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.
- Author Unknown
BACK
Sincere appreciation
to Margi Harrell for
the use of the midi "Journey
Of The Mind"
Page
revised February 2006