Perfect 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.