Mrs. Dupuy's Reading Room

For Every Action There is a Reaction

               In the book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the main character, Eddie, visits Heaven. He meets 5 people there that all either had an effect on his life or he had an effect on their life. The first person Eddie meets is Joseph “The Blue Man” Corvelzchik. Joseph tells Eddie “There are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind.” That quote could be interpreted many ways. When I hear it, I understand it to mean that for every action you take, there is a reaction in somebody else’s life. Even the little things you do without noticing can have a huge effect on someone else’s life.

                Maybe one day you decide to go and bully someone about the type of clothes they wear or the way they fix their hair. You may not think anything of it, but when that person gets home they may go consider taking their life. Maybe you tell someone you like the picture they drew, and that inspires them to go be an artist. In the story, Eddie was throwing a ball with his friends and the ball went out into the street. Eddie went to get the ball, not thinking about it, and ran into the street. When he did, the Model A coming straight at him, being driven by Joseph, veered and barely missed him. Doing this caused the driver’s heart to start beating very fast. His heart was not very strong, so the pumping left him drained. He started getting dizzy, dropped his head, and ended up running into a parked truck. When he hit the truck, his head hit the steering wheel, which caused him to start bleeding. When he got out to look at the damage done, he collapsed onto the pavement. With nobody around he ended up dying right there. The little action Eddie took by running out into the street caused a huge reaction of Joseph losing his life.

                The little actions you take, whether it is talking to or doing something to, whether it’s a stranger or someone you’re very close to, can result in major reactions. Even if you think what you do or say doesn’t matter, or no one will notice, they will. So don’t be so quick to judge, but feel free to compliment. It may stick with them for longer than you think. For every action you take, there is a reaction in somebody else’s life.