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 beatingstrongly, but full
of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in,
but they didn't fit quite rightand 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 andbeautiful heart, and ripped a piece
out. He offered it to the oldman with trembling hands. The old man took his
offering, placed it 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, 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 into
his. They embraced and walked away side by side.
Moral -
Love one another sincerly....................