Heart of Hearts
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.
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