He was a real man with a real heart once. He was engaged to be married to his sweetheart, and being a wood-cutter, he used his trade to make money to build his true love a house worthy of her. He cut down more and more wood and yet it wasn't enough to be worthy of his great love for his bride. In the course of his chopping, he sustained injuries; once he cut off a leg and an arm, and thought that he was done for - his career over. But, he reasoned, if I just fashion a metal arm and a metal leg, I will be able to work even harder. So he did - and he DID work harder.
Injury after injury, piece after piece, he became a man obsessed with the task of providing a home worthy of his one true - but wait - when he finally was finished, he was all made of metal - and had lost his heart along the way, unable to love and able only to think of the work. His fiancée, who had long ago noticed the change in him, left him, broken-hearted.
So he filled his days cutting wood, unable to feel anything inside. During a rainstorm, he kept working and ... rusted solid in the forest, not even able to do the one thing to which his life had been reduced.
What a sad, sad story! I'm so glad it didn't end there. The Tin Man finally did learn to love, to love deeply!
It took the compassion of another and his own willingness and determination to regain his lost heart to help him discover he had not lost his heart, but merely misplaced it for a while.
To all the Tin Men (and Women) out there (and in here) - it is possible to learn to love - and live - again.
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