The most beautiful heart

One day a young man stood in the middle of town and declared 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 spot or flaw in it.

Yes, they all agreed with him, it really was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and bragged louder about his beautiful heart. Suddenly, an old man appeared in front of the crowd and said, "Well, 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 strong, but it was full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and replaced with others. But they did not fit properly, and there were some frayed corners. More precisely in some places there were deep furrows where whole pieces were missing.

People stared at him: How can he claim his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man's heart, saw its condition and laughed: You must be joking, he said, comparing your heart with mine. Mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.

Yes, said the old man, yours looks perfect, but I would never trade places with you. Each scar represents a person I have given my love to. I tear out a piece of my heart and hand it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart that fits into the empty space in my heart. But because the pieces are not exact, I have some rough edges that I cherish because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have also given a piece of my heart without the other person giving me back a piece of their heart. These are the empty furrows. Giving love sometimes means taking a risk. Even though these furrows are painful, they remain open and they too remind me of the love I have for these people. And I hope that one day they will return to fill the space. Do you realize now what true beauty is?

The young man stood silently with tears streaming down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, grabbed his perfect young and beautiful heart and tore out a piece. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man accepted the offer, placed it in his heart.

He then took a piece of his old scarred heart and filled the wound of the young man's heart with it. It was not a perfect fit as it had some frayed edges. The young man looked at his heart, no longer perfect, but more beautiful than ever, as he felt the old man's love flow into his heart. They embraced and walked away, side by side.