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 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. How
sad it must be to go through life with a whole untouched heart.
(Author Unknown)
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