One day
a young man was standing
in the middle
of the town proclaiming
that he had
the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.
A large crowd
gathered
& they
all admired his heart,
for it was
perfect.
There was
not a mark or a flaw in it.
Yes, they all
agreed it truly was the
most beautiful
heart they had ever seen.
The young
man was very proud &
boasted more
loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an
old man appeared
at the front
of the crowd & said
"Why your
heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine."
The crowd &
the young man looked at the old man's heart.
It was beating
strongly, but full of scars.
It had places
where pieces had been removed
& other
pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite
right &
there were several jagged edges.
In fact, in
some places there were
deep gouges
where whole pieces were missing.
The people
stared --how can he
say his heart
is more beautiful, they thought?
The young man
looked at the old man's heart
& saw
its state & laughed.
"You must be
joking," he said.
"Compare your
heart with mine.
Mine is perfect
and yours is a mess of scars and tears."
"Yes," said
the old man,
"Yours is
perfect looking but I would never trade with you.
You see, every
scar represents a person to whom
I have given
my love -
I tear out
a piece of my heart and give it to them,
and often
they give me a piece of their heart
which fits
into the empty place in my heart,
but because
the pieces aren't exact,
I have some
rough edges, which I cherish,
because they
remind me of the love we shared."
"Sometimes
I have given pieces of my heart away,
and the other
person hasn't returned a piece of his heart
to me. These
are the empty gouges -- giving
love is taking
a chance.
Although these
gouges are painful,
they stay
open, reminding me of the love
I have for
these people too,
and I hope
someday they may return
and fill the
space I have waiting.
So now do
you see what true beauty is?"
The young man
stood silently
with tears
running down his cheeks.
He walked up
to the old man,
reached into
his perfect young and beautiful heart,
and ripped
a piece out.
He offered
it to the old man with trembling hands.
The old man
took his offering, placed it in his heart
and then took
a piece from his old scarred heart
and placed
it in the wound in the young man's heart.
It fit, but
not perfectly,
as there were
some jagged edges.
The young
man looked at his heart,
not perfect
anymore but more beautiful than ever,
since love
from the old man's heart flowed into his.
They embraced
and walked
away side
by side.
