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 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.
Author Unknown
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