Mrs. Dupuy's Reading Room

No Random Acts

"That 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." I believe this statement means that the things we choose to do have effects on others. These effects may not be seen immediately, but we should consider the possible consequences of our actions. We should choose actions that will make positive impressions on others if possible. The statement above was told to Eddie by the Blue Man, the first person he met in heaven. He used this to explain to Eddie that even though we may not realize that our actions affect others, they will. Our actions have consequences; they effect people in positive or negative ways.

Eddie learned that an innocent act of tossing a baseball with his friends started a series of events that led to the Blue Man’s death.  This realization made Eddie sorry and nervous because he thought he would have to pay for what he had done. The Blue Man told him that he was not there to be punished. “No, Edward. You are here so I can teach you something. All the people you meet here have one thing to teach you.” (p.47)

            Another person Eddie met in heaven was his captain in the military. His captain taught him about sacrifice. He shot Eddie’s leg to save his life. If he would have not shot him, Eddie would have gone into the burning hut and burned to death. This left Eddie handicapped, but alive. The captain also ran ahead of the car that his group was riding in to make sure there were no mines. The captain sacrificed himself to make sure his group was safe. The captain told Eddie, “That’s the thing. Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.” (p.94)

            The last person Eddie met showed him that his life and his actions everyday saved hundreds of lives. There were even those who had not been born yet that would benefit from his actions before his death. He realized that the life his Captain sacrificed for him was not wasted as he thought it was. He had never seen the positive consequences of his actions until Tala showed him how many children and people he helped every day at Ruby Pier. I think this was a perfect ending to prove that even though we think the little things in our lives don’t matter, others for generations my benefit from our actions. The small daily things sometimes make the biggest difference.