Once again, the answer boils down to a four letter word.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
The Perfect Heart
Author:Unknown
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.
How sad it must be to go through life with a whole untouched heart.
Have you ever given a piece of your heart away?
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.
How sad it must be to go through life with a whole untouched heart.
Have you ever given a piece of your heart away?
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Moments...
As the clock ticks noisily and the moments pass without a glance backwards, my mind wanders through a myriad of events. Past and present encounters flash pass the cinematic screen of my mind’s eye. I got to thinking about the topic of pivotal moments. Landmark events, life-changing scenes or crucial pit-stops in our lives that happened to turn our whole world around. That particular instance which steered us in a direction that would have been totally different if it had never occur.
Mainly, I was musing over the exact moment in relationships, be it friendships or love that sealed the deal. What was the drop that tipped over the barrel of water? When was the instant that it happened? The moment when you decide, “Yes! This is it. This is the brick that seals the foundation of our friendship. This is the reason why I’m entrusting my heart to this person, whole and completely.”
And after that particular moment in time when all seems to stop and revolve around that significant event, your relationship has not looked back since.
I’ve come to realize that I have had and heard about a few of these moments...
The moment when no words are exchanged in a time of grief and painful memories,
To hear the words uttered in love that your heart knew but forgot.
To have someone whom you have been thinking about all day suddenly and miraculously appear before you at the most unexpected time and place.
Like a bus stop.
To feel a tap on your shoulder and turn around to meet the grinning face of someone you have been worrying about for the longest time.
The moment when you open the mailbox to discover a love letter sent from afar, together with a present made perfect in its imperfection just because it was delivered with love.
To have someone who not only stands by you when the rest walk away, but who also stands up against them and defends you in a time when you have no friends.
Small things that make a whole lotta of difference. It seems that the simple things are also the most profound. Maybe because when loving gestures, serendipity and fierce loyalty are concocted together into a potent mix, they cease to be mere things or coincidences.
They become the catalyst for souls to reach out and touch one another,
even if it is just for that moment.
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