HIDDEN HEARTS

There are about six billion hearts beating among us on this whirling spaceship earth. Naturally, we can only know a very few of them. But even among those few, how many do we really fathom....?

Everyone protects their hearts because just as the Tin Man learned, hearts can be broken. And yet, in protecting them, we all too often hide their light from those around us who could benefit from the glow. I'm thinking here of the delicate young woman who bags my groceries at the local supermarket. Obviously challenged in some way, she is shy to the point of total silence. My smiles and efforts to engage her never quite make it.

In guarding herself this way, she's remained a mystery, and I've respected that. Then the other day Natalie finally spoke. She wanted me to notice the bagger-of-the-month ribbon she had won. "God love you, Natalie, I've known all along you were the best one here!"

It was clear now why she never talked. It was her inability to speak clearly. And yet, her few struggled sentences of pride that day made it worth the wait. It struck me how much she communicated in those few words, in sharp contrast to how little most politicians communicate in their endless words. Honesty versus hubris!

Sadder still are the hidden hearts of those who have died before we really fathomed them. How many of us have had the experience of excavating the secrets of these hearts only years later? A mother whose childhood years of frontier poverty were never shared, a father whose early years of struggle during the Depression were never talked about. A sheen of pride and dignity kept those tattered years hidden so as to protect their children from these awful struggles.

Today you can appreciate their good intentions, yet regret how hiding their hearts this way denied you the honor of fully realizing their goodness. How many hearts are still hidden from you today...? Many for many different reasons. Perhaps, though, you can keep sharing yours, and in so doing woo theirs. Like with Natalie.

I'm glad I kept trying. I only wish I had worked as hard with those gentle hearts no longer beating....