“Fixing the Damage”

~ Elizabeth

68F7D3BB-CC55-445E-A8B1-6A5FA2CE6A35

Every once in a while a television show comes on that seems to feed a particular need of mine. In the chaos of politics, both here and in many other countries, I have been frequently disheartened. Of course the dreadful climate news affects me also. I need, sometimes, to be reminded that there are people working quietly, steadily, slowly at fixing the various messes we find ourselves in.

It turns out that I am being encouraged at the moment by a British television series which just became available on American Netflix. The Repair Shop has a simple formula. A person brings a damaged, broken, too worn or worn out object that has a family connection to a group of craftspeople for restoration. While there is no actual repair shop with all these people gathered at once, the show manages to create the sense that there is a workshop with various people coming and going depending on the skill needed. Above are four of the regulars on the series. One of the people tackles the repair, sometimes with the help of others. At the end the restored object is unveiled to its owner who is appropriately ecstatic at the results.

For me the show works as a metaphor. Old things don’t need to be tossed. They can be restored. I don’t need to despair either when I look at the state of the world. I don’t need to shut my eyes and retreat into isolation. I can connect with others, gather their expertise on how to address damage, local, national or world wide, and get to work. Just as there are no quick fixes in this repair shop, neither are there simple solutions to deeply embedded problems. As the  old adage went “slow and steady wins the race.” No one rushes at The Repair Shop.

And it beats the 24 hour hysteria driven news feed by a mile!

33 thoughts on ““Fixing the Damage””

  3. Very interesting. We need an America-based show like the British one so we could take our damaged President in to get his humanity restored (although I fear he is beyond repair).

    Like

    Reply

  4. This is my wife’s favourite TV show, 100%. She is actually watching it as I type this. (It was on at 4:30, but recorded on PVR). The main presenter was on a previous show, as a furniture restorer. It has been around on BBC TV here for about a year, and getting more popular all the time. 🙂
    Best wishes, Pete.

    Like

    Reply

  5. My wife likes these English shows, especially ones about real estate. As for the 24 hour new media and their efforts at dragging down our spirits, I just tune out and watch something with some positive message. Bad news does sell and that’s the business they’re in nowadays, selling! Is there a game on tonight?

    Like

    Reply

  10. We’ve been watching it from time to time for a good while now and so long as you don’t overdose it’s absolutely brilliant. It’s a BBC programme. There are a lot of powerful people in the UK who would like to see the end of the BBC as a publicly funded broadcaster (there is real poison in some parts of the press) but I wonder what other channel would have created a programme like this (not the only example).

    Like

    Reply

    1. I didn’t know that BBC is threatened. The same attacks here affect public television, public radio and support for the arts. Somehow they are called “elite.” Agh.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment