The most Beautiful Heart
A young man was proud of his healthy and beautiful heart. One day, standing in the middle of the town, he proclaimed that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered to have a look at his heart. His heart was smooth and shiny and looked very healthy. Indeed, the man had the most beautiful heart in the valley, everyone agreed
The crowd laughed at the older man’s heart. “How can he claim that he has the most beautiful heart when it is all scary and uneven?” they thought.
The young man looked at the old man’s heart and laughed.” You must be kidding. Compare your heart and mine. My heart looks perfect and smooth, and yours is a mess of scars and tearse
“Yes, Your heart looks perfect, but I would never trade your heart with mine”, said the old man. “ Every scar in my heart represents a person I have given my love to. I tear a piece of my heart and give it to them. Often, my loved one gives me back a piece of their heart that fits into the empty place in my heart. Since everyone loves each other differently, their piece of the heart may not perfectly fit my heart, so you can see some rough edges. These scars and rough edges remind me of the love we shared.”, he continued.
Sometimes I would give a piece of my heart, but the other person may not return a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges. But, although these gouges are painful, they remind me of my love for these people too. So do you now see what true beauty is?” asked the old man
The young man and the crowd stood silently with tears running down their cheeks. Then, the young man walked to the older man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, ripped a piece out of it and offered it to the man with trembling hands.
The older man gratefully received his offering, placed it in his heart, then took a piece from his old heart and placed it in the young man’s heart.
The young man looked at his heart; it did not look shiny and smooth like it used to. But, it was now more beautiful because he could feel the love from the older man’s heart flowing into him.
