Every day, almost all living creatures live their day to day lives off of the sound of a heartbeat. No matter how slow or fast a heart pumps, it pumps in just about everybody and everything. It is the center of the body and has several important duties in everyday life, making it one of the most valuable, sacred organs. Whether it be in a human or an animal, the heart is by far a fragile part of the body that is often thought of and cared for the most. When something is important to someone, they tend to keep it in their hearts. For example, losing loved ones is always hard, but in the end, that person can always be kept in the heart. Live and well family members, friends, and lovers are also captured in the heart. All in all, every living creature has something that is valuable to them in their hearts. No matter the shape, size, or pump rate, hearts hold memories in that will never die. 

Every living being has a heart of unique size. For instance, animals do not have the same sized hearts as human beings. In fact, animals all have hearts that distinguish them from other types of animals. In Brian Doyle’s Joyas Volardores, he gives readers the facts: “Mammals and birds have hearts with four chambers. Reptiles and turtles have hearts with three chambers. Fish have hearts with two chambers” (Doyle 96). Continuing along in the story, he specifically uses Hummingbirds as one of his examples. Hummingbirds are very tiny birds with even tinier hearts. Doyle even specifies that their hearts are no larger than the size of a pencil eraser. Even though they have small hearts than the average animal, their heart gives them a great deal of character. In the beginning of the story, Doyle states “A hummingbird’s heart is a lot of the hummingbird” (Doyle 94). Just because humming birds may have hearts that are nearly microscopic, they are able to hold memories that are even bigger than the bird themselves. 

Hummingbirds also have extremely fast metabolisms. This forces their hearts to pump blood at a much faster rate than a human being. Because of this, they are able to live their life in high speed. In fact, “Each one visits a thousand flowers a day. They can dive at sixty miles an hour. They can fly backwards. They can fly more than five hundred miles without pausing to rest. But when they rest they come close to death” (Doyle 95). As for these hummingbirds, they live their life at this pace because they have no other choice. If they stop their lives for too long, they can very well die. Because they are able to do so many activities in one day, they experience much more in their lives than the average human being. Although, they only live to be about two years old, on average. Doyle even goes on to say “Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to send in a lifetime. You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise and live to be two hundred years old, or you can spend them fast, like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old” (Doyle 95). Their fast-paced lives come with long-term memories that they hold in their hearts forever. If they don’t hold their memories in their hearts, they will get lost in their everyday lives. 

Although humans cannot live at such a fast past pace as a hummingbird, or as slow as a turtle, they also contain memories in their hearts as well. As Doyle goes on to speak on the aspects of the human heart, he states “So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one in the end…We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart” (Doyle 96). As humans, we make memories every single day that we store deep down in our hearts. Because our hearts live alone, we put memories there so that no one can harm them. Even though we are able to make memories with other people, such as friends and family, we are still left alone with our own hearts to deal with. No one is allowed in the house of a heart. Often times, people tend to build barriers around their hearts, in fear of them being damaged, ripped, or completely torn apart. There is always the certainty of many that the heart cannot be repaired, or brought back to life, and along with it will go the memories. Doyle supports this idea by stating, “When young we think there will come one person who will savor and sustain us always; when we are older we know this is the dream of a child, that all hearts finally are bruised and scarred, scorn and torn, repaired by time and will, patched…yet fragile and rickety forevermore, no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall” (Doyle 96). Unfortunately, there comes a time when a heart will be broken. However, memories will not. No matter how much we try to block out a memory, or sometimes even destroy them, they will always be kept in the heart, whether they are wanted or not. 

In the end, everyone has something that they are a passionate about. Whether it be a human or an animal, everyone has memos that are the most important to us. Where we choose to keep them, are not always up to us. The heart will always be a safe place. In Joyas Volardores, Brian Doyle, showed readers this by using scientific facts of animals in order to help them better understand how a heart functions. What humans think are “normal” may not be normal to another species. Every heart beats differently, and everyone has a unique way to live their life. Even though every species are all different when it comes to the scientific function of our hearts, every living being can come together with the fact that their hearts are very important to them. No one can be heartless, and must have their heart in order to survive, and even in order to live within. Without a heart, there would be no memories. 
