One day a young man was standing in the middle of the townproclaiming 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 hisbeautiful 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 crowdand the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beatingstrongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had beenremoved and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite rightand there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some placesthere 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 andlaughed. "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 wouldnever trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person towhom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart andgive it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heartwhich fits into the empty place in my heart, but because thepieces 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 otherperson hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are theempty 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 andfill 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 andbeautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the oldman with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placedit in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heartand placed it in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, butnot perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but morebeautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowedinto his.
They embraced and walked away side by side.
- Author Unknown
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