revealing a beauty that will never end.