Heart Warrior
The most heartfelt piece that we have ever created. To truly understand the love behind this piece you have to understand the hero it was made for. Jackson is our nephew, and he was born with a congenital heart defect (single ventricle, which in Layman’s terms, is half a heart)
Did you know that 1 in 100 children are born with a congenital heart defect? That twice as many children die of heart defects than all forms of childhood cancer combined? That more than half of children born with a congenital heart defect will require at least one massive surgery in their lives? Jackson had TWO open heart surgeries before he was 15 months old, and has had many other battles and surgeries since then.
We wanted to create something special for him when we came across this poem by Tafadzwa Mhondiwa Mugari.
A Beautiful Heart
by Tafadzwa Mhondiwa Mugari
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 it was 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.
Jackson’s heart is not what the world may see as perfect. We wholeheartedly disagree. Jackson is a Heart Warrior. He has gone through more in his short life than we can imagine. He is a fighter in every sense of the word. Jackson, like the poem, has given and received little bits of his heart. We all live in Jackson’s heart, just as Jackson lives in our hearts. Jackson’s heart may be battered and scarred, but to us it is perfect.
One side of this double sided 18k and sterling silver heart pendant represents the “perfect” side. It is smooth and sleek with butterflies flying around a .04 carat diamond set in 18k in the perfect background.
The other side is the non-perfect (yet more perfect scarred side). It shows the heart torn into many pieces separated by scar lines. Each piece of the heart is different from each other, yet beautiful apart, and more beautiful still as it has been put back together. Here, butterflies are flying around a flower that has 18k set in the center.