One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaimingthat he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowdgathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There wasnot a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the mostbeautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud andboasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, "Whyyour heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine."
The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beatingstrongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had beenremoved and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right andthere were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there weredeep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
The people stared - how can he say his heart is more beautiful, theythought?
The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state andlaughed. "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 nevertrade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I havegiven my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, andoften they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty placein 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 personhasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gougesgiving 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 andfill 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. Hewalked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautifulheart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man withtrembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in hisheart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed itin 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 thanever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his. They embracedand walked away side by side.
How sad it must be to go through life with a whole heart.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
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