
If Life was to be made into an audible, all-encompassing resonance, it would sound like this: “lub-DUB, lub-DUB, lub-DUB.” The sound of life is the beat of a heart. It is the single driving force that enacts love, the pursuit of happiness and existence all at once. The heart is the center of the body’s processes, the battery, powering life force itself. It has several important anatomical duties in everyday life, making it one of the most valuable and sacred organs. Almost all living creatures live their lives to the sound of a heartbeat. Whether it be a human, animal or insect, the heart is by far the most fragile part of the body because it affects you both physically, mentally and emotionally. The clinical term for a bruised heart is a Myocardial contusion, but emotionally a bruised heart is referred to as a heartbreak. For example, losing loved ones is a tough experience to endure, but after the tears have fallen and the dust settles, that departed person can always be kept in the heart. It where connections, experiences and relationships, are metaphorically stored—good or bad. No matter the shape, size, or pump rate, hearts hold memories in that will never die.

Brian Doyle goes into detail about the heart, both in terms of functional activities and emotional implications. His text, Joyas Volardores, (the name the first explorers to the Americas gave to the hummingbird) he goes into detail about the size and speed of a humming bird’s heartbeat. It is not only to explain how their body processes work, but the way they live their lives,” The price of their ambition is a life closer to death. Every creature on Earth has approximately two billion heartbeats…You can spend them slowly lie a tortoise, and live to be two hundred years old or you can live them fast like a humming bird and live to be two.” (Doyle 95) It can be a little gloomy to think about such a short-lived existence. 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. Nevertheless, it is also exciting to see how full and substantial such a short life can be. Hummingbirds can do so many activities in one day. They experience much more in their lives than the average human being even though they typically only live to be about two years old. These creatures, not unlike ourselves, live through their goals and ambitions striving to squeeze every bit of the world; pumping life through their veins one beat at a time.

Humans cannot live at the fast pace of a hummingbird, nor at the speed of a tortoise. They tend to fall in the middle. Humans, by nature are much more aware of the heart and in turn do not have the innate ability to just act. The heart thus becomes a calculated endeavor involving joy and pain, darkness and light. However, encounters and memories cannot be calculated, only experienced and learned from. We sit in a glass house with open windows taking in the breeze of life and the winds of being. Doyle goes on to speak on the aspects of the human heart, stating that “So much [is] 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). In the heart, we are alone. No one is allowed in the house of a heart. There is not another that can truly share the space. People, in turn, store memories there to fill up the empty vessel. People strive to protect these space savers, often building barriers around their hearts, in fear of them being damaged, ripped, or completely torn apart. 

There is always the blind certainty of many that the heart cannot be repaired, or brought back to life. 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, there is not magic fortress that guards this sacred organ. Everyone has something that they are a passionate about. Everything loves something, whether it be a human or an animal. 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. We are constantly at risk in our empty glass houses with open windows. It is that risk that creates those bruises and doubts. It is that risk that gives us those opportunities to experience all that life has to offer in our short spell in this world. The heart will always be a safe place. Every heart beats differently, and everyone has a unique way to live their life. We are connected by the constant hum of the living. The battery to our souls. The soundtrack to life. Lub-DUB, Lub-DUB. 
