Beautiful Jagged Heart
One day a young woman was standing in
the middle of the town
proclaiming that she had the
most beautiful heart in
the whole valley.
A large crowd gathered
and they all admired
her 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 woman was very proud
and boasted more loudly
about her beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old woman appeared
at the front of the crowd
and said, Why, your heart
is not nearly as beautiful
as mine."
The crowd and the young
woman looked at
the old woman'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 she say her
heart is more beautiful,
they thought?
The young woman looked
at the old woman's heart
and saw its state and laughed.
You must be joking," she said.
"Compare your heart with mine!
Mine is perfect and yours is
a mass of scars and tears."
"Yes," said the old woman,
"Yours is perfect looking but
I could 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 their 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 woman stood silently
with tears running
down her cheeks.
She walked up to the old woman,
reached into her
perfect young
and beautiful heart,
and ripped a piece out.
She offered it to the
old woman with trembling hands.
The old woman took her offering,
placed it in her heart
and then took a piece
from her old scarred
heart and placed it in the
wound in the young woman's heart.
It fit, but not perfectly,as
there were some jagged edges.
The young woman looked at her
heart, not perfect anymore
but more beautiful than ever,
since love from the old woman's
heart flowed into hers.
They embraced and walked away,
side by side.
Author: Unknown
