Joyas Voladoras By Brian Doyle

“Joyas Voladoras” is a chapter of the book The Wet Engine: Exploring the Mad Wild Miracle of the Heart. The author of this book is Brian Doyle, a writer and editor of Portland Magazine. He writes with lightness, affection, and humility about his life experiences. This book is inspired by his son Liam, who was born with a missing chamber in his heart. This book uses the animal kingdom to explain about the heart, physically and emotionally. The underlying message Doyle is sending us in “Joyas Voladoras” is to spend life wisely and to be open to others.

First, the hummingbirds are a favorable example of living life to the fullest. For example, they try to do as much as possible in a day. In the text it says: “Each one visits a thousand flowers a day.” (page 30, line 15). Because the hummingbird’s

life lasts only about two years, it does as much as possible in a day. We normally don’t spend our time efficiently because we think there is a lot of time left, which is not always right considering life could end at any moment. The hummingbird’s life is also very fragile, which is another reason they must live life to the fullest. “Joyas Voladoras” shows how fragile it is: “But when they rest they come close to death: on frigid nights, or when they are starving, they retreat into torpor” (page 30, line 18). This proves that their life could end any moment, even before two years had passed. The best thing to do is to enjoy it while it lasts. In conclusion, hummingbirds live life to the fullest, and we could learn a little from them.

In addition, the blue whale also lives life to the fullest. For example, the young calf uses the time it has to grow up. Doyle says: “it drinks a hundred gallons of milk from its mama every day” (Pages 31-32, lines 70-71). Instead of spending time as a dependent calf, not able to do things by itself, it grows up to be the largest animal on Earth, as big as a fourth of a football field. The blue whale is a magnificent, independent mammal that humans always had been in awe about. Another example is that the blue whale spends most of its time in pairs. To further prove this point, Doyle wrote: “but we know this: the animals with the largest hearts in the world generally travel in pairs” (Page 32, line 81-82). After the blue whale’s amazing puberty, it chooses to spend time with a mate. It uses the time it has to meet another whale to spend their life with. When we meet a friend, husband, or wife we want to spend our life with, we are happier. Altogether, Us humans might want to learn a lesson from the blue whale, to grow up and find a person we love to spend time with.

Lastly, in “Joyas Voladoras”, Brian Doyle describes our actions as different from the hummingbird and the blue whale.

We keep ourselves closed, not being fully honest with people. This is shown in the essay when he wrote: “We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart” (Page 33, line 101-102). As we grow up, we collect memories and secrets that are sometimes unshareable. We live alone without a person to share life with, although a person to live with does make us happier. As another instance, we keep everything inside, which eventually could break us. In the text it says: “You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can” (Page 33, lines 112-113). Everybody has bad memories and experiences. The mistake we make is keeping it inside. This is the reason we are so closed, so private, so secretive we don’t let anyone in. As a result, we spent a lot of time alone, without a friend with us. We close any pain from our heart, although we can’t protect it forever. To summarize, memories and secrets are not supposed to stay inside of us. Being honest and letting these secrets out helps finding a

friend.

Finally, the underlying message Doyle is sending us in “Joyas Voladoras” is to spend life wisely and to be open to others. The hummingbird’s life is short, and it spends its time wisely, as it could end any moment. The blue whale uses most of its time with a mate, growing up and going to find it. We are different from both of them. We spend time alone because we are not honest with anybody until a later stage in life. We could learn a lesson from the animal kingdom, because with all of our differences, we all want to enjoy life.