The Heart Paradox

 To The Lady on the Train,

The heart is a muscle that is in may ways just like any other muscle in the human body, yet it is also very unique. The heart begins beating months before we are born and it will continue beating until we die. For this function it does not require thought or attention or encouragement; it will continue to pump as it is designed to do. But a heart is so much more than just a muscle. It is the vessel where we store love, and in this capacity the heart is magic.

Pride for your children could not fit inside a stadium, yet the heart expands to hold it all. Love for friends and family could not fit in the oceans, yet the heart holds it all. And the love we have for the one we love most could not be contained in all the stars in all the galaxies, yet the heart holds it all.

But for all of the heart's capacity, endurance, and strength it is fragile. A heart can be broken with an unkind word. A heart can be shattered by malice, ignorance, or plain stupidity. A heart can be worn down by neglect and abuse. It is something that we do without ever knowing it.

The human condition means that we will love and be loved. We will break hearts along the way no matter how hard we try not to. In the process we will shatter our own hearts. We will also help to heal broken hearts and tend to our own injuries. This is what it means to be human.

When two broken hearts come together the pieces can get mixed up. A heart heals with some pieces of another. I have broken your heart and my own, and I carry pieces of you with me. I have patched and chinked and held together this heart with pieces I stole from you. I will carry these pieces and cherish them. You are now and forever the better part of me.

The hearts greatest strength is its fragility.

Always,

The Man in the Station