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.
