Dear Reader,

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so it’s been often said. Well, besides being, almost by definition, impossible to repair an undamaged item, the advice sounds solid. Don’t change what works. In the best of cases, you can apply proper maintenance for good measure.

Problems start when something break: what are you going to do? (That assumes you are lucky or sensitive enough to recognise that some damage has occurred: that is not trivial, it may take months or even years.)

No, the opposite it’s not true: “if it’s broke, then fix it” is not a logical consequence of the time-honoured advice.

Do you need it fixed? Maybe not.

Do you want it fixed? Probably so.

Is it fungible or irreplaceable? If you are thinking about it, definitely the latter.

How much time/energy will it take to mend it? Is it even possible or not? What if it does not depend just on you, what would you do then?

Those are the hard question, the real deciders.

What if you don’t have the answers? Will you just scrap it and forget it?

Again: do you want it fixed? Damn. This one was the hard question, after all, the one that brings the harshest consequences.

Until next time, if it ain’t broke, don’t break it.