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 proud and boasted more loudly
about his most 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.
