WORTH READING 12 Mar 2007

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.

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