With only two billion heartbeats in a lifetime, how can you use every beat to your advantage? There are lots of different ways to spend those heartbeats. Brian Doyle symbolizes the ways you can spend your heartbeats with the use the animals in the story “Joyas Voladores” by using a hummingbird, torturous, and blue whale. “Joyas Voladores” has a literal translation of flying jewels, but as I read through the text I sought it to have a much deeper meaning. I personally perceive “Joyas Voladores” as living a life with a pure heart, and living at the pace the benefits you the most. The fast pace, never resting people are represented by the hummingbird, while the slow paced people are represented with a tortoise, and the people with the biggest hearts are represented by the blue whale. The first time reading through this I was wondering how this passage has to do with how we should live our lives, but as you continue to read and interpret what is between the lines you realize there is an underlying message throughout the whole passage. If you want to make the most out of every heartbeat in your life you need to cherish every moment of your day, not live at too fast of a pace, and open up your heart to the people that you truly love. 

Brian starts this passage off by asking you to “consider the hummingbird for a long moment” (Doyle 1). The immense imagery that Doyle puts into the passage gives you a perfect description of how small the size of the heart of the hummingbird is, and how fast it beats per second. Through this I started comparing the hummingbird’s skills to how humans have our own personal strengths, and if we put the will and effort into doing something, we are able to get it done. Then he states “But when they rest they come close to death” (Doyle 12). I conveyed this as a metaphor for living life, because the hummingbirds purpose in life is to fly and collect nectar to stay alive. When the bird comes to a rest, its life nearly ends because it is living without a purpose. When a person fails to have any true motivation in life, their body starts to slowly shut down. This happens because they have lost the motivation to still be alive. In lines 17 through 23 it states sixteen different types of hummingbirds. While reading this, it showed the representation of all different types of people there are in the world. It showed how we are all within the human race, but we all come from our own country, state, and city, and those completely different backgrounds make us who we are today. 

Doyle later showed a shift in tone, shifting to a more diminishing tone, which showed me that even with all of the amazing things that I can conquer I am still going to have my faults, and that you can't be the best at everything you do. The text reads “It's expensive to fly. You burn out. You fry the machine. You melt the engine.” (Doyle 33-34). Every living creature has its limits in life. You have a certain point that you just can't push your body to cross. After two years the hummingbirds heart gives out because of how many times it beats per second caused by their rapid life style. I related this my own life, because if I push myself beyond my own personal limits then my brain and heart are going to start to shut down. If I try and stay up for 15 hours studying I am going to burn out. In the morning I am going to be so tired and not able to retain any of the information that I had learned the night before. In order to live a healthy life and be happy, it requires you to pace yourself. In the end it is up to you to decide how you want to spend your heartbeats “You can spend them slowly, like the tortoise and live to be two hundred years old, or you can spend them fast, like the hummingbird, and live to be two years old.” (Doyle 35-37). Obviously you won't live to be two hundred years old, and hopefully won't only live to be two years old, but you decide how long you want to live. If you live a healthy, motivated, and prosperous life, then life will forever be breathtaking. 

The fourth paragraph has the most imagery out of the whole passage, and conveys the true meaning of life through it. Doyle proclaims “The biggest heart in the world is inside the blue whale. It weighs more than seven tons.” (Doyle 38-39). Through his decryption of how immense the heart of the blue whale is, I was able to relate it to my grandmother. She has the biggest heart out of anybody I have ever met. She has never put herself over somebody else, and strives to make others feel content with themselves. He describes the valves of the whale's heart by saying “A child could walk around it, head high, bending only to step through the valves. The valves are as big as the swinging doors in a saloon.” (Doyle 40-41). I was at first questioning the use of the child in this metaphor, but I came upon a text that stated that Brian Doyle has a son that was born with only three valves in his heart. Once I read this I realized why he wrote this whole passage on the heart. He has a very personal connection to it. As the paragraph continues I realized the true meaning of life, to find your mate. The blue whale spends its younger years searching for a mate and once the mate is found they never leave each other’s side. The only thing that can tear them apart is death. If you truly want to live an astonished and fulfilling life you need to find somebody who you can flourish with and never want to spend a second of your life without. Find the one who is going to be the shoulder to cry on through the hardest times in your life, but are also going to be the first to cheer you on through your successes in life. Through thick and thin they should always be by your side. 

Through the panel there are thousands of species, they vary from land animals to fish in the sea, and they all have hearts with valves. Doyle states “No living being is without interior liquid motion. We all churn inside.” (Doyle 59). It doesn't matter if you are the biggest animal on the planet or the smallest bacteria, you have something moving inside of you, and that relates us to all living beings. Through this we feel a passion towards all forms of life. The line that I based my argument around is “So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much heard in a heart in a day, in hour, a moment.” (Doyle 60-61). There truly is so much that you can take in for every moment of the day. If you take a few extra seconds out of every moment to really soak in what you are experiencing, you will have such a more remarkable life. Doyle symbolizes the heart as a house and asserts that “We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart.” (Doyle 63-64). I perceived this quote as though only you are going to know the true feeling that you have people. No person feels the same about a person as you do. The value of a person is going to vary between every person you ask.  The easiest example is deciding on what president you are going to vote for. All opinions vary on how you see each candidate. No two hearts are the same, we have come from heartbreaks, been torn down, rebuilt ourselves, and that has what made us who we are today. Doyle creates a metaphor describing this “…all hearts finally are bruised and scarred, scored and torn, repaired by time and will, patched by force of character, yet fragile and rickety forevermore, no matter how ferocious the defense…” (Doyle 66-68). This has related to my life in way too many ways. I have had my heart broken, bruised, and torn by family and friends. Loving someone comes with lots of benefits along with many faults. This is how we learn; sometimes you have to have your walls knocked down to be able to build ones that are stronger. 

Throughout the passage Doyle conveys his message strictly through metaphors with as much imagery as he can fit in. This lets you really visualize where he comes from, and get a better understanding of his comparison of the hearts of different creatures. After reading this you really are motivated to live a life that has more meaning. You also are more careful about who you open your heart to. Take a couple extra minutes of every day to troll appreciate how beautiful life is. Embrace all the things that you see every day, soak up the sun, smell the roses, and don't be quick to judge somebody just because their opinion contradicts yours. “Joyas Voladores” has been the first passage to actually change my perception of what the heart does for every person. To truly enjoy life to its fullest, live by “So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much heard in a heart in a day, in hour, a moment.” (Doyle 60-61) and make every moment of your life worth remembering.  
