I broke a girl’s heart not too long ago. I’m not proud of it, but it happened. While I take full responsibility for breaking her heart, I can’t help but think that it wouldn't have broken as easily if she had a sturdier heart. You see, we all have different hearts at different times in our lives. When we are young, we make ourselves paper hearts, naive and fragile. It’ll get cut up and ripped to pieces of you aren't careful. But even if you are careful, it will probably get torn to shreds. It’s only paper

In time we will replace that paper heart with something else. We can have hearts made of glass, beautiful to the eye, but when it breaks it shatters into millions of pieces and there’s no hope to repair it. And again, over time, we will find a new heart. It could be a wooden heart, one carved from something that was strong, alive, and full of life. It can last a great amount of time, but a simple flame could destroy it. That flame can do more than destroy one wooden heart. It can destroy families and burn homes to the ground.

Hearts of stone exist for those who have broken too many hearts. But even hearts made of stone don’t last forever. If left out in the open, the stone will break down after constant exposure to the elements. A mechanical heart may be implanted after all other hearts have failed, with steam valves rather than aortic ventricles. It'll endure far more than one of stone, wood, glass or paper, but when it breaks down, it'll explode and damage everything around it.

Then there’s the heart of flesh and blood. We are all born with it, but it’s quickly abandoned, for we are taught early on to replace things with so called nicer upgrades, even when there is nothing wrong with what we have. It’s not the nicest looking heart, so we are told it must be replaced. But the thing about that heart is, if it breaks it'll eventually heal itself over time, and become stronger. And it might keep on breaking, but it'll keep on getting stronger. It really endures, which can’t be said for the other hearts. Those other hearts – once they break, that’s it. We have to replace them. Our original heart could serve us for all our lives, but we are taught to throw it away.

So while my actions may have broken that girl’s heart, the fact that she had a weaker heart can't be overlooked.