The Most Beautiful Heart

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.


Author: Unknown



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