In the past I’ve railed against “unprecedented” and “disrupt.” Let’s now take aim at “broken.”
This came up because the other day a health care professional used the phrase, “It’s broken.” This was not in reference to a limb but rather, as I recall, some aspect of the healthcare system.
And at that moment, hearing that phrase, hearing it again, and hearing it from a professional, something else broke—and the floodgates of my contempt for that word opened wide.
People are constantly using the term “broken” to describe various institutions: government, higher education, whatever topic that is being discussed. And here’s why I dislike the use of the word. It’s like finding a dead skunk in the road; it’s dead and it’ll disintegrate eventually but in the meantime it’s going to stink to high, high heaven.
[I use this as my example because I’ve driven past the same skunk carcass in the middle of a local street for three days now.]
My main objection in declaring something broken is that no one seems to offer any solution for repair. They clap their hands free of imaginary dust as if to say, “It’s broken but can’t/don’t/won’t fix it.” And thus they just leave a trail of wreckage in the wake of their rhetoric with no hope of repair.
My exhortation to you is: it’s time to begin the restoration of systems to working order, and instead of saying what we’re against, start advocating for what we are for.
MUSOFYR 