The story goes on saying that one day a young man proclaimed that he has the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. There was not a mark or a flaw in his heart and all the people agreed to it. The young man was proudly boasting over the qualities of his heart, until an old man appeared in front of him and said, “Your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The young man and the crowd around him looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly ... but was full of scars. It had deep groves, cuts and stitch marks all over. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people thought ... ‘how could he say his heart is more beautiful?’
The young man looked at the old man’s heart and laughed.“ You must be joking,” he said. “Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking ... but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar on my heart represents a person to whom I have given my love..... I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to others ... 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 chance. So now do you see what true beauty is?”
A generation with good looking hearts and minds is taking shape. It has even become part of personality development to cause as many cuts and gouges to other hearts. Where even religious institutions keep on grinding and polishing their own hearts, how could there be individuals thinking otherwise?
