The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Eddie has never thought he lived a good enough life. He thought he did the same things over and over his whole life. Eddie never thought he was good enough. He never really had peace with his own self. Eddie is told by Ruby that he will have peace when he makes it with himself. People have told Eddie that he was important and was there for a purpose. Eddie can make peace with himself by knowing that he was supposed to be at certain places to help and that his life was not a waste.

Eddie worked at Ruby Pier as a maintenance worker, fixing machines and making sure everything was working properly. His father worked at the pier too and Eddie did not ever see himself working there, but things happen. Eddie thought he just did the same thing day after day, over and over again, just fixing rides and never really doing anything with his life or being helpful to anyone. On page one hundred and ninety one in “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” Tala says to Eddie, “children, she said, you keep them safe, you make good for me.” Tala was saying how he kept so many kids and other people safe by being a maintenance worker for rides. He made sure no one would be getting hurt because he would be keeping the rides safe as possible. He had a very important job, whether he thought so or not, because he was keeping so many people safe. Tala also says to Eddie that he was supposed to be there. Eddie did not think he was, he just got used to the same boring routine. He was meant to be there to fix the rides. It happened they way it was supposed to. Eddie never thought he would ever work there, then he did and he just got used to the same old routine every day and did not change it. That is why he thinks his life was a waste, he thought he never really did anything. He actually did, he kept children safe. Tala has told Eddie that he was supposed to be there and that he kept the children and families safe. Eddie just had to realize that for himself and he will end up having peace with himself and his life.

Eddie has always thought his life was a waste and that he never did anything with it. He spend almost his whole life thinking that was true. He thought that he just did the same thing every single day without affecting anyone. On page fifty The Blue Man says, “No life is a waste. The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.” Eddie did always think he was alone. He did, in fact, bring joy to many children at the pier, among a lot of other things. He was always filled with frustration and regret, if he ever would have just thought that he was affecting people in a positive was, which he was, he may have made peace with himself before he died. He was not able to see his affect on others until after his death. On page one hundred and forty one Ruby says, “Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from the inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.” His frustration on the inside made him unhappy with his time on earth. Eddie always was carrying around hate in his heart, if he would have just realized all the good things, maybe he would not have thought his life was a waste. Eddie did resent his father for picking drinking over his own child and had always had hate for his father when he died because of that. As Eddie is holding on to all of this anger, it is just hurting his own self by doing the same thing it did to his father. His father always had hate in his heart too and Eddie was doing just the same without realizing it. If Eddie would have not always just resented his father and carried that hate around forever he would probably have seen the positive things in his life. Eddie should had seen the positive things about his life and that he was affecting lots of people around him.

His whole life Eddie never thought his life mattered and he never thought that he affected anyone. He really did, though. Eddie had positive affects on people around him and his life really did matter. If he would have just realized this whole he was alive then he would have had peace with himself and maybe not thought his life was a complete waste.

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