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 any more but more beautiful than ever, since
love from the old man's heart flowed into his. They embraced and
walked away side by side.
