The Perfect Heart

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

 

"hrtbeat7" <hrtbeat7

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

_______________

Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com