Joyas Valadores, by Brian Doyle, is an unorthodox yet compelling essay about the perception of life specifically in terms of beating hearts in the world around us. Doyle’s elaboration about the unique aspects of a hummingbird’s heart develops a valuable and complex view on how powerful yet vulnerable we all are no matter our size.

Brian Doyle commences his piece by asking his readers to think about hummingbirds for a moment. On the surface, hummingbirds are simply a pleasant species. They visit over a thousand flowers per day and are the only bird able to fly backwards. To most, seeing a hummingbird is just another aspect of everyday life. Hummingbirds tend to blend into human’s general reality of living things. Unlike the majority of people, Doyle perceives this little animal very differently. When one’s scope is adjusted, there is so much to learn from this small bird. Brian Doyle explains that a hummingbird has a unique heart that is the “size of a pencil eraser” (Doyle, 94). This tiny engine is shockingly able to beat ten times in a single second. They can dive at speeds around sixty miles an hour and fly for five hundred straight miles without rest. Their heart rate allows them to live life in the fast lane. However, when it comes time for a hummingbird to rest, things change. On cold nights, their heart rates decline to a near halt. Doyle reveals the sad reality that “It’s expensive to fly” (Doyle, 95).  Hummingbirds suffer more aneurysms and heart attacks than any other creature alive. Their simplistic beauty shields the reality that so many suffer sad and horrible deaths in their sleep because they live so fast. Doyle then shows us something completely unlike this small but powerful creature; somehow marking diversity while connecting us. 

We often do not often recognize it, but we are not the only ones with the gift of a heartbeat. Many different complex organisms share one common but very important concept of life, a heart. Doyle displays the diversity of organisms with hearts when talking about blue whales. Doyle briefly talks about a creature that appears unlike hummingbirds in so many ways.  A blue whale’s heart is “as big as a room” (Doyle, 95) and actually measures much bigger than any family’s car. Humans simply do not have a great deal of knowledge about these massive aquatic beings. What we do know is that “the animals with the largest hearts in the world generally travel in pairs” (Doyle, 97) giving them a quality we can relate to. As humans, we are able to understand what it feels like to have a heart beat fast and we also know what it is like bring our hearts down to a resting state. We can relate it to adrenaline, excitement, and sometimes-even fear. A human heartbeat allows one to live on the edge yet to also slow down and relax. For the  human, hummingbird, blue whale and every living creature, the gift of a heartbeat provides an opportunity for living in motion. This freedom of life also comes with consequences. When one is too slow, their body becomes dormant and can eventually lack fitness and strength. When one pushes too far, they risk fatigue and injury. Today, we consider a healthy life to be a good combination of activity and rest. This system is the norm. Yet there is something beautiful about the extremes. There are men that run across the country just to see if they can. Some people meditate and find nirvana in a complete state of rest. Both extremes are beautiful but each can lead to its own demise. These differences in use of heartbeats reveal our opportunity. Animals are not that different from us. Although we are the most developed among living organisms, we share some common features with many others things. No matter one’s theory of evolution, we can all agree that humans belong to a unique class of multi-celled organisms whom were gifted a beating heart. 

Doyle explains, “every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime” (Doyle, 97). The beautiful thing is that we have all of the option of being ferocious but we are all vulnerable. In fact, every creature with a heart has that same susceptibleness. Doyle makes it clear that one should look around. An individual’s choice of how to use their heartbeats can change with a single hummingbird.

 