When I saw the title of this essay, I was like, ok, it is going to be a boring relatable test just to see how well we can read, comprehend, and write responses. But oh no! I was totally wrong, which goes neck to neck with an ole cliché. Wrong, I was, for judging this read's title and the author, the late Brian Doyle. From the very start it grows and grows until it comes to a masterpiece, a masterpiece that we all should take heed to and never forget just how precious life is. 

Each sentence for me was like a flower as a seed, the process of germination not being too fast or slow to reach the actual sprouting process. This author was so inclined with such realization on life, and just how the functions of it can vary. The uncanniness in this part of the essay, the whale and its life span.  A seven-ton beast fills a room with four sections, allowing youngsters room to play ring-around-the-Rosie inside it. Born twenty feet long, it grows 200 pounds daily and consumes 100 gallons of milk from its mother. At seven or eight years old, it undergoes puberty, disappearing from human sight due to limited knowledge.

Not to mention the hummingbirds near death moments when weathering the cold of the winter and surviving until its springtime, relentlessly foraging for nectar once again to continue its life course. Hummingbirds have large, fierce metabolisms powered by oxygen-consuming race-car hearts. Their hearts are made of leaner, thinner fibers, and their arteries are tighter. Their heart attacks, aneurysms, and ruptures are more severe than any other living thing. Traveling by air is costly, exhausting, and damaging to the hummingbird.

Doyle’s possessed a talent in writing that pulls you right in, drawing closer, even closer than the average zoologist would be researching these magnificent creatures. In the same token, the essay brings us closer to realization of how precious life is. The read points out the differences of the organ we know as the heart, but it also points out the other meaning of having a heart we feel emotions with, etc. The read to me is also a moral compass and how we all should be focused on our lives, as well as the precious heartbeats of the human heart, the very base for all organs, which in turn maintains life for the living. In doing so, there is not much difference at all in the way each human heartbeat is pushed to its limits and beyond.  

Living life was not so questionable by the end of reading the essay. There is not much difference in the challenging aspect of the heart when it comes to wild animals, but I did find out some fascinating details about the whale and hummingbird's heart. I measured our environment versus the whale and the hummingbird's wild environment. Personally, to me, it is a challenging time for both humans and the animal kingdom to survive in the unpredictable world of today. Doyle's mind and heart that day while writing this read was completely open and very humbled by life's cycles and its process. I admire him for all that he has shared with us in this single read. Using citations in this read to me would have taken the realities of man and the fruits of life right out of it. 

Doyle was so inclined with nature that his true intent was to do just that...without citations. The use of any other formats of citations would have taken what I found savoring to read. He used  [MLA Formatting and Style Guide // Purdue Writing Lab] which to me was all needed with this read, telling it from his very own experiences in life as any other person would relate to, well...those that dive headfirst into the actual search for what life really means to us on an individual bases, as a whole we depend on one another. No matter how fast we run through life, or how slow we go through life, one day the heart will, and must, come to a halting stop!  

Referenced herein: The American Scholar   

Georges, I totally agree with you!  The type of author Doyle was and how masterfully he composed all the contents of the essay, and to make complete sense in doing so. He was a good man from the details of this essay, a straight shooter, and most of all, inclined with life. All the information about the size, functions, and resilience of the heart whether it being a human heart, hummingbird, or whale, nature and mankind has nothing on Doyle direct message to us, the Homo sapiens of the earth. We are now trying to prevent things that we should totally allow to take its course, and life is one of them. We as humans will do every thing we possibly can to prevent death, but it's totally inevitable. I like the fact that this read was written with the heart of Doyle, which produce an incredible essay.

Hello Sajid! From the beginning to the end, your essay drew me closer and closer in for the next word, sentence...and with the finish, your paragraphs! Each to me are perfect! The response you've written here is so much more advanced to me, I had to look up a few words. I simply have not a single typo or discrepancy that I can point out in your essay! I guess writing about this essay, Brian Doyle, reaches every true heart that reads it because I can read this and sense the effects it had on you Sajid! This is a powerful read, everyone! Sajid has shown all of us here that it's also infectious when read with an open mind! Reading essays like these are full of life and factual goodness! Life is to be understood, and not miscalculated or brushed off like a joke. Thanks for sharing your insight and knowledge in delivering such insight on  "Joyas Voladoras"!

Hello Justin, your response is thorough and well broken down to each question in the overview and guidelines of this discussion. I was not reading in suspense or anything. No, around the corner surprises, and it's all laid out for a reading mind's pickings. The most captivating part for me was the end of the first paragraph just as Eric mention in his comment below, "The smell of death follows, the fires that start, and possibly explosions that follow. There is a lot of danger that present in the topic of hurricanes and their aftermath." Now that impacted me so deep, I felt I was there observing that particular aftermath from that particular hurricane. Great response to the essay, Justin!

Thanks, Michael

I am sure whoever chooses to really read this essay will be impacted very much, or somewhat the same. Humans have a way of understanding things, and one another. The majority chooses to follow others, some simply make decisions for themselves when choosing anything that they feel is worthwhile. No one is perfect, no one thinks the same as the next person, and no one is made 100% identical… and most certainly no one will have a heartbeat forever! There is plenty of room to understand this read. Individuality is what we witness throughout our daily lives. The interesting thing to me, about this masterpiece is, Brian was deliberant while extruding this masterpiece from within his soul, as well as the scientific aspects of it that help to solidify this masterpiece of an essay. This is why I feel this essay is a true work of written art, that quenches all thirst when it comes to feeling what we read. The essay possesses flawless facts about different types of hearts, Brian did this essay... ever so eloquently. This read speaks directly to every individual that can humble themselves to fully understand it. That is why I chose this essay. I am sure many can relate to my response as well.

The feeling is an awesome one, and authentically mutual, Issac! Bullseye my guy! Just awesome is exactly what we are sharing here! Awesome for sure! Thanks for the response, Issac!

At this point of your response, Issac, I stop to write this first part of your initial response to savior this moment here. This moment is very special, pertaining to the inevitable course of life that no living creature here on this beautiful earth is exempt from...not even one single living micronism! We must play the hand that's dealt to us as living creatures, or we will bellow in our very own self demise and weaknesses! It's called suffering, well... self inflection on our tremendous efforts in the swim we've taken to have this shot in life! This is what grasped my complete attention, Issac!

Another feeling I got from this paragraph was the fear of death, the way he talks about how their hearts beat fast and how the can travel so far without resting. But when the time comes to rest that's when the slow death come in, that's when their heart beats slow down, and they come so close to death itself. It also sounds like they are searching for something as well. It sounds like they search for a reason to live every day without giving up, without doubting themselves on giving another chance to live. ^Wow!

Thank you for your impeccable insight and support, @ Professor Wolterbeek!