In a Fix

People always say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In this modern world of disposable everything, we might as well drop the “If it ain’t broke” part. No one fixes broken things either. Not electronics or appliances. Not furniture or clothes. Sometimes not even cars.

Thanks to an accident on last New Year’s Eve day, my car has been totaled. When I was younger and heard people talking about a car being “totaled,” I figured it meant the vehicle was totally destroyed, so mangled it couldn’t possibly be fixed. That would make sense, but that’s not what it means. What it means is that the insurance company doesn’t value your car enough to bother fixing it. They just want to cut the smallest check possible and move along.

This is my car.

There’s plenty of damage, but most of the car is still fully functional, including the engine. It doesn’t matter. The insurance company just doesn’t care.

My car is not the only broken thing evident in this picture. See the pink band across the top of the picture? No, it’s not my quirky way of supporting breast cancer research. My camera is broken, too.

While I would fix my car if I could, I have no idea where to get a camera fixed, because I’ve never heard of anyone fixing one. By today’s standards, with only 4 megapixels, it’s a dinosaur and ought to be replaced anyway. I can just imagine the blank stare I’d get if I actually asked someone for the name of a good camera repairman.

“A good what?”

Oh, well. It’s fun to have new stuff all the time. And if replacing all of my belongings every few years gets expensive, that’s ok, because you know what else is broke? The average American. At least I’ll be in good company.