34: Once upon a time, a young man was standing in the middle of the town announcing that he had the most beautiful heart in the world. A large crowd gathered, and they all praised his heart for it was perfect. Suddenly, an old man appeared and said, “Why, your heart is not as beautiful as mine.” The old man’s heart was full of scars. Some pieces of his heart were removed and some pieces from other people were put in, but they didn’t fit quite right. So there were several jagged（锯齿状的）edges. In fact, there were still some holes in his heart where the pieces were missing. The young man laughed, “Comparing yours with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess.” “Yes,” said the old man. “But, every scar shows that I took out a piece of my heart and gave it to a person, and often he gave me a piece of his heart in return.” “Why do you have some jagged edges in your heart?” asked the young man. “Because the shapes of the pieces weren’t the same.” “Then the holes?” “Sometimes I gave pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t given back a piece of his, so … but I don’t care.” “How come?” “They remind me of the love we shared.” The young man was deeply moved. He walked up to the old man, took a piece of his heart out and gave it to the old man. The old man placed it in his heart, then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fitted, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect any more but more beautiful than ever. How sad it must be to go through life with a whole untouched heart!
