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 and 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 and boasted more loudly about his
beautiful heart.
Suddenly,
an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, "Why your
heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and 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 and other pieces put
in, but they didn't fit quite right and 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 and saw its state and 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.
