Silverdragons71's blog: "Dragon's Thoughts"

The Most Beautiful Heart 
 
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 p[roud 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 starred ... 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. 
 
[Author Unknown]