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Someone sent this to me and it seemed particularly relevant in my role as a Foster Carer -One day a young man was standing in the centre of town proclaiming that he hads the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.A large crowd gathered and they they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or flaw on it. Yes they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was filled with pride and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.Suddenly and 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 didnt quite fit right and had left several jagged edges. In fact in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.The people stared - how could he possibly think this old scarred heart was more beautiful than that of the young man?The young man looked at the old man''s heart 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 but i would never trade with you. You see every 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 in returnwhich fits into the empty place in my heart but because the pieces arent exact I have some rough edges which I cherish as they remind me of the love we have shared.Sometimes I have given a piece 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 means taking a chance.Althoug these gouges are painful they stay open in the hope that someday they may want to come and fill the space and if so it will be waiting. Now my son do you understand what true beauty is?The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. Slowly he walked up to the old man, reached into his young and beautiful heart and tore out a piece - with trembling hands he offered it to the old man. The old man accepted the offering and without a word tore a piece of his own old, scarred heart and placed it over the wound. It fitted but not perfectly as there were some jagged edges.The young man looked at his heart - no longer perfect but more beautiful than ever since the old man''s love ran through it.The two men embraced and walked away side by side.I hope your heart is full of jagged edges and that any empty gouges are soon filled!