       Without a real love for something in this life, you risk crossing the finish line with nothing but wasted time. The things you love can be determined by examining your heart's deepest desires. Wherever your heart is, there your love will be. Hard times will come but a steadfast love is always the victory. 

It’s been said that an average human heart beats around two billion times during a lifetime. The heart is the beginning and major source of life. It is the first thing to develop in the body and it supports all other major organs. In fact, a developing body depends on it for nutrients and waste disposal. Inside of the heart lies an involuntary muscle called the cardiac muscle. This muscle serves as the heart’s source of power, and will fight to keep beating until death. As long as it is able to, the heart will power through foreign invaders such as diseases, push through complications due to bad eating habits, and sustain life during high-pressure situations. While your heart is doing all of this, life’s moments are slipping away. The way you spend your two billion heartbeats is a choice only you can make.

       What does a humming bird have in common with people? The hummingbird has a heart with four chambers and its heart pumps blood just the way people do. The author explains that the hummingbird has a heart so small that it is the size of a pencil eraser or an infant’s pinky nail. I find it interesting how it is explained multiple times how small the heart of a hummingbird is. The author goes on to explain how incredible the hummingbird really is. “Each one visits a thousand flowers a day. They can dive at sixty miles an hour.” (Doyle 95). He then mentions that they can fly backwards and fly for five hundred miles at a time without even sitting down for a break. The hummingbird’s body is by far one of the most fascinating creations known today. But as known about all life on Earth, every life comes to an end. Doyle shifts the momentum of building up how awesome the hummingbird is then by telling about the death of it. The interesting thing about the heart muscle is that it never stops pounding away oxygen to the body in order to sustain life. But the hummingbird is different. It’s heart, once it slows down, comes close to dying each time. It’s as if the only thing to sustain the life of this beautiful bird is the dangerous acts it does. “And if they are not soon warmed, if they do not soon find that which is sweet, their hearts grow old, and they cease to be.” (Doyle 95). This seems rather disappointing. It was just told how awesome this bird is and that it can go for five hundred miles without stopping and now, Doyle mentions the death of a hummingbird. A striking phrase was “if they do not find that which is sweet”. Whatever is defined as sweet in context to the hummingbird could be life altering. Sweet for the hummingbird is always being on the move, never stopping to rest, and just constantly being in motion. That must be how people feel. People feel as if the “sweet” in their life is constantly on the move, constantly doing something, and never slowing down because if they do, they might cease to exists. In the last paragraph about the magnificent bird, Doyle says “It’s expensive to fly. You burn out. You fry the machine. You melt the engine.” (Doyle 95). Doyle wants to use short and choppy sentences here to express how significant one’s life is. Sometimes you can give life your all in every minute of every day and feel that if you slow down, you may cease to be. Or, you could live a little slower.

       “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). Why is there only one sentence about the tortoise? Doyle made a strong explanation about the hummingbird and how incredible it is and did a great job comparing it to humans. But why does he mention only one thing about the tortoise? The tortoise has a large shell protecting it from its environment and is a very slow creature. So what’s the big deal, why even mention the tortoise? Because the tortoise represents another side of human life. Everyone can recall the tale of the tortoise and the hair. It’s told to children that the hair was extremely fast and runs his heart out to the near end but is so tired that he can’t go on anymore. Rather the tortoise being slower and not using energy nearly as quickly depleting its fuel sources, the tortoise takes his time and slowly chills his way on past the hair and wins the race. Growing up with this story, it is okay to take your time and go at your own pace to accomplish the task at hand. This might be one of the more false statements that was taught once you get older. After the stage where it’s cute to tell kids that it’s okay to take your time, once they get older they are told the opposite. The world is led to believe that you must be the first one done and you must get everything right in the process without failure. Doyle wants to use the tortoise to tell the reader that it is okay to slow down and enjoy the finer things in life.

       The blue whale is the largest mammal in the world with the biggest heart as well. Doyle describes the heart of the blue whale being the size of a room with valves the size of saloon doors. In comparison to humans, Doyle states “It is waaaay bigger than your car.” (Doyle 95). Imagine the heart of a whale in your presence. It is the size of a large truck and Doyle wants to show us this in comparison to the hummingbird heart. We all have hearts. We all yearn for something in this world and Doyle wants to show us something different.

       What does the hummingbird, the tortoise, the blue whale, and humans all have in common? All have lives with challenges that face them every day. All have something in the way that holds them back. Hummingbirds have their size and short life span that opposes them. The tortoise has its mobility in its path. Whales travel in pairs in the fear of being alone. Doyle had the struggles of his own life. His son was born with only three chambers in his heart. Humans have their struggles too. In this world, intense circumstances will come, they will hurt, and they will fight to take away joy. The heart does more than churn and push along oxygen and carbon dioxide. The heart is the source of life, but more importantly, love is produced from the heart. Whatever the overflow of the heart is, whether pain or joy, that is what your life will be. But perspective is greater than circumstance. No matter what challenges face you today, no matter the obstacle, your perspective in love is where you prevail. 