Joyas Voladoras

Yesterday in class we read the essay, Joyas Voladoras, by Brian Doyle. This essay was a beautiful, inspirational and true piece of writing. There are many meanings that I take from this essay however there is a few lines that I truly think are incredible and are stuck in my head. I was talking about it and trying to deecipher new ideas about it all day yesterday...even at lacrosse practice. It is one of my favorite lines in the essay. This is where it said "Every creature on Earth has approximetly 2 billion heart beats to spend in a life time. You can spend it slowly like a tortoiuse and live to be about 200 years old or you can spend them fast and live to be 2 years old." This quote to me is very discouraging yet facinating at the same time. This is because 2 billion heart beats doesn't seem like a big number/ alot of heart beats in a lifetime. If you imagine how many times the human heart beats in a minute. 60 minutes an hour 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year and however many years you shall live. It makes me think that life is so short...almost too short.  So many things you want to accomplish in life and you only have 2 billion heart beats to do so. This line leads me to many questions rather than thoughts as well. For example, if there about 2 billion hearts beats in a lifetime does that mean its is not good to do sports or excersise? This is because although being aactive helps you stay in fit, it increases your heart rate which thus leads me to the question; does being active lead to a faster death? Now there is something to think about, for I still think about it today! In short there were many other great and meaningful lines in this essay but in my opinion this one was my favorite because it had me continually thinking. Finally, I believe that the overall essay was incredibly good!