One day a man was standing
in the town proclaimed 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 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 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 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 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 man's heart. It fit,
But not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The 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.
