The Perfect Heart ....

[awais]

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.