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 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 in my heart. 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.

一个年轻人站在城镇的中央，宣布他的心是整个山谷中最美丽的心。围观的群众很多，他们都称赞他的心的确是最完美的，没有一点伤痕或者瑕疵。真的，他们一致认为这实在是他们见过的最美丽的心。这个年轻人非常自豪，更加起劲地大声吹捧自己那颗美丽的心。

突然，一位老人出现在人群面前，他说：“你的心不如我的美丽。”围观群众和年轻人都朝老人的心看去，它有力地跳动着，却布满了伤疤，有的地方被挖走了，虽然重新补上了，但修补得不甚完整，留下参差不齐的疤痕。实际上，有的地方还露出很深的豁口。

人们睁大了眼睛――他们想：他怎能说自己的心更美丽呢?年轻人看了看老人的心，见是这种情形，不禁笑了起来：“你不是在开玩笑吧?”他说。“把你的心和我的比一下，我的心是那么完美，而你的心却布满了伤疤和裂痕。”

“是的，”老人说，“你的心从表面来看很完美，但我绝不会跟你交换。你看，每个伤疤都代表我为别人献出的一份爱――我掏出一块心给他们，他们常常会掏出自己的一块回赠给我，但由于这两块不完全一样，伤口的边缘就留下了疤痕，不过我十分珍惜这些疤痕，因为它们能使我想起我们共同拥有的爱心。有时我送出了心，其他人并没有回赠给我，因此就出现了这些深孔――献出爱只是创造机会。尽管这些伤口疼痛，并且整日敞开着，却能使我想起我给予他们的爱。我希望有一天，他们能够回来填补上我心里的空间。你们现在明白什么是真正的美丽了吧?”

年轻人默默无语地站着，泪水顺着脸颊流下。他走到这位老人身边，把手伸进自己完美而年轻美丽的心里，撕下一块来。他用颤抖的双手把它献给这位老人。

老人接过馈赠，把它放进自己的心里。然后他从自己疤痕累累的心里掏出一块，放在年轻人心里的那个伤口上。正好放进去，但不是特别吻合，因为有一些疤痕。年轻人看着自己的心，看起来不再完美但比以前更美丽了，因为老人心中的爱也流淌到了他的心里。他们互相拥抱，然后肩并肩离开了。